“Finally, what would be the effect of a breakdown at the front?

“We are called upon on all sides of this ancient quarrel to make what people call sacrifices—­sacrifices of inherited predilections, of old-world ideas, and of ancient shibboleths, of perhaps ingrained prejudice.  I would be ashamed to speak of the surrender of such things as sacrifices, when I remember the kind of sacrifices our brave boys have made and are making this very hour while we are safe at home talking.  I cannot trust myself to speak upon this matter.  Only the other day, once again the Ulster Division and the Sixteenth Irish Division, shoulder to shoulder, have fought and died for Ireland.  The full story is not yet known, but it is full of tragedy, of heroism and of glory.  Surely they deserve some encouragement.  No set of men living would be prouder and happier than they if we can send them the news of a settlement of this question which will relieve them from the daily shame they feel, every time they meet their Allies, in the consciousness that their country, Ireland, for which they are facing death, is distracted and disunited and a source of reproach.

“No, we must come to a settlement.  We must rise to the occasion—­if only to save ourselves from a lifelong remorse for wrecking this venture—­for what the historian of the future would describe as a crime against the Empire in her hour of deadliest peril, and a crime against the peace and happiness of our own beloved and long-suffering country.”

One result of this speech was seen at once in an utterance from Mr. Andrew Jameson, a leading figure among the Southern Unionists.  He said at once that Redmond had convinced him that all the difficulties as to maintaining the Imperial connection and providing safeguards for minorities could and would be met.  The fiscal difficulty remained.  He pressed the Ulster group to come to our assistance and depart from their attitude of silence.  This speech went further towards our desire than any Unionist had previously gone.

In a later debate Mr. Pollock outlined two essentials of the Ulster demand.  The United Kingdom must remain a fiscal unit; and Ireland must be represented at Westminster.  If these points were conceded, agreement, he thought, should be possible.

On the whole, as discussion grew franker and more business-like, relations improved.  There were small passages at arms, but these only served to show how strong was the general desire for harmony.  One of my colleagues said that he did not know what to make of a political assembly where everyone applauded when you got up, and applauded when you sat down, and never interrupted you.  Another said that the Convention was the only society in Ireland from which one always came away cheered up:  and this was so generally felt that an Ulster speaker reminded us that the atmosphere of our proceedings was pleasant but exceptional.  He warned us to remember that, even if we agreed, either side might be repudiated.