could be dealt with if conscription were applied to Northern 
Ireland side by side with a law protecting the conscript in 
relation to his civil employment and, and if at the same time,  
the Ministry of Supply could with a certain measure of publicity 
investigate the industrial resources of Ulster. There are no 
doubt weighty arguments to the contrary, and my opinion may 
therefore be quite wrong, but I feel no doubt that the present 
position irritates Ulster and provokes avoidable comment in Eire.
 
             I was informed quite unanimously that the unification 
of Irelend would be forcibly resisted by Ulster for three prin-
cipal reasons:-
 
(a) Ulster will not forgo its allegiance to the Throne. 
(b) It refuses to be voted into neutrality by the Roman Catholic 
majortty in the South
(c) Ulstermen fear that their in, lustrial establishments would 
be dissipated or weakened by the economic or fiscal policics of 
a united Irish Parliament.
 
2. EIRE
 
             The people of this "distressful country", or at 
any rate those who govern it, are in a state of exaggerated 
selfconsciousness. They are not very realistic in their approach 
to the problems of the war. They are ready to take off once. They 
resented the fact that Colonel Donovmu's visit was only for a couple 
of hours. They feel, and I think with some justification, that their 
point of view has been either not examined or impatiently examined. 
These comments are specially true of De Valera himself. He interested 
me very much. He is at first sight a somewhat saturnine figure,
particularly when he sallies abroad in a long dark frieze overcoat 
and a  broad-brimmed black hat.  Personal contact with him however, 
indicates that he is educated, I think sincere, and with a mind
in which acute intelligence is found to contain many blind spots 
occasioncd by prejudice, bitter personal experience, and a marked 
slavery to past history. It was clear to no that whatever the
position may be in the provinces (as to which I know nothing), he 
has a large and fanatical following in Dublin He is the "chief".  
The very clerks in the offices stand promptly to attention as
he strides past. His Ministers speak with freedom in his absence, 
but are restrained and obedient in his presence. Some of these 
Ministers are possessed of more flexible minds than his, and I
found them merry fellows but in the last resort I am quite sure 
that his view will prevail. On the whole, with all my prejudices, 
I liked him and occasionally succeeded in evoking from him a sort
of wintry humor,  which was not without charm. His mind must be 
studied promptly but patiently if the Irish problem is to be settled. 
He professes to attach little importance to personal contacts,
and is accustomed to deal with things from behind a barrier of maps, 
charts and records; but my own experience with him