NORTH-EAST ULSTER AND GREAT BRITAIN.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.")
Sfs,—You recently referred to the great work which "Ulster has done during the war in supplying linen for the aeroplanes. It Is well to observe the important bearing of this on Ulster's present demand for closer union with Great Britain. If Ulster had yielded to Mr. Lloyd George's entreaties in June, 1916, and submitted to Home Rule, this supply of linen would not have been available, for the Dublin Parliament would certainly have pro- hibited the exportation of linen lest it might injure the country With which Ireland was on the terms of friendly neutrality. The Ulster minority might have protested, but would have been powerless to prevent the prohibition.
As I am writing, I should like to correct a slight inaccuracy in "Belfast Man's" letter which appeared in the Spectator of December 14th. He says that four-sevenths of the Protestants of Ireland are Presbyterians. According to the Census of 1911, as given in TVhitaker's Altnanack, the members of the Church of Ireland numbered 576,611—that is, 13.1 per cent, of the total population; and the Presbyterians 440,525—that is, 10 per cent. I admit that the numbers may have changed somewhat since then, fsr the Protestants scattered through the South and West, who are mostly Episcopalians, being deprived of all chance of employment under the present Ultramontane domination, have been steadily leaving the country for freer lands; but the change cannot be as large as "Belfast Man" supposes.—I am, Sir, &c., UNIONIST.
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