Carson defends partition of Ulster
Belfast, 27 April 1920 - Sir Edward Carson, MP for Belfast Duncairn, has defended the decision of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) to support the government’s partition plan which excludes three Ulster counties – Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan – from the proposed northern parliament.
Mr Carson said the UUC’s decision did not constitute a breach of the Solemn Covenant of September 1912 which, he says, Ulster unionists entered into to defeat the home rule bill which became an act in 1914.
He said: ‘The present bill now before parliament relieves 830,000 protestants in Ulster from the effects of the act of 1914, and any other action than that taken by the Ulster Council would in the immediate future have led to the whole province being placed under a Dublin parliament.’
Cartoon from the Sunday Independent on the world's reaction to the British government's proposals (Image: Sunday Independent, 16 May 1920)
Mr Carson’s statement follows news that the UUC has received a communication demanding that a special meeting of the council be summoned to consider the impending resignation of many delegates, and to rethink the exclusion of these counties from the northern parliament area.
The communication was sent by Major Robert Stevenson, Rockdale, Tullyhogue, Co. Tyrone, and is signed by unionists from across the nine counties of Ulster. It notes that they are being asked to commit to the partition of Ulster, a course of action which will affect on the future of all inhabitants of the province. The impact of such a partition will be both economic and political. For instance, the signatories note that the trade of Donegal is almost entirely with Derry and great inconvenience would be caused by placing it under a different, and possibly hostile, administration.
The communication appeals to Ulster solidarity and recalls the strong words used by Carson – whom it refers to as ‘Our illustrious leader’ – on 12 July last year, when he declared: ‘I will keep my covenant to the day of my death.’
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
