"separate and generous treatment for Ulster." At
Linlithgow, a Liberal stronghold, where no such promise was forthcoming,
the Liberal majority, in spite of a large Nationalist vote, was reduced
by 1,500 votes as compared with the General Election. There were signs
that Nonconformists, whose great leaders like Spurgeon and Dale had been
hostile to Home Rule in Gladstone's time, were again becoming uneasy
about handing over the Ulster Presbyterians and Methodists to the Roman
hierarchy. A memorial against Home Rule, signed by 131,000 people, which
had been presented to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in
June, had no doubt had some effect on Nonconformist opinion in England,
and it was just about the time when these elections took place that
Carson was described at a large gathering of Nonconformists in London as
"the best embodiment at this moment of the ancient spirit of
Nonconformity."[53]

Meanwhile the people in Ulster were steadily maturing their plans. The
arrangements already mentioned for setting up a Provisional Government
were confirmed and finally adopted by the Unionist Council in Belfast on
the 24th of September, and the Council by resolution delegated its
powers to the Standing Committee, while the Commission of Five was at
the same time appointed to act as an Executive. Carson, in accepting the
chairmanship of the Central Authority, used the striking phrase, which
precisely epitomised the situation, that "Ulster might be coerced into
submission, but in that case would have to be governed as a conquered
country." The Nationalist retort that the rest of Ireland was now being
so treated, appeared forcible to those Englishmen only who could see no
difference between controlling a disaffected population and chastising a
loyal one.

At the same meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council on the 24th of
September a guarantee fund was established for providing means to
compensate members of the U.V.F. for any loss or disability they might
suffer as a result of their service, and the widows and dependents of
any who might lose their lives. This was a matter that had caused Carson
anxiety for some time. He was extremely sensitive to the moral
responsibility he would incur towards those who so eagerly followed his
lead, in the event of their suffering loss of life or limb in the
service of Ulster. His proposal that a guarantee fund of a million
sterling should be started, met with a ready response from th