The Lords' Veto Bill—Mr. Lloyd George's Budget—Mr.
Balfour retires— He is succeeded by Mr. Bonar Law—The Home Rule for
Ireland Bill introduced by Mr. Asquith—The Anti-Home Rule Campaign in
Ulster led by Sir Edward Carson—The Signing of the Covenant on Ulster
Day—Mr. Balfour moves the Rejection of the Bill—His Reference to "the
Real Assassins"—Sir Edward Carson and Mr. F. E. Smith suggest the
Exclusion of Ulster from the Bill—Mr. Winston Churchill's
Pronouncement—Great Demonstration in Belfast of Ulster Business Men—The
Bill "expires" for a Second Time—Army Officers on the Curragh, when
ordered to Belfast, resign—Gun-running Exploit by the Ulster Volunteers.
King Edward died at a time when the country was
sharply divided on a grave constitutional controversy—the limitation of
the power of the Peers. The history of this question is interesting.
Among the larger measures undertaken by the Asquith ministry were the
introduction of Old Age Pensions, the settlement of the education
controversy, and the Reform of the Licensing Laws. The first of these
was, as we have seen, carried into force, the second was abandoned after
repeated efforts to satisfy the claims of conflicting religious
denominations, the third was vetoed by the Upper House. The action of
the House of Lords in this matter lent renewed vigour to the demand of
the Liberal party for some curtailment of the power of the Peers. The
General Election, which began on the 14th January, 1910, resulted in the
return of a Liberal majority of 124, the main issues of the contest
being the Lords' Veto Bill, Mr. Lloyd George's Budget, and the policy of
Tariff Reform. In order to facilitate matters, a conference was held of
the leaders of the various parties at variance, at which
Messrs. Asquith, Lloyd George, Birrell, A. J. Balfour, Austen
Chamberlain, and Lords Crewe, Lansdowne, and Cawdor met. The first
meeting was held on the 17th of June, 1910, and the last on the 10th of
November, there being twenty-one meetings in all, but no agreement was
arrived at. Dissolution of Parliament took place on the 28th of
November. The General Election which followed resulted in a Ministerial
majority of 126. The new Parliament met on the 6th of February, 1911,
and on the 21st the Parliament Bill was introduced, having for its
object the limitation of the duration of parliaments to five years. In
November Mr. Balfour retired, and Mr. Bonar Law became leader of the
Conservative party, with Lord Lansdowne leader in the Lords.
The Home Rule for Ireland Bill, introduced by Mr.
Asquith on the nth of April, 1912, got through its various stages in the
Lower House, while an anti-Home Rule campaign in Ulster was carried on
with vigour under the leadership of Sir Edward Carson. The campaign
culminated on Saturday the 28th of September, Ulster Day, in the
formation of a Solemn League and the signing of a Covenant, which took
the following form:—
"Being convinced in our consciences that Home Rule
would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster, as well as the
whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom,
destructive of our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire,
we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of his
Gracious Majesty King George V, humbly relying
on the God Whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently
trusted, hereby pledge ourselves in Solemn Covenant throughout this our
time of threatened calamity to stand by one another in defending, for
ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship
in the United Kingdom, and in using all means which may be found
necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule
Parliament in Ireland; and, in the event of such a Parliament being
forced upon us, we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to
refuse to recognize its authority. In sure confidence that God will
defend the right, we hereto subscribe our names, and, further, we
individually declare that we have not already signed this Covenant."
Five days only separated the conclusion of the
session of 1912 and the opening on the 10th of March of the new session
of 1913. The Bill providing Home Rule for Ireland was under
consideration when the year opened. On the 1st of January Sir Edward
Carson moved an amendment to exclude the four north-eastern counties of
Ulster from the provisions of the Bill, but stated in doing so that,
even if the amendment were carried, the Bill as a whole would still be
opposed root and branch. Mr. Bonar Law declared that north-eastern
Ulster would prefer to be governed by a foreign country than by a
Nationalist Parliament in Dublin; but if the Bill were submitted to a
General Election, and approved by the electors, he and his party would
not be prepared to encourage Ulster to resist it by force. The amendment
was rejected by 294 votes to 197. On the 16th of January the third
reading of the Bill was carried by 367 to 257 votes, the result being
received by the House with uproarious cheering.
The rejection of the Bill was moved on this occasion
by Mr. Balfour, who declared that "if blood is spilt, I can say
confidently that the real assassins will be those who will never have
the courage to face the situation". Mr. Asquith, in reply, said the
Government would be glad to meet any claim of the north-eastern counties
which were founded on justice, or even apprehension, if it could be met
without doing injustice to Ireland as a whole. But, he added, a minority
was not entitled to thwart and defeat the demands of the great majority
of their countrymen. Mr. Bonar Law, winding up the debate, said the
Unionists of Ulster would resist the present Bill, and he contended they
would be supported by the overwhelming majority of the people of England
and Scotland. On the 30th of January the Lords rejected the Bill on
second reading by 326 to 69.
