The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JAN, 27, 1912. EXCITEMENT IN ULSTER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14658, 27 January 1912, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, JAN, 27, 1912. EXCITEMENT IN ULSTER.

It is diincult to gauge the real' extent ot opposition to Home j Rule in Ulster, because while the , Unionist journals habitually de-| ■ scribe the typical Ulsterman as j a grim, determined patriot, ready i to shed his country's blood to pre- | , serve what they call its freedom! —meaning its dependence on an; English Parliament—the Liberal j organs represent him as the most i mild-mannered, peaceful person i ' who, if he roars when he is given ] his cue. does so like Bottom in j the play, with less o£ the lion's!' spirit than the dove"s- The: ■ ; Unionist statesmen and news- j : papers necessarily make the most ' i-t Ulster's opposition- Half their, case against Home Rule depends,' on the assumption that Ulster ' would be made a victim, and if ■ they cannot show strong hostility I tc the change in Ireland.it is not i much use their opposing it in! England. And they have rea-j sons for opposing it outside the \ , merits: of the main question. The!] Liberal Government is committed '. ti. Home Rule, and whatever'! damages one cause must inflict an - equal injury on the other. The 1 ] Nationalists arc devoted-to Home'! Rule, and did not the Xatioual-' ] ists form a .''corrupt alliance"!! with the Liberal Government, for; • the subordination of the House of; ' Lords ? .So we find that even such. \ j a usually temperate journal as ! - I the "Spectator,"' whenever it r^i'

j ~t i - c i , ' 3 =. t '' "''■'hieh might have been il!riO°- r:a ? e to Dutch p'ataga; ns t e jj.ji-g 0 £ j]^ j .fj 1 . 6 J^ 3 ; 62 " it recognises ja.e irc-a jr. - v !, c posifioa of those : v..:iarapions of Dutch fresdora \v.g-\\u*- invasion, tyranny, and j ' ';• .'^'-''i-,' 0 fierce patriots i n ' ,'" : f, KiMi before liiev, | r f.' il ;' ; . i fV- iad , ij, 'S"n -o think I ' M ' Ui - i ' t aiI ' except ' "■'■■ li-j'^' 1 * V ''?V- un '- distant posi •,'. i ,' < . : ' : '-'" war," "shootj i"" u J' wa > "biood guiltiness." i ".""" uc ? n iO, months past its jMOc.-v_p-!rasps -; n referring to Ilia j <;ue>t,,,n Mr l) 0llar Law hnß |, " > T ! ':'' l P : -pnsal as a vital r.vMnnjon „n3v to be "o^^ , «n!i diihcuhy by lTmed f orces/ » i b!r ard „<- a ™H and other , >peakers 111 _*.nplaE.i „ nd IreiW .have consistently usee a ■ r iV °^. :ll r ''"T?** T|-hicL a fcmem- : ber oi tue Caomel has sw e( j can unly be regarded by the <- ITern _ j went as most serious. Th re j 8 ! one thing certain, that if the op _ ! points of Home Rule in ~Uli„ T • j hc.il been the most placid and i,. ] liferent opponents of a politics i innovation in the world—and rister returns nearly as many Nationalist members as it does Unionists—the politicians hare done their best to excite them to a perfect frenzy of alarm and comliafiveness- The Unionists com* plain that the Government intends to force Home Rule on Ira. laud, though no mandate -was given on the question at the re-'-■•-'ill flections. Home Rule, they '■ -ay. was then the "skeleton in 'he cupboard.'" kept discreetly : ■rem the public's view. But puotigh the election was mainly ; toi-.sat on the question of the j House of Lords, it was plainly iriI (iicated by Mr Asquith that if the i Government was returned to ofi See a J-loine Eule Bill would be j its earliest measures, jsjid. "vnh that fact perfectly J ci-r-ar. the Government was re- ! -timed to power. They complain ; ;\:so that the Government has not I ir.iieaied in sufficient detail what j description of Home Eule Bill jr. intends to bring down, but that ; is a circumstance which rebounds ] against them, since there is someihrhjr incongruous in their violent opposition to a measure they have not yet seen. Whatever disaffection there exisis in Ulster has. certainly been fanned assiduously by the Unionist politicians, and there is a possibility of flames resulting -when ITr Churchill goes to Belfast to give an address against Home Rule on February Bth. "We cannot help thinking that ilr j Churchill would have been wiser ii: he had decided to defer the address till the political temperajture should have had time jio cool. But having enj gaged to give it on that | f-ate, in response to a long-stand- | ing invitation, he could hardly J pow withdraw- It is an interestj lug circumstance that the meni- : bers of the Ulster Liberal Association, who invited him to give it, are mostly Protestants- But j a mistake was made in fi-rir>g the 'location for the Ulster Hall. i which is historically associated with Orangeism. and the choice of which must therefore have appeared something of a defiance of the extremist sentiment against Home Utile- The Orangemen and Unionists have been talking for weeks past of prospective bloodshed, and there seems to be some reason for the fear. Two thousand policemen to keep order—and it was cabled more than a week ago that this number •would be employed—must in themselves present a sort of challenge to resistance, even without the troops whose presence has, most unwisely, been suggested. It has been stated that the Unionists have engaged Ulster Hall for the days immediately preceding and following the meeting, and that they intend to pack it with Orange stalwarts who will refuse to leave. Unionist Clubs, the cable states to-day, are also arranging to send members to i Belfast to prevent the speech, and ! the shipyard workers are declari ing a half holiday which will | leave them free for early tactics of obstruction. It is probable that a great deal of this opposition will be removed by 3fr Churchill's sensible decision to deliver his address in some other chamber than the Ulster Hall. It will be a severe reflection on tho Unionists if they refuse to allow a member of the British Govern- ] meat to express his views on an i important subject before a Belj fast audience. However strongly f hey may feel against Home Rule, | ii cannot help their cause to deny | the other side the British privij lege of free speech. It is a bold j srguinent that a minority of ono i quarter of the Irish people should i be considered free, in the last re- ' sort, to resist by actual force an , innovation strongly desired by i the remaining three fourths. The ' utmost powers of the most ingenious sophistry could not build tip an argument to justify the -use of force for the prevention of the mere expression of the reasons which appear, to those who advocate it, to support tho -wisdom of that innovation, before it ins been made.