The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27
LONDONDERRY SEES STRONG SENTIMENT Claims All Classes Against
 Home Rule YEARS BRING CHANGE Says He Can Easily Remember Time When No One Regarded Home
 Rule as Subject of
 Controversy
The Marquis of Londonderry, K. G., in

The Marquis of Londonderry, K. G., in
 the London Daily Mall.
 My acquaintance with Ireland and remember the time when as member for Down I found opinion divided there as it Is now in England. We were conservative and liberal, as our views on public questions tended. No one re- garded home rule as a subject of con- troversy.
 I recall that period since Its memory gives my first impression Of Ulster to- day the greater emphasis. Now, under the impending danger of home rule, the differences of opinion which di- vided us have vanished. My former po- litical opponents are now my col leagues in this fight. We lunched at the Ulster Reform club. At one time it was the headquarters of the liberal party in Ulster. Today it's members are as much opposed to home rule as any conservative
 Unanimity of opinion-that is the first and foremost impression. And those who like myself, can claim a long association with Ulster know how great a change the home rule bill has brought about.
 No Faint Hearts
 E There are no faint hearts; no MT Facing both-ways In unionist Ulster. The movement against home rule is the opposition of a people. Men of every class of every walk of life are equally hostile. It Is not opposition proceed ing originally from a few leaders who ly orgalA zation have given it an out wardly democratic expression. It is not disorganized outbreak of irrespon- sibles. Within it are merchants, lead CTS of industry and commerce, and workers in factory, shop and shipyard Men of brains and men of musclel The landowner, the farmer, and the laboreri The peasant from the wilds or the Mourne mountains the farmer from the glens of Antrim, the dwellers on the land, of rugged look and simple views of life. The skilled mechanic, the worker of modern products, using ev- cry appliance that invention, machinery and electrical power offers to rapid and efficient manufacture. Vastly diff ferent are their lives, yet they are bound together by ties of affection for their country and determination never to submit to home rule.
 I was struck by a comparison of the processions at the country demonstra- tions and in Belfast. Seriousness of purpose. firm resolve on every face; but the types entirely different
 The Men of the Countryside
 At Portadown I saw men who had marched miles from the countryside to greet their leader. They bore the stamp of the village and the farm. Their clothes their walk, their speech told of lives spent away from the din of cities, in ignorance of the seamy side of politics. Men of simple faith end deep conviction. Not reckless, but, having counted the cost, ready to sac rifice all to preserve unimpaired re- ligous freedom and civil liberty The faith of their fathers meant much to them From father to son, from gen eration to generation, the plain relig- ious truths had been handed down and repeated Sunday after Sunday In thousand little churches and chapels on the hills and in the valleys. We did not smile at the old man who carried his Bible in the procession. It was his most cherished possession. It was the outward sign of what he was willing to fight for. Let no man underrate what it meant. They marched at early dawn many of them, and could not re- turn until nightfall, for momentary glimpse of their leader. It was no pleasant outing, but 1t was their pro- fession of faith to show him by their presence that he could rely upon them in the hour of need
 Not for them are the clauses of the bill the amendment in committee. the niceties of language, the professions of federation and regard, the dialectics of ministers. Irish history, with the dark pages of rebellion and massacre, Is as real to them today as it was to those who lived through the time of disturb ance. Less have their thoughts been tuned to other channels; the strenuous ness of modern life which forgets by tomorrow has not invaded their homes, They remember, and remembering what home rulers have said and done, they say: 'We will not have it"
 They are impervious to jeers and sneers; ridicule leaves them. unmoved. Home rulers may laugh at them, even despise them, but simple faith and firm resolve win battles over cleverness and ingenuity without conviction.
 I could not watch--1 am sure no man could-these men filing past and saluting Sir Edward Carson without emotion and without feeling that hera indeed were men who made no deci- sion lightly, but, having made 1t, would uphold it whatever the cost.
 From the countryside to BelIast. HOW great the change and yet no change at all. The type had altered but the same resolve was there: NO home rule" In Belfast every phase of the controversy is known. The wrigglings of ministers the professions of home rulers, the provisions of the bill, it's realities, are read and under6tood. Belfast audience responds to the slightest touch. A happy phrase. an ap- rropriate epithet. 8 skillful reference and a roar of applause follows. And yet among these hard headed workers there is room for sentiment. Over the audience at the Ulster hall there swept a wave of. emotion as the old flag was produced which was carried before King William over 200 years ago at the battle of the Boyne.
 Later. I watched the great crowd waiting for the city hall to open. There the Covenant was to be signed and as the doors swung back, again without jostling or noise, the head of the long queue passed in and there began the which only ceased for that day with the closing of the hall as midnight struck.
 I watched them streaming in-men in every walk of life-and if I had been a stranger I should have marveled at signing the Covenant who did not mean to keep 1t. who did not understand what 1t meant, and felt too that home rule was lifted out of the arena of po- litical controversy into that higher and more serious plane of great questions which before now have involvel na- r1 tv& xUn