In May, 1913, Sir Edward Carson reopened his campaign
in Ulster and declared: "Our right to remain citizens of the Imperial
Parliament is a right that is a vital one, and in the words of President
Lincoln, it justifies and gives us a moral right to do anything that is
necessary, even to the use of force". In October Sir Edward Carson and
Mr. F. E. Smith both announced that a solution of the problem might be
found by excluding Ulster from the Bill, or at any rate "that portion
which is homogeneous in its views". A little later, in a speech made at
Dundee, Mr. Winston Churchill declared that the Government, relying on
the mandate of the two General Elections in 1910, intended to pass the
Act "in the lifetime of the present Parliament", and added: "It is
obvious that the claim of north-east Ulster for special consideration
for itself is a very different claim from the claim to bar and defeat
Home Rule and to block the path of the whole of the rest of Ireland; and
it is a claim which, if put forward with sincerity, not as a mere
wrecking measure, cannot be ignored or pushed aside without full
consideration by any Government dependent on the present House of
Commons. There was", he said, "only one thing to compensate the Irish
Parliament for the grievous loss to its efficiency and strength which
would result from even a temporary absence of the representatives of
north-east Ulster—the binding in honour of both political parties to
carry the settlement through and bring it in the course of years to
final and complete success."
This offer gave much satisfaction to Ulster
Unionists, but the Unionists of the south and west of Ireland protested
against their opposition to the Bill being disregarded. Mr. John
Redmond, on the other hand, maintained that the proposal of exclusion
was "quite impracticable and unworkable"; but while he repeated his
order of "full steam ahead with Home Rule", he stated that he was
willing to consider any further suggestions.
Many speeches were made throughout the country on the
subject. Mr. Asquith, at Ladybank, on the 25th of October, said that the
Government were quite ready to entertain the suggestion of some special
treatment of Ulster if not inconsistent with the general principle of
the Bill, but they had been met with the assertion that no such
provision would reconcile the hostility to the Bill as a whole. Mr.
Bonar Law and Mr. Balfour demanded a general election, "which will at
least prevent civil war". Mr. Austen Chamberlain said any settlement
arrived at "must be one which respects the scruples and guards the
liberties of Ulstermen as absolutely as our own". On November the 4th a
remarkable demonstration of the business men of Ulster took place at
Belfast to protest against the Home Rule Bill. It was stated that the
capital represented aggregated about £145,000,000. Sir Edward Carson, in
addressing the meeting, said: "The fact that the business community is
prepared to take risks will be a guarantee that we will conduct the
fight, if it is forced upon us, in a manner that is most responsible".
Resolutions were passed approving of "the various measures taken for the
defence of our liberties, including the organization of the Volunteer
force", and expressing the solemn resolution of those present to
withhold the payment of all taxes so long as any attempt to put into
operation the provisions of the Home Rule Bill was persevered with.
Later, Sir Edward Carson said: "Things have gone so far, and we have
been driven to such a course, that we can never accept any arrangement
which is inconsistent with the Covenant we were driven to enter into".
Mr. Bonar Law, speaking at Norwich on the 13th of November, said: "If
the Government attempt to coerce Ulster before they have received the
sanction of the people, we shall support Ulster in her resistance".
In the meantime, with the other measures to which the
Parliament Act was applied, the Home Rule Bill was presented and read a
first time in the House of Commons on the 7th of May. On the 9th of
June, moving the second reading, the Prime Minister said the Bill
represented the considered judgment of the House of Commons, and added
that he would welcome any suggestions towards strengthening any of the
safeguards which might be inadequate. Mr. Balfour moved the rejection,
declaring his belief that the country was on the verge of a great
national tragedy. Sir Edward Carson maintained that Ulster had behind
her, in her armed resistance, the whole force of the Unionist party,
while Mr. Redmond urged that the passing into law of the Bill would mean
the opening of a new era of Irish content and Imperial unity. The motion
for rejection was defeated by 368 to 270, and the Bill was read a second
time. The third reading was agreed to on the 7th of July without a
division, after the defeat by 352 against 243 of a motion brought
forward by Mr. Bonar Law.
On the 14th of July the House of Lords commenced a
two days' discussion on the second reading, which was moved by Lord
Crewe. In reply, Lord Lansdowne moved that the House declined to proceed
with the consideration of the Bill until it had been submitted to the
judgment of the country. Lord Lansdowne's motion was carried by 302 to
64, and the Bill "expired" for the second time within a few months.
