[The Premier then took up the system of exemptions, which is revised in the bill. He explained that the King, under the provisions of the bill, could cancel former exemptions, and that men would be exempted on medical grounds only, with provisions also for speeding up the procedure of appeal tribunals. He continued:] We have to choose between either submitting to defeat or taking the necessary measures to avert it. We will never submit to accepting defeat. I need hardly say that this provision will not be used to set aside the pledges given to discharged soldiers. They will be carefully observed. CONSCRIPTION IN IRELAND I now come to the question of Ireland. When an emergency has arisen which makes it necessary to put men of 50 and boys of 18 into the army in the fight for liberty and independence--[Joseph Devlin here interrupted]--"and small nationalities," the Premier resumed: Especially as I am reminded, to fight for liberty and independence and small nationalities, I am perfectly certain it is not possible to justify any longer the exclusion of Ireland. John Dillon--You will not get any men from Ireland by compulsion, not a man. The Premier--What is the position? No home rule proposal ever submitted in this House proposed to deprive the Imperial Parliament of the power of dealing with all questions in relation to the army and navy. These invariably are in every home rule bill I have ever seen and are purely questions for the Imperial Parliament, so that I am claiming no more as a national right than was ever claimed in the House. The Defense of the Realm act also was extended to Ireland. The character of the quarrel in which we are engaged is just as much Irish as English. May I say it is more so? It is more Irish, Scotch, and Welsh than it is even English. Ireland, through its representatives at the beginning of the war, assented to it. Mr. Devlin--Because it was a war for small nationalities. The Prime Minister--Ireland, through its representatives, assented to the war, voted for the war, supported the war. Irish representatives and Ireland, through its representatives, without a dissenting voice committed the empire to this war. They are as responsible for it as any part of the United Kingdom. May I just read the declaration issued by the Irish Party on Dec. 17, 1914, shortly after the war began? Mr. Byrne--We have had a revolution since then. The Prime Minister--This is the Declaration of the Irish Party: