itude with which they had thrown aside all
party purposes in order to assist the Empire.

When war broke out a "party truce" had been proclaimed. The Unionist
leaders promised their support to the Government in carrying on the war,
and Mr. Asquith pledged the Government to drop all controversial
legislation. The consideration of the Amending Bill had been shelved by
agreement, Mr. Asquith stating that the postponement "must be without
prejudice to the domestic and political position of any party." On this
understanding the Unionist Party supported, almost without so much as a
word of criticism, all the emergency measures proposed by the
Government. Yet on the 10th of August Mr. Asquith astonished the
Unionists by announcing that the promise to take no controversial
business was not to prevent him advising the King to sign the Home Rule
Bill, which had been hung up in the House of Lords by the introduction
of the Amending Bill, and had never been either rejected or passed by
that House.

Mr. Balfour immediately protested against this conduct as a breach of
faith; but Mr. Redmond's speech on that occasion contained the
explanation of the Government's conduct. The Nationalist leader gave a
strong hint that any help in the war from the southern provinces of
Ireland would depend on whether or not the Home Rule Bill was to become
law at once. Although the personal loyalty of Mr. Redmond was beyond
question, and although he was no doubt sincere when he subsequently
denied that his speech was so intended, it was in reality an application
of the old maxim that England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity. In
any case, the Cabinet knew that, however unjustly Ulster might be
treated, she could be relied upon to do everything in her power to
further the successful prosecution of the war, and they cynically came
to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to placate those whose
loyalty was less assured.

This was the unpleasant tale that Sir Edward Carson had to unfold to the
Ulster Unionist Council on the 3rd of September. After explaining how
and why he had consented to the indefinite postponement of the Amending
Bill, he continued:

"And so, without any condition of any kind, we agreed that the Bill
should be postponed without prejudice to the position of either
party. England's difficulty is not Ulster's opportunity. England's
difficulty is our difficulty; and England's sorrows have always
been