structions, and, seeing that he had taken the
responsibility of not fully obeying the much more modest orders he had
received in Ireland on the 14th, it is easy to understand that he
thought the steps now to be taken would lead to serious consequences. He
also foresaw that he might have trouble with some of the officers under
his command, for before leaving London he persuaded the Secretary of
State and Sir John French to give the following permission: "Officers
actually domiciled in Ulster would be exempted from taking part in any
operation that might take place. They would be permitted to 'disappear'
[that being the exact phrase used by the War Office], and when all was
over would be allowed to resume their places without their career or
position being affected."[68]

Having obtained this concession, Sir Arthur Paget returned the same
night to Dublin, where he arrived on the 20th and had a conference with
his general officers.

He told them of the instructions he had received, which the Government
called "precautionary" and believed "would be carried out without
resistance." The Commander-in-Chief did not share the Government's
optimism. He thought "that the moves would create intense excitement,"
that by next day "the country would be ablaze," and that the result
might be "active operations against organised bodies of the Ulster
Volunteer Force under their responsible leaders." With regard to the
permission for officers domiciled in Ulster to "disappear," he informed
his generals that any other officers who were not prepared to carry out
their duty would be dismissed the Service.

There was, apparently, some misunderstanding as to whether officers
without an Ulster domicile who objected to fight against Ulster were to
say so at once and accept dismissal, or were to wait until they received
some specific order which they felt unable to obey. Many of the officers
understood the General to mean the former of these two alternatives, and
the Colonel of one line regiment gave his officers half an hour to make
up their minds on a question affecting their whole future career; every
one of them objected to going against Ulster, and "nine or ten refused
under any condition" to do so.[69] Another regimental commanding officer
told his subordinates that "steps have been taken in Ulster so that any
aggression must come from the Ulsterites, and they will have to shed the
first blood," on which his comment was: "The idea of provo