On Tuesday Mr. Balfour, accompanied by Lord Lansdowne and Mr.
Walter Long, received a deputation of Irish Unionists, introduced by the Duke of Abercorn, who declared that the very prospect of Devolution had disturbed all the business people in Ireland, and that the object of the deputation was to put the case of the industrial, landowning, and commer- cial classes. Mr. Thomas Sinclair, the well-known Belfast Liberal Unionist, whose remarks must be received with special attention, since they cannot possibly be minimised as the words of a fanatical Orangeman or a bigoted Tory, insisted—and, we feel certain, with absolute truth—that there was no weakening in Ulster on the Home-rule question. "They were determined not to have Home-rule, or any instal- ment of Home-rule, or any Devolution whatever." They were subordinating every question to that question. What Ireland wanted was to have rest in which to work out the effect of the beneficent remedial legislation of the last few years. "If that were done, and Ireland could get rest, she would yet become a contented country."
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