The Queen has decided not to visit Belfast. In intimating
her decision she expresses her great regret that she is compelled to abandon the idea of making any journeys during her stay in Ireland, and in view of her age and the efforts she has already made, the reason assigned will be accepted as conclusive. At the same time it is impossible not to sympathise with Belfast in its disappointment. The welcome the Queen would have received in the North might have been less picturesque, but it would have been more homogeneous in quality, more deeply animated by patriotic attachment as opposed to personal sympathy. The splendid services of the Southerners in the present campaign must not make us forget the debt which the Empire owes to the North of Ireland, the birthplace of the Lawrences, and of so many other famous Anglo-Indian soldiers and civilians. After all, there are still two Irelands, and we can never ignore that which stood firm in 1886 and 1893, and is the nursing mother of perhaps the most vigorous and efficient type of citizen to be found within the Empire.
Previous page
