Ulster will have
thirty-three representatives in the Imperial House of Commons, and
the rest of Ireland twenty-seven! What germ of a settlement of the
Irish question can any one discover in a policy which proposes that
one-fourth of the people of Ireland should be able to outvote the
other three-fourths in matters affecting their liberties and
taxation?
No! The Ministerial bills of home rule are fundamentally bad and
should be withdrawn, in order that a new attempt may be made to
reach a settlement by general consent in accordance, as I believe,
with the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the people.
Is it not better to wait a little for a settlement by consent on
lines which will conduce to permanent peace and prosperity than to
try to force on the pages of the statute book a measure which must
lead to bloodshed and civil war? If party considerations veto the
withdrawal of the Ministerial measure of home rule without the aid
of a general election, then let us have a general election without
one moment's unnecessary delay.
The times are too perilous to allow us even to contemplate with any
other feeling than that of horror and dismay the Lord Chancellor's
appeal to go forward unflinchingly to civil war.
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