The Report shows that this compromise—if an evasion of the
difficulty deserves the name—was reached as the result of the Prime Minister's letter of February 25th, outlining a possible settlement in which various •controversial matters were .to be set aside till peace returned. Mr. Lloyd George expressed his approval of the provision of an Ulster Committee within the Irish Parliament, " with power to modify, and, if necessary, to exclude, the application to Ulster of certain measures either of legislation or administration which are not consonant with the interests of Ulster." The Minority Report of the nineteen Ulster Unionists states that the Convention failed to agree on any vital issues, that the Nationalists were sharply divided, and that. their spokesman, the Bishop of Raphoe, so far from offering any concessions to Ulster, demanded " a sovereign independent Parliament for Ireland co-equal in power and authority with the Imperial Parliament," and• complete fiscal autonomy, with the repudiation of liability for the National Debt, to whioh the Southern Unionists were and are absolutely opposed. In effect, the Convention achieved less than nothing.
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