Home Rule; Speeches
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SpeecBes ofJoAn 'Redniond,M/J? . .nil! Hd/'ted 70tf£ hi frodue fion 61/ R.BARRY O'BRIEN UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES FROM THE IRISH COLLECTION OF E. BYRNE HACKETT .yS n U^..>v^ A,^^ -Ma^i^ HOME RULE HOME RULE SPEECHES OF JOHN REDMOND, M.P. EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY R. BARRY O'BRIEN WITH A PORTRAIT NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS [AU Rights Reserveds\ EDITOR'S NOTE The Speeches in this Volume (covering the period of Mr Redmond's public career between 1886 and 1909) have been selected by me, and revised by Mr Kedmond. I alone am responsible for the Introduction. R. BARRY O'BRIEN. Vll CONTENTS PAGB Introduction ..... xi I. The Home Rule Bill, 8th April 1886 . 1 II. Irish National Convention in Chicago, . 17 18th August 1886 . III. Irish Protestants and Home Rule, 29th November 1886 . .26 IV. Home Rule Bill, 14th April 1893 . 42 V. The Rosebery Ministry and Home Rule, 13th March 1894 . .61 VI. Fifteen Years in the House of Commons, 29th November 1896 . .72 VII. Ireland and the Boer War, 7th February 1900 97 VIII. Expulsion of Irish Members, 7th March 1901 109 IX. The Land Bill of 1903, 4th May 1903 . 120 X. The Failure of English Government in Ire- land, 4th February 1904 . 139 XI. The Financial Relations Commission, 26th January 1905 .... 161 XII. The Irish Problem, 19th February 1906 . 174 XIII. English Government in Ireland, 12th Febru- ary 1907 ..... 192 XIV. The Irish Councils Bill, 7 th May 1907 . 209 XV. Dublin Convention, 21st May 1907 . 226 XVI. The Irish National Demand, 4th September 1907 ...... 237 ix Contents XVII. The Destruction of Irish Industries, 13th October 1907 . .246 XVIII. Extravagance of Irish Administration, 27th October 1907. .255 XIX. The Administration op Justice in Ireland, 10th November 1907 . .261 XX. The Local Government Act, 1898, 17th November 1907 . 270 XXI. The Canadian Precedent for Home Rule, 29th November 1907 . 279 XXII. Home Rule Resolution, 30th March 1908 . 295 XXIII. The Irish Universities Bill, 11th May 1908 314 XXIV. Crime in England and Ireland, 23rcl February 1909 322 Appendix . - . 345 Index ...... 347 INTRODUCTION No one holds a more distinguished place, as an orator, in the Enghsh House of Commons of to-day, than Mr John Redmond. His speeches are persuasive, dignified, moderate in tone, skilful in arrangement, clear in ex- position, logical and incisive in character. Had Mr Redmond followed his career at the Bar, his success as an advocate, would have been assured. Drawn into politics by the patriotic impulses with which Ireland so often inspires her sons, he soon won his spurs as a clever speaker, and, when the opportunity came, gradually developed into a prudent, tactful, astute parliamentary leader. Quick of perception, courteous in argument, readily receptive of divergent opinions and views; toler- ant of differences, judicial, self-controlled, sympathetic, he has the faculty—not to be despised in a leader—of avoiding everything in the Councils of his party calcu- lated to provoke hostihty or to excite irritation. It has been said that Parliamentarianism is on its trial. It has always been on its trial. It will always be on its trial while Irishmen sit in a foreign assembly. Fifty years ago Irish Nationality was nearly killed by Parhamentarianism. It was saved by Fenianism. Between 1870 and 1874 Isaac Butt formed a Parlia- mentary Party, which, however, gradually went to pieces. Parnell came and made Parhamentarianism a vital force, holding the Parhamentary Party together by a hand of iron, and consofidating the nation at its back. When he died the fate of Parhamentarianism hung once more in the xii Introduction balance. But, it will be allowed, that, during the past decade, there has at aU events, been a united and an active Irish Party, led by a man of high ParUamentary reputation. Let me take a rapid survey of the operations of Irish- men, in the Enghsh House of Commons, since Mr Pitt's union. At the first General Election after the Act of Union, Ireland sent a hundred Members to the English House of Commons. Grattan was not among them. He came later (in 1805). It would perhaps have been more in accordance with the fitness of things had he remained at home. He had led the fight for legislative independence in 1782; he had led the opposition to the Union in 1800. The man who in immortal eloquence had enunciated the principle that the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland could alone make laws for Ireland ought not to have sanctioned, by his presence in the Enghsh House of Commons, the settlement which violated that principle. PoHticaUy, he