ctly laid it down that unless its conclusions were
accepted "by both sides," nothing could come of it. To leave no shadow
of doubt on this point Mr. Bonar Law, in reply to a specific question,
said that there could be no "substantial agreement" to which Ulster was
not a party.

It is necessary to emphasise this point, because for such a purpose the
heterogeneous conglomeration of Nationalists of all shades that formed
the great majority of the Convention was worse than useless. The
Convention was in reality a bi-lateral conference, in which one of the
two sides was four times as numerous as the other. Yet much party
capital was subsequently made of the fact that the Nationalist members
agreed upon a scheme of Home Rule--an achievement which had no element
of the miraculous or even of the unexpected about it.

Notwithstanding that the Sinn Fein party had displayed their contempt
for the Convention, and under the delusion that it would "create an
atmosphere of good-will" for its meeting, the Government released
without condition or reservation all the prisoners concerned in the
Easter rebellion of 1916. It was like playing a penny whistle to
conciliate a cobra. The prisoners, from whose minds nothing was further
than any thought of good-will to England, were received by the populace
in Dublin with a rapturous ovation, their triumphal procession being
headed by Mr. De Valera, who was soon afterwards elected member for East
Clare by a majority of nearly thirty thousand. Four months later, the
Chief Secretary told Parliament that the young men of Southern Ireland,
who had refused to serve in the Army, were being enrolled in preparation
for another rebellion.

It was only after some hesitation that the Ulster Unionist Council
decided not to hold aloof from the Convention, as the Sinn Feiners did.
Carson accompanied Sir John Lonsdale to Belfast and explained the
explicit pledges by Ministers that participation would not commit them
to anything, that they would not be bound by any majority vote, and that
without their concurrence no legislation was to be founded on any
agreement between the other groups in the Convention; he also urged that
Ulster could not refuse to do what the Government held would be helpful
in the prosecution of the war.

The invitation to nominate five delegates was therefore accepted; and
when the membership of the Convention was complete there were nineteen
out of ninety-five who could be reckoned as