Religious Concerns solely explain the strong opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill. To what extent would you agree?

Michael Clark 14LH1

“Religious Concerns solely explain the strong opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill.” To what extent would you agree?

First of all I must start off with the introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill which happened in April 1912. The Bill consisted of two main points which would lead to the setting up of an Irish parliament which dealt with internal affairs such as education, transport and the like; however the police force and taxation were to excluded from the bill. Secondly the bill would allow the Irish public to elect forty MPs; their role would be to remain responsible for imperial and foreign policy of Ireland. The three groups for Home Rule introduction were the, Liberals, Labour and all the Irish parties, the groups against Home Rule were the Southern Unionists, the Ulster Unionists and the Conservatives. This suggests to me that religious concerns explain the strong opposition to HR, as it is evident that the Unionists, who obviously wanted to remain loyal to the crown, opposed the Bill; it seems to me that the Unionists are more worried about a defeat against Protestantism and Unionism, rather than a defeat to the Union itself. Although the Home Rule Bill does get passed in Westminster in September 1914, this obviously is during the period of the First World War, so the British and Irish agree to put it on the backburner until the end of the war. This in the long term becomes a victory for the British as the war lasts for four years and Redmond who had been so optimistic in September 1914, quickly became downhearted and it felt like a defeat to him.

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Bonar Law, the leader of the Conservative Party, was very sympathetic to the Unionist cause in Ireland. Although the Conservative Party was in disarray in 1911 with the burden of having lost three general elections and with the dismantling of its only stronghold, the House of Lords, it seemed all hope was lost. Members of the party were split on whether they should join in for the defence of the Unionists in Ireland. Bonar Law, felt a strong, personal commitment to the Unionists due to the fact that his family had come from Ulster before he was born in Canada. He met up at a mass rally at Balmoral with Edward Carson and James Craig, the two main leaders of Irish Unionist resistance were over 80,000 Unionists had gathered. Bonar Law and Edward Carson were the main speakers at this meeting and they promised Unionists to fight for the right of the Union. Later on in 1912, particularly September 1912, Edward Carson who was previously a Southern Unionist lawyer, took note of the Irish plans for Home Rule, he felt like he had a personal connection with the Unionists of the North and he believed the maintenance of the Union was the guiding star of his political life. The Ulster Covenant was one of the first steps in doing so for Edward Carson. He set up the Ulster Covenant sometimes known as the ‘Solemn League and Covenant’ in relation back to the Scottish League of the same name. This occurred on September 28th 1912, Unionists really started to participate and fight for the Union, throughout Ulster, simultaneous rallies occurred, Around 400,000 men signed it in total with around 250,000 women signing it also. Edward Carson believed that the dismantle of the Union would be disastrous for the Unionists throughout Ireland, particularly the ones who lived in the North. The Unionists believed they should stand for their constitutional and legal rights in fighting for Ulster. They argued to the English government and the King that the Irish were defying laws set up years before. Moreover, the Unionists were concerned about the lack of safeguards provided to them within the Home Rule Bill. Bonar Law told the 80,000 at this rally that, ‘He could not imagine no length of resistance to which Ulster can go in which I would not be prepared to support them.’ This suggests to me again the religious concerns explain the strong opposition to HR particularly in the North. Once again, the Unionists do not want to lose another round with the Irish in the battle for Home Rule, however, on this occasion it seems that Carson wants to fight for a cause more than religion. He seems to want to fight to protect the industries, particularly the ship building industry, the Union itself and the Protestant and Unionist people. With the introduction of the Conservatives now coming into the fold, it also seems more of a political aspect with a hint of religious concern.