The Outbreak of War (1914)

Chapter XLI

The Outbreak of War (1914)

The landing of German guns for the Orangemen at Lame by the Fanny on 24th April, 1914 (with the connivance of the police and the Army and Navy), the raising of the Ulster Volunteer Force, the “Covenant” to resist the law if Home Rule passed, the vows of preference for the rule of the Kaiser to that of an Irish Parliament, the threat of Sir Edward Carson that he would ” march from Belfast to Cork,” led to the National Volunteers being established in the South and to subsequent rebellion.

The Fanny could easily have been intercepted at sea, yet her cargo was landed without the interference of the Fleet, and was distributed with the connivance of the R.I. Constabulary. I wrote my brother;

Chapelizod,

26th April, 1914.

“The Ulster “gun-running” gives ground for the suspicion that it is connived at by Government officials. The vessel had been for a fortnight in the offing, and if it had been smuggling brandy would long before have been seized. Even foreign trawlers have been stopped by the Helga.

If the Ulstermen have 20,000 rifles, and as many men, the British Army could not cope with them, and certainly the police could not. True, cannon would scatter them, but Redmond will hardly recommend a ” whiff of grape-shot,” It is a pretty kettle of fish.”

On the 1st May, 1914, the Prime Minister announced on the Committee stage of the Home Rule Bill, “We shall make ourselves responsible for introducing an Amending Bill in such a manner that the two Bills shall become law at the same time.” Thus Partition was formulated with the assent of the Redmond Party. The European War was not then threatening, nor probable. I wrote Maurice:

Dublin,

10th June, 1914.

“Ministers do not intend a Dissolution, but the King may insist upon it as a condition of his assent to the Home Rule Bill. He may either say, “Dissolve, and I will sign if the people approve”; or, “Let my signature and the Dissolution be concurrent.” If Ministers were left to their own devices they would stick to their jobs!”

A by-battle meanwhile supplied amusement. I had been defeated in North Louth in 1910 by Mr. Hazleton, who was also elected for North Galway.

On petition he was unseated (23r4 February, 1911) on the ground of “corrupt practices, undue influence, bribery, treating, illegal practices, payments for conveyance of voters to and from the poll, and false statements of facts in relation to Mr. Healy’s personal character,” committed, of course, by agents. He was away himself when nominated and did not arrive in Ireland until the contest was over, yet he was condemned in costs which amounted to £2,000. The costs were a “Party” liability, as Hazleton had been nominated and elected in his absence. He was not pressed for payment during four years, although he refused to offer a compromise. Then an urgent demand for payment came, and to escape liability he applied to be made a bankrupt.

He resigned his seat for North Galway, but announced that he would stand for re-election in a month, when his discharge from bankruptcy (as a debtor without assets) had been accomplished.

Thus he abandoned £400 a year as M.P., and proposed to reacquire it when his bankruptcy had wiped out the costs.

This ruse we met by moving a new writ for North Galway to compel him to seek re-election and resume his salary before his certificate in bankruptcy could be granted. The Redmond Party were furious, but their servility to Mr. Asquith was now repaid by Asquith’s connivance in their warfare against myself. With the help of the Government they carried an adjournment of the motion to issue the writ. In the debate on that motion, Redmond’s whip deplored that he could not ask the House to negative it absolutely, as, if he did, the writ could not be moved again that session. He protested against our intervention in trying to get the writ issued and bemoaned it feelingly.

To this we answered that Mr. Redmond had taken a similar course in February, 1893, in the Co. Meath vacancies, and Mr. Tully in the case of Cork in 1904. We made plain that Hazleton’s tactics were planned to rid himself of a legal liability declared by the Courts.

His Party possessed ample funds to meet the costs, but he refused to allow them to be paid. Still, the Liberals, including the Prime Minister, to the number of 252, voted against the writ being issued, in order to enable the bankrupt to secure re-election as a man freed from liability, and then enter on the enjoyment of his full parliamentary salary.

None of our opponents knew that the motion to delay the writ could not take effect beyond that day. The issue of a writ is a matter of “privilege,” and we were determined to renew the motion day after day. The Government could not find time for such debates, and we felt that they must soon be shamed into allowing the writ to go. Next day we moved again. The pinch was sore. Mr. Dillon, now better instructed in the law of Parliament, announced that Ms Party did not intend offering further opposition.

The goadings of Lord Hugh Cecil brought up the Prime Minister. He declared that (as every one knew) it was part of the “comity of parties,” unless the circumstances were “most exceptional,” that the motion for the issue of a writ should be left to the Whips of the Party to which the member who vacated the seat belonged, and that the North Galway seat had “only been vacant six weeks.”

