ITO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.."]
SIB,—It seems to the writer that not nearly enough is made of the gross inconsistency and injustice of the Nationalist double claim—(1) that Home Rule ought to be granted be- cause the overwhelming majority of Irishmen want it ; (2) that Ulster (or North-East Ulster) cannot be allowed to stand out because it is so enormously important. If Ulster's importance were due to natural advantages the case would be different; but it is not: it is due to the character of the people and to nothing else. So Mr. Redmond in effect says, "You are so insignificant that you cannot be allowed to thwart the wishes of the whole of Ireland, but so enormously important that we can by no means allow you to stand out." A truly noble attitude for these patriots who are to re-build their country's fortunes ! They cannot begin to do it with- out the help of those who most deeply distrust them. With or without a general election, those who see a third alter- native to the exclusion of Ulster (or North-East Ulster) on one hand or civil war on the other must be sanguine indeed. Compromise or civil war seems to loom on the horizon above every other object.—I am, Sir, &o., E. H. B.
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