Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:37:49.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Troubled Tories: Dissent and Confusion concerning the Party's Ulster Policy, 1910–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2012

Thomas C. Kennedy
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , July 2007 , pp. 570 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Dangerfield, George, The Strange Death of Liberal England (1935; repr., Stanford, CA, 1997), 76–77, 89–91, 96–97Google Scholar. Richard Murphy believes that Bonar Law was a “victim of his own weak leadership and lack of any personal following within the party” (“Faction in the Conservative Party and the Home Rule Crisis, 1912–1914,” History 71, no. 232 [June 1986]: 227)Google Scholar.

2 Green, E. H. H., The Crisis of Conservatism: The Politics of Economics and Ideology of the British Conservative Party, 1880–1914 (London, 1995), 304Google Scholar. Also see Green, , “The Strange Death of Tory England,” Twentieth-Century British History 2, no. 1 (1991): 83–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kendle, John, Ireland and the Federal Solution: The Debate over the United Kingdom Constitution, 1870–1921 (Kingston, 1989)Google Scholar; and Murphy, “Faction in the Conservative Party,” 227.

3 Ramsden, John, The Age of Balfour and Baldwin, 1902–1940 (London, 1978), 85Google Scholar.

4 Adams, R. J. Q., Bonar Law (London, 1999), 95–167Google Scholar.

5 Smith, Jeremy, The Tories and Ireland, 1910–1914: Conservative Party Politics and the Home Rule Crisis (Dublin, 2000), esp. 38–51Google Scholar. Stephen Evans argues for Law's greatness as Conservative leader because by 1914 he had “won” by “using unconstitutional means to secure a constitutional end,” i.e., keeping Ulster as an integral part of the United Kingdom (see Evans, , “The Conservatives and the Redefinition of Unionism, 1912–1921,” Twentieth-Century British History 9, no. 1 [1998]: 11–13, 15–16)Google Scholar.

6 This point has been made by Sykes, Alan in “The Radical Right and the Crisis of Conservatism before the First World War,” Historical Journal 26, no. 3 (1983): 663CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Vincent, John, ed., The Crawford Papers: The Journals of David Lindsay, Twenty-seventh Earl of Crawford and Tenth Earl of Balcarres, 1871–1940 (Manchester, 1984), 309Google Scholar.

7 Jalland, Patricia, The Liberals and Ireland: The Ulster Question and British Politics to 1914 (Brighton, 1980), 48–49, 69, 117–18, 261Google Scholar.

8 Jalland, Patricia and Stubbs, John, “The Irish Question after the Outbreak of War in 1914,” English Historical Review 96, no. 381 (October 1981): 806–7Google Scholar.

9 For an illuminating discussion of the motives and means of Ulster Unionist policies during this period, see Jackson, Alvin, The Ulster Party: Irish Unionists in the House of Commons, 1884–1911 (Oxford, 1989)Google Scholar.

10 Sandars to Balfour, 20 September 1908, Arthur Balfour Papers (hereafter AJBP), Add. MSS. 49765, British Library (hereafter BL); and Balfour to Lord Cawdor (copy), 7 January 1909, ff. 59–60, AJBP, Add. MSS. 49709, BL. Upon returning from delivering a speech in Belfast, Cawdor told Sandars: “They all seem to be Radicals at Belfast except for their opposition to Home Rule” (Cawdor to Sandars, 1 February 1909, ff. 63–64, AJBP, Add. MSS. 49765, BL).

11 “Resolution of the Standing Committee,” n.d. [late 1909], Ulster Unionist Council Papers (hereafter UUCP), D 1327/18/1A, Public Record Office Northern Ireland (hereafter PRONI).

12 Green, E. H. H., “Radical Conservativism: The Electoral Genesis of Tariff Reform,” Historical Journal 28, no. 3 (1985): 667CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 For the divisive effects of the tariff reform debate within Unionist ranks, see Rempel, Richard A., Unionist Divided (Newton Abbey, 1972)Google Scholar; and Sykes, Alan, Tariff Reform in British Politics, 1903–1913 (Oxford, 1979)Google Scholar.

14 Jack Sandars warned Balfour in October 1910 that Home Rule was not a matter of particular interest to voters. See Sandars to Balfour, 18 October 1910, AJBP, Add. MSS. 498767, BL.