We replied that the circumstances were not only exceptional, but unprecedented, and that the rule relied on was qualified by the further rule that it lay upon the Party to which the ex-member belonged to discharge its duty to the constituency quickly and regularly. Besides, that rules governing writs were made for the benefit of the constituencies, and not for the convenience of individuals or parties, as otherwise constituencies might be disfranchised indefinitely.

The writ, therefore, was issued that day (8th July, 1914). Hazleton was at once re-elected for North Galway, contrary to plan, and re-endowed with a salary of £400 a year. The Bankruptcy Judge then assigned half his salary for the benefit of creditors. The connivance of the Government to thwart the collection of a debt levied under orders of the High Courts was hardly dignified, especially as Mr. Asquith was such a distinguished lawyer. Later on this capture of the salary of Mr. Hazleton led to an appeal to the House of Lords. The result appears at page 557.

The summer of 1914 wore on without a settlement of the Home Rule question. Rumour centred on the question of the exercise of the Royal prerogative. On the 20th July, 1914, the Prime Minister informed the House of Commons that he had been:

“Authorized by the King to announce to the House that, in view of the grave situation which has arisen, he has thought it right to summon representatives of all parties, British and Irish, to a conference at Buckingham Palace, with the object of discussing outstanding issues in relation to the problem of Irish government.

Invitations have been issued by His Majesty to, and have been accepted by, two representatives of the Opposition, two representatives of the Ulster Unionist Party, two representatives of the Irish Nationalist Party, and two of His Majesty’s Government. I am glad to add that at the King’s suggestion, Mr. Speaker has consented to preside over the conference, which I hope may begin its proceedings to-morrow. In the meantime, we shall not proceed to-day with the second reading of the Irish Amending Bill, but ask the House to deal with other Orders which appear upon the Paper.”

On the previous 9th March Mr. Asquith declared that a “conference without anything in the nature even of a preliminary basis of agreement would tend rather to frustrate than advance the end in view.”

Nevertheless, Redmond and Dillon attended the Buckingham Palace Conference. They had jeered at Belfast’s “wooden guns,” and sneered at Sinn Feiners as “hopping fleas.” Now, although details are unpublished, the belief is that they yielded as to four Ulster counties, but jibbed at surrendering Tyrone and Fermanagh. The Buckingham Palace Conference dispersed in fruitlessness, and this confirmed the forecast of Mr. Asquith on the 9th March.

The Home Rule Bill at that date had been three times passed by the House of Commons. Under the “Parliament Act” it was entitled to the Royal Assent, despite its rejection by the House of Lords.

On 26th July, 1914, arms were landed at Howth to equip the Irish National Volunteers. In August Redmond insisted that this force should be placed under the control of his Party. A minority of the volunteers, led by Pearse and Burgess (sons of Englishmen) with John MacNeill, objected to parliamentary control, and formed a military organization of their own.

Europe was now on the verge of conflict, and this transformed the situation. Before Germany and England were at war I wrote:

Chapelizod,

4th August, 1914.

“I don’t think the Government have any option except to support France. “A dinnerless man means two for supper.”

Redmond will be embarrassed by the declarations his speech will arouse amongst the “extreme “element. I fancy he would not have made it without getting his price as to Home Rule.”

Of the diverse causes which led the Kaiser into action the Irish situation was one. He had an agent, Baron von Kuhlmann, in Belfast, lured there by the talk of Orange sympathizers. For, although the American Ambassador at Berlin declared the threats of Carson” the most successful bluff in history,” the German General Staff thought otherwise. So did the Austrians. Some princelings of Austria were then visiting Scotland under an Irish tutor, and, hurrying homewards, visited London to call at their Embassy. There they were assured that England, owing to the Irish situation, dared not enter the war.

The Liberal Cabinet was fissured. The Foreign Minister, Sir Edward Grey, was for confronting Germany with a frank declaration. He dared not make it however in time, being hampered by pacifist ingredients in the Cabinet. A more unscrupulous Minister would, without consulting his colleagues, have told the Germans that if war was declared England would join France.

Grey had to hobble on diplomatic stilts, fearing that the Nonconformists who then ruled the House of Commons were for peace at almost any price. Neither he nor his Government desired conflict or conquest. Their plight on the Sunday when they learnt that Germany had declared war against Russia was pitiable.

The night before, Winston Churchill remained at the Admiralty awaiting news. Lord Beaverbrook’s war book depicts the scene. The first message from abroad was pacific, and Churchill began to play Bridge. During the game a telegram came announcing that Germany was at Russia’s throat. This involved France. Churchill, in his shirt-sleeves (owing to the heat of an August night), said to his partner, “Hold my hand till I come back,” and put on his coat.

