The Prime Minister put the case very fairly, as he
almost always does in his speeches to deputations, when he is " un- cumbered " by the cares of preserving his coalition. But unquestionably we can claim on his admissions a verdict in our favour, that is, in favour of the contention that if the Bill is to go through North-East Ulster must be left out. If there is an unbridgeable gulf and no compromise can be arranged for safeguards within the Bill, which is Mr. Asquith's first admission—he did not attempt to argue that he is to be the sole judge of what is a safeguard for Ulster—and if " something has got to be done," which was his second admis- sion, then clearly there are only two courses by which the impasse can be relieved. Either the Bill must be abandoned altogether or else North-East Ulster must be left out of its scope. But the Government will not abandon the Bill. There- fore they must accept the second alternative or else sin against what they admit to be the light. They are estopped from using against us the argument that leaving out North-East Ulster would ruin their Bill, for that is part of our case.
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