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 compromise, as there is only too substantial reason to apprehend.

5. On the other hand, while my friends and myself would welcome the most generous representation of the unofficial Unionist population of Ireland, the Government scheme ensures to the official Ulster Unionist Council a full third of the voting power of the Convention—under the direction, moreover, of a Committee not present at the Convention, but specially nominated by the Council to supervise its proceedings from outside. The terms of the Resolution under which the Ulster Unionist Council consented to enter the Convention make it clear that they have only done so as a War measure, and, relying upon the assurances of the Government that they need fear no Parliamentary pressure if they should adhere to their demand for the exclusion of the six counties as a minimum—a demand, indeed, which was conceded to them last year by the Irish Parliamentary Party. It is consequently obvious that the chances of any agreement by the Ulster Unionist Council other than one based on the separation of the six counties are all but hopelessly handicapped from the start, and the temptation dangerously increased to those Nationalist politicians who have already committed themselves to dismemberment.

6. As you are aware, my friends and myself have long since urged upon the Cabinet a constructive proposal, by which alone, in our judgment, any agreement involving a genuine settlement of the Irish difficulty can now be obtained, viz., a small Conference of responsible Irishmen, on the Land Conference model, to draft the headings of a project of Self-government for Ireland such as would guarantee a future of the fullest security and power 21