every Latin rescript.

All this may appear to some good politics; but surely it is past
tolerance when these manufacturers of intolerance talk of the
intolerance of others.

In all these respects Belfast stands almost alone in Ireland. A canon
of the Catholic Church--a man of winning manners and charming
personality, who lives on quite friendly terms with his Protestant
neighbours in the South of Ireland--told me that on the only occasion
when he visited Belfast he was spat at in the streets. The story is
quite credible to those who have watched the deliberate manipulation of
the worst religious passions by the party organisers of Ulster, not
always unassisted by their colleagues in London.

One result is that if you ask any question as to the character of a man
in the city of Belfast, the answer will always come to you in terms of
religion. In the South the reply will be, "He is a Nationalist," or "He
is a Unionist." But in Belfast it will be, "He is a Catholic," or "He
is a Protestant."

So fierce is this feeling in Belfast that until recently all political
and social differences were submerged by it, and every fresh effort
towards local progress was broken up by the revival of religious
prejudice. Things have been somewhat changed by the wonderful social
and political crusade, quite independent of all religious differences,
carried on by that remarkable young citizen of Belfast, Mr. Joseph
Devlin, who captured the constituency of West Belfast in 1906 and
retained it in 1910 largely on a social reform policy. He has for the
first time given Ulster a glimpse of something better than religious
fanaticism--a social policy based on the unions of religions for the
good of all.[48]

This break in the dark clouds must surely spread until a better spirit
prevails.

For Belfast, perhaps, has more to gain than any other great Irish city
by a policy that would pacify Ireland. If Belfast could once shake off
the memory of her immigrant origin, and look to Ireland rather than
Great Britain as her native country, she would perceive that the gain
of Catholic Ireland must be her gain also. Her prosperity can never be
sure or certain as long as it stands out against a background of Irish
poverty. The linen industry can never rest secure as long as there are
so few industries to support it. The linen merchants cannot really gain
by their isolation. Belfast at present has a great export trade. She
clothes Great Britain in fine l