" In his reply Mr.
Bonar Law gave them "on behalf of the Unionist Party this
message--though the brunt of the battle will be yours, there will not be
wanting help from 'across the Channel.'" At Comber, where a stop was
made on the way to Mount Stewart, he asked himself how Radical Scotsmen
would like to be treated as the Government were treating Protestant
Ulster. "I know Scotland well," he replied to his own question, "and I
believe that, rather than submit to such fate, the Scottish people would
face a second Bannockburn or a second Flodden."
These few quotations from the first utterances of Mr. Bonar Law on his
arrival are sufficient to show how complete was the understanding
between him and the Ulster people even before the great demonstration of
the following day. He had, as _The Times_ Correspondent noted, "already
found favour with the Belfast crowd. All the way from Larne by train to
Belfast and through Belfast by motor-car to Newtownards and Mount
Stewart, his progress was a triumph."
The remarks of the same experienced observer on the eve of the Balmoral
meeting are worth recording, especially as his anticipations were amply
fulfilled.
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