On Wednesday the House of Lords came to close quarters
with the Amending Bill, when Lord Selborne moved that Clause I., the clause which relates to the exclusion of counties or boroughs in Ulster by means of a local Referendum, should be omitted. It was not consistent with the sole reason which, presumably, actuated the Government in introducing the Bill —the avoidance of civil war in Ireland. The objectors in Ulster had already declined the arrangement embodied in the clause. Under the Government scheme the four counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, and Londonderry and the city of Belfast would be excluded, while the other counties of Ulster and the city of Londonderry would be included. This result of the scheme would in no way satisfy the Protestant majority of two hundred thousand which was to be found in the pro- vince as a whole. The plan of exclusion for only six years would act as a premium on unrest, a premium on hostility between Catholics and Protestants.
