e due to their acceptance of the
Union, that it would be lessened if they threw in their lot with the
other Ireland and accepted its ideals, that business which now goes to
their shipyards and factories would cease if they were absorbed in
a self-governing Ireland whose spokesmen had an unfortunate habit of
nagging their neighbors and of conveying the impression that they are
inspired by race hatred. They believe that an Irish legislature would be
controlled by a majority, representatives mainly of small farmers, men
who had no knowledge of affairs, or of the peculiar needs of Ulster
industry, or the intricacy of the problems involved in carrying on an
international trade; that the religious ideas of the majority would be
so favored in education and government that the favoritism would amount
to religious oppression. They are also convinced that no small country
in the present state of the world can really be independent, that
such only exist by sufferance of their mighty neighbors, and must be
subservient in trade policy and military policy to retain even a nominal
freedom; and that an independent Ireland would by its position be a
focus for the intrigues of powers hostile to Great Britain, and if it
achieved independence Great Britain in self protection would be forced
to conquer it again. They consider that security for industry and
freedom for the individual can best be preserved in Ireland by the
maintenance of the Union, and that the world spirit is with the great
empires.

4. The second political group may be described as the spiritual
inheritors of the more ancient race in Ireland. They regard the
preservation of their nationality as a sacred charge, themselves as a
conquered people owing no allegiance to the dominant race. They cannot
be called traitors to it because neither they nor their predecessors
have ever admitted the right of another people to govern them against
their will. They are inspired by an ancient history, a literature
stretching beyond the Christian era, a national culture and distinct
national ideals which they desire to manifest in a civilization which
shall not be an echo or imitation of any other. While they do not
depreciate the worth of English culture or its political system they are
as angry at its being imposed on them as a young man with a passion for
art would be if his guardian insisted on his adopting another profession
and denied him any chance of manifesting his own genius. Few