The British Fleet, concentrated for a Royal Review at Spithead, had not been dispersed, so he went to the telegraph office and wired the Admiral “Mobilize.” This word would cost the taxpayers a million, whatever happened, as mobilization involves the taking in of stores. He next called at Downing Street to see Asquith, and received approval of his action, subject to a Cabinet next morning.

When Ministers met on the Sabbath at 10 a.m., McKenna demanded why, without authority, he had mobilized the fleet. The questioner had himself been First Lord of the Admiralty, and this was a formidable thrust. Winston answered, “You can get a new Minister for the Navy if you disapprove, but you can’t demobilize the fleet.”

Lord Morley and John Burns resigned. Sir John Simon was also inclined to retire. Lloyd George remained uncertain, and sat silently downcast. The French Ambassador, Cambon, called and begged help for his country, saying, “If only you send the band of the Grenadier Guards.”

The Cabinet adjourned for lunch, and when it reassembled, Winston said he thought he could secure from the Conservatives a declaration of support if war was inevitable. Belgium had not then been invaded, and everything depended on that.

A fresh adjournment took place, and he saw F. E. Smith, who undertook to visit Lord Lansdowne and Bonar Law - the Tory leaders in Lords and Commons. Bonar Law, unsuspecting a crisis, was away golfing.

Towards midnight Sir Max Aitken, M.P., appeared in the Cabinet room with a letter signed by Bonar Law stating that he and Lord Lansdowne would support the Liberals in any measure which the Government thought necessary.

Next morning an ultimatum was sent to Berlin warning the Germans against trespass, as Belgium’s inviolability was guaranteed alike by Britain and Prussia. The Kaiser, believing that Carson’s threats had handcuffed England, ordered his troops to take the Belgic “short cut” to France.

He had some pretext to justify this, but it has never been publicly relied on. When Stanley discovered the Congo, the British refused to take it over, and Stanley went to Brussels for help. King Leopold annexed the territory and sank money in it. A struggle then began between him and the British Foreign Office. A section of the English Press discovered that the son of the old friend and correspondent of Queen Victoria was a shuffler, and perhaps worse. When he came to London to negotiate he had to stay at Claridge’s Hotel, although he had often been housed theretofore in palaces. The Congo Treaty was held up by the Foreign Office.

The late F. D. Morel, M.P., conducted a skilful campaign against it which affected the Press. “Red rubber” was his slogan. Faked photographs showing that the hands of natives in the Congo were chopped off unless they produced so many pounds of rubber weekly were shown round. Questions by Sir Charles Duke also delayed ratification of the Treaty. The campaign at first was tinged with a “No Popery” flavour. I then began to ask counter-questions favouring Belgium. Sir Charles came to me in his impressive way, and vowed that Morel’s activities were purely humanitarian, and if I would drop my attacks, Morel would give up the charge that Protestant missionaries were excluded. Duke lent me a yellow-backed French volume by a Belgian ex-Jesuit impugning Congo administration, which tended to justify English suspicions.

Irritated by the controversy and the delay (which Morel provoked, helped innocently by Dilke) King Leopold was alleged to have made a bargain with the Kaiser under which Germany was granted a “right of way” through Belgium in the event of war with France. The French Ambassador at Brussels got hold of the document through one of Leopold’s confidants, and had it photographed. He showed the sun-print to the British Ambassador, who went to the Belgian Prime Minister to ask if he sanctioned such an arrangement. The Belgian Cabinet was summoned, and Leopold was called on to telegraph a cancellation, which he did. The Kaiser, after receiving it, chose to regard the grant as one which could not be withdrawn, and in the reign of Leopold’s successor marched through Belgium to his ruin. Morel acted simply as a German agent throughout. He was sent to jail during the Great War, accused of German’ propaganda. Yet he was afterwards elected M.P. for Dundee, just as the German spy “Lincoln” was elected for Durham pre-war. Dilke was moved only by patriotic considerations.

When war broke out the mass of the Irish people favoured the Allies. Letters to my brother ran:

On board the Leinster to Holyhead,

9th August, 1914.

“Redmond lunched with Asquith yesterday, and it will seem a treasonable repast unless he secures the Royal Assent to the Home Rule Bill. His Party are to meet to-morrow, and half the “Volunteers” will mutiny unless the Bill is passed.

The Government is willing to arm them and provide uniforms on the terms of their not being called upon to serve “outside Ireland”; but there is division about accepting English control. The newspapers are suppressing the row, but there is unrest and distrust of Redmond.

This boat is full of soldiers and officers - the soldiers singing and playing the concertina. “Come back to Erin;” “Killarney,” and” Old Lang Syne” predominate. We started an hour late owing to the Cork train being delayed by troop trains, and we shall be further delayed in England. Our mall in Dublin is now delivered two hours late each morning.”

