POSITION IN ULSTER

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2141, 6 May 1914, Page 5

POSITION IN ULSTER

SIR RDWARD CARSON

THE MAN AND HIS MESSAGE -'. ____ • -. ,■ ■ %

[By Malcolm Ross.l

A' year ago the average Englishman Was not, bothering his head much regarding the position in Ulster., Spring was ushering in tho. London ,"season," and tho seasuu proved to be just about tho , gayest and' best that tho great metropolis; had experienced for nearly twenty years,' The.trado roturns for' tho country showed an almost phenomenal, result. England seemed to be at tho zenith of her prosperity. Men; had money to'burn,' and tho great mass : of the people went their ways with scarce a thought about tho black cloud of political storm that was gathering over lidland. The Unionist politicians looked grave, and were inclined to take a serious view of the situation: tho Liberals laughed and said that "Ned" Carson was only bluffing. Mr. Dovlin, months later—when , ]io might have known bettor—referred to tho. "socalled" volunteer movement, and said tho whole policy of tho Unionists was "a gigantic game of bluff." Granted that Mr. Devlin and tho Liberals are right, apparently it is too high a bluff for tho Government to "call." They will not ."pay to see." But anyone who has come into close touch with Sir Edward Carson, or who has seen tho Ulster volunteer movement in all its branches, must know that there is no bluff in this game. Never shall I, for one, forget ono cold wintry afternoon, whon—having crossed the Channel to study the question on tho spot—l saw, in a Dark on the outskirts of Belfast, Sir Edward Carson reviewing six battalions of. the Ulster volunteers. These men—of all ranks and classes—as they marched to their stations carried themselves with a grim dotermination that suggested pot bluff, hut tho stubborn unyielding Wood of their covenanter forefathers. The leafloss trees and the,stern, groy sky with which tho winter sun struggled ineffectually for, mastery, formed a fitting background. It was a moment of tense excitement and dramatic interest when the leader of tho Ulster movement, amid nn impressive silence, mounted a tiny platform—to which was nailed a Union Jack—for tho purposo of addressing tho battalions formed up before him. Tall, and plain-lookine—until his face was lit un with a kindly smile—ho exhibited nil the nervousness of the true orator. Ho was a commanding figure in that field, and as, in quiet, measured tones, he commenced a brief speech to the volunteers, tho great crowd of onlookers stopped even their 1 whispered conversations and'listened with an intentncss in keeping/with tho solemnity, of tho occasion. One can still see tbo' pic- . ture and'hear again tho pleasant manly voice with just a trace of the charming Dublin accent as one recalls the words in.which ho asked them all to reflect that day by day, hour by hour they were' getting nearer to the ' great crisis for which they had been so long preparing, and, ho added, tho nearer they approached that day the more his determination and theirs grew. They nsked nothing but to be allowed to remain as citizens, of the United Kingdom. And thcro was a withering scorn in his tone as he went on to state that ho was sorry that for political purposes, aye, and for sordid reasons, there were men in England, who would urge on the Government'. to .'the,. most •: disastrous crisis that • probably ever, existed .. ,in thojr.; history 1 . Cabinet /Minister ; .had trilrfj.them tha'lrfh''ere'-wero' : 'nieii''-iii .''-the Radical/Party, who.wero anxious to,see. irsthe' r<jd blood/ would really V'flow. ■\%<S)l, hoi told; them that .if ■. they • dared tocomo and attack tliemth'e'rqd blood would certainly flow. In meniorablo words, he added that he would rather be the humblest private in one of the Volunteer regiments than hold ' tho highest and most exalted' position in tho ; land, because as oiio in their, ranks ho would be waging n clean and. clear war, a clean fight for his civil and religious liberty; whereas those who would bo using the Government and the forco of the Government against them would bo using it to,, tho foulest nnd blackest purpose of driving them', out of their' loyal citizenship, and of doing it, not because it would be. a benefit to Ireland, but because,' for their own purposes, they' desired to retain under any circumstances those offices, .which they nero prepared to disgrace. He ended with a' hj'icf.and stirring appeal to them to abate not ono jot or tittle of their covenant which he" himself ; was prepared to maintain, even to the very cud. And then while ho stood there, bareheaded, a Homeric figure in tho waning light, three cheers for tho Union and three cheers-for the King echoed round the field. If one wanted any evidence. that ■ Ulster was not playing a game of bluff, ho must have found it in that scene. Two days later tho impression ono gained of Sir Edward Carson as an outstanding figure in tho historical drama was intensified when one listened to the prolonged and. deafening cheers with which he was greeted at the great gathering tn Lister Hall, and tho cheering of the thousands who packed the streets outside, mingled with/the cheers of the thousands inside, who were fortunate enough to obtain seats or even standin groom. Tho organ pealing, tho National Anthom; the great "audiencejoining in patriotic songs; the enormous union Jack draping one wall; mottoes such as "For God and Ulster"; the stirring speeches; and, abovo all,-the tense excitement and determination of the men and women present—all these things convinced one, absolutely, that this was not "bluff," and that the ''socalled" volunteers were indeed a living reality.

