§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to a report in The Times of a speech delivered by the Member for North Armagh on 15th March at an Orange and Unionist demonstration held in Hope Hall, Liverpool, from which it appears that he announced his intention of resisting "Home Rule," if necessary, by force, and expressed his belief that the British Army would refuse to act against Ulster loyalists; and whether, in view of the fact that the Member for North Armagh is Colonel of the Fourth 669 Battalion of Irish Fusiliers, it is intended to take any action in respect to these observations?
§ MR. M'CARTANIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that nobody in Ulster believes for a moment that under any circumstances will the hon. and gallant Gentleman resist by force?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI should be sorry to answer any question for the whole of Ulster. I had not read the speech referred to until my attention was called to it by my hon. Friend's question. As is indicated by my hon. Friend, the hon. Member for North Armagh has two existences—he is the colonel of a regiment of Irish Militia, and he is also an Irish Member and an active if not "excited" politician. It was solely in the second capacity that he made this speech. My hon. Friend will agree with me that we have long ago learned in this House to gauge the value of the exaggerated language sometimes employed by the hon. and gallant Member, and I hardly think that special notice need be taken of this particular ebullition.