One of the most distinguished Unionist Members of Parliament, addressing a great meeting at Belfast says, “You are sometimes asked whether you propose to resist the English army?  I reply that even if this Government had the wickedness (which, on the whole, I believe), it is wholly lacking in the nerve required to give an order which in my deliberate judgment would shatter for years the civilization of these islands.”  If the Government does not have the nerve to employ its troops, “It will be for the moon-lighters and the cattle-maimers to conquer Ulster themselves, and it will be for you to show whether you are worse men, or your enemies better men, than the forefathers of you both.  But I note with satisfaction that you are preparing yourselves by the practice of exercises, and by the submission to discipline, for the struggle which is not unlikely to test your determination.  The Nationalists are determined to rule you.  You are determined not to be ruled.  A collision of wills so sharp may well defy the resources of a peaceful solution....  On this we are agreed, that the crisis has called into existence one of those supreme issues of conscience amid which the ordinary landmarks of permissible resistance to technical law are submerged.”

When one goes to the Church to escape from these sharp antagonisms, he is confronted with huge placards giving notice of meetings to protest against “The Robbery of God.”  The robber in this case is the Government, which proposes to disendow, as well as disestablish, the Church in Wales.  Noble lords denounce the outrage.  Mr. Lloyd George replies by reminding their lordships that their landed estates were, before the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, Church property.  If they wish to make restitution of the spoil which their ancestors took, well and good.  But let them not talk about the robbery of God, while their hands are “dripping with the fat of sacrilege.”

The retort is effective, but it does not make Mr. Lloyd George beloved by the people to whom it is addressed.  Twitting on facts has always been considered unmannerly.

III

When we hear the acrimonious discussions and the threats of violence, it is well to consider the reason for it all.  I think the reason is one that is not discreditable to those concerned.  These are not ordinary times, and they are not to be judged by ordinary standards.  England is at the present time passing through a revolution, the issues of which are still in doubt.  Revolutionary passions have been liberated by the rapid course of events.  “Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise.”  The confused noise may be disagreeable to persons of sensitive nerves, but it is a part of the situation.

When we consider the nature of the changes that have been made in the last few years, and the magnitude of those which are proposed, we do not wonder at the tone of exasperation which is common to all parties.