7) Sucess By September 1914

Question 1

What was the aim of the Ulster Unionists and Craig and to what extent were they successful? (6)

Answer 1

Aim:
- To defeat HR by 1914 and HR would be unacceptable

Successful:

• The Ulster unionists had successfully shown off their opposition to Home Rule using several tactics
• September 1912: The Ulster Solemn League and Covenant was signed by 471,414 people on ‘Ulster Day’. It warned that Ulstermen would use ‘all means necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up home rule in Ireland’.
• January 1913: The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was formed and by the end of the year it had 90,000 members.
• September 1913: An Ulster Provisional government was constituted.
• Through much campaigning and protest, they finally had the Liberals compromising with them and the IPP over exclusion by March 1914
• HR was stalled until after WW1, therefore there was a possibility of another general election which could bring conservatives into power where Bonar law’s personal connections could be a massive game changer for ulster
• Craig was angry that the six counties had not been explicitly excluded. However, the Unionist campaign had meant that the principle of exclusion for some counties had been accepted. As Craig’s priority was the welfare of the Protestant majority in Ulster, he was satisfied that, although Home Rule was on the statute book, there would be special provision for Ulster.

Failure:

• They were only offered temporary exclusion (6 years)
• HR only delayed until after WWI (maybe Christmas)
• temporary exclusion meant abandoning S. unionists and perhaps even the remaining ulster counties of Caven, Monaghan and Donegal

Question 2

What was the aim of the southern unionists and Carson and to what extent were they successful by 1914? (5)

Answer 2

Aim: no HR
Successful:
- HR was stalled until after WWI, therefore there was a possibility of another general election which could bring conservatives into power and HR could be reversed for the whole island

Failure:

• Carson was disappointed by the passing of Home Rule. As a Southern Unionist, he had always hoped to defeat Home Rule for the whole of Ireland and had originally viewed Ulster exclusion as a ‘wrecking device’ for the bill.
• By late 1913, however, he had to accept that only six Ulster counties might be saved, which meant that southern unionists would be excluded from the county option and thereby exclusion
• therefore the Southern Unionists had been effectively abandoned. They had supported the Ulster case against the Home Rule bill for tactical reasons, mistakenly believing that Home Rule without Ulster would be unworkable and unacceptable to nationalists.
• IVF formation meant that they were isolated from UVF and other unionists, felt threatened
• Abandoned by ulster unionists and Carson is also unhappy, “We do not want a sentence of death with a stay of execution for 6 years”
• Wanting to avoid violent confrontation in Ulster, Asquith proposed ‘Home Rule within Home Rule’ (in other words, a parliament in Belfast and in Dublin). Carson rejected the offer, demanding that six counties be permanently excluded from Home Rule, a suggestion which Asquith turned down

Question 3

What was the aim of the Liberals and to what extent were they successful? (14)

Answer 3

Aim: Pro HR (however had suggested Ulster exclusion) Asquith wants HR for whole of Ireland in 1912

Successful:

• Temporary exclusion delayed his need to answer the Ulster question fully
• achieved compromise of HR for nationalists by giving the county option
• HR is on the statue bench by Sept. 1914 and will become law after WW1
• HR has been a liberal agenda since 1886, long term aim fulfilled
• They are still in government
• No civil war by 1914
• Carson was narrowed down to only 6 counties by 1914

Failure:

• temporary exclusion only which left the unionists bitter and full Home Rule was not achieved
• there were now two armed paramilitary organisations (UVF and IVF)
• The Curragh Mutiny and formation of UVF significantly undermined their control over the situation and convinced Asquith that it would be impossible to take military action against Ulster
• Civil War still loomed nearer, since in May 1914 the original HR Bill had passed through all the parliamentary stages for it to become law. It was likely that the ulster unionists would carry out their threats to take over the administration of Ulster and defend themselves with the support of the UVF
• Northern Nationalists, if temporary exclusion occurred, would be locked into a deal they didn’t want and would blame the Liberals
• Due to the 1911 Parliament Bill, the duration of Parliament was reduced to 5 years, and therefore by the time another election was due and if the war went on for too long, the Conservatives could take over office
• There could be a split in Liberals over HR, between Liberals who supported Ulster exclusion and were convinced by unionist opposition (Churchill, Lloyd George) and those who didn’t (Asquith)

