27 APRIL 1912, Page 30

THE ULSTER PROBLEM.

ITO THE RECTOS OF TIM " SPECTATOR...1

SIR,—May I venture to say I do not understand your article on "the Ulster Problem" in the Spectator of April 13th P How can troops be used to compel the Ulster taxpayers to pay their taxes? I suppose even the present Government would not order troops to fire on those who refuse to pay taxes, which is the only meaning I can give to your sentence which I quote above. Military force can only be used if there are riots which the civil power is unable to deal with. Suppose all these determined people band themselves together in a tax-refusing league. What law on earth is there which can compel them to pay taxes P You cannot put all the inhabitants of North-East Ulster into gaol, nor will it serve your turn to seize and sell their things, for there will be no one to buy. I think it was Edmund Burke who said you cannot draw an indictment against a nation. Surely the same principle holds here, In my view, if an organized resistance be made to the payment of taxes, Ulster wins hands down. In conclusion, may I, as a reader of your paper of over forty years' standing, Bend you my hearty thanks for your exposure of the foolish and wicked measures of the Government, sought to be carried over the heads of the electorate by methods so wicked that, did we not see them in operation before our eyes, we should find it impossible to believe that they could be contemplated P-1 am, Sir, Ste.,

CONSTANT READER.