ent taught the
Government something as to the difficulty they would have in enforcing
the Home Rule Bill in Ulster.

FOOTNOTES:

[64] See White Paper (Cd. 7329), No. II.

[65] See White Paper (Cd. 7329), No. VI.

[66] See White Paper (Cd. 7329), No. VII.

[67] White Paper (Cd. 7329), Part II, No. II.

[68] White Paper (Cd. 7329), Part III.

[69] See _Parliamentary Debates_, vol. lx, p. 73.

[70] Ibid., p. 426.

[71] Cd. 7329, No. XVII.

[72] Ibid., Nos. XVIII, XX.

[73] Ibid., Nos. XXII, XXIII.

[74] See _Parliamentary Debates_, vol. lx, p. 246.

[75] Ibid., p. 400.

[76] White Paper (Cd. 7329), No. XX.

[77] _The Nineteenth Century and After_, January 1921, art. "The Army
and Ireland," by Lieut.-Colonel John Ward, C.B., C.M.G., M.P.

[78] Cd. 7318.

[79] Cd. 7329.

[80] _Parliamentary Debate_, vol. lxi, p. 765.

[81] White Paper (Cd. 7329), No. XVII. See _ante_, p. 180.

[82] White Paper (Cd. 7329), No. I.

[83] Ibid., No. XXVII.

CHAPTER XVII

ARMING THE U.V.F.

If the "evil-disposed persons" who so excited the fancy of Colonel Seely
were supposed to be Ulster Loyalists, the whole story was an absurdity
that did no credit to the Government's Intelligence in Ireland; and if
there ever was any "information," such as the War Office alleged, it
must have come from a source totally ignorant of Ulster psychology.
Raids on Government stores were never part of the Ulster programme. The
excitement of the Curragh Incident passed off without causing any sort
of disturbance, and, as we have seen, the troops who were sent North
received everywhere in Ulster a loyal welcome. This was a fine tribute
to the discipline and restraint of the people, and was a further proof
of their confidence in their leaders.

Those leaders, it happened, were at that very moment taking measures to
place arms in the hands of the U.V.F. without robbing Government depots
or any one else. That method was left to their opponents in Ireland at a
later date, who adopted it on an extensive scale accompanied by
systematic terrorism. The Ulster plan was quite different. All the arms
they obtained were paid for, and their only crime was that they
successfully hoodwinked Mr. Asquith's colleagues and agents.

Every movement has its Fabius, and also its Hotspur. Both are
needed--the men of prudence and caution, anxious to avoid extreme
courses, slow to commit themselves too far or to burn their boats with
the river behind