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1002 force was ordered on March 20 to move N. from Dublin with naval support. To the officers on duty at the Curragh this appeared to be the beginning of a movement to coerce Ulster by the army an impression which was confirmed by certain questions asked them and alternatives put before them; and Gen. Sir Hubert Gough, in command of the cavalry brigade,with many of his subordinate officers, preferred to accept dismissal rather than initiate active military operations against Ulster. They were informed by the General Officer Commanding that it was merely a measure of precaution, and the senior officers concerned were ordered to report themselves at the War Office. There, in answer to a letter in which Gen. Gough asked the Adjutant-General to make clear whether, if the Home Rule bill became law, the officers "could be called upon to enforce it in Ulster under the expression of maintaining law and order,"the following minute (dated March 23 1914) was written in reply, initialled by the Secretary of State, the Chief of the General Staff (Sir John French), and the Adjutant-General:—

On receiving this document Gen. Gough asked Sir John French if it meant that he would not be called on to order his brigade to assist in coercing Ulster to submit to Home Rule, and Sir John French wrote across it, "I should read it so." The precautionary movements were carried out and all orders were duly obeyed.

These facts came out gradually in the week following Sir Edward Carson's removal from Westminster to Belfast, and Parties there were many scenes and much recrimination and tin- in the House of Commons. On hearing the news Army. o { t j, e o {fi cers > action, the Unionists asserted that there was obviously a plot to provoke Ulster, which the reluctance of the officers had defeated; the Prime Minister replied that the movement of troops was purely protective,and that, if officers and soldiers were to discriminate between the validity of different laws, the fabric of society would crumble; while the Labour party claimed that, as any option given to officers must logically be extended to men, the army could no longer be used in labour troubles. When the minute of the Army Council was published the Liberals were dismayed, while the Unionists accepted it as making the coercion of Ulster impossible. Ministers explained to their bewildered followers that the first three paragraphs were settled by the Cabinet, but that the last two, which, in connexion with Gen. Gough's letter, seemed to constitute a bargain with the officers in regard to a hypothetical contingency, had been added by the War Secretary without Cabinet authority. Amid prolonged Liberal and Labour cheers Mr. Asquith repudiated any bargain of the kind, and caused a new army order to be issued, under the heading "Discipline," as follows:

Ministers did not seem to be prepared for the natural result of these proceedings, the resignation of the three members of the Army Council who had initialled the minute of Mr A March 23 Col Seely (the War Minister), Sir John <, u ith as French, and Sir Spencer Ewart. The Prime Minister War Se <=- endeavoured to persuade all three to reconsider their determination, as there was, in his view, no difference of opinion amongst them; but, having failed, he assumed him- self the office of Secretary of State for War in addition to that of First Lord of the Treasury. In an address to his constituents on seeking re-election, he illustrated the spirit in which he proposed to act by quoting the words of Chatham: "The army will hear nothing of politics from me, and in return I expect to hear nothing of politics from the army." The Unionists noted with satisfaction that both Col. Seely himself, and Lord Morley who assisted in drafting the peccant paragraphs, stated that they did not see that these differed in spirit and substance from the three preceding paragraphs. The conclusion seemed to be that the Government repudiated the intention to make use of the army " to crush political opposition to the policy or principles of the Home Rule bill." A gigantic demonstration of protest against the coercion of Ulster was held on April 4 in Hyde Park; there were 22 separate processions and 14 platforms, and men of the public eminence of Mr. Balfour, Sir Edward Carson, and Lord Milner attended and spoke. The gravity of the situation led to many expressions in the Home Rule debate of a desire for an agreed settlement. Sir Edward Carson said there was only one policy possible: "Leave Ulster out until you have won her consent to come in." But ministers would not advance beyond their previous proposals, and the second reading was carried by 80 votes, as compared with majorities of 110 and 100 in the previous year. There was a similar decline in the majority for the second reading of the Welsh bill.

Meanwhile events were moving in Ireland. Easter week saw a series of reviews by Sir Edward Carson of large bodies of Ulster Volunteers; and on the night of April 24-25 Determi- some 35,000 rifles and 3,000,000 cartridges were nation of landed at Larne and distributed throughout the Ulster. Protestant north. This successful feat of gun-running, and the publication of papers with regard to the alleged military "plot," produced heated debates in Parliament, followed, however, by further private negotiations between leaders. Before the third reading of the Home Rule bill, the Prime Minister gave notice that the Government would introduce in the House of Lords an Amending bill, which might pass simultaneously with the Home Rule bill. It was only, however, after a scene of disorder in the House of Commons that he disclosed its nature: it would give effect to the terms of agreement if arrived at, and, if not, to the proposals outlined on March 9. This was far from satisfying the Opposition, and the third reading of the Home Rule bill was only carried by 351 to 274, that of the Welsh bill having been secured by 328 to 251.

The two bills left the Commons before the Whitsuntide recess, which was spent by Sir Edward Carson in Ulster in making " preparations for the final scene." While there was every Approach sign of resolute determination about Ulster and ot civil her Volunteers, Nationalist Ireland had retorted War by enrolling Volunteers of her own, who were estimated to exceed 100,000 men. This force was started independently of the official Nationalists, and it was only with some difficulty that Mr. Redmond obtained control by the end of June. There were thus two armed bodies of many thousands of men facing each other in Ireland in a state of what Lord Milner called "smouldering war." In these alarming circumstances the Amending bill, introduced in the Lords on June 23, which merely offered option of exclusion by counties for six years, seemed inadequate. It was read a second time in the beginning of July, after a prolonged debate, in the course of Tlle which Lord Roberts warned the Government that Amendine any attempt to use the military forces of the nation BIIL to coerce Ulster would break and ruin the army. In committee the Unionist majority transformed the measure by amendments