TO MODERATE MEN ON BOTH SIDES.
AVERY general belief seems to prevail in the country that now that Mr. Asquith has gone so far in the direction of Exclusion, and Sir Edward Carson has met him in so statesmanlike a spirit, it is impossible for the compromise to break down. "They must settle it now ! It would be perfectly monstrous after what has happened to go back to the condition of civil war." That is the comment of the plain man. Such sentiments certainly sound reasonable, and under ordinary conditions we should say that they must prevail. We wish, however, we could feel certain that they will prevail now. Possibly they will, but we venture to add—only if there is the greatest vigilance and determination shown on the part of moderate men on both sides. If they indulge in too easy a sense of optimism, and declare that all is bound to go right, they may find themselves mistaken. The extremists on both sides are not merely ready but anxious to wreck the com- promise by alike demanding their full pound of flesh. The only security for peace is that men of goodwill, whether Liberals or Unionists, should, however difficult and unpleasant the task, see to it that the wreckers shall not prevail. Moderate Liberals must insist upon the with- drawal of the time-limit. On our side moderate Unionists must convince the Ulstermen that the terms which Sir Edward Carson has told us he is willing to put before the Ulster Council are terms which, if unsatis- factory in themselves, are at any rate a great deal better than civil war with all its horrors. And here we should like to point out that what we believe will largely influence the people of Ulster will be the thought that by agree- ing to Exclusion by Referendum they may be sacrificing the counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh, where in all proba- bility a Unionist majority could not be obtained at the polls. In the first place, we would ask the Ulstermen of the four counties to think very carefully what they mean by the use of theword" sacrifice" in this case. Of course, if they could feel sure of maintaining the Union for the whole of Ireland —that is, the status quo—they would be wrong to accept any compromise which might fail to comprehend Tyrone and Fermanagh. But admittedly they cannot feel sure of this. It is unhappily out of their power and out of our power at the moment to secure the Union for the whole of Ireland. What, then, is rhetorically called " sacrificing " the two counties may well mean, instead, not handing them over to the horrors of civil war. Remember that civil war in the counties where there is a Roman Catholic majority would be a much more terrible evil for the Protestant inhabitants than civil war in counties where there is a large preponderance of Protestants and Loyalists. If things come to the worst, the Protestants of Tyrone and Fermanagh will no doubt fight bravely and give a very good account of themselves, but it is no good to disguise the fact that in the event of civil war those counties will be the cockpit of Ireland. Therefore we must not talk lightly as if agreeing to Exclusion without them would be inflicting specially great physical miseries on them, or as if the rejection of county Exclusion would save them from a terrible ordeal. Remember, too, that Exclusion by counties will not disarm Antrim, Down, Derry, and Armagh. They will stand by ready, if the worst comes, to help their fellow-Loyalists.
With all these chances before us, what we would advise the people of Ulster, and the Unionists of Ireland generally, and also the Unionist Party in England and Scotland, to do is to trust to the guidance of Sir
Edward Carson. He will not fail us. As Mr. Boner Law very rightly said, the matter has got to
be decided in the last resort by Ulster, and we do not doubt that Ulster will accept the terms which Sir Edward Carson advises them to accept. We know that when we
say this we are laying a terrible responsibility upon one
man's shoulders. But, thank heaven! Sir Edward's shoulders are strong enough to bear it. If the Ulster Council meets, as we devoutly hope it may, owing to the withdrawal of the time-limit, what that Council should do is to trust Sir Edward Carson and say to him : "We put ourselves entirely in your hands. We will accept whatever arrangement you may make, for we know that you will think nothing of your own position, but will do what is best for Ulster, for the United Kingdom, and for the Empire. We will loyally endorse whatever you set your hand to."
We have one more word to say. What we feel bound to regard as a slip due to want of local knowledge was made by Mr. Asquith in his speech. Theoretically, or rather archaeologically, the city of Derry is a county. Therefore, strictly, polls of counties would mean a separate poll in Derry. Such separate poll there cannot be in Derry City. To allow it would be to make almost certain of the scheme of compromise ending in bloodshed. In the interests of peace, in all our interests, we must not run this wholly unnecessary risk. Derry should be merged in the county of Londonderry for Referendum purposes. The antiquarian fact that it happens to be paled a county must not be allowed to wreck the hopes of a settlement.
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