The King's speech of the 10th of February, 1914,
expressed regret that "the efforts which have been made to arrive at a
solution by agreement of the problems connected with the Government of
Ireland have, so far, not succeeded". The situation became critical on
the subject. Mr. Walter Long moved a resolution calling for a General
Election before any further step was taken with a Home Rule measure. In
the Upper House this was carried by a majority of 188, Earl Roberts
declaring that it was unthinkable that the British Army should be called
upon to fight against the Ulster Volunteers; which eventuality, he said,
would shake the Army to its foundations. In the Commons Mr. Austen
Chamberlain said that the exclusion of Ulster was the only possible
basis of peace. Sir Edward Carson declared that if the Government sought
to compel the people of Ulster to go to a Dublin Parliament he would go
on with those people to the end in their policy of resistance. On the
other side, Mr. John Redmond said he shared to the full the anxiety
expressed in the King's Speech for a settlement. The resolution was
defeated on the nth by a majority of 78.
The Home Rule Bill was introduced for the third time
into the House of Commons on the 9th of March, but on the 13th Mr.
Asquith made an offer to secure a settlement by consent of an exclusion
of Ulster for a period of six years, after a poll by counties of those
counties of Ulster which so decided. The boroughs of Belfast and
Londonderry were to be regarded as counties for this purpose. Mr. Bonar
Law at once declared that if the proposal represented the Government's
last word, he could not see how it was possible to accept it. Mr.
Redmond said the Prime Minister had gone to the extremest limits of
concession, but if the proposals were frankly accepted by the Unionists
as a basis of agreement and peace the Nationalists were prepared to
accept them in the same spirit. Mr. William O'Brien protested against
Ireland being reduced to a thing of shreds and patches; and Sir Edward
Carson, while admitting that something had been gained by the admission
of the principle of exclusion, declared that "we do not want a sentence
of death with a stay of execution for six years". If the Government took
the time limit away he would go to Ulster and call a convention to
consider the proposals; but if the time limit were not removed — Ulster
was ready for any emergency! A vote of censure on the Government was
rejected by a majority of 93.
The situation became very serious. On the 20th of
March it was announced that a grave crisis had arisen in connection with
the troops in Ireland; that in consequence of orders to move troops into
Ulster, and the sending of a warship to Belfast, a number of army
officers at the Curragh had tendered their resignations. The Prime
Minister explained that the instructions given to General Sir A. Paget,
commanding in Ireland, were only that it might be his duty to go to the
assistance of the civil authorities in Ulster. There had, however, been
an "honest misunderstanding".
On the 24th of March it became known that Colonel
Seely (Minister of War), Sir John French (Inspector-General), and Sir J.
S. Ewart (Quartermaster-General) had initialled a memorandum given to
Brigadier-General H. P. Gough, commanding the cavalry on the Curragh,
pointing out that it was the duty of all soldiers to obey lawful
commands, and concluding: "But they (the Cabinet) have no intention
whatever of taking advantage of this right to crush political opposition
to the policy or principles of the Home Rule Bill". The publication of
this last clause caused a political sensation. On the 25th Colonel Seely
apologized in the House of Commons for having amplified the memorandum
to General Gough, after the text had been approved of by the Cabinet,
and tendered his resignation. A White Paper was issued, showing that on
the 14th of March the War Office had warned General Sir Arthur Paget,
commanding in Ireland, to ensure protection to stores in Ulster, and
that General Paget reported on the 20th that General Gough and 57
officers of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade preferred dismissal from the Army to
going north. These officers were suspended, but afterwards reinstated,
the King having expressed approval of such a course.
The Home Rule Bill came up for second reading on the
6th of April, and was carried by 356 to 276 votes. On the 12th of May
Mr. Asquith said if a settlement on Ulster were come to it must take the
form of an Amending Bill. Before this pronouncement, however, much
excitement had been caused by a gun-running exploit of the Ulster
Volunteers on the 24th of April. The Provisional Government in Ulster
having purchased in Germany some "50,000 of the most modern magazine
rifles and 3,000,000 rounds of ammunition", had them sent by lighter to
await the arrival of the Fanny off the southern coast of Norway,
to which the 300 tons of cargo were transferred. The papers of the
Fanny were taken by suspicious officials of the Danish Government,
but she sailed without them. She lay off the coast of Donegal for days,
refusing to be interviewed by the coastguards, the time being employed
to conceal her real name with a canvas screen, on which was painted the
significant word "Mountjoy" (the name of the vessel that broke the boom
and relieved Londonderry in 1689), and, while the attention of the
authorities was directed to Belfast, she stole into Larne harbour, and
her cargo was landed and distributed by motor-cars all over Ulster in a
single night.
