Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-13
THE BRITISH CRISIS
XxvIlI.-The Story of
Ulster.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

iii &AV0CAAO x20Shlus III
BELFAST. June 1.-Ireland is the land
Of sorrow. From tho misty dawn of his
tory she has written her story In blood.
and many man and woman and child
has starved here amid this green plenty
Her suffering and her sorrow she has
drowned with song: her bloody deeds
she has disguised with heroism. and
even on the brink Of a cold and hun
cry death she has laughed fate to scorn.
has whispered Of love, has been faithful
ly brave and bravely faithful
Deeply religious, the Irish Individual
ly have found deep comfort in Chris
tianlty. but it is sad to see that here
OF all places the religious wars that
cursed Europe for centuries have not
aoated. Freed from strife in the name
OF Christ, the nineteenth century saw
Europe leap forward as with a new
baptism Of youth. all save Ireland Ire
land has Jagged, Ireland has suffered.
ireland has lost step with the march
Ing spirit OF the times.
1t Is idle to say, that this Is the fault
o. o, r! .nshmen. for Irishmen elsewhere
ling m England and in the United States In
a.
their ability and their worth. 1t is only
IN Ireland that they have failed.
ane nauonalists say that 1t Is the
iauit OF England; that the alien race
I M misruled the land to It's hurt The
Ulstermen say It Is the fault Of the
priests: that they have misruled the
majority OF tho Irish people in behalf
Ulster as we'll as the four other prov
1nces has fewer people than she had
half a century ago.
oAoW decrease All Ireland had five
in Population. n m,,Uns w and , more Of
OF union was contaminated, In 1901
Forty years later there were 5000, OOO
1rishmen in Ireland. Now there are
are only four millions.
The famine of 1s46 caused the death
OF more than a quarter Of million Irish
people by starvation. and that in a land of
plenty. 1t caused the emigration of mil
lions. for which America and the Brit
ish dominions beyond the seas are
thankful.
In another forty years the absentee
landlords who maintained themselves In
england on the rents extracted from the
Ir1sn peasantry had raised their toll I'M
u the people could no longer paw
Evictions and the destruction of an
caent homes drove still other thousands
beyond the seas and made outlaws and
pariahs OF those who could not leave
IN the thirty-four years since the LAND
done to better conditions. Both political
parues IN Britain have come to realize
tnat they cannot govern Ireland at all
unless they govern it well. The tory
party has done its part by providing
holdings from the landlords, enabling
farmer to buy land on annual payments
that are less than his rent used to be.
That has helped greatly. The radical
party wishes to let the Irish rule them
serves, but that is where Irishmen differ
Ulster suffered from hunger and from
migrations, from rack rents and absentee
landlordism. just
o4sIer benenred as did Leinster.
by Manufactures. ~ s.er and
ster has benefited and improved condf-
tons. as have the other three. But u
ster did not suffer so much, because she
had other industries than agriculture to
depend upon. Manufacturing was en-
couraged in Protestant Ulster in olden
times when it was forbidden to Catholic
ireland. When listers wooden industry
was prescribed she turned to linen and
found encouragement. All this was in
the days when no Catholic could vote
or hold office, and when the landlords Of
the south absolutely forbade manufac
turing. Catholic emancipation came
eighty years ago, but just before the
famine, and 1t gave nothing but a vote
LOT member OF parliament where Gum
ul Parnel fused the Irish strength the
Irish vote was not regarded. Local gov
ernment In municipal affairs is but a
few years old
Here comes in the quarrel, Protestant
Ulster says that 1t is prosperous and the
rest OF the country backward because It
Is Protestant and the rest of the country
Catholic. Catholic Ireland says that
Ulster is more prosperous because she
has been given undue favors from Prot
estant England and has been permitted
to go ahead with industry that has been
denied to the rest Of Ireland.
SO even an economic question is turned
INTO religious quarrel, and the religious
hypothesis is adduced in every argu
ment
The reason lies in the story OF Ulster
~
AT the time Of the reformation Ireland
was loyal to the mother church. The
reformers came to
Early Conditions Ireland with fire
in Emerald ToIe and sword and
Elizabeth's sol
olers swept the country with murder and
rapine. Already Ireland had been re-
slstlng English rule for three centuries.
me Elzabethan wars were especially
destructive in Ulster. although in a few
years the peasants had reclaimed many
OF the neids. But hatred of England
had not been exterminated,
So In 1907 King James I decided to SET
tie plantation of Scotch settlers in u
ster. The settlers were Scotchmen of
Covenanter breed and Presbyterian faith.
It Is worth while remembering that theY