in being purported to be issued in the name of
the King. And the Resolution adopted by the Unionist Council immediately
after constituting itself the Central Authority of the Provisional
Government, in which the reasons for that policy were recorded,
concluded with the statement that "we, for our part, in the course we
have determined to pursue, are inspired not alone by regard to the true
welfare of our own country, but by devotion to the interests of our
world-wide Empire and loyalty to our beloved King." If this was the
language of rebels, it struck a note that can never before have been
heard in a chorus of disaffection.

The demonstrations against the Government's policy which had been held
during the last eighteen months, of which some account has been given,
were so impressive that those which followed were inevitably less
remarkable by comparison. They were, too, necessarily to a large
extent, repetitions of what had gone before. There might be, and there
were, plenty of variations on the old theme, but there was no new theme
to introduce. Propaganda to the extent possible with the resources at
the disposal of the Ulster Unionist Council was carried on in the
British constituencies in 1913, the cost being defrayed chiefly through
generous subscriptions collected by the energy and influence of Mr.
Walter Long; but many were beginning to share the opinion of Mr. Charles
Craig, M.P., who scandalised the Radicals by saying at Antrim in March
that, while it was incumbent on Ulstermen to do their best to educate
the electorate, "he believed that, as an argument, ten thousand pounds
spent on rifles would be a thousand times stronger than the same amount
spent on meetings, speeches, and pamphlets."

On the 27th of March a letter appeared in the London newspapers
announcing the formation of a "British League for the support of Ulster
and the Union," with an office in London. It was signed by a hundred
Peers and 120 Unionist Members of the House of Commons. The manifesto
emphasised the Imperial aspect of the great struggle that was going on,
asserting that it was "quite clear that the men of Ulster are not
fighting only for their own liberties. Ulster will be the field on which
the privileges of the whole nation will be lost or won." A small
executive Committee was appointed, with the Duke of Bedford as Chairman,
and within a few weeks large numbers of people in all parts of the
country joined the new organisation. A co