27 DECEMBER 1913, Page 2

Surely this is action which can be taken by the

most con- vinced Home Ruler—even by those who are most strongly opposed to the action of the Ulstermen and regard their attitude as most injurious. No doubt the easy thing is to say: "People who tell us they are going to defy the law of the land must be crushed," and to refuse to try milder methods first. But those who have recourse to prayer, and it is of those we are speaking, could never feel justified in drawing the sword without having first exhausted every other method. Remember, we do not ask those Liberals and Home Rulers who also think of their duty as Christians to abandon wholly the coercion of those who will not obey the law of the land. We only ask that they should help their prayers by their action —by insisting that every influence that makes for a pacifio settlement must be exhausted before recourse is had to the rifle and the bayonet.