AN INSULT TO ULSTER.
IT is satisfactory news that the Government have at last taken decided action in County Clare. If the first duty of a Government is to govern, this action was long overdue. It is not known what is happening in County Clare now, and we shall not attempt to guess. From many parts of Ireland came reports of unrestrained lawlessness. Farms were comman- deered in the name of the " Irish Republic " while the police looked on and did nothing. Raids for the purpose of seizing arms for the Sinn Fein rebels were frequent. In County Dublin an aerodrome was invaded and maps and documents were carried off. Cattle-driving had become a more common political sport than perhaps ever before. In one instance some men who had been arrested for cattle-driving calmly walked out of Court during their trial, and the police appar- ently did nothing to rearrest them. In wearing uniform and carrying arms the rebel volunteers daily broke the law. Even when men were condemned to punishment for such crimes, they soon found themselves at liberty again by going on hunger-strike. A man who starved himself for a few days automatically found himself among his friends again with a halo of martyrdom and heroism surmounting his volunteer cap. Thus rebellion was being popularized, and one wondered whether those responsible for the government of Ireland had not decided to reproduce the episode of Henry VIII. and the Earl of Kildare and say, in answer to the argument that " all Ireland cannot rule Sinn Fein "—" Then let Sinn Fein rule all Ireland."
It is with such scandalous events as those described above for a background that some of those politicians who are regularly hostile to Ulster have taken the opportunity to launch a new attack against the Ulster Unionists— against the very men who through thick and thin in this war have done their duty manfully as loyal sons of the British Empire. If persons who believe vaguely that there is some justice in these attacks could only read the reputable newspapers of North-East Ulster, they would see how grossly unfair and untruthful these attacks are. North-East Ulster— the homogeneous area of Unionism and Protestantism—is being represented as more rebellious than the rebels. It is being charged with standing in the way of a settlement that is essential to the welfare of the whole Empire. If those English people who are being misled will read some of the newspapers of these " rebels," they will find there to their astonishment nothing but earnest and temperate arguments about what these Ulstermen conceive to be their duty. It is a falsehood to say that North-East Ulster has ever " vetoed " Home Rule. She has acted literally and honestly on the principle of self-determination in making her demand for Exclusion. She has never attempted to prohibit Home Rule for those who want it. All she has said is : " If the principle of self-determination is to apply to the twenty-six-county area, why should it not also apply to the six-county area ? " We know perfectly well what reply will be made to this argument. It will be said that the partition of Ireland (which Exclusion of course involves) is an impossible policy, and that Unionists outside Ulster, as well as even a great many Ulster Unionists themselves, regard it as impossible. For our part, we cannot see any impossibility in it. The argument about impossibility was freely used in Virginia when the smaller section of the State known as West Virginia wished to be excluded. Lincoln recognized the rights of West Virginia, and ever since then Virginia has managed very well without West Virginia. Again, if partition is impossible for Ireland, why is partition for the United Kingdom not impossible ? Home Rule for Ireland is, of course, nothing else than a partition of the United Kingdom.
But let it be assumed for the purpose of argument that par- tition really is an impossibility. Then surely we must reach the conclusion that, since it is impossible, the only alternative, if North-East Ulster should refuse to come into a scheme of Home Rule, would be the maintenance of the Union. The proof would indeed be clear and final that the Union after all must hold the field. No one pretends that the Union is a perfect instrument of government and satisfies everybody. Demonstrably it does not. But it can be said on behalf of the Union that it divides Ireland less than any other conceivable system of government. It is actually in existence, and in the past it has brought to Ireland the greatest amount of rest, security, and prosperity which she has ever known. We have written these words in defence of North-East Ulster simply because the Ulster Unionists are being grossly abused, and not because we wish to make any reference to the affairs of the Convention. If the Convention can produce a scheme that North-East Ulster feels herself able to accept, no one would be more unfeignedly pleased than we should be. We still hope that this miraculous thing will happen. It does not need to be pointed out how great a weight of anxiety would be re- moved from the shoulders of the whole Empire if there could be an Irish settlement. But when North-East Ulster is being attacked as a perverse and malignant community, and as the sole hindrance to an honourable settlement, it is impossible to be silent. If Ulster does not trust Nationalists and Simi Feiners enough to put herself at their mercy, the reasons are surely plain enough. We have often remarked in the past than when a settlement on some self-governing lines was within sight in Ireland, objections were always raised at the last moment by the Roman Catholic hierarchy. We do not know, if another settlement came within view, what part the hierarchy would play ; still, we can judge from the past and we can guess. The Roman Catholic hierarchy, we suspect, always feels it neces- sary to join the popular movement till that movement looks dangerously like succeeding. But at the last moment it does not really want a rival power to itself in Ireland—for that is what a local Government would mean. If past experience should be repeated, let the British people be prepared against tolerating the scandal of placing on the shoulders of Ulster the responsibility that will belong to others. Englishmen are accustomed to having this burden put upon their shoulders, but if they understand the truth they will not let it be borne by Ulster. The Daily News and other bitter enemies of Ulster should also take heed lest they goad Ulster into a disloyalty which she has never practised and will never wish to practise. You cannot for ever postpone the interests of loyalists to those of disloyalists.
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