T HE great went of the week has been the unmasking
of the Homo Rule Movement on the floor of the House of Commons. We now see it as it really is, and not as the Nationalists when in England and addressing English audiences have pretended it is, or as Liberals have hoped against hope that it was. It is a demand like the German demand for the freedom of the seas—a demand for freedom to coerce North-East Ulster. When the Premier said in effect: "Anything you like for yourselves—but no forcing of your policy upon parts of Ireland to which it is repugnant," the Nationalists flounced out of the House in a fury, saying as clearly as acts could : " Cowards, traitors; and liars ! You mock us. Don't you realize that you are taking from us the only thing that makes Home Rule worth having—the right to domineer over and exploit and put in their place the Protestants of North-East Ulster ? We asked for a whip of scorpions, and you give us a dove's wing. As usual, we are betrayed by the false-hearted, bloody, and brutal Saxon."
