WHAT ABOUT ULSTER?
icKTHAT is to be done about Ulster ? "—that is the V V question which must be pressed upon the Govern- ment till an answer is obtained. Up till now, the Govern- ment have tried to act as if the Ulster question did not exist, as if there was no such place to be found on the map, and as if the grant of Home-rule to Ireland was, as far as Ireland itself is concerned, perfectly plain sailing. Like the ostrich, they have bidden their heads in the sand, and pretended that, because they could not see the difficulties and dangers before them, they did not exist. This policy of ignoring Ulster was just possible six months ago. Then a pretence could be made that Ulster, except for a few noisy Orange- men, was not opposed to Home-rule, and that therefore the Ulster question was a neglectablo quality. Now, however, that pretence can be kept, up no longer.- Even Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bryce have to admit that such a place as Ulster exists, a,nd that it is bitterly hostile to the Home-rule Bill. Instead, then, of getting out of the difficulty by shutting their eyes and pretending, not to see -Ulster, the Govern- ment now turn away their heads with an air of shocked and scandalised indignation.— It is really too wicked. They cannot even argue about such a dreadfully painful sub- ject. They would rather believe that the Ulster people are merely acting, and will come to their senses the moment the Bill is passed, and regret their folly, than treat them as capable of such enormities. Treason is too terrible a crime to impute to any one till he has actually cpmmitted it, and therefore the kindest thing is not to notice how terribly Ulster is misbehaving itself.' Such an attitude is all very well for the moment, and to enable an individual or. a ,party to avoid a mere contro- versial defeat. The time has come, however, when it has ceased to be of any value, and. when all such cant must b3 cleared out of the way. The Home-rule question is, as every one knows, going to be decided by the hundred thousand voters who can throw the balance of power which way they choose; _ These men may not be very pro- found politicians or very close reasoners, but, depend upon it, they will not give their support to the Glatistonians inless they can get plain answers to certain plain ques- tions. Chief among these questions is,—" What is to be done about Ulster ? " It is no good to produce, in reply, a deluge of crocodile tears over the wickedness of the people who have created an Ulster question, or to complain of their violence, of their want of patriotism, and of their monstrous degeneracy in refusing to hate England as their grandfathers hated her. The men who ask the question, at What about Ulster ? " will not care one brass farthing about such talk. What they honestly want to know is,— " How are you going to force allegiance to a Dublin Parliament on Ulster when the argument on which you base your Home-rule scheme declares that you ought not to force allegiance to the Parliament at Westminster on Munster, Leinster, and Connaught P" The question is one which, as we have said, the Glad- stonians have hitherto steadily refused to consider. They cannot, however, remain mute much longer. How will they deal with it, and with the proposition which logi- cally arises from it ? This proposition is,—If there is to be Home-rule for Ireland, Ulster must be exempted from its operation. Expressed in its simplest terms, Home- rule means complying with the demand of a local majority. "Let the will of the local majority prevail,"—that is the essential principle on which the Gladstonian Party is agreed. It comes down to this, then. The Government are confronted with the question,—" Why don't you apply your own principle of local majorities to Ulster, and leave her, or that part of her in which the local majority is hostile to Home-rule, out of the Bill ? " They have dodged round every possible bush and stone like a body of recalcitrant hens determined not to be caught, but at last they are cornered. What answer will they give ? They cannot, when finally face to face with the question, give the answer-which has been thrown out from time to time,—" Ireland is anisland. Therefore Ulster cannot be left out of the Bill." That is too childish a reply, and besides, would make the Scotch Home-rulers suspicious. "If only islanders can claim Home-rule, what is to become of our rights ? " would be their feeling. Again, they cannot say that nobody in Ulster objects to Home-rule, unless it be a few extreme Orangemen. That, as a retort, is quite out of date. In all probability, the Government will rely upon the double- barrelled answer that the Ulster people do not ask for Home-rule, and that if they did, the difficulty of settling what part of Ulster ought to be left out of the Bill would be insurmountable, and that therefore the principle of local majorities does not apply.
We very much doubt whether the country will take any such reply. Their feeling will be something of this kirid. It is idle to meet the difficulty by saying that the people of Ulster refuse to ask for separate treatment. That is a mere party, House of Commons objection, and of no real validity. Of course, the Ulstermen will not themselve-s ask for separate treatment. They hate and oppose the whole Bill, and want to defeat it by every possible means. Therefore they will not seek to amend it. Those, how- ever, who are proposing the scheme as an act of justice and good policy, cannot make this an excuse for not acting up to their own principles. They cannot ride off in a pet and say that, because the Ulster people will not ask for a particular thing, the Home-rule Bill shall not be h con- sistent and logical measure. Legislation cannot be framed with an eye to the judicious slapping of upish and im- pertinent people. The Bill must be constructed with regard to the real merits of the question, and to nothing else. To meet the question, "What is to be done about Ulster ? " with "Oh, nothing is to be done about -Ulster, because the Ulster people are nasty, sulky things, and won't ask prettily to be let off playing in our game,' is simply childish-. The irreconcilable attitude of the Ulstermen, and their refusal to consider anything but the constitutional status quo, maybe morally right or wrong, but at any rate it cannot be made a ground for pretending that there is no Ulster question to trouble about. Rather is it a proof of the gravity and seriousness of the question. The Government's business is to proposethe best possible measure under the circumstances, not to "teach Ulster not to be so stand-offish." rn the other branch of the answer which we have assumed to be that of the Government, there is something a little more substantial. It would no doubt be somewhat difficult to say what part of the North of Ireland should be excepted from the operation of the Bill, but this, after all, is an argument against Home- rule, and not an answer to the question, "What is to be done about Ulster ? " It might not be an altogether satisfac- tory answer, even to the non-Unionist and balancing elector, to say, "We shall exempt the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down, Tyrone, and Fermanagh, and such baronies of Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan as are conterminous with the excepted counties, and shall elect to be transferred to the nearest excepted county," but it would, at any rate, furnish some answer,—and an answer which is perfectly logical. Let it not be sup- posed, however, that any such concession would reconcile us, or any other real Unionists, to the Bill. We oppose the Bill altogether, whether it be made less mischievous than it now is, or not. We are absolutely opposed to the principle that the will of a local majority shall prevail. But though we cannot, therefore, be reconciled to the Home-rule Bill by the exclusion of Ulster, we are free to point out that, unless separate treatment is given to Ulster, the Government is betraying its own principle ; and further, that only by forcing separate treatment on Ulster will civil war be avoided. Again and again must the question be repeated, "What about Ulster ?" It is not for us Unionists to answer that question. If we had had our way, that question would never have been asked. But though it is not our business to help in finding the answer, we have every right to ask the question. "What do you mean to do about Ulster ?" must be dinned into the ears of the Gladstonians till they are forced to find an answer. Unless we mistake, that answer will have the effect of Joshua's trumpets. Before it the walls of the Home-rule Jericho will fall in ruins.
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