During the discussion on the Report of Irish Supply in
the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr. Devlin raised the question of the ill-treatment accorded to Roman Catholics and Liberals in the Belfast shipyards. The law-breakers of Belfast were, he declared, the dupes of Sir -Edward Carson, " that academic ana:rchiSt." He also declared that Mr. Bonar Law, in his speech in " the Saturnalia at Blenheim," had encouraged defiance of the law in regard to resistance by North-East Ulster. Sir Edward Carson, as any one who knows anything about him would have expected, stated that he would never countenance acts like those committed in the shipyards. They were lamentable. But he agreed with Mr. Craig that the main cause of the disturbances was the Home Rule Bill, which roused the deepest passions. The gross and savage attack on school children, for which the Ancient Order of Hibernians was responsible, was a subsidiary cause. Mr. Birrell took little objection to most of Sir Edward Carson's speech, but denounced the outrages, and assured the House that everything the police and military could do would be done.
