one
considerable pecuniary sacrifice with good chances of success, we now
see clearly that all our efforts are for the present thrown away. It
is the fortune of war. The fates were against us, and we rest content
with the hope that we have furthered the ultimate success of the
movement. For the moment, we make our bow, and hope to call on Mr.
Bull at a more propitious season. Of course we expect to win in the
end."

The next politician whose opinions I noted was a horse of quite a
different colour. He bore a Scottish name, and had the incisive,
argumentative style of the typical Ulsterman, who unites the cold
common-sense and calculating power of the Scot with the warmth and
impulse of the Irish nature. He said:--

"The bare existence of Belfast is, or should be, enough to negative
all arguments in favour of Home Rule. The agitators say that Ireland
is decaying from political causes, while all the while this Ulster
town is getting richer and more powerful and influential. While the
people of Cork are begging the Viceroy to please to do something for
their port, to please to be so kind as to ask Mr. Bull to favour the
city with his patronage, the Belfast people, with a far inferior
harbour, an inferior climate, an incomparably inferior position,
surrounded by far worse land, are knocking out the Clyde for
shipbuilding, and running the Continent very close in linen-weaving.
Belfast is actually the third in order of the Customs ports in the
United Kingdom. The Belfast people flourish without Home Rule, and
what is more, they know their neighbours. They've reckoned these
gentry up.

"How is it that the Catholic population, as a rule, are merely the
hewers of wood and drawers of water? They have precisely the same
opportunities as their Protestant countrymen. Where-ever you go you
will find the Protestants coming to the top. Cork is a very bigoted
Catholic city, and the huge majority of the population are Catholics.
How is it that most of the leading merchants are Protestants? Why do
heretics flourish where the faithful starve? Transfer the populations
of Cork to Belfast and _vice versa_, and, as everybody knows perfectly
well, Belfast would at once begin to decay, while Cork would at once
begin to prosper. Therefore it is absurd to say that Home Rule would
cure the poverty existing in Catholic districts. Yes, there is a party
of ascendency. The Protestants are distinctly the party of ascendency.
They have the ascendenc