On Tuesday, at Belfast, the Central Assembly of the Ulster
Defence Union held its first meeting in the Ulster Hall, under the presidency of the Duke of Abercorn. The assembly con- sists of 600 delegates, representing all classes, creeds, and interests in Ulster, elected by the 170,409 "male persons over sixteen years of age" who are registered as members of the Ulster Defence Union. For the moment, no doubt, there is little or nothing for the Central Assembly to do, but should the Home-rule agitation. be revived and the Bill re-introduced, the Protestants of the North will be found organised under what is, in fact, "a solemn league and covenant "to withstand Separation, and possessed of a representative body capable of speaking in the name of the North, and of exercising con- trol and authority over the Ulster Loyalists. The Duke of Abercorn, Colonel Saundermon, Dr. Kane, and others made speeches, all of them full of serious resolve and good sense; bait is not these so much as the meeting of the 600 delegates which demands the attention of those who are half persuaded that it will be a master stroke of policy to introduce civil war into Ireland, in order to get rid of an uncomfortable Parlia- mentary situation.
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