ought not to have survived the Irish Constitution. He ought to have gone down with the ship. But in truth, Grattan entered the Enghsh Parhament to serve the cause of Cathohc Emancipation, which was then the question of the hour. He failed in his advocacy of the Cathohc claims. His oratory electrified the House of Commons, but his appeals for justice were unheeded. " The speech of the honourable Member [he said in 1805, replying to an attack made upon the Catholics by the renegade Duigenan, who had abandoned both faith and country] consists of four parts. First. An invective against the religion of the Catholics. Second. An invective against the present generation. Third. An invective against the past ; and {fourth) an in- vective against the future. Here the limits of creation inter- posed and stopped the number. It is to defend these different generations that I rise—to rescue the Catholics from his attack and the Protestants from his defence." " Introduction xHi Pitt said, "Hear, hear, hear!" and the whole House cheered. The whole House often cheered Grattan, but he died in 1821 without seeing the CathoHcs emancipated. His last words were, " Keep knocking at the Union." Cromwell was the first Enghsh ruler who brought Irish Members to Westminster. In 1659 one of his Members said, " I am not here to speak for Ireland, but for the Enghsh in Ireland." The Irish Members who sat in the Enghsh Parhament from 1801 to 1829 might have said the same thing. Of course they were Protes- tants; they belonged mainly to the landlord class; they represented the garrison. In those times, to use the words of Bright, " The gallows was the great preserver in Ireland." Force was the remedy; coercion was the order of the day. " " The Habeas Corpus," says Mr Lecky, which is perhaps the most important part of the British Con- stitution, was suspended in Ireland in 1800, from 1802 till 1805, from 1807 till 1810, in 1814, from 1822 till 1824." The Insurrection Act was in force from 1800 till 1801, from 1803 tiU 1804, from 1808 till 1809, from 1814 till 1816, from 1822 till 1823. The power of England was used in wringing impossible rents from a starving peasantry, in extracting tithes from Cathohcs in support of a Protes- tant Church, and in stifling every cry for justice: in all these things she foimd wilhng alhes in the " Irish Members. At length, m 1829, Emancipation came under circumstances which have been well described by Peel and Welhngton. Peel wrote on 8th February 1829: " In the course of the last six months England, being at peace with the whole world, has had five-sixths of the infantry force of the United Kingdom occupied in maintaining peace and in police duties in Ireland. I consider the state of things which requires such an application of military force much worse than open rebellion. ... If this be the state of things at present, xiv Introduction what would be the condition of England in the event of war ? Would an English Parliament tolerate for one moment a state of things in Ireland which would compel the appropriation of half her military force to protect, or rather to control, that exposed part of the empire?" On 4th May 1829 Wellington wrote: *' If you glance at the history of Ireland during the last ten years you will find that agitation really means something short of rebellion ; that and no other is the exact meaning of the word. It is to place the country in that state in which its government is utterly impracticable, except by means of an overawing military force." And again the Duke said: " If we cannot get rid of the Catholic Association we must look to civil war in Ireland. It is quite clear that the organisa- tion of the disaffected in Ireland is more perfect than ever. If they can raise money they will have good arms and ammunition, and then the contest may for a moment be serious." O'Connell had lashed the country into fury, and the EngHsh Ministers surrendered. Up to 1829 the Irish representation was a farce. What was it afterwards? We know what O'Connell was able to do out of ParHament. He won Emancipation. What was he able to do in ParUament? In 1830, 1831 and 1832 the question of Reform held the field in England. O'Connell threw himself on the side of the Reformers. Dr Doyle, the famous Irish bishop, had said to him in effect, " Until ParUament is reformed justice will not be done to Ireland." The agitator beheved it, and was a Reformer a outrance. The EngHsh Reform Bill passed the Lords in June 1832. The Irish Reform BiU was read a second time in the Commons in the previous May. O'Connell proposed various amendments in Com- mittee. They were all rejected. O'Connell said the Bill would be a failure. Ministers said it would be a success.