On the question of Ulster, Lord Grey was very brief
but very sound. He said :-
"There remains the one other difficulty in the Irish question, that of Ulster. I will only say a word about it. The rest of Ireland, the Sinn Fein part, must win the consent of Ulster by consent. It is quite true that a partitioned and divided Ireland can never realize Irish aspirations. It is equally true that any attempt to coerce Ulster would fail. It would not only fail, it would lead not merely to civil war, not merely to race war, but to that something which is more deadly opposed to religion and humanity than almost anything else, a religious war. An attempt to coerce Ulster is bound to fail, and bound to make the ruin, moral and material, of Ireland. The consent of Ulster must be won by the rest of Ireland by consent, and all I would say is that if there be a settlement in the Conference, and if that be the policy of those who will then have the govern- ment of the majority of Ireland, all there is for us to do is to stand aside and hope that the two parts of Ireland may come to an agreement."
