Ever since a militant faction of the Irish Republican Army stepped up its terrorism in Northern Ireland early this summer, a broad-scale Protestant backlash has been building in the British province. Earlier this month, 1,000 former B Specials, the Protestant police auxiliary disbanded on British orders two years ago, met to urge that the group be reorganized and rearmed. A few days later, 20,000 Belfast workers roared their approval of right-wing demands for a Protestant "third force."
Last week Ulster's Prime Minister Brian Faulkner moved to try to bring the backlash under control. First he persuaded the British to...