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REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Xovemher 1. 1''I3 



tation, and cultivatable land would be 

 cultivated. The scheme will throw open 

 great tracts of land for settlement. Game 

 will no doubt decrease, but happy 

 tenants, living in decent homes will mul- 

 tiply exceedingly. 



Home Rule. 



The chances of settling the Ulster dif- 

 ficulty by consent are not likely to be 

 improved by speeches like those of Mr. 

 Bonar Law, at Newcastle, on October 

 29th. He insisted upon a General Elec- 

 tion before Home Rule was enforced, 

 and e.xpressed his admiration for Sn- 

 Edward Carson. We will stand to- 

 gether, he declared, and, if necessar}', 

 fall together. Unionists, he said, believe 

 that an Irish Parliament would be a 

 danger to the nation and to the Empire, 

 and he went on to forecast a national 

 tragedy if the measure were persisted in. 

 If such a danger really exists a further 

 mandate by the British electors m 

 favour of Home Rule would not lessen 

 it at all. A General Election would 

 not help to solve the difficulty, and 

 it is only urged because of the 

 chance of the Government being de- 

 feated. If it won. Sir Edward Carson 

 would no more accept Home Rule 

 than he will now. Mr. Asquith and 

 Mr. Churchill have stated that the 

 Government is willing to discuss the 

 matter with the earnest desire of finding 

 a solution, but the other side has not yet 

 shown any spirit of conciliation, and un- 

 less it does a round-table conference 

 would be useless. The Liberal attitude 

 is simple. Home Rule is going through. 

 If Ulster's champions care to try and 

 bring about any modifications they will 

 be met half-way but a separate Irish 

 Parliament is going to be created. 



Ulster to Revolt. 



Proposals are put forward by Sir 

 Edward Carson and his followers for 

 making Ulster a separate state, and the 

 Ulster Unionist Council have gone so 



far as to form themselves into a cen- 

 tral authority, and set up committees 

 on Law, Education, Finance, Customs, 

 Post Office, Railways, Supply, and 

 Volunteer services. The body thus 

 created is about the most undemo- 

 cratic in the world. Not a single, 

 working man has been asked to join it. 

 Needless to say, the Nationalists, who, 

 after all, number at least half of the 

 population of Ulster, are entirely unre- 

 presented. Of course, an independent 

 state such as suggested could not last a 

 week without the consent of the British 

 Government. One instance will suffice 

 to show this. The post office would not 

 be recognised. Ulster would be imme- 

 diately cut off from the rest of the world. 

 All foreign orders would stop, ever\'- 

 thing would be at a standstill. Fac- 

 tories and shipyards would have to shut 

 down. There would be no question of 

 fighting at all. It would merely be a 

 case for the boycott so well-known in 

 Ireland. Belfast cannot exist without 

 the support of the great British cities. 

 Sir Edward Carson knows that as well 

 as anyone, but he persists in demanding 

 separate government for Ulster. He 

 objects to an Irish Parliament, in which 

 he and his friends would be in a 

 minority, but he proposes to set u]) an 

 authority in Ulster which would take 

 no account whatever of the Nationalists 

 li\ing there ! 



The Balkan Situation. 



Once more the ability of Turkey to 

 rise Phoenix-like from the ashes of de- 

 feat is being demonstrated to an 

 astonished world. It is true that history 

 is but repeating itself, though on most 

 occasions the Turk has only had to 

 reckon with his immediate opponents. 

 This time he deliberately and success- 

 fully flouts the whole of Europe. True 

 he has lost many square miles of ter- 

 ritory inhabited by turbulent tribesmen 

 who were a constant source of trouble to 

 him, and were alwavs causing complica- 



