THE POSSIBLE INSURRECTION IN ULSTER.
WHETHER the Protestant counties of Ulster will rebel against an Irish Catholic Parliament seated in Dublin is, of course, doubtful, quiet industrials being slow to take up arms ; but we should say, looking at the whole matter as historians, and without prejudice in favour of any party, the balance of probability lay on that side. The gulf which divides the Ulstermen from the Southerners in race, creed, and form of civilisation is both wide and deep. The former will be alarmed for their creed, which, if not directly persecuted, will be treated as a disqualification for office ; for their property, which, if not actually menaced by confiscating laws, will be crippled by new taxation to " encourage " the industries of the South ; and for their honour, which, if they yield aEter so many protestations, will be assailed by storms of ridicule. They will be ,mortified to the heart by the exchange of a position of ascendancy for one of servitude, and will be fevered with "preternatural suspicion," probably aggravated by im- prudent utterances on the part of the dominant majority and its priesthood. They are, moreover, strong-willed men. The English and Scotch settled in Ulster have taken on, from the circumstances of their history as a caste ruling a majority who resented their rule, a peculiar character, the notes of which are determination and the belief in force. All over the world they make admirable governors, soldiers, administrators, and heads of large businesses ; and their careers are always marked by the same peculiarities, dominance, success, and unpopularity for everything except their acts, which, being great, frequently bring them devoted adherents. The typical Ulsterman is General Nicholson, who having in the course of his duty to shoot a prisoner in the act of escaping, fired, killing the .man, but never as he marched on turned his head to see if he had prevailed or not. Men of this stern type, embit- tered by their first grand defeat after centuries of victory, afraid far all they hold dearest in the world, and aware of friends all over Great Britain, are likely to resist subjuga- .tion by a rising in arms if they can, and their capabilities of action, if overrated by their friends, are frequently underrated by their opponents. The six counties cannot defeat England any more than all Ireland could ; but de- feating England would not be their object, but to make such a resistance that England, stirred to its depths with sym- pathy, might reinclude them in her dominion. It is, of course, most difficult for a province to hold its own against a Kingdom, but the new Government of Ireland would not at first be a strong one, and it might not have the control of any powerful force of British troops, the Imperial Government hesitating to act in face either of Par- Lament or of its own military officers. The Ulstermen, we -should. think, would have a few weeks' time, and might, after creating a Provisional Government charged "to defend this division of Queen Victoria's dominion," if even fairly armed, construct and defend a Plevna which no Irish local force could carry, and which it would take twenty thousand of the best British soldiers two months to occupy by storm. With Canadians, Scotchmen, English- men, and probably Germans swarming to offer aid, the defence of such a. Plevna might be a grand one, and would certainly excite a commotion in Great Britain that would shake any Ministry and impede the action of any hula- ment. The end, we see reason to believe, would be a com- promise which, by making them either a Canton of Ireland -or a division of England, would release the six counties from • immediate dependence upon any Irish central authority. It would be too painful to put out the full force of the Empire for the utter subjugation of men who only ask to remain subject to its Parliament, and too great a draft besides on the loyalty of officers willing to die in any .quarrel save one against which their consciences and their honour might alike revolt. But would Ulster or the six counties have the moral Tight to embark on such a struggle ? It is very difficult to say where the right of rebellion begins and ends. It certainly exists, or slavery, for instance, might be eternal ; and it is as certainly not universal, or there could be no society. On the whole, we should say that the right arose wherever an intolerable wrong existed not curable in any other way, as in the case of slavery ; wherever a higher race was subjected to a lower one, as in the case of Bul- garians and Turks ; and wherever a race was transferred from one dominion to another without its own consent, as was once the case with the Tyrolese. It is impossible to deny the right of a State to make peace when defeated, and therefore impossible to deny its right to cede a pro- vince or provinces ; but, by the consent of mankind, tin; people so ceded may fight on if they can and dare. France had a clear right after the fall of Paris to cede Alsace and Lorraine ; but no man would have thought the provinces wrong, if they had been strong enough, in setting up fcr themselves, or joining Switzerland, or reuniting themselves with France. The Venetians during seventy years resisted their transfer to Austria, which was quite legal, for they had submitted unconditionally to France, and won their emane. pation at last amidst the applause of mankind. Hofer is the patriot, par excellence, of English childhood ; and Colonel Saunderson's moral plea would be a stronger one than Hofer's. The Tyrolese were only transferred from Austria.ns to Bavarians—that is, from one set of governors of their own lineage, creed, and civilisation to another—but the English and Scotch of the North will be transferred from governors of their own race, creed, and kind of civilisation to men who are different in all those respects. The Bava- rians, too, had no hatred for the Tyrolese, while the domi- nant section in Ireland, if it hates anything, bates the men of the North, not without plenty of historic reason. We can understand very well the argument now so seldom produced that rebellion can never be justified, as we can understand, also, the argument for non-resistance, and would admit that both arguments were true, provided the whole world obeyed them ; but if rebellion is ever justifiable, we do not see wherein the Ulster case falls short.
The answer will be, we suppose, that the men of the six counties are not transferred by the Home-rule Bill, that they remain as before the subjects of Queen Victoria, and will be under her government and protection ; but surely that is a little sophistical ? What is government if it is not the power of passing laws and appointing an executive ? and the Bill transfers both to the majority of Irish Roman Catholics, who may make any laws for Ulstermen they please, and appoint Catholic prefects to govern them invested with any powers. People win not understand that the Dublin Parliament will have all the powers of the English Parliament, with the exception of the very few reserved,—all the powers, for example, under which the Southern States of America established the Slavery Laws. That is transfer to another Government if there is such a thing ; and, indeed, to do them justice, the Nationalists would acknowledge the fact. They denounce the British as "foreigners," and if we are foreigners, so are they foreigners to the Ulstermen. If, again, it is con- tended that Irish opinion must be the judge as to the right or wrong of any rebellion in Ireland, we reply that even if that be so, Ireland cannot hold two contradictory opinions at once. She pleads that her people being a separate people have a right to self. government, and would have a right to rebel to get it if they had a chance. Very good ; but then the men of the North are a separate people too, and have also the right to rebel if they will run the risk. They are not a nation, and do not pretend to be one ; but they are a part of a nation seated on their lochs and bills for hundreds of years, during which they have never given up their claim to be British subjects. They have been as persistent in their separateness as the Irish themselves, if that is a claim to be respected We shall be very sorry to see the Ulstermen in num.' rection, even if the Home-rule Bill passes, for civil war is the destruction of civil life, and in most cases a crime justly, as well as legally, punishable with death ; but we cannot say that, according to recognised moralities, they will be in the wrong, while we can say that we think they will try it. If they move before the Bill passes, of course they give up all claim to justification and all English sympathy ; but justly irritated as they are, they are not so mad as that. There are fanatics among them, but their leaders hold them well in hand, and the Catholics of Belfast are, we trust and believe, as safe as those of Glasgow or London, where, to be an English Catholic, is to belong to a class socially ratlu r at a premium than a discount.
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