AN APPEAL TO ULSTER.
[To TRY EDITOR OP THEP " SPICCTATOS."1 SIR,—You are perfectly right in the line you have taken regarding the injustice of refusing to allow Ulster to fonts a separate Government if a Home-rule Bill is passed. Logically no contradiction is possible. But are we governed by logic ? Do Trade-Unionists allow the same freedom to men who do not want to join the Union as they exact against the master P Mr. Redmond will probably assert that he does not ask for separation and repeal of the Union, but merely the right to control local affairs by a local Parliament,—the debt owed to Ireland being as usual paid, and the duty of protecting Ireland naturally remaining as it is now. He will distinctly refuse to entertain any claim on the part of Ulster to separate itself from a country of which it is an integral part. He will declare it is the duty of England to reduce to obedience her rebellious subjects. No doubt if this is so, and Ulster still refuses to obey, the Government will be in a very unpleasant position, and find it very difficult to carry a Home- rule Bill out easily. You may remember that Mr. Asquith, on being asked what he would do if there were civil war in Ireland, said he need not reply, for the case could not occur. I myself do not believe there is at all a unanimous wish for Home-rule in Ireland. The more sensible and wealthier members of the country foresee that a large withdrawal of capital will take place and many of the wealthier inhabitants leave. I have spent nearly the whole of my rents in the county I reside in, and am now forced to sell every acre at a considerable loss. I cannot be expected to continue the same liberality. When I tell the tradesmen in the neigh- bouring town this, the invariable answer is : "If your honour leaves us we shall be ruined entirely." You have done a con- siderable service, Sir, in drawing the attention of English supporters of Home-rule to the question of Ulster.—I am,.
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