15 Sir Edward Carson to Lady Londonderry, 10 February 1910, Lady Londonderry Papers (hereafter LLP), D 2846/1/45, PRONI.

16 Carson to Lady Londonderry, 13 January 1911, LLP, D 2846/1/60, PRONI.

17 For the nature and effectiveness of Carson's leadership, see Gailey, Andrew's excellent “King Carson: An Essay on the Invention of Leadership,” Irish Historical Studies 30, no. 117 (May 1996): 66–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also see Jackson, Ulster Party, 280–81, 308–10, 323, 326, and Ireland, 1798–1998 (Oxford, 1999), 231, 235.

18 For examples of Carson's strong personal feelings for Balfour even after he ceased to be party leader, see Carson to Lady Londonderry, n.d. [late 1911], LLP, D 2846/1/156, PRONI, in which Carson noted “what a loss he is for us & how great the gulf is from him to anyone else.” Also see Carson to Lady Londonderry, 23 December 1907, LLP, D2846/1/9, and 29 October 1908, D 2846/1/20, PRONI.

19 Carson to Lady Londonderry, 27 August 1911, LLP, D 2846/1/68, 16 September 1911, D 2846/1/69, and 7 October 1911, D 2846/1/71, PRONI.

20 Quoted in Ramsden, Age of Balfour and Baldwin, 91. Bonar Law was chosen when animosity between followers of Austen Chamberlain and Walter Long threatened to further divide the party. For the latest and best political biography, see Adams, Bonar Law.

21 Vincent, Crawford Papers, 260; The Times, 8 December 1911.

22 Smith, Jeremy, “Conservative Ideology and Representations of the Union with Ireland, 1885–1914,” in The Conservatives and British Society, 1880–1990, ed. Francis, Martin and Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Ina (Cardiff, 1996), 29–30Google Scholar.

23 See Kendle's excellent Ireland and the Federal Solution, and his “The Round Table Movement and ‘Home Rule All Round,’” Historical Journal 11, no. 2 (1968): 332–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 For valuable discussions of the ideas of Oliver and other advocates of United Kingdom federalism, see Peatling, G. K., British Opinion and Irish Self-Government, 1865–1925 (Dublin, 2001), 122–44Google Scholar; Fair, John D., “Alexander Hamilton and the ‘American Plan’ for Resolving Britain's Constitutional Crisis, 1903–1921,” Twentieth-Century British History 10, no. 1 (1999): 1–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Boyce, D. George and Stubbs, John, “F. S. Oliver, Lord Selborne, and Federalism,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 5, no. 1 (1976): 53–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The “kindergarten” refers to a group of idealistic and ambitious young advocates of empire who served under Lord Milner in South Africa. See Nimocks, Walter, Milner's Young Men: The “Kindergarten” in Edwardian Imperial Affairs (Durham, NC, 1968)Google Scholar.

25 Oliver's “Pacificus” articles appeared in The Times during late October and early November 1910.

26 J. L. Garvin to Balfour, 17 October 1910, c. 761/199–201, Sandars Papers, Bodleian Library (hereafter Bodl.), Oxford; Garvin to Balfour, 20 October 1910, in Chamberlain, Austen, Politics from Inside: An Epistolary Chronicle, 1906–1914 (London, 1936), 279–81Google Scholar; Austen Chamberlain to Balfour, 19 October 1910, c. 761/224–27, Sandars Papers, Bodl., Oxford. F. E. Smith told Lord Balcarres: “We owe less to the Irish Unionists, than to larger interests at home” (Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 19 October 1910, 165–66).

27 F. S. Oliver to Lord Northcliffe, 31 October and 3 November 1910, Northcliffe Papers (hereafter NP), Add. MSS. 62165A, BL.

28 Lord Milner to Arthur Balfour (confidential), 5 November 1910, Milner Papers (hereafter MP), MSS. Milner, 37/104, Bodl., Oxford.

29 Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 7 November 1910, 166.

30 Milner to Balfour, 5 November 1910, AJBP, Add. MSS. 49697, BL; and Morning Post, 5 November 1910. For the Reveille Group, see Witherell, Larry L., Rebel on the Right: Henry Page Croft and the Politics of Edwardian Britain, 1903–1914 (Newark, DE, 1997), 130–38Google Scholar.

