ULSTER AND THE LIBERALS.
[To THE EDITOR OF TER "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—The letter of Mr. Clement Shorter in your issue of October 12th causes me no surprise. I have lived fifty-six years in this world, and I am past being astonished at any exhibition of human un-wisdom. Mr. Shorter belongs to a political party whose members have, for reasons I need not dwell on, to profess a belief in many measures which may not always coincide with their personal opinions. It is probably difficult for him to realize that people exist who mean every word that they say, and that these people hold their convic- tions so dear that they are prepared to make for them any sacrifices which the course of events may render necessary. Furthermore, when these persons do not expect to derive either political, personal, or pecuniary advantage from the line of conduct their convictions force them to adopt, politicians of the average Liberal type can be excused for regarding such conduct as a qualification for a lunatic asylum, and can also be pardoned for feeling absolutely incredulous as to such a type really existing at all. Although Mr. Shorter is hardly likely to encounter such a stamp of man amongst his political friends, he must accept the assurance of those who know that nearly a million people of this type exist in Ulster. They are the most dogged and determined race in the three kingdoms, and are so little versed in the niceties of political casuistry that they actually mean every word that they say, and when the time comes will carry into effect exactly what they have under-
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