NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE important announcement was made in the Times of Friday that definite negotiations have been going on during the past few days between the Government and the Opposition as to Ulster. There had already been communi- cations between the two parties, but these, we are told, had been "limited to the normal conversation of various personal friends on either side of the House of Commons and outside it. They were no doubt the natural preliminary to a meeting of the leaders." A more businesslike stage has now been reached. This is good news. To continue much longer the policy of drift would, in our opinion, certainly mean civil war. Together with the gratifying statement in the Times we must, however, read Mr. Bonar Law's speech on Thursday night at Carnarvon, in which he offered the very grave opinion that the chance of settle- ment was " smaller now than it was six weeks ago." This probably means that the negotiations mentioned by the Times have revealed the extraordinary difficulty of arriving at an arrangement. There could not possibly be a stronger proof that temporizing and finessing will be fatal. The issue is not that of making a bad Bill into a good one, but simply and solely that of avoiding civil war—an object on which should be concentrated henceforth the exclusive and earnest attention of all men of good will.