These were days of racking anxiety.

House of Commons,

10th August, 1914.

“The Government did not make up their minds until this morning as to the course they announced to-day. They intended up to Saturday to declare that when the House resumed they would proceed with the “amending” Home Rule Bill as to Ulster. The Tories protested, and prevailed. Carson told me his Volunteers were in such a rage at the proposed breaking of the “truce” that they trampled on the ” attestation forms” which they had intended sending in to enlist.”

Some weeks later I went over again to try to ascertain what was afoot as to Home Rule, but got little information. I wrote

London,

1st September, 1914.

“O’Brien showed me a letter to Lord Kitchener, who agreed to see him to-day. I understand O’Brien is to have a meeting in Cork. I suggested that we should declare willingness to sign a joint address with Dillon and Redmond to exiles abroad, explaining our motives. He thought this a good idea, but how approach Redmond?

So I went to Asquith, who had been holding a Cabinet meeting. He was engaged with Simon, and received me cordially. I told him the purpose of my coming, and he was moved. “This,” said he, “is most important, and I will never forget it.” He said he needed encouragement. I left.

The reason of his speech to-day was the refusal of Redmond and Dillon to agree to our suggestion. There was a scene in the House, but Asquith pleaded, when Dillon rose, that there should be no fresh discussion. The Party grew restive, and evidently considered themselves sold. I sent for O’Brien at 7 p.m., as he hadn’t come to the House. He visited Kitchener at 3.30 o’clock, and found him friendly, and we determined to say nothing, but must be here on Wednesday.”

Chapelizod,

6th September, 1914.

“Redmond is in a bad way over the Home Rule Bill. He did not leave London until Wednesday, trying to apply pressure. Carson’s speech was truculent, and there is no intention of applying Home Rule to his preserves-in which I fear Tyrone and Fermanagh will be included.”

The Royal Assent to the Bill under the Parliament Act was given on 18th September, 1914, as also to another Bill suspending the Home Rule Act. Bonar Law talked of hanging Asquith on a lamppost, but the ill-fortunes of the War soon submerged the Irish question.

Chapelizod,

21st September, 1914.

“The Cecils took the point that the Home Rule Bill which the Speaker should endorse must be the original Bill deposited in the Lords.

Carson and the extremists were in favour of a resolution by the Lords, directing the clerk to retain custody of the original Bill to prevent the Royal Assent. That this must have gone some length is proved by the fact of the two divisions by which both the Welsh and Irish Bills were adjourned by the Lords, in spite of the Government.

Redmond’s appeal for recruits which appeared on Thursday is so well written that O’Brien thinks Stephen Gwynn must be the author. It helped to prevent the triumph of extreme courses.

I advised the Tories against extremes which would leave indelible bitterness. The Cabinet are divided. Asquith pledged himself in writing to Bonar Law (who told me so) that the Home Rule Bill would not be proceeded with during the War.

In September, 1914, I went on a holiday to Canada with Sir Max Aitken, M.P., and there first realized from the drilling of the university students in Toronto what a world-wide convulsion the Kaiser had provoked.

On my return I wrote my brother:

London,

28th October, 1914.

“The Redmondites will agree to no truce with us. They are afraid that if we were in the Party their fame would be diminished. Max used to see Redmond with Lord Murray during the negotiations, and is convinced that, although I might be tolerated, they will never forgive William O’Brien!

The Government having guaranteed there will be no coercion of Ulster, Carson can do what he likes. Naturally Bonar Law said he would support him now that he knows no resistance will be necessary. The Redmondites are up against the Orangemen, the Budget, the Insurance Act, and Recruiting.”

London,

12th November, 1914.

“There was a great deal of Party spirit shown in the House yesterday in the “spy” debate.

I hear that an English Catholic officer, who was recruited into the Ulster Volunteers, was sent for by the War Office, and had to exchange, as he was told the Orangemen would not obey him. They are a tough crowd to handle just now.”

London,

15th November, 1914

“Redmond’s “Volunteer” programme has been smashed, and his name does not appear to the appeal for recruits issued by the other three. O’Brien thinks he has been frightened by the Irish World of New York.”

