unremunerative. Then the value of all sorts of Irish securities would undoubtedly be most seriously affected, bringing ruinous loss and consequent suffering into many a home which had previously been prosperous and contented. In proof of this we have only to study the lists of Irish securities during the year 1886, and we find that, immediately after the introduction of the Irish Bills, many of the best and safest investments fell from ten to twenty per cent. in their market price, the total depreciation in value being estimated at about a million sterling. When, however, these Bills were rejected and the people regained confidence, when they saw the majority of the entire nation was against the proposed changes, then the price of these securities rose, and most of them stood again at their original figure. I believe one simple fact such as I have given will carry more weight with it, as showing the real feeling in the country against Home Rule, than a thousand absurd sentimental grievances, such as a gentleman declining to wear the garments provided for him by the Government of the country, because, forsooth, the shade of colour did not please his too fastidious taste; or another gentleman barricading himself up in an old house, and allowing his people to lower him down from an upper window to receive an address and a purse of sovereigns from an admiring crowd below! I cannot think for a moment that Englishmen will be influenced in the slightest degree by such ridiculous theatrical displays, or lose sight of the real question at issue. Besides this, our friends in England and Scotland should not forget that Ireland has for many years been one of their best customers, paying them annually large sums of money; but if the earning power of Ireland should be seriously crippled, from the reasons already given, then our purchasing powers will be reduced proportionately. When, in addition to this, we take into account the hostile tariffs, which we have every reason to believe would be imposed by a Dublin Parliament, then we see plainly that Ireland could no longer be the happy hunting-ground it has so long been for English and Scotch commercial travellers.

Belfast is a striking example of what industry and loyalty can accomplish, and forms a wonderful contrast to many towns in the south and west of Ireland, where indolence and disloyalty are chronic complaints; many of us naturally take a great pride in our native town, which now occupies a high place in the list of the most important towns in the United Kingdom. During the last fifty years the population has risen from about 70,000 to about 240,000, and for many years past new houses have been built in numbers varying from 1,000 to 1,500 per annum. It is now acknowledged as the commercial capital of Ireland, and is so full of life and energy that all strangers visiting it for the first time. are greatly impressed by the fine appearance of the town, and the

good business habits of its people. When I say that all the leading men in the town, and the vast majority of the intelligent working men, although differing with each other in ordinary politics, are united as one man in their determination to resist to the uttermost any attempt to bring them under the rule of a Dublin Parliament, I think we have some right to claim support and sympathy from our friends across the Channel, and I am sure we shall not appeal in vain.

When Mr. Gladstone introduced his Irish Bills in April 1886, the people in Belfast got into a state of the greatest excitement: the Nationalist Party, who are in a large minority, thinking they were at last going to be successful in obtaining that for which they had so long pined and plotted; while the entire Unionist Party, Liberals and Conservatives, at once threw aside party differences. for the time being, and determined to stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of their common country. United meetings were held all over the province, and many of us who had never before stood on political platforms, felt it was our duty to come forward, and do all that lay in our power to defeat a measure which we conscientiously believed would, if carried, deprive us of our homes, our liberties, and our citizenship in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, this excitement, coming into a community where party spirit at all times. runs high, resulted in the deplorable riots which disgraced our town for several months. It is not my intention to say who was to blame locally for the commencement and continuance of these events, which resulted in the loss of about forty lives, numbers of people being maimed for life, and great sorrow and suffering brought into many homes; but if Mr. Gladstone could have seen the dreadful sights I saw in the streets and in the hospital, when in discharge of my duties, I think even he would hesitate before he would again press such sweeping measures on an unwilling community. One thing these unfortunate events clearly proved, and that is that there exists in Ulster a powerful and determined body of men, who will never be coerced into accepting a form of government which would virtually make them the slaves of the Nationalist party. We therefore refuse, as we have a perfect right to do, to allow ourselves to be cast off from being subjects of the United Kingdom; and yet the proposal was not to cast us off freely and absolutely, but to hand us over to a new Power, which our former rulers will help to compel us to obey! The Province of Ulster will, if need be, look after its own interests and protect itself, as it is quite capable of doing; but we are strenuously opposed to its exclusion from any scheme relating to Ireland, as we feel it would be a most selfish action on our part if, because of the strength of our position, we basely deserted our fellow-countrymen. VOL. X. 39

