The members chosen to sit in the Convention were to be “representative men” in Emerson’s meaning of the words, but not in the democratic sense as deriving their authority from direct popular election.  Certain political organisations and parties were each invited to nominate a certain number; the Churches were represented by their leading clergy; men occupying public positions, such as chairmen of local authorities, were given ex-officio seats; and a certain number were nominated by the Government.  The total membership of this variegated assembly was ninety-five.  The Sinn Fein party were invited to join, but refused to have anything to do with it, declaring that they would consider nothing short of complete independence for Ireland.  The majority of the Irish people thus stood aloof from the Convention altogether.

As the purpose for which the Convention was called was quickly lost sight of by many, and by none more than its Chairman, it is well to remember what that purpose was.  If it had not been for the opposition of Ulster, the Home Rule Act of 1914 would have been in force for years, and none of the many attempts at settlement would have been necessary.  The one and only thing required was to reconcile, if possible, the aspirations of Ulster with those of the rest of Ireland.  That was the purpose, and the only purpose, of the Convention; and in the letter addressed to Sir John Lonsdale equally with Mr. Redmond, the Prime Minister distinctly 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.