THE UNIONISTS AND ULSTER

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 70, 24 March 1914, Page 4

THE UNIONISTS AND ULSTER

~, :i\V6 :;have said before, and we say again, that the British Unionist opposition to the ;Bx>me Rule Bill— shortly tto become tfce Home Bule Act -7-^isj distinctly.,dfehonest and hypocritical. This vie^:,of the; position is borne out by,the? letter of, a Unionist Parliamentary correspondent which appeared early in February. ■ Witt some.lack of 'discretion; he disclosed .§»?;.PnionialrHtliat:- is fa say, the British. Tory—plan. If, he said, "the Opposition fore© the Government to dissolve before the Home Eule Bill is passed m June the Bill is dead. The sequence of three; successive sessions will have been broken, and even if W Government , were returned to power, ap thefc general-election, the Tipple process would have to be gone r. ?gam^' T3i e comments upon tliis impudent but most instructive r^S?- VuPfi" 'm Westminster gazette, the admitted journalistic moderate Liberalism in Iffngland^ is worth quoting. :It readr as fi follows :-'Trecisely! The result of a general election, if it is *d Unioriism, is not to be ;«W«n.,tp he.foughjt through three sucpes^ sessions^'; The Unionist aim is fe^^he Pai-liament Act to a It must be the Liberal endeavor to ensure, that no such scheme C°m^ t0 fruition;" And this is wh^^eAsquith Government am determined, .shall be. done. The firAnSf eiM-^ c. actl ng with; la»dable ftrmness, Misters have clearly made KS,fe ri; mln? S l 0 be «o longer either X reactionaries and their good army officers wlm> are i-esign?ng their K^^ lOnS '&&®*'*®™ <%4 Orders" *Sf^s5T obabIy members oif "aris^ JSS fv —^ f^milie^' an* have alSt °fsl. ldlsmall "a*lß*' of duty as tftey may ha^e possessed. And 'fen fe^ me^ V.'-..0a1l themselves -3S' J°mtibl -No doubt the Sf« i/i, "? J&fiopolfets are at Tory iA °f Mt Bo¥tar Law and- the ffi o ad. er» generally have been delishted at the action taken by these Officers. But whW if it comes to ?nl\ aY« ma*\v «fry Probably come to pass before /the year is out, that England witnessis a great genera,! strike to suppress; which the military ™*y have to be'; employed? What h«f«; k& Ifl rKe proportion of the men, be«ng themselves of the worker class lefnse J° march'; /to shoot.- to -oW ordei-R todotheir Why should not the rank-and-filP have the right done?" 8 ™ "nPf" Tory ? fficers bsve done!' The Tories are playing with

fire. In applauding and "sooling on" the Ulster fanatics they are showing ther workers of Great Britain that laws can be defied if only you have sufficient force. Later on, the Ulster precedent may have a sequence which will ba vastly unpleasant for some of the British noblemen and others who have to-day nothing but praise for it.