In all these scenes one became so impressed witb tho personality of the man who was tho central figure that one naturally wanted to know him personally. Tho officers at headquarters wero doubtful, about ray being able to make an appointment—Sir Jvlwn.rd w?s such a busy man. Howover, the Earl of Ranfurlv, .a mutual friend wrote on mv N behalf, and, promptly, hack came a chnrmincr Rter to say how pleased Sir -Edward would he to see me. Out of consideration for tho man, however, I decided to defer my visit till we had returned to London. And here a word or two roenrdiV his oarccr inav fitly he interpolated. He is the son of a vcrv old Irish -'family, his father h°mg a civil engineer and architect in Dublin. As a lad he was clever and if, was no trouble for him to loam! But thouidi keen to acquire knowlod™, ho was always.ready for any fun that lniwht, be going, and was fond of games. His charming manner and nb"F<-nF, smilo would always win-liim friends. Here is'a tvpical story told of him by a schoolfellow. Thoy wore-passing, a sho'n when'lio.saW a. beautiful model yaeht in tho windoc. It would bo worth-about £4 or £5. The two boys coveted it, for it was much better than the three-foot- boats they wero wont, to sail.. But they had only four shillings between them, Young Carson, however, determined to try and get it, so they pooled their finnnce-s, and he went in and offered tho old lady who kept the shop the whole of tho available capital. Sho thought that young Carson, to use a colloquialism, was "pulling her- leg," and, calling tho two of them "impudent, upalpeens." she hunted them out of tho shop. Carson, however, bravely went back again and mollified the old dame with tho charming frankness of his manner, and tho purchase of a shilling's worth of sweets. He received—in addition to the sweets —a maternal smile and a fervent "God blesSyoitl" from the old lady.

Since' those early days • Sir - Edward

Carson has gone far and done much work,'both for kis x clients and for the State. Ho is an M.A. of Trinity Collego, Dublin, and he lias represented tho University hi Parliament sinco 1892. Ho became a Bencher of King's Inns, Dublin, and a Bencher of Middle Temple. Ho was Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1892, and Solicitor-General for Great Britain in the Salisbury '" and Balfour Governments from 1000 to 1906. As overyono knows, he is a celebrated barrister, and his earnings in ono year hnyo reached between £20,000 and £30,000. Ho refused a judgeship because ho preferred tho hurly-burly of political life. Ho is a Doctor of Laws, a King's Counsel, a Privy Councillor, and a Knight. He is sixty years of age, "and, with all those honours upon him, he might well have beon content to go into retirement or'to continue his'successful,career at tho Bar. But ho has devoted himself to tho cause of Ulster. And not"'only 'that, but ho has given £10,000 to the Ulster Defenco Fund, and has sacrificed his splendid practice at tho Bar'for her cause.

Scon after my return from Ulster to London'l received a cordial invitation from Sir Edward to call upon him at his residenco in Eaton Place. I found him with his private secretary, in tho study, and piles of correspondence that had come by the ■ first post upon his desk. The chatelaine of the house was no longer there. Ono already knew from some of his friends of tho great devotion with which ho had attended her in her last days, and of the great griof that camo upon him' when sho passed away, and could not but think with sadness of the loss. There wore hooks and paintings and engravings in the room, and, in a cage beside his desk, a solemn, wise-looking, green parrot, whoso occasional mowing indicated that there must bo also a cat not very far away'. One could not .fail to be impressed with tho man tho nearer one got to him. -Our conversation showed that he was heart and soul in the Ulster movement, and that having once put his hand to the plough there would be no looking back. At the end I asked him to give me a message to tho overseas Dominions, and there and then, walking up and-down the, room,. without the least hesitation he dictated tho following:—

