d be duplicates. When the lists were closed--they were
kept open for some days after Ulster Day--they were very carefully
scrutinised by a competent staff at the Old Town Hall, and it is certain
that the numbers as eventually published included no duplicate signature
and none that was not genuine. Precisely the same care was taken in the
case of the Declaration by which, in words similar to the Covenant but
without its pledge for definite action, the women of Ulster associated
themselves with the men "in their uncompromising opposition to the Home
Rule Bill now before Parliament."

It was not until the 22nd of November that the scrutiny and verification
of the signatures was completed, and the actual numbers published. They
were as follows: In Ulster itself 218,206 men had registered themselves
as Covenanters, and 228,991 women had signed the Declaration; in the
rest of Ireland and in Great Britain 19,162 men and 5,055 women had
signed. Thus, a grand total of 471,414 Ulster men and women gave their
adherence to the policy of which the Ulster Covenant was the solemn
pledge. To every one of these was given a copy of the document printed
on parchment, to be retained as a memento, and in thousands of cottages
throughout Ulster the framed Covenant hangs to-day in an honoured place,
and is the householder's most treasured possession.

Although the main business of the day was over, so far as Carson and the
other leaders were concerned, when they had signed the Covenant in the
City Hall at noon, every hour, and every minute in the hour, until they
took their departure in the Liverpool packet in the evening, was full of
incident and excitement. The multitude in the streets leading to the
City Hall was so densely packed that they had great difficulty in making
their way to the Reform Club, where they were to be entertained at
lunch. And, as every man and woman in the crowd was desperately anxious
the moment they saw him to get near enough to Carson to shake him by the
hand, the pressure of the swaying mass of humanity was a positive
danger. Happily the behaviour of the people was as exemplary as it was
tumultuously enthusiastic. _The Times_ Special Correspondent thus summed
up his impressions of the scene:

"Belfast did all that a city could do for such an occasion. I do
not well see how its behaviour could have been more impressive. The
tirelessness of the crowd--it was that perhaps which struck me
most; a