The 12th of July celebrations in Ulster were held on
Monday, as the 12th this year fell on Sunday. There was enormous enthusiasm, but no disturbance of the peace. The chief demon- stration was at Drumbeg, whither about seventy thousand mem- bers of the Belfast Orange Lodges marched in procession. The Times special correspondent says that shouting and singing in the streets of Belfast began when midnight had struck on Sunday. Bonfires were lit in the streets, but everywhere there was good humour. On Monday morning the men who marched to Drumbeg went as ordinary citizens, and not under arms. Sir Edward Carson drove at their head. Par- ticularly noticeable were the drummers, whose type seems to be peculiar to Ulster. " The sound of the drums," says the correspondent, " dwarfed and drowned everything else. The drummers drummed so vigorously with the loaded canes which they used instead of ordinary drumsticks that in many eases the sheepskin of the drumheads was stained with blood from their bruised hands." Hundreds of blank cartridges were fired from revolvers on the meeting-ground at Drumbeg. The note of Sir Edward Carson's speech was defiance to the Government. Unless Ulster were left alone, the Ulster Unionists would soon recognize the Provisional Government and no other. " Give us a clean cut," he said to the Govern- ment, " or come and fight us."
Previous page
