MESSAGE OF PEACE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 485, 24 July 1912, Page 5

MESSAGE OF PEACE.

HOME RULE IN SIGHT. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Copyright London, Monday. A speech on the Irish Home Rule Bill '/as delivered by the Prime Minister, Mr Asquitb. in the Theatre Royal at Dublin on Saturday evening. There was a large gathering the theatre being overcrowded. Tumultuous enthusiasm prevailed. Mr J. Redmond, leader of the Nationalist party, presided. . . Mr Asquith, who on rising to speak, was cheered for five minutes, said that he was the bearer of a message of peace and reconciliation between Ireland and Great Britain. The Nationalists, he said, had with them, besides ihe majority of the oeople of Great Britain, the heartfelt sympathy of a vast mass of fellow subjects, without distinction of party, in all the self - governing Dominions. Granted unity, discipline and patience, the end of the struggle for Home Rule was well within sight. The Home Rule Bill Mr Asquith said, would be passed by the House of Commons and sent to the House of Lords before Christmas. Whatever the immediate fortunes of the Bill might be, the Lords would no longer have the power to override the judgment of the people. An Irish nationality, he claimed, was quite consistent with Imperial unity and loyalty to the United Kingdom. Ulster's attitude was unreasonable, and ne did not believe there was any prospect of a civil war. Minorities had rights and susceptibilities which ought to be considered, but the judgment of the British people would never tolerate a minority frustrating a great international settlement in which the Government had the sympathies of all the Overseas Dominions.

Home Rule would be the first step towards an Imperial reorganisation of which it was nearly the entire solution.