Setting aside these party machinations, it was enough for them
in Ulster to know that there was to be formed in Dublin a Parliament and an Executive responsible to that Parliament That constituted a tyranny to which they never could and never would submit. All they asked for was the same protec- tion as that accorded to all their• fellow-citizens in Great Britain. No one had ever told them what they would gain by dissolving partnership with the richest country in the world or severing themselves from a policy which had conferred that blessing of liberty in every quarter of the globe. To-day Belfast was the key, and, failing the inclusion of Belfast in a Home Rule scheme, Home Rule would be impossible. Their first duty, therefore, was to take steps to ensure that in no circumstances could any Home Rule Bill be made effective as regards the Unionists of Ulster.
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