"To-morrow's demonstration," he telegraphed from Belfast, "both in
numbers and enthusiasm, promises to be the most remarkable ever
seen in Ireland. If expectations are realised the assemblage of men
will be twice as numerous as the whole white population of the
Witwatersrand, whose grievances led to the South African War, and
they will represent a community greater in numbers than the white
population of South Africa as a whole. Unless all the signs are
misleading, it will be the demonstration of a community in the
deadliest earnest. By the Protestant community of Ulster, Home Rule
is regarded as a menace to their faith, to their material
well-being and prosperity, and to their freedom and national
traditions, and thus all the most potent motives which in history
have stirred men to their greatest efforts are here in operation."
No written description, unless by the pen of some gifted imaginative
writer, could convey any true impression of the scenes that were
witnessed the following day in the Show Ground at Balmoral and the roads
leading to it from the heart of the city.
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