Question 4

What was the aim of the IPP and to what extent were they successful? (9)

Answer 4

Aim: Pro HR for the whole island
Unionist opposition “bluff and bluster”

Successful:

• Redmond was relieved that Home Rule or the Government of Ireland Act reached the statue block and received royal assent by September 1914: he was the first nationalist leader to finally deliver it.
• Home Rule was a domestic policy aim on their agenda since 1886 that was finally fulfilled
• Redmond also believed that the exclusion of four ulster counties would only be temporary and time would heal divisions between the two traditions
• HR for Nationalist Ireland was more important than Irish unity, and they had achieved this with HR

Failure:

• Although HR was finally on the statue block, there were two limitations. Firstly, it was accompanied by a Suspensory Act which postponed the operation of the legislation, which would not come into force until the First World War was over. In addition, ‘special provision’ had to be made for Ulster before it came into force. This had still to be agreed on.
• Despite the celebrations in Dublin, uncertainty remained, since HR was not to be implemented until after the war and by then a general election would occur where the Conservatives could be re-elected
• Redmond underestimated the Ulster issue and Paul Bew notes that, while he tried to reassure Unionists that their fears were unfounded, he had no idea of the strength of Ulster Unionist feeling, which resulted in HR for the whole island not being achieved
• They were made uncomfortable by the formation of the IVF in November 1913. This was furthered by the Larne gun-running, which led to a sudden increase in the membership of the Irish Volunteers from just 7,000 members in March 1914 to as many as 130,000 by the end of May. Now Ireland had two citizen militias which gave rise to the possibility of civil war and made the IPP appear as if they’d lost control of the nationalist movement.
• This point was proven once again in July 1914 when Sir Roger Casement, a Protestant Irish nationalist, organised the ‘Howth gun-running’ for Irish Volunteers, which Redmond was completely unaware of
• the radical revolutionaries in the IVF could disrupt all they’d worked for by leading Ireland into violence and going beyond what the IPP had compromised on
• On 6 March Redmond had to accept as ‘the price of peace’ a proposal that counties could vote to opt out of Home Rule for a period of six years.
• Northern Nationalists would be isolated from the rest of Ireland with temporary exclusion, therefore they failed to fully achieve Home Rule

Question 5

What was the aim of the conservatives and to what extent were they successful? (8)

Answer 5

Aim: Anti- HR. Also want to defeat Liberals and reunite the Party

Successful:

• Although Home Rule was on the statue block by September 1914, it would not come into effect until after WWI.
• Furthermore HR was accompanied by a Suspensory Act which postponed the operation of the legislation, which would not come into force until the First World War was over and a ‘special provision’ had to be made and agreed upon, which gave the Conservatives ample time to prepare for a coming general election which they could win and turn HR over altogether
• Division had been stirred within the liberal government over Home Rule through Bonar Law’s belligerent speeches, which resonated with other Ulster-sympathetic Liberals such as Churchill, who all understood the lengths which Ulster would go to oppose HR
• Bonar Law further spread his connection to Ulster through his Presbyterian minister father and made his opinions on Ulster very open; pushing for a more permanent exclusion for Ulster
• Despite two private armies now existing in Ireland in addition to the Curragh Mutiny and two gun-runnings having occurred, a civil war still hadn’t broke out and the Liberal government was unlikely to oppose unionists militarily

Failures:

• Their opposition to Home Rule proved largely futile as the policy was passed through Parliament in May 1914 and would become law after WW1
• The British unionists among the Conservatives were abandoning southern unionists by accepting Home Rule for the Nationalist-majority sector of Ireland
• Home Rule was only delayed until after WW1, and following the Buckingham Palace Conference in July 1914 the principle of a partition of Ireland had been largely accepted by Bonar Law and Lansdowne
• The county option proposed in March 1914 was only a temporary state of affairs for 6 years