31 An outstanding study of Dicey's career and ideas is Cosgrove, Richard A., The Rule of Law: Albert Venn Dicey, Victorian Jurist (Chapel Hill, NC, 1980)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also see Cosgrove's sketch on Dicey in The New Dictionary of National Biography.

32 Boyce, George, “The State and the Citizen: Unionists, Home Rule and the British Constitution, 1886–1920,” in The Ulster Crisis, ed. Boyce, D. G. and O’Day, Alan (New York, 2006), 47–63Google Scholar.

33 A. V. Dicey to Bonar Law, 21 January 1912, Bonar Law Papers (hereafter BLP), 25/1/44, House of Lords Record Office (HLRO); Carson to Bonar Law, n.d. [late Jan. 1912], BLP, 25/1/55, HLRO. Also see Carson to H. A. Gwynne, 18 January 1912, Gwynne Papers, Box 17, Bodl., Oxford.

34 See McDowell, R. B., Crisis and Decline: The Fate of the Southern Unionists (Dublin, 1997)Google Scholar. Also see Smith, Tories and Ireland, 5–6, 57–59, 101–13, 161–64; and Jackson, Alvin, “Irish Unionism, 1870–1922,” in Defenders of the Union, ed. Boyce, D. George and O’Day, Alan (London, 2001), 115–36Google Scholar.

35 Geoffrey Robinson, “Notes made at Glendoe Lodge,” 22 August 1911, Dawson (Robinson) Papers, 62/95–96, Bodl., Oxford.

36 James Craig to Carson, 16 September 1911, quoted in Smith, The Tories and Ireland, 36–37.

37 Oliver to Robinson (copy), 27 September 1911, F. S. Oliver Papers (hereafter FSOP), 24848, National Library of Scotland (hereafter NLS), Edinburgh.

38 Oliver to Milner, 11 October 1911, MP/dep. 13, Bodl., Oxford; Milner to Oliver, 3 and 13 October 1911, FSOP, 24848, NLS, Edinburgh.

39 Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 3 May 1912, 274; and diary entry for 19 June 1912 in Ramsden, John, ed., Real Old Tory Politics: The Political Diaries of Robert Sanders, Lord Bayford, 1910–1935 (London, 1984), 47Google Scholar. The pioneering study of Conservative opinion about Ulster is Boyce, D. G., “British Conservative Opinion, the Ulster Question, and the Partition of Ireland, 1912–1921,” Irish Historical Studies 17, no. 65 (March 1970): 89–112Google Scholar.

40 Quoted by Adams, Bonar Law, 109. Also see The Times, 29 July 1912.

41 Northcliffe to Robinson (copy), 13 August 1912, NP, Add. MSS. 62244, BL; Lord Dunraven to Bonar Law, 8 September 1912, BLP, 27/2/10, HLRO.

42 Over 228,000 women signed a separate but complementary document.

43 Ismay Critchton-Stewart to Bonar Law, 4 October 1912, BLP, 27/3/6, HLRO; and C. Alfred Cripps to Bonar Law, 5 October 1912, BLP, 27/3/8, HLRO.

44 Bonar Law to Lady Ninian Crichton-Stewart and to Alfred Cripps, 7 October 1912, BLP, 33/4/57 and 58, HLRO.

45 Oliver to A. Lee, 19 September 1912, FSOP, 24848, NLS. A few days earlier, supporters of Belfast football clubs Celtic (Catholic) and Linsfield (Protestant) had been involved in a serious riot.

46 Balcarres to Lady Wantage, 8 October 1912, in Vincent, Crawford Papers, 279. In July 1912, after an assault on a Protestant Sunday school excursion by drunken members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians at Castledawson, Catholic workers were driven out of the Belfast shipyards and other workplaces by Protestant coworkers.

47 See Peatling, British Opinion, 140–41. It should be noted that Hewins converted to Catholicism in September 1914 (Ibid., 116).

48 The Irish News article was enclosed in a letter from Ulster Unionist MP John B. Lonsdale to Dawson Bates (secretary to the UUC), 30 November 1912, UUCP, D 1327/18/1A, PRONI.

