3 AUGUST 1912, Page 11

THE ULSTER PROBLEM.

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—In his speech in the House of Commons, on July 25th, On the Committee of Imperial Defence Sir Edward Grey is reported to have said, "I do not for a moment believe that you will ever make a new friend, or a new friend who is worth having, by abandoning old friends when those friends are pre- pared to stand by you." The bearings of this observation, as Captain Bunsby would have said, lie in the application of it. Irish Unionists are prepared to stand by England. What is likely to be the value of the new friendship which England will gain by abandoning them to the mercies of a Government

which they detest P—I am, Sir, &c., H. C. Inwrx. Mount Irwin, Tynan, Co. Armagh.