The Soul of Ulster Book

The Soul of Ulster PREFACE IT has been very truly said that the Ulster question is only properly understood by Ulstermen, residents in other parts of Ireland having, at the best, an incomplete grasp of the real deep-down issues. It may, I think, with equal truth be added that mere residence in Ulster is not in itself sufficient to lay bare the inner soul of the people, there being in the case of the native part of the population very wide gap between their secret feelings and that which appears on the surface. In moments of acute political interest this gap becomes sensibly lessened. North Tyrone has been the scene since the Re distribution Bill of more closely-contested elections than any other Constituency in the kingdom and as one who has taken an active part as principal or otherwise in all of these contests, I have perhaps had exceptional opportunities of getting occasional rather startling glimpses of the real soul of Ulster. ERNEST HAMILTON, M. P, for North Tyrone, 1885-1892. CONTENTS PAGE ULSTER PRIOR TO COLONIZATION ... 1 THE ULSTER PLANTATION 19 THE CROMWELLIAN SETTLEMENT ... 55 THE CIVIL WAR 73 THE 1798 REBELLION 89 ULSTER TO-DAY 107 MOONLIGHT OUTRAGES 141 THE RED HAND OF ULSTER .... 153 CONCLUSION 177 ULSTER PRIOR TO COLONIZATION nnHE ethics of the Ulster question are fast bound up in the general ethics of colonization. Is colonization to be classed as an act of piracy, or is it a necessary part of the gradual reclamation of the world It may be both, in which case the problem is still further resolved into the question as to whether the good resulting from colonization justifies the original act Most people will agree that the answer must depend upon the parti cular, circumstances surrounding each case, A broad, general principle which will govern all cases seems out of reach. 3 4 The Soul of Ulster Religion is perhaps the most attractive excuse, because all proselytizers, if sincere in the belief that their particular gospel alone carries the secret of salvation, must equally believe that the end justifies the means. It is a logical sequence. And so it comes about that most of historys blackest or reddest acts bear the official stamp of Gods service. In Australia, New Zealand and North America the Gospel has succeeded more primitive creeds, and we therefore comfort ourselves with the reflection that all is well, including the unpublished and, in many cases, unpublishable, processes by which this came about. Into these pro cesses few care to inquire, but we find that the net result in every case is a steady disappearance of the native element. This one concrete fact is in Ulster Prior to Colonization 5 itself perhaps more eloquent than any history. It seems to point with some plainness to the conclusion that the land and not the souls of the natives was the first aim of the colonists, or, in any case, that, if the salvation of their souls was secured, it was done by the convenient sacrifice of their bodies. In a world whose most unpopular product is the naked truth, we need never expect the picture of British colonization the world over to be faithfully drawn. It would, perhaps, not be a pretty picture. But, ugly as it might be in its truth, it would still fail to suggest even to the most philanthropic any obvious and at the same time practicable act of repara tion. The philanthropist might deplore the wicked acts of other days, but he could not undo them he could not evenRead More