Though we detest law-breaking and resistance to the law of
the land, we hold, as we believe every free man must hold, that there are certain very rare and exceptional cases when
the right of insurrection arises, and when resistance to the law is justified. We believe that one of these very rare exceptions is to be found when a large local majority, as in North-East Ulster, refuses consent to a scheme to alter their status of citizenship—a scheme under which they are forced to give their legislative and administrative allegiance. When Nice and Mentone were taken from Savoy and annexed to France, even Napoleon III. admitted that they must be consulted on the change of allegiance, and a poll of the inhabitants was taken. Yet the Liberals propose to force North-East Ulster under a Dublin Parliament and a Dublin administration contrary to their wish and without giving them the opportunity to decide their own fate. We agree, of course, that people cannot, as a rule, be allowed to pick out what laws they think should bind them and what not, but that refers only to domestic legislation. We fully admit that the right of resistance does not accrue when it is hopeless and can merely result in useless bloodshed. But we know well enough that in the case of the local majorities in North- East Ulster, supported by half the British electorate, and probably by a great deal more than half, such resistance would not be hopeless.
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