CHANCED OPINIONS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 90, 7 April 1914, Page 4

CHANCED OPINIONS.

Mr Frederic Harrison, the wellknown writer and publicist, has evidently changed the opinions he held in earlier days with regard to Ireland. Quito recently ho addressed an open letter to Mr Asquith suggesting "the treatment of Ulster as separate province," administered by a "separate and independent committee elected by the constituencies of united Ulster." In 1592, however, Mr Harrison, writing most emphatically, said:—"Special protection for Ulster is sheer nonsense. Half Ulster is fiercely Nationalist, and the other half must shake down with the rest. Ireland is a nation; Ulster is not a nation, it is only a group of two or three counties with a population divided in religion and politics. For the descendants of the adventurers and bucaneers who confiscated the north-cast corner of Ireland to call out for a separate Constitution is impudent bluster. Much of our trouble comes of taking these furious Unionists at their own valuation. They assume that, because they have been insolent, domineering, selfish and high-handed so long, this gives them special rights and privileges. Because they have trampled on the religion of their nation for centuries, therefore, their own sect is to have peculiar privileges. Because they have had wealth, power, honors, prestige, so long, all these must be guaranteed to them by special exemptions, limitations, and prerogatives."