A kind of insurrection against the Home-rule Bill is going
on in Ireland, amply described in another column. We only need say here that the entire wealth, responsibility, and in- telligence of the island, Catholic as well as Protestant, is protesting against the measure, and declaring that, if passed, it will produce a condition of affairs fatal to prosperity and to peace. Perhaps the most important movement, however, is that of the Ulster Defence Union, a body which reckons within it the most important men in Ulster. They have issued a manifesto calling on all " full-grown " Unionists in Ulster to enroll themselves in the Defence Union, and to elect a delegation of six hundred, which again will elect from its members an administrative council of forty. The object of the new organisation is not merely to continue the struggle for the legislative Union, but to be ready for any contingency that may arise. The funds, "which for the purpose in view must necessarily be large," must be raised at once, and doubt- less will be largely aided by subscriptions from English loyalists. Those who sign the manifesto urge abstinence from violence, even under provocation; but it is evident that Ulster does not intend to allow itself to be ceded, like Lorraine, without one struggle for its nationality.
Previous page
