The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1914. THE ULSTER CRISIS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144357, 23 March 1914, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1914. THE ULSTER CRISIS.

According to The Times, the debate on Ulster in the House of Commons has brought armed conflict a few steps nearer. Taken in conjunction with other cables this is sufficiently grave to cause a great deal of anxiety even in this remote corner of the Empire, for if any such conflict does unhappily take place in Ulster there is not much doubt but that it will have a disturbing effect in other parts of the Empire, also. Yet it is difficult to conceive of any modern British Government going to the length of enforcing a policy to the extreme of provoking civil war. If an armed conflict occurs at the present juncture it will be due to some ill-advised action of the Government. Ulster is determined to resist the control of an Irish Parliament, but the moment for such resistance has not ar■ived. Even if the Home Rule Hill is passed there will be no interference with Ulster for at least six years, and Ulster men are scarcely likely to fight now about what may or may not occur so long ahead. The arrest of Sir Edward Carson would probably precipitate a conflict, if the Government were foolish enough to attempt it. Possibly, too, the movement of troops into Ulster may bring it about; it is at any rate very like, exposing barrels of gunpowder where sparks are flying. Sir Edward Carson is at Belfast endeavouring to restrain the people, but Irish blood is hot, and when the Government begins to

trail its coat by making a display of military force anything may happen. But a very grave danger, we fancy, lies in the unbridled tongue of Mr. Lloyd George, who appears to harbour a totally wrong conception of the crisis. “We are not fighting about Ulster,” he says, “but for all that is essential to civil liberty.” The Tories, as he calls them, are his pet aversion, but if in his hatred of “those.insolent and arrogant, plagues” he is prepared to run the risk of exciting civil war in Ireland then it is he and not Sir Edward Carson who should be placed under restraint. He is playing the game of party politics with exceedingly dangerous edged tools. He says the Government’s proposal is to give time for Ulster’s swelled head to subside, but sneers at her in a manner calculated to cause instead of allay irritation, while the Government waves a red rag in her face by sending troops. Mr.' Redmond shows more discretion and diplomacy by insisting on the abandonment of the 'Derry parade. If ever there was a time in the history of the nation when coolness and tact on the part of the authorities was necessary it is now. It is no time to excite party feeling, as Mr. Lloyd George is endeavouring to do, and no time to make a display of serving out arms and ammunition to troops sent within striking distance of Ulster. But in spite of the threatening aspect at the present moment we have too much confidence in the good sense of the great bulk of the people, both in Ireland and in England, to believe, that any serious conflict will occur. Much is to bo hoped for, too, from the tactfulness of the King, who, it would appear from the cables, is devoting a great deal of effort to bring about a better understanding.