"I am glad te have tho opportunity of meeting you to send a i hrief message to those loyal men in Australia and Now Zealand, who, I know from many communications—and indeed from the- substantial and material support we have received from them at different times —are watching.our struggles in Ireland to maintain our position as citizens of tho United Kingdom under the .Imperial Parliament. ,1 am anxious, above all things, that they should understand that we abate not one jot or tittle of our loyalty to the Crown and of our pride in. the Empire over which the Crown rules. How-

ever we may be misrepresented, the fact remains that we are fighting no selfish battle for any personal gain or interest. Our case is a plain and simple one. We wore invited into the union of the United Kingdom

under which the Empire has grown and flourished. Since wo entered

the Union as citizens under a common King wo have done our best v in times of stress and difficulty to prove, ourselves worthy of our citizenship, and at no moment of tho Kingdom's difficulties havo we ever held back in any way from making our contribution in lives and money in the common cause of our conn-

■ try. Under the-Union hayo built Up a great industrial'prosperity unsurpassed by any part of , tho United Kingdom, and Ira have done so'because w'o have gratefully 'accepted such'laws as-the Imperial under; therti '.-to ,: tlie f;besi'''?of *;Sur .ability.. ■:■■''■•■ '■•Wo desire in the future that our great industrial.democracy should go .on marching shoulder to. shoulder with the democracy of Great Britain in the great social and industrial progress that is daily developing through tho efforts of.the Imperial Parliament. We have never claimed, and wo do'not now claim, . any ascendancy of any kind whatsoever, and our motto is-equal jus-ticofoi-'all under tho United King■dom. Wo seek to govern no one, . and are willing to bo governed through the composite forces of tho whole Kingdom. We claim that . uppower existsthat can drive us • out from a commuiiitx in which we were born, 7 and to which we have , • given no. grouncls of complaint as to our loyalty or our conduct. We do not believe that a Parliament . in Dublin can do anything for us that cannot bo' far better done by • tho Imperial Parliament, and wo say that if the Imperial Parliament does, under such circumstances, for the first time in history, desire to put us outside their community,. / they ba\e no right whatsoever to hand us "over_'to the Government of others who have never shown any qualification for ..administering a great industrial community. In- f deed, the whole power of those who demand Home Rule has arisen not from loyalty or irorn any administrative' competence, but from their perpetual declaration of disloyalty to the their determination'to thwart the efforts of the" Imperial Parliament, , which we gratefully acknowledge, have been directed, certainly in recent -years, to the progress and development of : our beloved country. We do not believe that -any other community throughout the whole British Empire would, under similar conditions, accept the degraded position which we have been offered, but ' would, as we are doing, resist to tho end any such attempt to deprive them of their full rights of , citizenship. We do not' allege,- as is so untruthfully stated, that -a minority has the right to resist the law just because they dislike it. On tho contrary, we say that so long as we live under the Constitution, we arc bound to obey the law, and wc have always acted on , this principle. But we do say that there is a corresponding duty, on the part of thoso who govern < the community to take care that' all the rights' and privileges which good citizens have inherited shall bo maintained intact for them. I desiro.to send loyal greetings to all thinking men in the Commonwealth and in New Zealand, and I pray to them to judge us not by garbled misrepresentations of our actions, but to remember that our ono ambition is to remain -as we .ye, and go forward with them in the progress of our race." Afterwards we had some general talk, and as he came to the door to see mo off ho' said, half-seriously, half-humour-, ously, "I often wonder why I started in to do all this. You know, I used to come home from tho Courts with my pockets full of gold, and I might have saved myself a lot of work and worry. And yet,"' ho added, after a thoughtful pause, "if I had the chance to review the decision I'm sure I would do' oxactly tho same thing." I told him that I supposed it was in the blood, and that. he could <no more resist the call at one stage of his existence than at another, and ho agreed. With that we said good-bye, and, for my part, if thero is anything in the grip of a hand or tho straight look from a'.man's eyes, 'then I am sure of the genuineness, of Sir Edward/Carson. Whether Ulster is right or Ulster is wrong, one cannot but admire his heroism and his self-sacrifice. And of this also there'is no doubt, namely, that whatever happens Sir Edward Carson will remain, for all time, a prominent figure in tho history of tho Mother , Laud and the Empire.