49 Walter Long to Bonar Law, n.d. [April(?) 1912], BLP, 26/1/76, HLRO. For a discussion of Long's anti–Home Rule campaign in northern England, see Murphy, “Faction in the Conservative Party,” 223.

50 Green, Crisis of Conservatism, 303. Early in 1913 Northcliffe told Max Aitken (future Lord Beaverbrook) that the people, “except perhaps in Lancashire,” were “extremely apathetic” about Home Rule (Northcliffe to Aitken, 15 January 1913, NP, Add. MSS. 62161, BL). Recently, the general consensus about public apathy about Ireland has been at least partially challenged in the collection edited by Boyce and O’Day, Ulster Crisis. See, e.g., O’Day, “The Ulster Crisis: A Conundrum,” 21; and D. M. Jackson and D. M. MacRaild, “The Conserving Crowd: Mass Demonstrations in Liverpool and Tyneside, 1912–1913,” 229–46.

51 In late September 1912, a correspondent asked Bonar Law if the party would still promise to submit to a referendum on Home Rule if there was also one on tariff reform? If so, this seemed to contradict Carson's vow never to have Home Rule under any circumstances: “I think it a duty which you, as leader of the Unionist Party, owe to the electors, to make your position clear in these matters” (Robert Crawford to Bonar Law, 26 September 1912, BLP, 27/2/21, HLRO).

52 For a discussion of the degree to which Law and Lansdowne misread the strength of party opposition to food taxes, see Dutton, David, “His Majesty's Loyal Opposition”: The Unionist Party in Opposition, 1905–1915 (Liverpool, 1992), 186–88Google Scholar.

53 Dicey to Bonar Law, 3 January 1913, BLP, 28/2/15, HLRO.

54 For lucid and informative accounts of this struggle over Unionist tariff reform policies, see Adams, Bonar Law, 76–94; and Dutton, Loyal Opposition, 181–202.

55 See Timothy Bowman, “The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910–1920: New Perspectives,” in Boyce and O’Day, Ulster Crisis, 247, 258; he estimates the UVF's peak size between 100,000 and 110,000 in late 1913 and early 1914.

56 Lord Hythe to Bonar Law, 1 January 1913, BLP, 28/2/1, HLRO; Vincent, Crawford Papers, 309; Lord Salisbury to Bonar Law, 13 June 1913, quoted in Smith, Tories and Ireland, 83.

57 Ramsden, Real Old Tory Politics, entry for 5 January 1913, 59.

58 For Willoughby de Broke, see Alan Sykes, “Radical Right,” 665–74; Kennedy, Thomas C., “Tory Radicalism and the Home Rule Crisis, 1910–1914: The Case of Lord Willoughby de Broke,” Canadian Journal of History 37, no. 1 (April 2002): 23–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Green, “Strange Death of Tory England,” 67–88.

59 Joseph Welch to Bonar Law, 24 July 1913, BLP, 29/6/29, HLRO; Imbert-Terry to Bonar Law, 29 August 1913, BLP, 30/1/30, HLRO; Bonar Law to Welch, 25 July 1913, BLP, 33/5/46, HLRO.

60 Balfour to Bonar Law (private), 23 September 1913, BLP, 30/2/20, HLRO. There is also a copy in AJBP, Add. MSS. 49683, BL.

61 For a dramatic account of the Dublin transit strike, see Dangerfield, Strange Death, 254–66.

62 Lansdowne to Balfour, 25 September 1913, AJBP, Add. MSS. 49730, BL; and Lansdowne's letters to Bonar Law, 23, 26, and 30 September 1913, BLP, 30/2/21, 27, 37, HLRO.

63 Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 13 October 1913, 318. Balcarres had resigned as chief Tory whip and surrendered his seat in Commons upon becoming the twenty-seventh Earl of Crawford after the death of his father in January 1913.

