14 FEBRUARY 1914, Page 12

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

ULSTER'S VIGIL.

[To ass Enrroo or ass ”Srecraror-n

Silt —Will you allow me to say how deeply the poem, "Ulster's Vigil," which appeared in the Spectator of January 31st, has touched the hearts of many of us here, by its perfect expres- sion of our feelings P It is true indeed that here in Ulster we have a people who, in all ranks and classes, are still in the heroic age of British patriotism, All the great. principles and traditions for which Britain ban stood, throughout her greatest periods of straggle and achievement, are, it is no exaggeration to say, the dearest heritage -of the men and women, of Ulster. It is of these things that the Union Jack ia, for us, the emblem. There are, no doubt, serious differences of race, religion, and economic; condition which eeparate Ulatermen from the Nationalists of the South, and make us feel that Home Rule would be, for that reason, a disaster. But deeper still is this pure devotion to all that makes the name of Britain—of England—glorious in the world's history. This fact has been too little recognized. It is terrible to think of what the effect may be if the might of England is used to destroy her most loving friends. History records no such tragedy as that which will come to pass if the British Army is to be employed to shoot down men whose only crime is that they have loved the citizenship, the traditions, and the glory of Britain better than life itself.—I am, Sir, 8tc., Culloden, Craigaead, Co. Down. CHARLES F. DOWN.