"A Calmer Tone."

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 87, 3 April 1914, Page 5

"A Calmer Tone."

HOME RULE FOR IRELAND.

DEBATE IN THE COMMONS. [By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] '[United Press Associat'i'*.*' London, April 2. There is a calmer tone in the House of Commons. Sir R. 0. Buckmaster says that however strong the opinions on both sides, there ought to be common ground whereon, without the abandonment of any pledge or principle, some reasonable arrangement could be made to enable the principle of the Bill to be carried out. The Irish movement, he said, is no longer a conspiracy to be crushed out by a constitutional demand which the believers in constitutional Government cannot disregard to mark.

Mr Sykes (Unionist) urged the exclusion of Ulster pending the completion of a federal scheme. An election now would be won by either side, to its ruin. If the Liberals won, it would have a mandate to coerce Ulster. If the Unionists won, they would have a mandate to thwart the Irish hopes of thirty years, which were on the eve of fruition. Sooner or later there would be bloodshed. Nationalists had gone to prison for their convictions. He appealed to Parliament, if there were a- chance of settlement, not to make use of a commanding political position to press good men too far.

Rev. C. S. Silvester Home believed that Homo Rule would strengthen the people's power, and prove an important weapon against the priestly power in Ireland. IN THE LORDS. Replying to Lord Middleton, Lord Haldane admitted having altered the Hansard report of his speech by adding the word "immediate" making him say "no order. will be issued for the immediate coercion of' Ulster." He had done so to prevent a misunderstanding, because the newspapers had wrenched tho. sentence from the context and given his speech a different meaning. Lord Lansdowne, commenting on this, said the House understood from the speech that no orders for coercion were contemplated. It was a rude shock to jind this unqualified statement had been altered. Lord Hugh Cecil has given notice of motion to refer the H[ome Rule Bill to a Select Committee of thirty members to frame suggestions to exclude the whole or part of Ulster. NEWSPAPER OPINION. The Standard, referring to colonial criticisms, says that the sister States of the Emipre should forbear from criticising eath other's internal affairs. Tho paper admits that the Imperial aspect of Home Rule is yet far from definite. The Orange and Nationalist element in tho Dominions is no reproduction of the strong party division which exists in the Motherland. When an oversea politician declares for or against a policy it is unfair to say it' represents the view of Australia, or Canada, or South Africa. PROBABLE "WALK-OVER" FOR MR ASQUITH. DISCUSSING PLANS FOR SETTLEMENT. (Received 8.45 a.m.) London, April 2. Mr "Jim" Larkin will not oppose Mr Asquith. The Opposition leaders recommend there shall be no contest. Newspapers contain many suggestions for a pacific settlement. It is understood that Ministerialists and Unionists are examining the same plan for providing for the exclusion of Ulster, pending federation or devolution. Each side proposes to bring a plan before Sir Edward Grey and Mr Bonar Law respectively. Several political organisations are promoting a meeting of protest against officers being, as alleged, induced to refuse obedience of lawful orders on political grounds.

THE UNIONISTS' DECISION. AVOIDING CIVIL WAR. (Received 11 a.m.) London, April 2. The Unionists at East Fife have decidod not to contest the election with Mr Asquith unless circumstances change. Mr Balfour, in the Commons, said the Government's action had paralysed Parliament and the country. Tho House was nominally discussing Homo Rule, but tlio question really was how to avoid civil war. It had been said that the tone of the debate was conciliatory. That did not mean that the Commons agreed, but it meant that the Commons were frightened. THE REFERENDUM QUESTION. (Received 11.30 a.m.) London, April 2. Mr Balfour added that a referendum failed at the present crisis, and was no explanation of tho Government's aversion to a general election unless they had a definite understanding with the Nationalists. He did not believe in tho cutting-up of the kingdom, but he invited the Government to indicate the broad lines of their federal policy. It was essential that Ulster should not be placed under a Dublin Parliament. Mr T. P. O'Connor declared that Ministerialists and Nationalists would not accept a referendum, and a goneral election would not produce a settlement. Nationalists would not

consent to Ulster's pormanenfc exclusion. Ho repudiated postponement of Home Rule pending completion of a federal scheme.

CONSIGNMENT OF FIREARMS. London, April 2.

Police coastguards in Ulster have been ordered to watch for the Fanny (suspected of conveying rifles from the Continent). A Copenhagen Customs officer states that he removed the Fanny's papers. An Englishman aboard attempted to bribe him to keep silent. The vessel sailed without papers.

Hamburg advices allege that the iflos were destined for South America.

i The Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiiner, published in Belfast, writing on February 14, says: But tbe Prime Minister will place his proposals before the House of Commons and the country when they have been prepared—not after unnecessary delay, yet without paying superfluous attention to the clamourings and threats of Mr Walter Long or to the wild exaggerations of Mr Austen Chamberlain, who railed on Tuesday about * "the agony of Ulster." Ulster is not agonised. Nineteen out of every twenty people who live in Ulster are in a much more sedate humour than the people of Leinster, Munster, Connaright, or Birmingham—and they are far more sensible at the present moment than a majority of the legislators of both Houses at Westminster. That "agony" may be created in the North of Ireland—by the agents and tools of tbe Party who have prospered on the long-drawn-out agony of the Irish race for centuries, is a fact that we are quite prepared to admit. That those agents and tools will get their mandate from unscrupulous Party leaders is perfectly possible That an "agony"' thus created would be of brief duration and of little real moment when compared with the results that must inevitably attend the suggestion of a surrender to political bullies and blackmailers, is more certain than any (imaginable outcome of the present political situation.