THE HOME RULE QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 186, 5 February 1914, Page 3

THE HOME RULE QUESTION.

(To tlw Kiiit'T.) Sir,—The every day publication of a cable giving information of the doings and payings of the opponents of the above question, must strike the most obtuse reader of your widely-circulated paper as being, to say the least, peculiar. I have not seen published in every paper in this Dominion information showing how favorable Home Rule is in that part of Ireland (Ulster) said to be seething with discontent. The meetings of large bodies of Protestant Home , Rulers in Ireland, the proclamation sign>ed by 200 of the leading Protestant employers in Ulster favoring Home Rule, and headed by Lord l'irie and Sir Charles Mack, the fact that out of 3.'J repreicntativcs elected in Vlster to the fm. peri.il Parliament, 17 are Home Killers: the severe lampooning of the so-called army that is being raised in Clster, by the Army and Navy Gazette, the offi cial organ of the British Imperial services— these.and other interesting items to students of the question are carefully suppressed, and can only be gleaned from the Home papers. Mr. Asquith's Manchester speech, firm and dignified, convincing owing to its admirable, tone and/ temper, stands out in striking contrast to the erotic and neurotic reply of Sir K. Carson, who does not want any settlement even if hased on reason and justice, John Redmond, in his Now-castle-on-Tyne speech effectively disposes of Carson's contention that Home Hide means the denial of the rights of British citizenship to any section of the Irish people. He said: "It is stated that we are asking for the, exclusion of Irishmen from their British citizenship. It is ridiculously untrue. (Cheers). We don't desire the exclusion of any Irishmen from British citizenship. On the contrary, what we are demanding is admission to the British Constitution. (Cheers). We have never during the last century lived under the blessings and the safeguards of that Constitution, which has been the palladium of vour liberties. We ask for admission: we pledge to you our fealty as a nation, and our loyally as men . (Cheers). AVe seek to blot out even the memory of ancient wrongs and ancient miseries, and ancient cause-, of heartburning and discontent. AVh ask to-day to lie allowed to cross the threshold into an Kmpire—ours, remember, by right of service, as much as yours—(cheers)- where the genius of our people, the valor of our soldiers, and the fidelity of our race might, possibly, prove to be one of your greatest assets in the vicissitudes and the dangers of an unknown future. (Cheers.) I beg of you. and those whom you represent; I beg of you in the name of justice and of honor no less than in the name of wisdom and of selfinterest. if, as I fear will be the ease, our opponent* remain obdurate, and will agree to no reasonable settlement of this question, T beg of you not to permit the door of the. Empire to be slammed in the face, of Ireland, either by the fear of fanatics or by the bludgeons of bullies. (Prolonged cheers,)'' '

As one with North of Ireland training ami ancestry. T do hope that the batile, .-o long fought for and won bv Protestant Irishmen like Isaac liutt. I'arnell. and many others, as well as hv Catholic Irishmen like John Redmond, Dillon, ami other-, will lie consummated by the opening of the Trisli Parliament in College (ireen in lillfl, and, if so.'a gathering of Irish men and women from all over the. world will be present on the occasion.—l am etc.. PKHMAXAOH. February i. 1914.