When the clause enabling the Government to apply ,Conscription to
Ireland by Order in Council came before the House on Friday week, Mr. Henderson asked for a pledge that the Order should not be issued until a Home Rule Bill was passed. Mr. Asquith invited. the Government to promise the whole time of the House, apart from war measures, for a Home Rule Bill, while preparations were being made to enrol the Irish recruits. Mr. Duke, the Chief Secretary, said that " the intention of the Government was to present a Bill for Irish self-government without delay and as an urgent matter—to be prosecuted with the utmost despatch." " Nothing," he added, " would be more satisfactory to the Government than that a Par- liament should be erected in Dublin before any Irishman came to the Colours." He would. not have been a party to applying Con- scription without granting Home Rule, but he did not suggest a bargain. Mr. Devlin retorted that the Imperial Parliament had no right to impose a " blood-tax " on Ireland. The Irish wanted the full status of a Dominion. Then they would decide whether or not they would have Conscription. He himself would enlist.
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