A Scot by birth, with a life of thirty years spent in Belfast, during which time he had seen his business grow from two hundred hands to ten thousand, he knew nothing of Ireland but Belfast, and had no trace of Irish feeling.

In this he stood alone; but unhappily no man carried more weight in Belfast--with the possible exception of one whom few of us outside Ulster knew before we came to that body.

Mr.Alexander McDowell was a solicitor by profession, the adviser of policy to all the business men of Belfast.

From the first day of our meeting he stood out by sheer weight of brain and personality.

He was to some of us the surprise of that assembly, and made us realize how little part we had in Ulster when the existence of such a man could be an unknown factor to us.
Mr.Pollock, President of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, was also new to us, and was destined to play a prominent part in our affairs.