NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE event of the week is one difficult to describe in specific language. It is the sense of relief that has suddenly arisen in the public mind. Mr. Asquith's announcement that when the financial business is finished he will set forth pro- posals for satisfying the demands of Ulster has been inter- preted to mean that we are to be saved from civil war by Exclusion. We have dealt elsewhere with the sub- ject as a whole, but may here record our belief that the popular impression is true and that Exclusion has been decided upon. There remains a rock ahead. What is to be the area excluded P Is it to be the whole province of Ulster, as the Ulstermen desire, or only the four north-eastern counties, as is desired by those who wish to minimize Exclu- sion P We should not at all wonder if, in the end, the matter is compromised by the area being that of the six Plantation counties. These counties are in every sense homogeneous, by religion, by race, and by the determination of the majority of their inhabitants to die fighting rather than go under a Dublin Parliament. At the moment the indications are that Jar. Devlin, though he will grumble, will assent to Exclusion, partly no doubt because he is beginning to think that he might fail to make good his objection—an event which would, of course, mean for him political extinction.
