Cause.  When I came to this House, Irish Nationalist members, in a sense, were almost outcasts.  Both the great British parties—­there was no Labour party then—­divided on everything else, were united in hostility to the national movement and the national ideal.  Home Rule seemed hopelessly out of the range of practical politics.  There were only a handful of men in this whole House of Commons besides us who were in favour of any measure of Home Rule for Ireland.  Outside, the public opinion of this country was ignorant, and it was actively hostile, and we found it impossible to gain the ear of the democracy of England for the voice of Ireland.  All that has vanished into thin air.  All that has radically changed.  The change has been slow and gradual, but it has been continuous and sure.  Such a change as that can never be reversed.  You might as well talk of the world going back to the days before electricity or petrol as hope to bring back the prejudices and the ignorance of the masses of the people in this country about Ireland, as they existed in the past.”

His confidence was strong and it communicated itself to Ireland.  But whatever could be said to shake confidence was said by Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Healy, who denounced the Bill as worthless when linked to the plan of even temporary partition, and declared that, whatever the Government might say at present, we had not yet reached the end of their concessions.  On the division they and their party abstained, so that the majority dropped to 77.

Up to this point it is still true to say that the Nationalist party were constant to their faith in strictly constitutional action.  But a new development was imminent.  On the night of Friday to Saturday, April 24th-25th, Ulstermen brought off their first overt act of rebellion.  They seized the ports of Larne and Donaghadee, cut off telephone and telegraph, landed a very large quantity of rifles and ammunition, and despatched them to every quarter of the province by means of a great fleet of motor-cars which had been mobilized for the occasion.  It was a clean and excellent piece of staff work, planned by a capable soldier and carried out under military direction:  and the Tory Press hailed it with no less enthusiasm than was elicited by the most important victories in the recent war.

One coastguard, running to give the alarm, died of heart failure:  otherwise there was no casualty.  The police and customs officers were confronted with force majeure and submitted without show of resistance.  The Prime Minister, in answering a question as to the action which he proposed to take, used these words: 

“In view of this grave and unprecedented outrage the House may be assured that His Majesty’s Government will take without delay appropriate steps to vindicate the authority of the law and protect officers and servants of the King and His Majesty’s subjects in the exercise of their legal rights.”