Of a speech I made in November, 1914, the New Witness said:

“We have seldom read a speech which contained more wisdom and patriotism applied to various subjects than that which Mr. Timothy Healy delivered in the House of Commons on Monday night. Nothing, for instance, could be sounder than the remarks he made on the financial assistance which it is proposed to give to the City…

Mr. Healy further earned the gratitude of all decent people by his spirited protest against the attempt of wealthy Puritans to prevent the serving of rum to soldiers. He expressed the general feeling when, after Mr. Tennant had laboriously answered innumerable and vexatious questions as to how, when and why the men were given alcohol, he asked, “If the hon. Gentleman proposes to allow a number of teetotallers to bully the Government in this matter.” That our soldiers should be begrudged their rum is bad enough; that a handful of Chadbands should be able to coerce the Government into stopping the allowance is unthinkable, but unless definite action is taken, and Mr. Healy’s policy supported, the danger is likely to be realized. The men who heckle the Under-Secretary of War as to the amount of rum served to men up to their waists in water are not in the least concerned for the better payment of soldiers’ wives; and are notably inconspicuous on the question of pensions to their widows and children.”

I advised Maurice:

Chapelizod,

10th December, 1914.

“Redmond has gained nothing by the placing of Home Rule on the Statute Book beyond a verbal resolution in its favour. The Ministry will be so immersed in larger problems, owing to the War, that they will patch up any compromise with Carson. There will be no one left inside the Government to make a fight for Ireland, and there is no one in the Liberal Party capable of doing so.

The artificial split created by Redmond in the Party tells against the Irish Cause. Our people are not pro-German, but think the price too high for the kind of Home Rule that has been “granted.”

Cattle-driving again is started, which is due to the disappointment at the failure to finance Land Purchase.”

I wrote him again:

Chapelizod,

6th February, 1915.

“I saw F. E. Smith, who was returning to the front next day. He doesn’t think much of the British generals, but believes the Germans will be shifted by August. Kitchener is hopeful, and his army will be one of the best-equipped that ever left England.

Smith said to Neil Primrose in my presence that Asquith had given written pledges to Bonar Law that the Home Rule Bill would not be passed, and had broken them. I knew this, but was surprised it should be blurted out, and therefore think that when the War is over the Tories will charge that the Act was passed by fraud, and is a nullity.”

Chapelizod,

15th May, 1915.

“Lloyd George’s outburst yesterday against the Irish Members indicates that Redmond misled him in his interviews into thinking “it would be all right.”

Unless the War takes a brighter turn the announcement of Haldane as to Conscription will embarrass Redmond.”

Chapelizod,

19th May, 1915.

“I have been saying that the Government could not last, and that a Coalition was inevitable. Now it has been brought about.”

A feature of the Coalition Ministry for Ireland was to replace the Lord Chancellor, Sir Ignatius O’Brien, by James Campbell, the Conservative leader, afterwards Lord Glenavy. As this would have deprived the Irish Party of the power of making magistrates, T. P. O’Connor was sent to Asquith to threaten that the Irish race would be brigaded “against him if such a deed were consummated. The arrangement was, therefore, abandoned.

Later on, as the Party became more discredited, the change was carried out, on Lloyd George becoming Prime Minister. I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,

2nd June, 1915.

“Murphy went to London three days ago, at Lord Northcliffe’s urgent instance, to “settle the Irish question.” Of course, it will come to naught. In the annals of this country, was there ever such play-boyism as in the present crisis?

Carson is marking time to prevent criticism. Asquith, convinced of the impossibility of an Irish settlement, has handed over the difficulty to Lloyd George. Lloyd George thought there were fireworks to be enjoyed and the “glamour” caught him. Now he doesn’t see his way to an Irish picnic.”

Lord Northcliffe told Murphy that he could have a dukedom if he could produce a plan of settling the Irish question in the way that both the Irish and English people could accept. Murphy declared he was not a magician, and did not care to be a Duke l I wrote my brother:

House of Commons,

6th July, 1915.

“Lloyd George’s object is to drive out Asquith, but the Tories are standing by Asquith, who, when the Coalition was formed, told the Liberal meeting which was suddenly called, that he would resign if any question was raised as to the supply of munitions. Knowing this, Dalziel flouted him last Thursday.

It may be he went too far, but he was seconded by Sir Charles Henry, another of Lloyd George’s intimates.

The Cabinet had three meetings since Saturday, and Asquith went to France last night, which was the reason he could not attend Haldane’s meeting. There Haldane suggested that his “old friend Lloyd George” was just as responsible. Lloyd George’s scheme was to have an immediate election, if he could have had himself made Prime Minister.

Asquith will insist on getting from the Generals at the front an explicit statement as to the military situation, so that he can compose the mind of Parliament.

L.G. has made it up with Churchill and promised him the War Office if Kitchener was driven out, provided he himself became Prime Minister. Are they a whit better than ourselves as squabblers?”

Chapelizod,

1st September, 1915.

“As I was leaving London for the mail I met Ellis Griffith, who took the defeat of the Allies up to the present as a matter which everybody knew.

I had seen Bonar Law, who said things were very bad, and that if he had known what he now knows, he would not have joined the Coalition. I think this is reasonable, for the Tories were taken in, and had not the least idea of the true state of affairs.

