If political parties and political leaders, not only parliamentary but local, should be so utterly lost to every feeling and dictate of honour and courage as to hand over coldly, and for the sake of purchasing a short and illusory Parliamentary tranquillity, the lives and liberties of the Loyalists of Ireland to their hereditary and most bitter foes, make no doubt on this point - Ulster will not be a consenting party: Ulster at the proper moment will resort to the supreme arbitrament of force; Ulster will fight, Ulster will be right; Ulster will emerge from the struggle victorious, because all that Ulster represents to us Britons will command the sympathy and support of an enormous section of our British community. Source B: Randolph Churchill, from a speech attacking Home Rule, 1886. |
We must be prepared, in the event of a Home Rule Bill passing, with such measures as will carry on for ourselves the government of those districts of which we have control. We must be prepared the morning Home Rule passes, ourselves to become responsiblef or the government of the Protestant province of Ulster. Source C:
Edward Carson, from a speech at a Unionist rally in Belfast in 1911. |
Questions 1. Which city is pictured in Source A? Explain who the two statues represent and identify the building behind them. What is the significance of the grazing cattle? What does Source A suggest about what Unionists thought might happen if Home Rule were passed?
2. Why might the British government be worried about the speech made by Churchill?
3. What is Carson suggesting will happen if Home Rule is passed?
4. Why might the results in Source D boost the Unionists? |