Last week we suggested, though we were writing without particular
information, that the riots in Belfast had been con- trived by Sinn Feiners in order that the trouble might be used as an argument for bringing turbulent North-East Ireland under a Dublin Parliament. Of course it is always easy to say, as we regret to see most English Liberal newspapers have been saying, that Orangemen are responsible for the riots because they boycotted Roman Catholic workmen. Everything depends• upon how far back you look. Why were Roman Catholic workmen boycotted ? Because the. Protestants and Unionists of Ulster who were appalled at the ghastly and cruel murders which had been committed by the Sinn Feiners were determined partly that they would make their protest and partly that they would, if they could, prevent such things occurring in Ulster. Next, the Sinn Feiners retaliated against this retaliation, and so, after an inevitable series of exchanges which English Liberals interpret according to their own political bias, the Sinn Fein gunmen arranged a regular battue in Belfast.
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