.A.USTRALIA. AND IRISH HOME RULE. (To THE EDIT011 Or TH•
Srecraree."1 Sin,—It will perhaps interest some of your readers to see the text of an open letter to Mr. Asquith from Australian citizens which ie to be sent to him within the next few days. It will help to remove the false impression, which the Nationalist Party has by bold and unscrupulous misrepresentation succeeded in creating, that Australia as a whole favours Home Rule. The letter has been signed by tens of thousands in all parts of the Commonwealth. There can be no manner of doubt that, if Australia could be polled to-morrow by means of a Referendum on the question, there would be an overwhelming majority against the coercion of Ulster, and, indeed, against Home Rule altogether. The resolution in favour of some kind of Home Rule, which was passed by the Australian Parliament a few years ago, was purely a piece of political opportunism. It does not in any way represent the true feeling of the Australian people.—I am, Sir, &a,
ALEX. LEEPER,
Vice-President of the Ulster Association of Victoria. Warden's Lodge, TriniEy College,
University of Melbourne : March 7th.
"To the Right Hon. H. H. Asourris, K.C., M.P., Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland- Sin,—Knowing that many misleading statements have been circulated in the United Kingdom to the effect that the people of Australia as a whole are in favour of the policy of Irish Home Rule, we, the undersigned adult (eighteen years or over) citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia and loyal subjects of the King, desire to state clearly that wo feel the gravest apprehension of the results that must ensue if the Government of Ireland Bill now before the British Parliament becomes law. In our opinion that measure will fatally impair the effective constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, will tend to the weakening of the Empire, and will operate as a permanent bar to Imperial Federation.
Accustomed as we are to the safeguards which protect our Australian Constitution from hasty changes, we find it difficult to believe that any British Government would contemplate the carry- ing into effect of a measure so revolutionary and far-reaching as the present Bill without first securing a definite and unmistakable expression of opinion from tho electors of the United Kingdom. Still more incredible appears to us the report that your Govern- ment proposes to expel a million of the King's most loyal, law- abiding, and industrious subjects from their present position as full citizens of the United Kingdom, and to coerce them into submission to a Government which they have only too good reason to regard with feelings of distrust and aversion. It 1300I0.9 to be our duty to assure you that in resisting by every possible means such a policy of injustice and tyranny the Unionists of Ireland would have our whole-hearted sympathy and all such support as it might be possible for us to render to them.—We are, Your obedient servants."
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