o his country, his feelings were all on the other side. That is
what the Presbyterians of Ulster say to-day. They point to the way in
which Ulster has, under the Union, been able to develop itself; with
no richer soil, no better climate, and no greater natural advantages
than other parts of Ireland, the energy, ability, and true patriotism
of the people have enabled them to establish and encourage commerce
and manufactures which have brought wealth and prosperity to Ulster
whilst the other Provinces have been stationary or retrograde. There
cannot be a better instance of the different spirit which animates the
two communities than the history of the linen industry. Michael Davitt
bitterly described it as "Not an Irish, but an Orange industry." And
from his point of view, he was quite right; for it is practically
confined to Ulster. In that Province it has during the nineteenth
century developed so steadily that the annual export now exceeds
L15,000,000 in value and more than 70,000 hands are employed in the
mills. Not long ago, a Royal Commission was appointed to enquire
whether it was not possible to grow flax in the south and west, and
if so why it was not done. The Commission made careful enquiries, and
reported that in both Munster and Connaught efforts had been made to
establish the industry (notably by the late Lord Bandon, one of the
much-abused landlord class, who had let land for the purpose at a
nominal charge, obtained seed and brought experts from the north
to instruct the people); that it had been proved that both soil and
climate were quite as well adapted for it as in Ulster; but that after
a few years the buyers refused any longer to purchase the flax as it
was so carelessly and badly prepared that it was valueless; and so
the industry had died out. In both south and west the people expressed
their readiness to revive it if a large grant were made to them by the
Government, but not otherwise.

Then again we may take the growth of the cities. It seems hard now to
realise that one reason why the people of Dublin opposed the Union was
because they feared lest, when their city ceased to be the capital,
Cork might grow into a great industrial centre and surpass it. Cork
has remained stationary ever since; Belfast, then an insignificant
country town, has become a city of 400,000 inhabitants, and the
customs from it alone are more than double those from all the rest of
Ireland put together. And what is true of