The Irish standard., 1907-03-09
The Prosperity Of Ulster is No Answer tc
the Claim That Irish Poverty is
Due to British Ru1e. IL;
The Protestant Garrison in the NJ S9es
Ireland is Now the Only Enemy OF %
Home Role IN Ireland.

ernment, then why should not the rest
Of Ireland be so? And Of course there
is the religious side of the argument.
Ulster, it IL asserted, is not only pros
porous. but Protestant, and the Prot
estantism explains the prosperity. This,
in brief. is the Ulster Tory Union
ist claim. Needless to say, the falsity:
and audacity of it, obvious enough to
any one familiar with the facts Of the
situation, have been exposed times
without number. Evidently the new
chief secretary understands the real
position. for he presented it we'll and
unanswerably in his reply to the Eng
lish-Ulster Tory leader:
II wish," said Mr.. Birrell, Il could
adopt the simple explanation which the
right honorable gentleman (Mr. Long)
does for the discomfort and distress
which exist in many parts Of Ireland
by simple reference to the prosperity Of
Ulster. cannot help thinking that to
appeal to the Protestant garrison Of
Ulster and to its prosperity as an ex-
planation for the discomfort and mis-
fortune in other parts Of the country
is a very singular reading Of history.
Supposing it had been the other way:
supposing our monarch, our constitu-
tion and our Church services had been
those Of the Church Of Rome-one
sometimes thinks that easily might be,
and It it had been the Protestants of
Ulster who were subjected to penal
laws and to the harsh treatment which
the Roman Catholics of Ireland have
received, wonder where then their
prosperity would have been? Would
their prosperity have been today all
that it now is? Would content and
satisfaction with the existing regime
have continued? 1t is all very we'll to
support a government when it is on
your side. That does not require much
philosophy. That does not require
anything except indulgence Of your
own love Of agrandizement. There
fore. cannot really accept the right
honorable gentleman's reading of his
tory as ones in the least degree ex-
planatory Of the discomfort which ex-
lists in Ireland with their mode of
government"
1t is long time, if, indeed. ever, since
such talk as this was addressed to the
Protestant Ascendancy party in Ireland
by a British cabinet minister. Bitter
talk it is for those gentry to listen to,
from such a source, for it is plain no.
tice to them that their ascendency
must come to an end, and that the end
is at hand. OF course, Mr.. Birrell un-
derstands, too. that this ascendancy
faction who have so much to say about
Ulster. trying to make it believed by
the outside world that that province
is all on their side and against the
Irish demand for Home Rule-of course
= Mr.. Birrell knows that these people
are but a faction, and that they are
a minority even in Ulster. One Of them,
Mr.. Barrie, who represents division
Of Derry County, said, in a speech in
the opening debate of the session, that
I'm this matter (of Home Rule) Ulster
stands where she has previously stood
and that "Ulster has not, with the
passing of the years. seen any reason
to alter her strong objection to having
her government handed over to the
forces which control the South and
West Of Ireland
Here is an impudent falsehood by
suggestion, the suggestion being that
in the matter Of Home Rule the East
and North Of Ireland are against the
South and West. The facts and figures
give the lie to Mr.. Barrie. BY the East
of Ireland must be meant the Province
Of Leinster, and tho fact is that Of its
twenty eight representatives i'll the
House of Commons twcnty-seven are
Home Rulers. Thus "the forces which