Ulster and Conscription
The Prime Minister's announcement that conscription is not to be applied to Northern Ireland will be received with universal relief everywhere outside Ulster, and by a sub- stantial proportion of the population of that province itself. To have taken the step which the Government of Northern Ireland desired would have split opinion in Ulster and in Great Britain alike, damped down much enthusiasm in America and created new bitterness in Eire. It is unfortunate that the impression was ever allowed to grow up that Mr. Churchill had decided in favour of conscription, but the position no doubt was that since the Ulster Government pressed for it the War Cabinet was bound to give the proposal full consideration before declaring its conclusion. So far as it is the case that the most patriotic citizens of Ulster are enlisting voluntarily and others who decline military service, mainly the Catholic Nationalists included in Ulster against their will, stepping into their shoes the case for applying compulsion to everyone of military age is logically strong. But its actual military effect would be relatively small—it might have meant the intake of some 6o,000 men for the army—and its political consequences would have been disastrous. Mr. Churchill observed, with studied under-statement, that it would not be worth the trouble—meaning, no doubt, not worth the trouble it would make. If that is true, as it indisputably is, the last word has been said, except that tribute must be paid to the spirit in which the Government of Northern Ireland has accepted a decision which must necessarily cause it disappointment.
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