From the way The Times and Daily Mail are criticizing the Government an exposure or an explosion is certain. Yet if the Powers hold together they must win - though after frightful losses in men and money.”

Lord Northcliffe took a most courageous course in criticizing the conduct of the War. One of his newspapers was publicly burnt, and he himself was practically boycotted. Yet he was on the right track, and held his way despite ignorant clamour. I spent a few days in London at this time, and felt the sensations of an air raid. When I got back to Ireland I wrote Maurice:

Chapelizod,

12th September, 1915.

“The Zeppelin raid last week on London was awful. Bombs fell near the G.P.O. and Liverpool Street Station, and frightened every one in the theatres. Guns firing from all points added to the horror. The failure to bring down the Zeppelins or to dispatch bomb-throwers against German cities to let the “peaceful” German population get a taste of their own broth seems odd.”

London,

17th September, 1915.

“Dillon made a good speech the other night against Conscription, but was careful not to pledge himself absolutely against it in all circumstances. Only that I was alone, I was disposed to rise and express agreement with him, but held my tongue, and left the House after Thomas’s speech, which was very impressive. The waste of money in the War is appalling.”

London,

21st October, 1915.

“I am sure Carson must have Lloyd George behind him. Churchill’s letter to the Navy League was not a buoyant document.”

My wife and I now visited Blandford Camp where our eldest son was in training, to bid him good-bye, as the Naval Division was under orders for Gallipoli. The scene at the station - the carriages were strategically marked for Woolwich was impressive. Both my wife and my son’s wife held up splendidly, although we feared we should not see him again - a fear which fortunately proved unfounded. A fine song in Welsh was chorused from one of the carriages, and in another carriage a private gave a comic imitation of one of the officers, which was loudly applauded by his comrades-the officers themselves standing by laughing. It was 2 a.m., and raining as the train rolled off. Next night I got back to London and went to the House of Commons with a heavy heart. There I found that the Government had passed several stages of the Ulster Canal Bill, as a piece of Treasury economy, without warning the Irish members. I wrote Maurice:

London,

28th October, 1915.

“Carson’s resignation [as Attorney-General] apparently has been discounted by appeals from high places. There was to be a stampede, but it failed, and L.G. has trotted back to the Liberal paddock.

He was very civil to me yesterday, in cancelling the stages of the Ulster Canal Bill, which they had snatched. I gave Birrell “the devil’s tattoo” over it, and shamed every Englishman who listened - probably 50. When I rose Dillon withdrew the clan from the House, but gradually they crawled back. I welted the Irish Government and made such a holy show of the business that Liberals whom I didn’t know congratulated me. The Irish Party, having allowed the Bill to be read a second time without comment, set down motions for its rejection the moment I got the stage abandoned. I had that night come back from Blandford, where I saw Joe [my son] off for the Dardanelles.”

Carson told me he resigned because of the failure of the Government to come to the rescue of Serbia. The Kaiser said he sent his best General (Mackensen) to smash its gallant army after it had beaten the Austrians. The Serbian debacle, no doubt, was terrible, but it was not easy to see what Asquith could do.

House of Commons,

3rd November, 1915.

“The Lloyd George intrigue is scotched, and the Tories won’t follow Carson, much as they are disgusted. A feeling of malaise is general, but what can be done?

I was dining to-night at Gray’s Inn and found the Germans had sent a bomb right through our dressing-room, another on the roof, and two in the yard. Fortunately little damage was done, owing to the pluck of the servants. The hole in the ceiling is about three feet square.

The Public Bill Office people told me there was a great run by Irish Members on Hansard for my speech against the Ulster Canal Bill.

Dillon, to show his aloofness on the occasion, stood at the bar jingling money or keys in his pockets, and then sat down near the Serjeant-at-Arms. I have had letters from Ulster priests thanking me about the Bill. One mentioned that the Cardinal lately said, in the presence of Canon MacCartan, that he would rather live under the Orangemen than under the Ancient Order of Hibernians, who would yet be a scourge to the clergy supporting them.

Carson and his friends keep actively at work behind the scenes, and no reliance can be placed on anything in the newspapers.

Last night, although Kitchener handed over the seals to the King at 8 p.m., the Press Bureau ordered the morning papers not to mention Kitchener’s name! If he sulks and refuses to go abroad, or to take command anywhere, the people will be stunned by his resignation.”

It had for some time been noticeable that when Kitchener spoke in the House of Lords his speeches no longer commanded the attention which had greeted them earlier. The peers, I was told, grew listless and doubtful when he rose. I wrote my brother

London,

8th November, 1915.

