In this context we may notice the admirable words in
which Sir James Craig invited the co-operation of the Roman Catholic minority in the Northern Province and promised them the fullest consideration of their point of view. It is by such means, and no other, that Irish Roman Catholics may ultimately secure that unity and fraternity throughout Ireland which they profess to desire so ardently. Nothing but injury to Ireland can ever come of the tyrannical and arrogant claim that the Roman Catholic majority in Southern Ireland have a natural right to dominate, persecute and destroy the local majority of Protestants and friends of England and of the Empire in the Northern Province. Mean- while, we are glad to see that order is firmly maintained. Though the Government do not find it necessary to execute men for the possession of firearms, as in the South, we are glad to note that they inflict terms of imprisonment from nine months to seven years, and accompany this punishment in certain cases with ten to twenty strokes of the birch. In cases of robbery under arms ten to fifteen lashes of the cat are added to the sentences. On the assumption that the cat is a deterrent, as is probable in cases of this kind, the sentences cannot be called too severe.
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