ed of an agreement.

"Finally, what would be the effect of a breakdown at the front?

"We are called upon on all sides of this ancient quarrel to make what
people call sacrifices--sacrifices of inherited predilections, of
old-world ideas, and of ancient shibboleths, of perhaps ingrained
prejudice. I would be ashamed to speak of the surrender of such things
as sacrifices, when I remember the kind of sacrifices our brave boys
have made and are making this very hour while we are safe at home
talking. I cannot trust myself to speak upon this matter. Only the other
day, once again the Ulster Division and the Sixteenth Irish Division,
shoulder to shoulder, have fought and died for Ireland. The full story
is not yet known, but it is full of tragedy, of heroism and of glory.
Surely they deserve some encouragement. No set of men living would be
prouder and happier than they if we can send them the news of a
settlement of this question which will relieve them from the daily shame
they feel, every time they meet their Allies, in the consciousness that
their country, Ireland, for which they are facing death, is distracted
and disunited and a source of reproach.

"No, we must come to a settlement. We must rise to the occasion--if only
to save ourselves from a lifelong remorse for wrecking this venture--for
what the historian of the future would describe as a crime against the
Empire in her hour of deadliest peril, and a crime against the peace and
happiness of our own beloved and long-suffering country."

One result of this speech was seen at once in an utterance from Mr.
Andrew Jameson, a leading figure among the Southern Unionists. He said
at once that Redmond had convinced him that all the difficulties as to
maintaining the Imperial connection and providing safeguards for
minorities could and would be met. The fiscal difficulty remained. He
pressed the Ulster group to come to our assistance and depart from their
attitude of silence. This speech went further towards our desire than
any Unionist had previously gone.

In a later debate Mr. Pollock outlined two essentials of the Ulster
demand. The United Kingdom must remain a fiscal unit; and Ireland must
be represented at Westminster. If these points were conceded, agreement,
he thought, should be possible.

On the whole, as discussion grew franker and more business-like,
relations improved. There were small passages at arms, but these only
served to show how strong was the ge