The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1912. WINSTON CHURCHILL AND ULSTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 192, 12 February 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1912. WINSTON CHURCHILL AND ULSTER.

"If it take three thousand soldiers to enable Winston Churchill to make a speech, how many will it take to foroe Home Rule on Ulster?" Query by the London Times, duly circulated throughout the Empire. To understand the position in Ulster one must have a look at it, and the Sydney Daily Telegraph gives a concise enough view, saying:— "It is necessary to remember the province has nine counties, in three of which Roman Catholics are predominant, while in three others the Protestants are in a strong majority, and in the remaining three the adherents of the rival creeds are nearly equally balanced. In the whole province the Roman Catholics are slightly in the minority, while the Naionalists almost balance the Unionists in the political representation. Furthermore, it is to be noted that while the Catholic Unionist is practically nonexistent, there are thousands of Protestants in Ulster, as elsewhere in Ireland, who are sturdy Nationalists. The circumstance that makes [Belfast so overwhelmingly Unionist is that all the leaders in the industrial world, the men who have made Belfast into one of the greatest industrial cities in the United Kingdom, are Unionists to the bone. They have come to identify Unionism with the industrial prosperity of which Belfast holds the monopoly in Ireland. And by a parity of reasoning they have come o associate Nationalism with the comparative absence of industrial prosperity. What justification—if any—they have for that belief need not be argued. However, the outstanding point is clear. In the northern province of Ireland, where Nationalists and Unionists are almost equally divided, the Unionist section, under the leadership of the great captains of industry, have set themselves to defy the overwhelming Nationalist majority in Ireland, and also the majority of the electors of the United Kingdom, whose representatives in the House of Commons believe that the time has come to give Ireland the control »f its purely local affairs. It is most unfortunate that the "odium theologicum" is inseparably mixed up with the political question in Ulster, because under the influence of religious feeling an intensity of antagonism is generated which can be paralleled by no other ground of quarrel that divides human beings from each other. There is an old saying that "a threatened man lives long," but there is no doubt, if one accepts the evidence of the cablegrams, that the intensely bitter

feelings of the Ulster people induced them to make bloodthirsty threats. There is a good deal that is braggart about that remarkable young man, Mr. Winston Churchill, and if he had succeeded in getting rid of his speech at the Ulster Hall as he threatened, and had survived, he would have had another fighting feather in his cap, which would have been a ussful advertisement, in addition to the many other useful advertisements he has insisted on by his more or less eccentric behaviour. . His personal appearance in the "Houndsditch siege" was merely irritating, but he got the notoriety his soul loves. The selection of Ulster Hall by Mr. Churchill has been kindly referred to as "a tactical blunder." Less kind people would call it cool' effrontery, for however much reason there may be in fighting tooth and nail for Home Rule, there is no reason in treading on the susceptibilities of people who happen to disagree with you, especially in so flagrant a way as the young statesman threatened. However, the fearless Churchill did not face the Ulster Hall, and contented himself with a tent and some soldiers. The only reason for a speech on Home Rule in Belfast, and a demonstration, is to make converts. However patriotic an Irishman may be, however much he may desire Home Rule, however convinced he is of its perfect justice, he cannot agree that it is possible to convert' the anti-Home Rule element in the North of Ireland. Home Rule for Ireland, including Ulster, will come, and Ulster, stubborn though it may be, can no more stop it than it can push back the ocean. But in the meantime there seems to be no reason for intensifying the great bitterness .that exists between South and North. Maybe, when Ireland has demonstrated that she is capable of ruling herself, and when scattered Hibernians from the world over drift back to the ould sod, the North and South may unite at least in the fight for the progress of a beautiful, fruitful but neglected country. The hearts of the Irish people are sore, and it is because of the humiliations that have generation .after generation been thrust on the country. Ireland will begin its new lease of vigorous life the day that it is considered grown up enough to manage its own affairs. Why there should remain any people who believe that Irishmen (who manage many of the great affairs of the earth) are incapable of managing their own domestic business, it is impossible to conceive. One thing seems certain. Home Rule is coming, and Ulster, fight as bravely as it may, cannot prevent the consummation of the desire of millions of Irishmen and Irish-" women.