But in the eyes of the world and of Ireland generally, Redmond was just as much as Sir Edward Carson the accredited and accepted leader of his Volunteer organization, and to him the Volunteers looked for provision of arms and equipment.  One of his chief preoccupations in those months was with this matter, and it explains his desire to have the proclamation against the import of arms withdrawn.  The Larne exploit had proved the futility of it; articles by Colonel Repington in The Times testified to the completeness of the provision which had been made for Ulster.  But smuggling is always a costly business, and Nationalists were hampered by the cost.  More than that, there was ground for suspicion that the scales were not equally weighted as between Ulster and the rest of the country.  On June 30th Redmond wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary repeating his case for withdrawal of the proclamation.  It is all memorable, but especially the warning which concludes the following passages from it: 

“In the South and West of Ireland, not only are the most active measures being taken against the importation of arms, but many owners of vessels are harassed unnecessarily.

“The effect of this unequal working of the proclamation has been grave amongst our people, and has tended to increase both their exasperation and their apprehensions.

“The apprehensions of our people are justified to the fullest.  They find themselves, especially in the North, faced by a large, drilled, organized and armed body.  Furthermore, the incident at the Curragh has given them the fixed idea that they cannot rely on the Army for protection.  The possession of arms by Nationalists would, under these circumstances, be no provocation for disorder, but a means of preserving the peace by confronting one armed force with another, not helpless but, by being armed, fully able to defend themselves.

“Finally, we want to call your most serious attention to the grave and imminent danger of a collision between Nationalists and the police in the effort to import arms.  The police in the South and West might not be so passive as they were in the recent affair at Larne, and there might be serious conflicts, and even loss of life, and from this day forward every day which the proclamation is enforced as strictly as it is now against the Nationalists brings increased danger of disastrous collision between the police and the people.”

Within a fortnight a minor incident illustrated the “unequal working” referred to in the first of these points.  General Richardson, who commanded the Ulster Force, had issued on July 1st an order authorizing all Ulster Volunteers to carry arms openly and to resist any attempt at interference.  In Ulster accordingly no search was ever attempted.  But on July 15th Mr. Lawrence Kettle, brother to Professor Kettle, who had from the first been a prominent official of the Volunteers, was returning in his motor from the electric works at the Pigeon House; he was stopped by the police and his car searched for arms.  Such an occurrence in Ulster would have been held to justify immediate rebellion, and would have been carefully avoided.  In Dublin there was no such avoidance of provocation.