New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-11-12
CXLV.
London. October 6. !

,Ao friends | met, no little talk about,
.ra always against, what Is called
,.oq,,ely Home Rule for Ireland; a term
-.h;ob though now much used on Radical
.,atforrns in England. remains underlined
e., in Ulster. of which Donegal is part,
,hev have no doubt that IL means. for one
Ring the oppression Of Ulster; and 20
nat Ulster does not mean to submit. All
-. ulstermen I came into touch with
,ere agreed on that point. The great
meeting Of 100000 FISHERMEN had not
,bar been held. nor had Sir Edward Car
son made his fighting speech and put the
defence Of Ulster on legal basis. But
the spirit Of the province was unmistak-
able.
was told a story Of the Belfast strike
of 1907. as showing the stuff Of which
these Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and
Church Of Ireland men are made 1t is
all the more significant because IL arose
out OF social and not a political dis
pute.
In the Belfast strike, as in the recent
strike of London, the transport work
ers" we're out, and no goods were al
lowed 10 be carried through the streets.
l asked about the mails: remembering
that in London one of His Majesty's
Ministers. the Postmaster General, had
sought Mr.. Ben Tillett's permission to
convey His Majesty's mails through the
streets OF London. Mr.. Herbert Samuel.
n Is true. was careful to explain in the
House of Commons that il was one Of his
subordinates who applied 70 Mr.. Ben
lTillett in behalf of the contractors who
SIMPLY the Postoffice with ''transporta-
ton" But Mr.. Samuel, while giving
swav his subordinate, defended him, and
thought his act go natural that he
had no censure for him. A facsimile Of
Mr.. Ben Tillett's ticket-of-leave for the
conveyance of the Kings mails was pub
Ushed In THE Morning Post; written
on official paper: &c. r." in the corner
It's authenticity was not disputed.
In a letter TO The Times" l pointed
out the difference between this method
Of dealing with strikes and that Of the
American Government in the Debs strike
Of 1894. President Cleveland, on the
advice Of his Attorney General, Mr..
Richard Olney, announced on the second
day II the Debs upheaval that he would
not allow the mails to be INSTRUCTED, and
that announcement was the doom Of the
railway revolt. No member Of the Amerl-
can Government asked Debs for a per-
NIT 70 carry the American mails. II Is
In England. as in the United States,
criminal offence to obstruct the mails.
There is high legal authority for saying
that: nor is il. so far as I know. ques-
toned. But Of the weapon which the
law placed in their hands the English
Government made no use. Nor do l
think an American precedent has much
weight here: any more than French
precedent has. or a German. though both
in France and in Germany the authori-
ties have shown they know how TO deal
with these rebellions against law and or
der.
I told the story Of the Debs business
enc night in a London club; giving due
credit to President Cleveland for his
ready courage and frmness, and saying:
I'VE had at that time an Attorney
General who was a great lawyer. Mr..
Olnev found the law and applied IT,"
II happened that within hearing but to
me invisible sat the present Attorney
General Of England, who. however, made
no comment. hope he did not hear.
The Belfast strike story is this:
one of the great linen merchants Of
Belfast had at that time large con-
signment Of linen to be sent by steam
ship from Belfast to Liverpool and
thence 70 New York. He applied 70 the
Chief Of Police for an escort Of police TO
see his vans safely through the streets
from his factory to the wharf. The
Chief of Police answered:
u should like to send you the men, but
they think in Dublin that we give too
much police protection, and l am afraid
! can do nothing"
whereupon the linen merchant wired
Dublin Castle as follows:
81 have armed fifty men with rifles
They know how to shoot. Ny instruc-
tens to them are that they are to shoot
II my vans or my men are interfered
with between the warehouse and the
wharf AS I have been refused police
protection 1 leave all the responsibility
for the consequences upon the govern
ment"
Within twenty minutes came reply
from the Castle that ample police pro-
lection would be supplied.
I offer you that Belfast linen mer-
chant as q good example Of the Ulster
spirit. I add that the story was told me
on.v q month or so since by dignitary
Of that Church Of Ireland which Mr.
Gladstone disestablished in 1SG9; but
which is stlll a church militant He told
it with grave delight. And if in the dis
cussions that went on from time 10 time
in Donegal about the present menace or
Redmondite Home Rule l heard one SEN
tence quoted more often than another 1t
was the late Lord Randolph ChurchlIs:
Ulster will fight and Ulster will be
right"
Nor is the fighting spirit dead in Eng
land ans more than in Ireland; whether
tie lsWiessness 10 be fought be political
or economical l related last week now
two representatives. of the railway COM
psnies were induced 10 be present at
meeting of Board Of Trade officials and
strike leaders: and how the railway com
pa1ies. though disappearing and con-
nernnLna thn act Of fheir representatlNes.