New-York tribune., 1921-02-06
Sir Edward Carson's I'm.
fiuence Is Stronger
Than Ever and People
Seem To Be Indifferent
Last Concession Made
Separate Parliahaent Meas
ure Is Most North Will
Concede to- the South
By Harold E. Scarborough


Rule bill, people began to look at vi.
ster and inquire, "Now you've got it,
what are you going TO do with it?"
The query was not wholly justified.
Not all of Ulster wanted Home Rule
not by long shot. The years between
1914, when Ulster was armirig against
England, and 1921 have by no means
converted every Unionist to belief in
The efficacy Of self-government. Never
theless, one felt fairly certain that the
south wouldn't have anything to dc
with the latest government ireland
act. The only other part of Ireland,
then, that could be expected to adopt IL
was Ulster.
So for the last two weeks various
British publicist5 have been drawing up
tentative Ulster cabinets. depicting the
enthusiasm of the Protestants of the
northeast for their own parliament.
Carson Stronger Than Ever
Here in Belfast few facts seem 60
stand out (besides the rain, which is
continual and very damp. Among
them are:
The great mass Of peopls in the
counties which are included in the old
Province of Ulster, as defined in the
Home Rule act, have not yet begun
tc take an interest In the projected
separate Northern Parliament.
Conservative opinion sets the drst
part of March as the date for the
Ulster elections.
Sir Edward Carson's influence IL
stronger than ever. He may not be
the first northern Prime Minister, but
the masses in Belfast certainly expect
him to be. Sir Edward TO them Is still
guide, counselor and friend, not to
mention demigod.
There is everywhere Reputation OF
the assumption that the composition
Of the new Parliament is cut-and-
dried matter Ulstermen insist that II II
Sir Edward Carson steps down he Will
not attempt to confer his mantle on
Sir James Craig or upon any other
man, but that he will leave it to the
people to select their new leader.
Similarly, the selection Of the new
Parliament and Cabinet is said TO be
very indefinite just now.
Ulster will never agree with tbs rest
Of Ireland, nor the rest Of ireland with
Ulster, upon matters political; 10. IT,.
Geographically, Belfast is l33 miles
from Dublin. Politically, it is much
further than that; further than White
hall or than 10 Downing Street; Age
Y cannot wither nor custom stale its in
finite capacity for distrust in Ma
tionalism.
Must Revise Law Code
The first FIVE men to whom talked
In Belfast answered the query, What
IA Ulster doing about its new Parlia-
ment?" by saying that it wasn't doing
anything. The sixth man said that,
while he still believed union with Great
bn
pared to sacrifice his ideal for the COM
mon Irish cause. and he was undoubt-
edly sincere The seventh said that
the people generally were displaying
great enthusiasm for the new Pariia-
ment. Others said that the unem.
ployment situation was very bads and
asked the questioner. who had just
really was.
One of the chief things 20 be done
before the Ulster Parliament can be
set up is the revision Of the. British
law code, in so far as it relates to
ireland, into phraseology giving the
separate Irish parliaments power TO
deal with the matters placed under
their jurisdiction by the Home Rule
bill This is an involved and tiresome
task, and will take some little time.
Then parliamentary elections must
take place, with duly nominated can
didates in the field Then the Parlla-
ment of the North of Ireland will come
into being. The estimate of early
March as the probable date of the cleo
tiona seems quite fair and reasonably
accurate. AS yet no parliamen entary can
iidates have been openly proclaimed;
but q Unionist M. P Is authority for
the statement that, If the government
would name the appointed day" to-
morrow, the elections could take place.
1t Is not difficult to forecast the COM
position of the newnorthern Parliament.
A minority of the ffty-two members
will be Nationalists. They will prob
ably refuse to take their seats, so that
the Unionist majority will have labor
as Its only real opposition. Concern
ing the probable Importance of the op-
position, opinions differ. The average
Belfast business man says that Ulster
labor is not extremist In tendency;
that many workingmen will vote the
Untonist ticket, rather than take
chances on serious split; that the
present unemployment is no worse than
1t has been many times before. Bel.
fast's two staple industries are ship
ping and textiles. There have been
signs of slackness in the former, but
the textile situation is much the more
serious.
Baltic in Drydock
The Baltic, for instance, went into
drydock at Belfast the other day and
it is estimated that retitting and over
hauling her will provide a years steady
employment for large number of
skipyard workers. But there are no
textile Battles. Cancellation of orders
and the general slump in industry fol-
lowing the war are blamed by Belfast
for her closed mills. An investigator
in Belfast is told that the South of
lreland's boycott against Ulster goods
is not at all serious. The South likes
70 believe that it really is serious,
especially as regards foodstuffs and
other commodities for which Ulster is
the great distributing center for the
whole island.
But perhaps the strongest impress
sion the casual visitor takes away from
Belfast to-day is that of its contrast
with the cities of Nationalist Ireland
There is a curfew, it is true, and good
Belfastians must be off the streets by
10:30. But Ulster, itself, is very re-
mote from the terror which grips the
rest Of the island. Not since the riots
of July and August has there been any
serious disorder in the North Belfast
knows not the Black and Tans: the
nightly ambushes, the reprisals, the
suspicion, the tension, the strained at
mosphere," which characterize the
South. The new arrival from Dublin
Is eagerly questioned as TO "wha& it's
81