COUNCIL OF WAR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1865, 26 September 1913, Page 7

COUNCIL OF WAR.

ULSTER CRISIS. PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT RATIFIED. MILLION FUND FOR WAR .? LOSSES. I ■i 1 By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright 1 London, September 24. j The Ulster Council, Bitting in camera j at Belfast, ratified the scheme for a t provisional Government. _ The details will bo reserved for publication on the day tlio Homo Rule Bill becomes law. A military council and soveral committees (including Customs, Excise, and Post Offico) wore appointed. It was decided to raise a- million pounds' guaranteo fund to indemnify j volunteers and relatives in tho case of injury or'death. Sir Ediyard Carson headed tlio indemnity fund with a donation) of £10,000. j A big parade of Ulster volunteers at 1 Belfast is boing arranged for Saturday i noxt. Fourtoon battalions each 800 < strong, will march' to tho Show Ground i and bo there inspected by Sir Edward l Carson. The men will give three cheers I for tho Union, and sing the National Anthem. "Times"—Sydney '"Sun" Special Cables. (Rec. September 25, 7.5 p.m.) London, September 25. . Sir Edward Carson has received . numerous applications from aviators for servico m Ulster in. tie event of ! hostilities. ■ , The published list of the Ulster Provisional Government includes the Duke . of Abercorh, Lord Londonderry, Lord Charles Bcresford, Lord Annesloy, Lord ' Arran, Lord Bangor, Lord Castlcreagh, Lord Clanwillfom, Lord Crichton, Lord Dartrey, Lord Delamore, Lord Dunlea th ; Lord Farsham, Lord Claude Hamilton, Lord Kilmorey, Lord Leitrim, Lord Temploton, Lord Erne, Colonel Hickman, and also, tho Unionist Commoners. FIERY SPEECHES ! SIR EDWARD CARSON'S DEFIANCE (Rec. September 25, 11.10 p.m.) London, September 25. .There was a sceno of great enthusiasm when Lord Londonderry and Sir Edward Carson entered the iiall at Belfast. Both speakers emphasised the Ulstermcn's determination to defend t'heir rights. .Lord Londonderry, who was presiding, was greeted with ringing cheers when ho remarked: " Wo await the signal. Wo can, to-day, say to the Government, ' We are ready—you can strike when you ploase.' " • Sir Edward' Carson made a calm, unimpassioned speech, in whioli ho ridiculed tho Radical attempts to convert what was tho very essence of Ulster's loyalty into treason. If, he declared, the Government drove Ulster into resistance, if it split society from top to bottom, it would paralyse trade and have a disastrous eiicct on tho forces of tlio Crown. Ho also remarked that men whoso solo aim ought to bo tho Government of the Empire and its defence,' wore already dividing into hostilo camps. Ho know of no alternative but the establishment of a provisional Government. Surrender was out of tho question. "Lot them romember," ho continued, " that when; Irish. Unionism is accused of fighting against England, there is a majority of 32 Englishmen in (tho House of Commons against tho Bill. Tho only possiblo way to govom and develop Ireland is with Britain a? an arbiter botween the two parties." In conclusion Sir Edward added: "We may bo, and perhaps will be, coerced in the long run into submission, beoauso thoy havo an. army and a navy. If England, with its majority of 32 against Homo Rulo, allows the army and navy to be used, wo may be coerced, but iii that event we will be governed as a conquered community, and nothing else!"-"PLEDGE-BOUND ALLIES." (Reo. September 25, 11.10 p.m.) London, September 25, The Liberal newspapers. scoff at what thoy describe as "Carson's mock Government," and deprecate the stirring-up of a spirit of lawlessness calculated to find imitators in other directions. Tho Unionist newspapers describe the resolutions of tho mooting as marking a step of tho utmost gravity. The "Daily Telegraph" warns tho Government that there is still timo to avert bloodshed, if they act as the Trustees of tho Empire, and not as pledge-bound allies of itho Nationalist 1 Party, Sir Henry Blake, an ex-colonial Governor, and head of tho Boyal Irish Con- ■ stabulary, in an article in- "The Nine--1 tecnth Century, and After," thus reviews ■ the Ulster crisis':— "The Protestant population, grim and i determined, drilled and ready, and pre- , pared to shed their blood if needs be in f defence of 1 what thy consider a sacred , cause, calling upon Protestaint England j and Scotland to come to their aid, and the Orange lodges sounding the tocsin and urgently calling upon their brethren all over the world to answer to their appeal; while the Roman Catholics of Ulster arm ■ for their own protection, and the Government considers whether an army 6liall be sent to coerce with fire and sword a Protestant population assembled under ' the folds of tho Union Jack to resist l forcible expulsion from the United Kingdom. ... I am informed by an English member of Parliament who was present at tho signing of the covenant that, deeply as ho was impressed by tho scenes J in Belfast, ho was still more struck when, on landing at Liverpool at seven 3 o'clock on a cold and wet morning, lie 3 found' at least one hundred thousand i people assembled to greet Sir Edward f Carson on his return. Will tho fiery - cross be answered in Liverpool or in Glasl gow? In both we'have conflicting clc- - ments that mav arouse religious strife to which Great Britain lias happily long ■t been a stranger. And what about Can- * ada, in which there are, I am informed, about three thousand Orange lodges? Or i tho United States of America, in which thirty-seven hundred Orango lodges exist, wit'h an average membership of eiffh.ty? "Will they endeavour to answer an Orange f call? Tho answer to these questions is of vital importance to the stability and s prcstigo of tlio Empire, and it is well to g remember that tho present restraint of the «* Or<m?eincn and Unionists of the North is due to the guiding influence of leaders who liavo solemnly declared, and repeated - at the opening of this Willowfield Drill Hill, that if the time should come when ' unhappily the Ulstcrmen must assemble - with arms in their hands, tliey will bo there to command and lead them. These men arc no braggart agitators. The Duko - of Aliercorn lias taken liis full share in political work; tho Marquis of I/mdonderry has filled the office nf Ixird Lieu--8 tenant of Ireland. Sir Edward Carson, i, whoso leadership is unanimously accepted, has been one of tho chief law officers of * the Unionist Government ,and tho names " of those who attended the meetings and _ signed the covenant include men who have attained high rank in tho Armj-. These 8 men assert that any attempt to impose an ■- Irisflii Parliament upon Ulster would be resisted, if nccessavy, by an appeal to 0 nrms . In pursuance of these resolutions )- the Orangemen of the North, as well as j the Unionist societies, havo been_ making their preparations, openly but quietly, by f drilling and by perfecting arrangements n that would be "necessary in the event of overt action if the forces to be used were ; ; to act os disciplined troops n?t p-y