In connexion with the Boundary controversy we must record the
very• important statement communicated by Lord Selborne to the papers of Tuesday. Within a fortnight of his death Lord Long sent to Lord Selborne a memorandum expressing the hope that Lord Selborne would use it " at his discretion." Lord Long says that when he reluctantly took charge of the 1920 Bill in the House of Commons he could find no support for it in any quarter ; the Liberals boycotted it and the Conservative Party was not interested. " The Ulster people stood coldly aloof." He then had conversations with Lord Carson and Sir James Craig, and he came to the conclusion that a plan could be arranged with the Ulster members on one condition and one alone, namely, that Ulster should receive a definite pledge from the Cabinet that if the Bill were accepted and Ulster tried to work it the Six Counties should belong to the Northern Government " for good and all." There was to be " no interference with the Boundaries or anything else except such slight adjustments as might be necessary to get rid of projecting bits, &c." Lord Long adds that he was authorized by the Cabinet to give this definite promise to Ulster and he accordingly gave it. * * * *
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