64 See The Times, 11 September 1913, for Loreburn's letter.

65 Carson to Bonar Law, 20 September 1913, BLP, 30/2/15, HLRO.

66 Bonar Law to J. P. Croal, 18 October 1913, BLP, 33/6/84, HLRO.

67 Arthur Steel-Maitland to Bonar Law, 24 September 1913, BLP, 30/2/26, HLRO.

68 Jackson, Home Rule, 124–26. Also see Carson to Lansdowne, 9 October 1913, BLP, 30/3/23, HLRO.

69 See Murphy, “Faction in the Conservative Party,” 224–26.

70 The Times, 24 October 1913; Oliver to G. L. Craik (copy), 24 October 1913, FSOP, 24249, NLS; Hythe to A. Chamberlain, 27 November 1913, Austen Chamberlain Papers (hereafter ACP), AC 11/1/41, University of Birmingham Library (UBL). Also see Kendle, Ireland and the Federal Solution, 163–67.

71 Arthur Lee to Oliver, 27 November 1913, FSOP, 24249; “Bill” (W. T. Furse) to Oliver, 2 December 1913, FSOP, 24850, NLS.

72 For summaries of the meetings of 14 October, 6 November, and 9 December 1913, see Adams, Bonar Law, 133–41.

73 Long's Memorandum, 20 November 1913, BLP, 30/4/46, HLRO.

74 Lord Ashtown to Bonar Law, 6 and 20 December 1913, BLP, 31/1/11 and 31/1/45, HLRO; Russell to Oliver, 27 November 1913, FSOP, 24249, NLS. Also see Lord Midleton to Bonar Law, 11 October 1913, BLP, 30/3/20, HLRO.

75 Oliver to Milner, Christmas Day 1913, Milner Papers, Milner/13, Bodl., Oxford; Hythe to Oliver, 2 and 22 January 1914, FSOP, 24850, NLS; Lansdowne to Bonar Law, 29 January 1914, BLP, 31/2/66, HLRO.

76 Bonar Law to Lansdowne, 17 January 1914, BLP, 34/1/14, HLRO. The text of the British Covenant is reprinted in Stewart, A. T. Q., The Ulster Crisis (London, 1967), 132Google Scholar.

77 See Peatling, British Opinion, 140.

78 Austen Chamberlain to Amery, 17 January 1914, MP, MSS. c. 689/5, Bodl., Oxford; Neville Chamberlain to Amery, 18 January 1914, MP, MSS. c. 689/8–9, Bodl., Oxford; R. Cecil to Amery, 18 January 1914, MP, MSS. c. 689/10–13, Bodl., Oxford.

79 Horace Plunkett to Robinson (copy), 5 February 1914, and Plunkett to Oliver, 9 February 1914, FSOP, MSS. 24851, NLS.

80 Duke of Northumberland to Willoughby de Broke, 7 February 1914, Willoughby de Broke Papers, WB/8/35, HLRO.

81 Lord Stamfordham to Bonar Law, 2 and 25 (secret) February 1914, BLP, 31/3/4, 40, HLRO. Bonar Law's words are taken from Austen Chamberlain's letter to his stepmother, 28 February 1914, in his Politics from Inside, 617.

82 George Davies to Bonar Law, 9 March 1914, BLP, 31/4/18, HLRO.

83 Boyce, “State and Citizen,” 57–58, cites a memorandum written by Lord Hugh Cecil in June 1913 as giving “the moral case” for amending the Army Act.

84 See the fourteen-page memorandum on amending the Army Annual Bill drafted by the distinguished Conservative lawyer and judge R. B. Finlay, 2 February 1914, in BLP, 31/3/2, HLRO. For discussions of this chilling Conservative ploy, see Weston, Corrine C., “Lord Selborne, Bonar Law and the ‘Tory Revolt,’” in Lords of Parliament, ed. Davis, Richard W. (Stanford, CA, 1995), 163–77Google Scholar; and Smith, Jeremy, “‘Paralysing the Arm’: The Unionists and the Army Annual Act, 1911–1914,” Parliamentary History 15 (1996): 191–207CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

85 Repington, a former army colonel, turned to journalism after being forced to leave the service over his lying about an adulterous affair. See The Letters of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles à Court Repington, CMG, Military Correspondent of The Times, 1903–1918, ed. Morris, A. J. A. (Phoenix Mill, 1999)Google Scholar.

