Mr. Boner Law said that ho came as leader of
the Unionist Party in the House of Commons to assure Ulster that they regarded the cause of Ulster Unionists not as theirs alone, but as the cause of the Empire, and would do all they could to defeat a conspiracy as treacherous as had ever been formed against the life of a great nation. If they defeated Home Rule now, they defeated it for over. As in 1886 and 1893, Ulster held the keys of the position. The whole history, of the modern world was the history of a move- ment towards closer union ; we alone, the empire-builders of the world, were asked to reverse that movement and begin the process of disintegration. The return of a Unionist Government would mean a change in the fiscal system, and no part of the United Kingdom would benefit more from such a change than Ireland. Ireland, he continued, was not and never had been a nation—there were two peoples in Ireland— and Ulster made no claim except that it should not be deprived of its birthright. The Government by their Parliament Bill had sought to cut them off from the help of the British people, but help would come, and when the crisis was over men would say of Ulster in words not unlike those once used by Pitt, " You have saved yourselves by your exertions, and you will save the Empire by your example." We have dealt with the Ulster problem elsewhere, but must add here that Mr. Boner Law's speech was sincere and impressive in a high degree. A better use could not have been made of the soul- shaking words in which Pitt crystallized the achievement of his country.
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