It is inspiriting to turn from the South and West
of Ireland to such a characteristic event in Ulster as the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. At the end of last week the General Assembly discussed Conscription for Ireland in a debate that was quiet, rational, and thorough. The result of the voting was in every way creditable to the General Assembly and to the Loyalists of Ulster. What little opposition there was to Conscription was based on the principle that it was not the duty of a Church to express approval or disapproval of a political act. The general opinion of the Assembly, however, was overwhelming. Loyalty required not merely that the Presbyterian Church should obey the law, but that it should formally record the whole-heartedness -with which it did so. In a house of five hundred members only about a dozen were opposed to Conscription. It is men etch as these typical Ulstermen who, according to our English Home Rule newspapers, are the real breeders of rebellion, the original fount of unreason and obetintsey and everything-else that is difficult to manage in Ireland !
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