It had been intended that the Duke of Abercorn, whose inspiring exhortation as chairman of the Ulster Convention in 1892 had never been forgotten, should preside over the meeting; but, as he was prevented by a family bereavement from being present, his place was taken by the Earl of Erne, Grand Master of the Orange Order.  The scene, when he rose to open the proceedings, was indescribable in its impressiveness.  Some members of the Eighty Club happened to be in Ireland at the time, for the purpose of “seeing for themselves” in the familiar fashion of such political tourists; but they did not think it worth while to witness what Ulster was doing at Craigavon.  If they had, they could have made a report to their political leaders which, had it been truthful, might have averted some irreparable blunders; for they could hardly have looked upon that sea of eager faces, or have observed the enthusiasm that possessed such a host of earnest and resolute men, without revising the opinion, which they had accepted from Mr. Redmond, that there was “no Ulster question.”

The meeting took the form of according a welcome to Sir Edward Carson as the new leader of Irish Loyalism, and of Ulster in particular.  But before he rose to speak a significant note had already been sounded.  Lord Erne struck it when he quoted words which were to become very familiar in Ulster—­the letter from Gustavus Hamilton, Governor of Enniskillen in 1689, to “divers of the nobility and gentry in the north-east part of Ulster,” in which he declared:  “We stand upon our guard, and do resolve by the blessing of God to meet our danger rather than to await it.”  And the veteran Liberal, Mr. Thomas Andrews, in moving the resolution of welcome to the leader, expressed the universal sentiment of the multitude when he exclaimed, “We will never, never bow the knee to the disloyal factions led by Mr. John Redmond.  We will never submit to be governed by rebels who acknowledge no law but the laws of the Land League and illegal societies.”

A great number of Addresses from representative organisations were then presented to Sir Edward Carson, in many of which the determination to resist the jurisdiction of a Dublin Parliament was plainly declared.  But such declarations, although they undoubtedly expressed the mind of the people, were after all in quite general terms.  For a quarter of a century innumerable variations on the theme “Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right,” had been fiddled on Ulster platforms, so that there was some excuse for the belief of those who were wholly ignorant of North Irish character that these utterances were no more than the commonplaces of Ulster rhetoric.  The time had only now come, however, when their reality could be put to the test.  Carson’s speech at Craigavon crystallised them into practical politics.