ULSTER AND HOME RULE.
LTO TEE EDITOR OP TILE " SPECTATOIL".I
SIR,—I do not think that it would be reasonable to ask the men of 'Ulster to accept Home. Rule and ask their Parlia-
mental", representatives to vote for it on Ulster being excepted from its scope. There are, I think, strong reasons in favour of a powerful central government at the present juncture—. especially for the purpose of dealing with Syndicalism and Socialism—and the Ulstermen cannot become parties to im- posing the yoke of the Nationalists on the Protestants in the rest of Ireland, who would undoubtedly feel much more com- fortable under the present system than under Home Rule. But I presume the threats of armed resistance held out by the Ulstermen are only intended to apply to an attempt to enforce Nationalist rule in Ulster. .For example, the men of Down would probably expel the whole body of Redmondite officials from that county unless these officials were kept in their positions by a sufficient armed force ; but supposing that Down were exempted from the Bill, why should the Down men make an excursion into Louth in order to expel the new officials from that county which had received them with open arms ? I do not believe that any such attempt would be made. The exclusion, of Ulster• from the scope of the Bill would, I think, remove all risk of tumults and loss of life, and would render it unneces- sary to provide constant military protection for the officials of the new Government, who would otherwise in many places be dislodged the moment this protection was withdrawn. I suspect that even at the end of ten years if the garrison of Belfast were withdrawn the officers of the Dublin Parliament would find it expedient to leave by the same train.
I think the Government would do well in their own interest as well as in the interest of the country to omit Ulster from their Bill; but I do not think it desirable or possible to make a contract with the Ulstermen that if their province is struck out they will facilitate the Government in passing the Home Rule Bill as regards the rest of Ireland. I am a Southern Irish Unionist. I do not wish the Ulsterman to sacrifice him- self for me—and, perhaps, to make the sacrifice in vain. But I hope he will not go over to the enemy's camp and help the Government in its project of handing me over to the rule of persons from whom I cannot expect to receive as good treat- ment as I am now receiving. But I daresay we may do fairly well. We shall be pretty much in the position of foreigners, but let alone provided that we keep quiet. This, however, is not the position which an Ulsterman desires to occupy or ought to be asked to oconpy.—I am, Sir, &c.,
RIBERNIC1JS.
[Our correspondent is greatly mistaken if he imagines that we have ever suggested that the men of Ulster or any other Unionists should accept Home Rule even if North-East Ulster were exempted. We only demand that exemption on the ground that if there must be a Horde Rule Act, the Government on their own showing are bound to allow North- East Ulster to remain outside it. Even when fitted. with a safety-valve to prevent civil war the Bill remains a bad and dangerous measure, and so contrary to the best interests of Ireland and Britain that its passage must be opposed at'every point. There is nothing illogical in this position, which we have maintained throughout. A man has a right (I) to insist that only a small instead of a fatal dose of poison shall be poured into a cup out of which he is told he is going to be compelled to drink and (2), on this concession being made, to continue to struggle with all his might against drinking even the diluted draught. In Parliamentary language, one may press for amendments and, even if they are granted, vote against the third reading.—En. Spectator.]
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