But, beyond those safeguards, Ulster will always
have, in any such extreme and improbable event, an appeal to all the
forces of the Empire--an appeal which would certainly not be in vain.
The conviction of these truths will gradually penetrate the shrewd
brain of Ulster and save her from the madness of rebellion or
secession. The patience and moderation of the Government will gradually
disarm these men. Who knows whether in the end the majority in Belfast,
as in Ulster, as a whole may not voluntarily prefer to join rather than
hold aloof from a great national restoration?
* * * * *
In one of his 1893 Home Rule speeches, Mr. Gladstone reminded the House
of Commons, with impressive power, of the splendid reception given in
1793 to the Protestant delegates from Grattan's Parliament at Dublin,
who had come to plead for the concession of their rights to the
Catholics of Ireland.
It was the Act of Union that destroyed all that generous feeling, and
revived again the passions of ascendancy and fanaticism among the
Orangemen of North-east Ulster.
But the old, generous feelings may yet return again.
SOUTHERN ULSTER
The great majority of the Protestants in Ireland stand outside this
ring.
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