IRISH CAMPAIGN IN BRITISH CONSTITUENCES

New Zealand Tablet, 27 April 1911, Page 760

IRISH CAMPAIGN IN BRITISH CONSTITUENCES

Mr. John Dillon, M.P., visited Aberdeen early in March and lectured under the auspices of the Young Scots’ Society. Mr. Dillon, on rising to speak, was received with loud and prolonged cheers. He said that it was twenty-five years since he last spoke in Aberdeen. During that' long period the Irish cause had been in the forefront of politic*. This was a remarkable testimony to the virility of the Irish cause. In defining what was meant by Home Rule, Mr. Dillon said that they of the Irish Party were content to rest upon Mr. Asquith’s definition as given in his speech in the Albert Hall. Their demand was for full self-govern-ment for Ireland in all purely Irish affairs. Granted this, they were content to accept, without reserve and in good faith, the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament, and to take lip their lot loyally and honestly with the other component parts of the Empire. He went on to demonstrate the evils attending the granting of half measure Home Rule, and instanced the case of South Africa, where, under a full measure. of local self-government, prosperity and peace now reigned. He believed that such a measure would be granted to Ireland within the life of the present Government. Scotch Home Rule. ■' Turning to the case of Scotland, Mr. Dillon said that he had been frequently asked both inside the House and outside about the state of Scotland. He had been asked if the Irish were willing to help Scotland to get what was desired. . He replied that they had been always willing to give their assistance in the matter of Home Rule, but that there was a difference between the state of Scotland and that of Ireland. Scotland’s case was not nearly so urgent as that of Ireland, and Ireland was due preference in the matter because she had been first in the field, and had fought her own battle. He compared the positions of Scotland and Ireland in their relation to England under the Union. In Scotland in the year 1801, the year of the Irish Union, the population was 1,688,000, and in Ireland it was 3,395,000. That is to say, that at that time Ireland had three times the population of Scotland, and they also had double the wealth. In 1901, the year of the last census, the population of Scotland was 4,472.000, and that of Ireland, 4,458,000. He believed that when the next census was taken Scotland would be over four and a-half millions in population, and Ireland down to four and a-

quarter. He also ventured to say that Scotland was now twice, perhaps three times, as wealthy as Ireland, whereas at the time of the Union the reverse was the case. It was on such figures as these they demanded Home Rule, and he challenged any man who defended the Union to point out any country of modern times that had withered away in the same way as Ireland had done under English rule. The Religious Question. Referring next to the question of religious toleration in Ireland, he said that it was often alleged that Homo Rule would mean Rome Rule. Taking up a stand oh tho side of tho Irish Catholics, Mr. Dillon said that any intolerance in Ireland was not to be found where Catholics were in the majority, but where they were in the minority, particularly in the North-East corner of Ulster. It was found that throughout the greater part of Ireland Protestants and Catholics lived and traded on the best of terms. Such cases as that of Mrs. M'Caun, which had been made a political weapon, and which had even been discussed in tho House of Commons, was a gross insult to Ireland, and an outrage on the House of Commons. All were now ashamed of Mrs. MCann, and had fallen back on the general broad principle of the A r c Tv,mere Decree. This was, a totally different question. After enlarging somewhat on the Decree, Mr. Dillon said that it was justifiable in any Christian Church to oppose the law of the State, if they believed it was opposed to the law of God, and so far as the Catholics of Ireland were concerned, they would follow the law of the Church in such matters as were dealt with in the Ne Temere Decree. At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Dillon paid a high tribute to the Liberalism of Scotland, and to their work on behalf of Home Rule. Mr. James Esslemont proposed a vote of thanks to Mr, Dillon, and gave some interesting reminiscences of former meetings in which he had taken part. On rising to reply, Mr. Dillon was received with tumultuous applause, the audience rising en masse and cheering with great heartiness. After tho meeting many old friends of Mr. Dillon were presented to him in the private room, not a few of whom had been present at his first meeting in Aberdeen twentyfive years ago.