86 Charles à Court Repington to Robinson, 3 July 1913, in The Army and the Curragh Incident, 1914, ed. Beckett, Ian F. W. (London, 1986), 34Google Scholar; Furse to Oliver, FSOP, MSS. 24850, NLS (also reprinted in Beckett, Curragh Incident, 48).

87 Chamberlain to Oliver, 10 March 1914, FSOP, MS. 248851, NLS; Oliver to Milner (copy), 11 March 1914, FSOP, MS. 248851, NLS.

88 Dicey to Milner, 6 March 1914, MP/dep. 41, 40–42, and 2 March 1914, MP, MSS. c. 689/127–31, Bodl., Oxford.

89 Adams, Bonar Law, 147–51, provides a precise account of the final evolution of the Unionists’ debate over amending the Army Act to which I am indebted.

90 Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 12 March 1914, 328.

91 Henry Craik to Bonar Law, 14 March 1914, BLP, 31/4/27, HLRO; Bonar Law to Craik, 16 March 1914, BLP, 34/2/39, HLRO.

92 Diary entry for 18 March 1914, Henry Wilson Papers, Imperial War Museum, London.

93 Croal to Bonar Law, 18 March 1914, BLP, 31/4/31, HLRO; and Robinson to Milner, 18 March 1914, MP/dep. 41, Bodl., Oxford.

94 Ramsden, Real Old Tory Politics, entry for 19 March 1914, 74.

95 Adams, Bonar Law, 150.

96 Bonar Law to Croal (copy), 20 March 1914, BLP, 31/2/44, HLRO.

97 Chamberlain, Politics from Inside, entries for 23, 24, and 26 March 1914, 630–32. Wilson's statement is from Captain A. P. Wavell's letter to his father Major General A. G. Wavell, 23 March 1914, cited in Beckett, Curragh Incident, 281, the most recent and revealing study.

98 The Times, 26 March 1914; and the Spectator, 4 April 1914, 563.

99 For a blow-by-blow narrative of political developments in the early months of 1914, see Chamberlain, Politics from Inside, 606–46. Also see Smith, Tories and Ireland, 156–70.

100 Oliver to Austen Chamberlain, 26 April 1914, FSOP, MSS. 24851, NLS.

101 Lord Midleton to Bonar Law, 13 April 1914, BLP, 32/2/31, HLRO.

102 The Times, 15 April 1914. Also see Lord Stamfordham's expression of the king's desire to know the agreed policy of the opposition in a letter to Bonar Law, 15 April 1914, BLP, 32/2/34, HLRO.

103 Lansdowne to Bonar Law, 16 April 1914, BLP, 32/2/36, HLRO; Bonar Law to Lord Ashtown (copy), 5 May 1914, BLP, 34/2/71, HLRO.

104 Midleton to Bonar Law, 14 May 1914, BLP, 32/3/28, HLRO. Also see Green, Crisis of Conservatism, 301.

105 Lansdowne to Bonar Law, 27 May 1914, BLP, 32/3/55, HLRO. The Midleton quote is from his letter to Lansdowne of 23 May 1914 enclosed with the above.

106 Talbot is quoted in Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 17 May 1914, 334.

107 Balfour, “Memorandum on Ireland,” 12 June 1914, BLP, 32/4/17, HLRO.

108 Midleton's memorandum, 23 June 1914, BLP, 39/4/39, HLRO.

109 Ramsden, Real Old Troy Politics, entry for 18 June 1914, 78.

110 For a recent and convincing account of the Unionist leadership's intimate involvement in the Larne gunrunning venture of April 1914, see Jackson, Home Rule, 132–34.

111 Vincent, Crawford Papers, entry for 17 July 1914, 339–40.

112 H. A. Gwynne to Bonar Law, 20 July 1914, BLP, 33/1/39, HLRO; Amery to Bonar Law, 25 July 1914, BLP, 33/1/46, HLRO.

113 Chamberlain to Lansdowne, 2 August 1914, in SirPetrie, Charles, The Life and Letters of the Rt. Hon. Sir Austen Chamberlain, 2 vols. (London, 1940), 1:375Google Scholar.

114 See, e.g., the UVF document entitled “The Coup” and other material in an envelope marked “Intelligence,” 27 July 1914, D 1327/4/21, PRONI.

115 Green, Crisis of Conservatism, 303.