“Kitchener is being forced West, and tendered the seals to the King on Thursday before he left. The King may not have accepted them, but, none the less, he will not be allowed to return to the War Office. I think the Government were right to suppress the Globe even for telling the truth.”

When the Globe was suppressed, its editor came to me to try to induce Sir John Simon, the Attorney-General, to allow its publication to be resumed. The paper had been a bitter enemy of ours, and we once got it censured by the House of Commons for breach of privilege. Nevertheless, that was in far-off days, and Sir John Simon in the handsomest manner yielded to my representations, on a guarantee that in future the paper would respect the orders of the censor. To Maurice I confided:

House of Commons,

14th November, 1915.

“Affairs are in a bad way with the Government. Sir Edward Grey’s statement to-day was the worst I ever heard.

They are sending men to Salonika, but how this will help the Serbians I don’t know. The forces at the Dardanelles will have to retire or surrender. Joe is there, I suppose, by now.

The Cabinet is split and has lost the confidence of the House. The Tories are dissatisfied, and openly say so.

Only that the mob have their stomachs full, very little would provoke an attack on the Government. This is being freely said. Carson’s revolt for the last two days in refusing to attend, and staying in the smoking-room, is significant. If he forces the adoption of Conscription, there will be further rows in the House, although the Labour Party have grown tame.

While I was dining with Frewen at White’s Club the guns began, and a Zeppelin passed aloft. All the windows in the Strand near the Lyceum Theatre are smashed. A man was killed in Lincoln’s Inn. Still, the Zeppelin didn’t remain long, and the assault was less severe than the former one; although as many were killed, but the injury to property is less.”

Grey I regarded as too fine a gentleman to be Minister for Foreign Affairs either in war-time or when war threatened. A good liar or a Bottomley would have done better for England. His scruples in my opinion added a costly charge to his country and to Europe.

London,

15th November, 1915.

“Lloyd George, in spite of Lord Lansdowne’s statement yesterday, wishes to have an election in December, and to come back Prime Minister. I can’t make out whether Bonar Law and his friends will remain in the Government, but it is possible they will retire if holding on to Gallipoli is persisted in.

Between Lloyd George’s intrigues and the unrest of the Tories, a Dissolution may be forced.”

About this time I had to argue in the House of Lords the appeal of Hollingshed V. Hazleton. The latter, who had petitioned to be made bankrupt, found on re-election for Galway that the Court of Bankruptcy had power to make his parliamentary salary available to pay his debts. As already stated, Judge Boyd awarded half of it to his creditors. The Court of Appeal reversed this decision, holding that the salary of an M. P. was not attachable. The House of Lords restored the order of Judge Boyd, and reversed the Court of Appeal, although the opposing counsel, Denis Henry, a man of marked ability, said, as we were robing, that he would not be called upon to reply. I wrote Maurice:

House of Commons,

18th November, 1915.

“I received congratulations in the Four Courts when I went back there on the Hazleton argument in the Lords. Denis Henry, who was “contra,” told my solicitor, Seddal, on the boat last night, that it was “the ablest he ever heard.” Hazleton said to Ills friends that I had treated him far more kindly than his own Party did.”

Thus the campaign to drive me from Parliament cost the Redmond Party dearly. Mr. Hazleton’s enforced re-election for Galway led to the enunciation of the doctrine that M.P.’s could not shirk their debts, and the House of Lords saddled him with costs far larger than those incurred in the Election Petition-which he had refused to pay.

In 1918 the rout of the Irish Party by Sinn Fein left him without seat or salary, and his counsel, the late Sir Deals Henry, M.P. (afterwards Chief Justice for the Six Counties), approached me to urge as a favour to himself that I should let his client be discharged from bankruptcy on payment of a small proportion of the debt. I agreed, and thus the victim of the Party’s malice escaped through the portals of the Bankruptcy Court, which he had so airily entered.

Of course, the 16 years’ fight in which I had to cope with Redmond’s and Dillon’s forces was costly to myself, but the public drew the conclusion that if the vendetta against a Nationalist was so ill-judged and unsuccessful, their handling of Sir Edward Carson and the Ulster opponents of Home Rule must be marred by still great unwisdom. Thus their press agent, T. P. O’Connor, in April, 1914, had described Sir Edward:

“The worst and final difficulty of the Tories to-day is Sir Edward Carson. I asked a man who knows him well what was the secret spring of Carson’s extraordinary purposes during the last two years. He is not a strong man physically. He has a poor digestion, sensitive nerves, bad sleep, and a melancholy temperament. In short, he is not the kind of man to lead a forlorn hope when men have to play for their lives, and yet he had carried the enterprise through with skill and courage. The answer I got as to his purposes is that vanity is one of the chief ingredients of his character. Vanity, I have found in my political experience, is the most refracting of all lies in the lives of many politicians. It explains the inexplicable. It makes honest men adopt dishonest methods. It makes truthful men into professors of political mendacity. It turns men mad who are otherwise sane. It is the explanation, secret and undiscovered, of many of the tragedies in the lives of parties and nations. Its victims become some of the most dangerous of men. I never put down vanity as the mainspring of Sir Edward Carson, but now I see luridly the justification of his psychology. You have only to look at him to observe that he is suffering from a severe attack of swelled head, or what is more scholastically termed “Megalomania.""