who are scattered all over the country, and who are as staunch Unionists as we are. The recent meetings in Dublin gave a true insight into the numbers, position, and intelligence of the Unionists. outside Ulster; such a magnificent demonstration was never before held in the Irish capital, and it has opened the eyes of the nation as to the class of people forming the numerical minority in Ireland. Far too much stress has been allowed to be laid on what is called the majority of the Irish people; we deny the right of any three millions of Her Majesty's subjects to call themselves a majority, when they are not 10 per cent. of the entire population of the United Kingdom. The majority of the entire nation is the only majority we can recognize, and that Mr. Gladstone has not got, and never will get, as clearly indicated by recent events. Three millions of people residing in Lancashire and Yorkshire might just as well ask for a local Parliament in one of their large towns, but their demand would not be likely to receive favourable consideration of the nation. It may be argued that the cases are not parallel, and that we are bound to look back into Irish history. This is perfectly right, and forms one of our strongest arguments in favour of the maintenance of the Union; for the more we study history the more we are convinced that Ireland could never be a nation, as it contains within itself such opposing elements and such inflammable materials, that its affairs must be controlled by some such impartial assembly as the Imperial Parliament sitting at Westminster. I firmly believe that if Ireland had the management of its own affairs, almost everyone who remained in the country, and had any stake in it, would be ruined, and before the expiration of three years England would be compelled to take forcible possession of it.

The apparently sudden conversion of Mr. Gladstone to Home Rule was not only a source of the greatest sorrow and disappointment, but was also surrounded by the greatest mystery to his many admirers in Ireland. There seems to have been something almost prophetic in what Lord Macaulay wrote of him in the year 1839, when he first of all described him as "the rising hope of those stern and unbending Tories," and then went on to say, "It would not be at all strange if Mr. Gladstone were one of the most unpopular men in England." "Whatever Mr. Gladstone sees is refracted and distorted by a false medium of passions and prejudices." "He has one most fatal gift as a speculator, a vast command of a kind of language, grave and majestic, but of vague and uncertain import." Nearly fifty years have passed since these words were written, and yet how true they are to day.

It is not my intention in this article to go into any details as to to the development of the country by public works, railways,

manufactures, or cottage industries, but merely to show that on purely mercantile grounds nearly every business man of good position in Ireland is strenuously opposed to anything in the form of Home Rule, or a Dublin Parliament. Whatever measure of local self-government may be considered necessary for Great Britain we shall gladly accept for Ireland, but we do not want more. I have also refrained from going into the National and Imperial aspect of the case, leaving that in far more able hands, in the persons of our Liberal Unionist champions, Lord Hartington, Mr. Goschen, and Mr. Chamberlain, who so recently visited our shores. I would now conclude, in the final words uttered by the Duke of Argyll, in his speech given at the banquet following the Liberal Unionist conference held in London on 8th December: "God save Ireland, to continue, as she has been for many years, an integral part of that United Kingdom, which gives to all her citizens perfect freedom and liberty of action."

A BELFAST MERCHANT.

626

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF BULGARIA.

THE Bulgarian difficulty, which has for so long occupied the attention of Europe, and which will, in all probability continue to tax the resources of diplomacy for some time to come, is on the whole a question of simple character, and one which can be stated in a very few words.

The point, and the whole point, is whether Bulgaria shall be permitted to form her own Government, and elect her own prince— in a word, to exist as an independent nation-or whether the Czar, with the consent of Europe, shall force his own satrap upon her, impose his own rule, and transform newly-liberated Bulgaria into a Russian province.

It was partly in order to form an opinion upon this question that I paid a somewhat lengthy visit to Bulgaria in the autumn, and I cannot but think that all unprejudiced judges would arrive at the same conclusion as myself, viz. that the question should be decided in favour of the Bulgarians.

If there is one thing more than another that will strike a stranger in Bulgaria, it is the detestation which is now openly expressed all over the country for the so-called Liberators. Perhaps, considering the way in which the Bulgarians have been treated by Russia, this ought not to excite much surprise; but what is indeed astonishing is that Russian policy should have been conducted in such a way as to estrange a people who belong to the same race, speak the same language, and profess the same religion, and effectually to destroy all former influence in the country in the space of a few years. With the exception, perhaps, of some ardent Russophils in England, there are now, it may be assumed, few people who are under any illusion as to the reasons why the war of 1877 was fought: the Bulgarians, at any rate, were very soon undeceived on the subject, and it is because they have realised that a free Bulgaria was only intended for a Russian advanced post on the road to Constantinople, that they are now taxed with the basest ingratitude towards that Power. It is perfectly true that the Bulgarians owe their liberation principally to Russian efforts; but the contention of the latter, that this service alone constitutes a claim to eternal gratitude and submission, is as though the fact of having once rendered some pecuniary assistance entitled one to live at a friend's expense for life. The friends of Russia in Bulgaria have now practically disappeared; while the policy of brutal interference, and the scarcely veiled inten