Before we leave the subject of the breakdown of the
Irish negotia. dons we must say a word about the very unfair criticism that has been directed - against Sir Edward Carson. In our opinion, Sir Edward Carson throughout acted 'wisely and well—with judgment and with patriotism. He saw-to it that -if a settlement was made it should -be on lines which would not provoke civil war in the homogeneous- area of Ulster in which there is a local Unionist majority, but he refrained from using his power over that majority to wreck the whole scheme. He preferred at a crisis like the present -not to oppose the-application of Parliamentary self-govern- ment to those parts of Ireland which desire it, or profess to desire it. That, of course, did not show t hat he approved of the plan in itself, but only that he was a statesman with a true sense of compromise. His letter in Thursday's Timm refusing to defend him- self. from Lord Hugh Cecil's attack is a model of-good sense and
good temper, as-well as of compression. .
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