THE GOVERNMENT AND ULSTER.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—"When one reads in the Radical Press the vehement denunciations of Russian policy in Persia and Chinese policy in Tibet, by which, as they tell us, two nationalities are being ruthlessly stamped out, one is at once struck by the parallel instance of Ulster. Russia is at pre- sent filled with the philanthropic schemes of Tolstoy, and though no doubt the Russian Foreign Office are guided by a desire for territorial aggrandisement, yet there is no eason why the Persians should be ill-treated or subjected to misrule. On the other hand, Ireland has for centuries been
filled with bitter racial and religious antipathy; both parties have remorselessly used their power in oppressing their oppo- nents, and there is no reason to suppose that the Irish Parlia- ment as projected will behave very much better than their ancestors have done. In the face of inadequate safeguards in the Home Rule Bill, the only way to protect Ulster from injustice, and incidentally to avoid violating the principles of Liberalism, is to exempt those counties of Ulster from the provisions of the Bill where there is a majority in favour of maintaining the Union. The British nation sent the Liberal Party to Parliament to uphold the cause of freedom and justice, of progress and reform, not to endeavour by a series of unconstitutional and self-interested acts to maintain itself ha power for as long a period as possible.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
