It_was striking, let me say in passing, to note how completely the rational identity of Ireland—the. acceptance of Ireland as a distinct. national person—had passed into the normal texture of European thought. Only a few years ago, oneself as Irish wa same thing as describing oneself as English. Not so to-day. To-day the Irishman is accepted as belonging to ai t and separate a State as a Frenchman or an Italian. And of this distinct State the Ulsterman is accepted as much a member as an inhabitant in any of the other provinces of Ireland.
Little wonder. The stiffest Orange Ulsterman would as proudly have described himself as an Irishman in these places as an inhabitant of Connacht, of Leinster or of Munster, He believes strongly in the Imperial connexion; he is, at the moment, not politically identified with his fellow-countrymen in the other parts of Ireland; but he is proud of being an Irishman, and would object to be described as an Englishman. Why, then, is ho Politically separated from the rest of Ireland?
The Continental European does not understand the difference; and his difficulty is shared by many others. To him the "Ulster cliff culty" is purely an Irish difficulty; and his questions were always directed to discovering first, what caused it, and, second, why Ireland did not deal more firmly with those resisting the will of the national majority. I do not comment on these questions. I' merely indicate them to show how this matter is regarded by those who look upon it from a distance.
This point of view is a very tural one. Why, then, are six counties (or rather the majority of the inhabitants of In answering this question I will endeavour, briefly, to put'the point of view of those inhabitants' as justly as is possible; and I will set it out under* three heads, beginning wit® the least important, and concluding with what I believe to be the most important,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.