The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-04-18
.
TIE POWER or ULSTER.
UIartford Cour.ntl

&olI dlll.J
The meeting at Belfast of those
VINO oppose the current scheme for
ScttlnS up a separate government in
ireland was a good dcal more than an
ordinary political demonstration. The
preparations made for the meeting
show that the intention was TO &c, to-
snther the fighting men Of Ulster.
hese men We're not armed. but. what
is quite as important in military op-
cd 10 the point Of the knowledge and
the habit of discipline. The meeting
was really Il mobilization.
II was not II new kind of work for
the men of Ulster. In 1893. when Mr..
Gladstone's second home-rule bill was
brought in, @67 cluhsi in favor of main
tanning the MO with England were
organized in Ulster. These Unionist
clubs, having succcssfully performed
their work at that time. naturally dis
solved moro or less for the simple rea-
son that they had nothing to do, and
their became lost in the par.
tN divisions of the day, voting with
the conservatives or The liberals as
their individual judgment happened to
dictate. The new scheme of separation
brought forward in the name of Mr.
.Asquith and by the will of John Red
mond has brought these Cnionist clubs
again into existence. and there are Il
dozen more of them today than there
were in 1893. Aside from these
emergency organizations. as they may
ne called. are the permanent lodges
of the Loyal Orange order English
men speak of this order as one of
the best abused and most grossly mis-
represented bodies in the British en-
pre- At any rate. it has always
known what it believed and been
ready to stand by its beliefs. and never
in its long history has it been strong
er in membership and more influential
than it is today. 1t is reported on Off
cial authority hat one person in every
thirty of the total population Of Cus-
ter is an Orangeman, and that n
in every fourteen of the Protestant in
l,abitants of the province belongs to
the order. 1t Is evident hat between
these Cpionist clubs and Orange lodg-
cs the ~able-bodied men of Ulster are
fairly organized, and that with a
slight change in nomenclature they
are ready to march any day Under
their captains Of hundreds and cap
tains of tifties.
An industrial element of force was
also included in the demonstration of
Tuesday. Belfast. among it's other in
duatrics, is famous for its shipbuild-
ing yards. and it appears that the head
Of ono of these two shipbuilding firms
has come out as a supporter Of the
Irish policy Of the Asquith cabinet.
AS a protest against his attitude, and
to prevent all misunderstanding as to
tho dominant direction Of local judg-
ment. some 5000 shipyard hands were
specially organized to take part in the
march. These men," a local report.
er said, "are democrats to their finger
tips, but they scorn the spurious de-
nocracy of the present cabinet, which
seeks to impose. against the will Of
the people of Ulster. a form of gov
eminent strongly repugnant to them"
AS in the case Of a regular military
mobilization. elaborate plans were
made for the movement of the men.
The following paragraph printed two
weeks before h meeting. shows this:
"Of h demonstrators the country
districts will contribute in round
figures $4,000 men. OF this number
10000 will be carried from the coun-
ties served by the Great Northern
Railway company. Armagh. part Of
Down. Cavan, Monaghan. Tyrone.
Londonderry. aud F'ermanagh: 10000
will come by means Of the irish
branch Of the Midland Railway from
counties Antrim. Tyrone and London
derry; while $1,000 will travel over
the Co. Down Railway system. There
will be four. separate professions. two
approaching the grounds from the
city and two from the country SIDE"
All the railway companies arrang-
ed their train service so as to bring
! additional thousands Of lookers.on,