The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1917-04-05
THE ORANGE AND THE GREEN.

SCanQ the Qlnculty winch surrounds attempt
TO settle 1t. You cannot eXterminate sectarian
bitterness by act of Parliament, any more than
you produce religious unity by political means
What is preventing the extension of Home Rule
to ireland today is not the action Of Great Brit
aln it is the religious rift in ireland itself
1t is not necessary here to go into the question
OF now that rift arose. 1t is ont necessary to go
into the question of the shameless mismanage-
ment of Ireland in the past 1t u.s. however, neces-
sary to insist the fact that North Eastern
ireland is as emphatically Protestant as the rest
of the country is emphatically Roman Catholic
Now the Protestants Of North Eastern Ulster
decline, in their own words, to be handed over to
the Roman Catholic population of the rest of
Ireland. They conscious thxu the great taxa
bic area Of Ireland lies essentially in and around
Belfast. They are conscious that they have built
up successful school system in that part of the
country which is distinct from the schoo! sys-
tenn Of the other provinces. And, rightly or
wrongly they fear both undue taxation and in
reference with their school system even more
than they fear the domination of the majority in
other acts and ways.
1t was perfectly certain, in these circumstances
that the Home Rule Bill, passed by Mr.. Asquith's
government, in the teeth of the opposition of
Protestant Ulster could only be put into force at
the expense of something like civil war and SO
there grew up side by side the Carson army and
the Southern volunteers. The Carson army went
to the front the moment the great war was de-
clared, but it went the distinct understanding
that the Home Rule question was not to be finally
settled until the over. A tacit agree
ment has, accordingly, operated throughout the
whole body polite of the United Kingdom, to the
effect that the status quo ante bellum should be
maintained until the declaration OF peace
Wherever parliamentary seat has been declared
vacant, member of the party previously holding
that seat has been returned without opposition
except from Independents unbound by the agree
ment, and undeterred by the patriotic sense which
dictated it, Thus it fully understood that
Mr.. AsQuiths Home Rule Bill was to be hung
up until the end OF the war, and that the Carson
army in proceeding to Flanders, did not leave
behind 1t closed political question: Now it
pretended recruiting in
Catholic Ireland has been anything like on level
with the recruiting in Protestant ireland. Never
theless the Roman Catholic soldiers have done
magnificent work for the Empire, though not
more magnificent work than the Protestant regi-
mentS. When, consequently, it was proposed that
the unwritten agreement should be broken, and
that the Home Rule Bill should be made opera
tive Immediately, the Protestant minority I'M
queStiOnaby felt that the proposal was a breach
OF faith 1T is quite true, as was pointed out, dur
ing the debate on Wednesday, in the House of
Commons, that the Roman Catholic regiments of
Ireland have been fighting the battle of the EN-
pre in the same splendid way with which they
fought it in the peninsula and at Waterloo, and
with which they have fought it in Asia in Africa
or wherever the demand has hen made, but it
must be remembered that they have not been
fighting it any more loyalty than the Orange regi-
ments, and that the South has certainly not re-
sponded to the call Of the country in anything
like the proportion Of the North. Therefore it is
impossible not to think that it would have been
wiser to have obeyed the ancient maxim to let
sleeping dogs lie, than to have raised the question
in the motion which Mr. T. P. O'COnnOr introduced
into the House Of Commons, on Wednesday last
1t is perfectly true, insisted upon by
pr. Lloyd George, that Ireland have Home
Rule tomorrow, if the Home Rule party will agree
to exclude the Protestant counties, and there is
large body Of public opinion which is convinced
that the unwillingness Of the home Rule Party
to consent to this exclusion, is calculated to arouse
and perpetuate the very fears which have caused
the exclusion to be demanded by the Protestant
minority. No secret at all is made by this body
Of opinion and it is a body Of opinion which can
that the real objection to the exclusion of the
North Eastern counties, is not the homogenety