When the debate was continued on Wednesday the most interesting
contribution came from Mr. Lloyd George, who denied that any pledge guaranteeing the Six Counties as an unchangeable area had ever been given to Ulster. This declaration, though received as of the first importance in some quarters, does hot, of course, possess any significance. It has always been understood by everybody that there might be small changes of the boundary—changes as convenient to Ulster as to the South. Mr. Lloyd George therefore was verbally quite safe in saying that there was not any pledge of no change. He himself however—to look no further—gave several pledges that there should be no essential change without Ulster's consent. Lord Carson has said in the Morning Post that he received a letter from Mr. Lloyd George, promising that if the Ulstermen accepted the Six Counties they should never be disturbed. In the debate Mr. Lloyd George challenged Lord Carson to produce the letter. He also stated that the Ulster representatives themselves suggested a Boundary. Commission. We can well believe that they did, and in the circumstances that was most creditable to them. It showed that they did not at all want to include hostile fringes in their new community. The second reading of the Bill was agreed to.
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