Apart from the Irish question, the daily incidents of parliamentary life had to be encountered. When the Excess Profits Tax was proposed, I supported it, but condemned the refusal of an appeal in Ireland. I wrote my brother:

House of Commons,

22nd November, 1915.

“Under the Budget the citizens in Cork, Dublin, etc., will have no right of appeal in the case of Excess Profits, and are for the first time left to the mercy of the Income Tax Commissioners. You should do something about this.

I see no reason for McKenna’s refusal to allow the ordinary Irish law to prevail. I gave him a shot to-night about it, and said I would raise it on Report.”

In the result the Chancellor yielded, and appeals were allowed in Ireland.

I had experience of Appellate tribunals in England, and was struck with the fairness of the Commissioners towards the taxpayer against what is misnamed the “Crown.”

Chapelizod,

27th November, 1915.

“Carson opposed the Indictments Bill of the Government, and told me he intended to press his objection. He may be at the bottom of the scheme for forcing a Dissolution. I gathered from F. E. Smith that they were hardly friends now.

Outside the towns few Irish Protestants have enlisted as privates, nor will they do so. They say the Kaiser is a good Protestant!”

Redmond in 1914 insisted that the National Volunteers, which had been formed to resist Carson’s threatened march from Belfast to Cork, should be placed under the control of the parliamentary leaders. Pearse, who went into rebellion in 1916, opposed this, and was said to have been knocked down at the meeting by one of Redmond’s M.F.’s. John MacNeill took Pearse’s side and soon after Asquith’s visit to Dublin in August, 1914, to seek recruits, a split took place in the Volunteers which, though apparently slight at the time, proved formidable afterwards. I noticed that in 1916 the Volunteers, who had cut themselves off from Redmond, began to march in armed formation through Dublin. I witnessed a rally on St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March, 1916. About 500 men filed past the General Post Office. They were quiet and orderly, but their port was not impressive.

This was five weeks before the Easter rising. Neither in England nor Ireland had the public an inkling of what was brewing. I wrote Maurice:

Train from London,

29th March, 1916.

“There must be a fresh intrigue against Asquith. The English Members tell me it has no effect on popular feeling. The Scotch Members say the contrary.

It is a pity O’Brien would not haunt the coulisses for a while. T.P. now joins Dillon in denouncing Lloyd George.”

House of Commons,

10th April, 1916.

“It is impossible to predict what will happen. If Lloyd George resigns, the Tories will go with him, and it is then doubtful whether Asquith can re-form the Government. They may patch it up between now and tomorrow. Kitchener is not giving trouble, but perhaps another is. Curzon is in a resigning mood. Winston’s return from France is ominous. Seely is here, but friendly to the Government, and unaware that Churchill is back.

Carson is having his revenge on Bonar Law, who, he expected, would have resigned with him, and is trying to force him out. The Tories yelled with triumph (like in the Roman amphitheatres over the death of a hated foe) at Carson’s speech.”

House of Commons,

11th April, 1916.

“They patched up the trouble last night but Lloyd George says Asquith this morning receded from the arrangement. Lloyd George is so bitter against Asquith that he is determined to go, and the Tories will be driven to follow him.

John Burns remarked, “The higher the monkey goes, the worse he shows his tail.” Perhaps between now and Tuesday there will be such newspaper pressure from abroad and the Colonies, and remonstrances from the Constituencies, that the thing will be patched up.

F. E. Smith told me he was in favour of a secret session on Tuesday. It would be a drama to watch, but one’s emotions are divided between Dublin and Westminster.”

On the day this letter was written there was a Lobby rumour that the Irish Government meant to arrest the militant Sinn Feiners, but that Redmond went to Birrell and objected, as Carson’s Volunteers had been allowed to arm and deploy with impunity.

I discussed this news with Moreton Frewen, who was in a nursing home, and went to O’Brien’s hotel to tell him of it. I left that night for Ireland. Thence I informed my brother:

Chapelizod,

12th April, 1916.

“Lloyd George has practically cut himself off from the Liberal Party, and Churchill, too, means to go into Opposition. They fear the War will end in a draw.”

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