Clearly Sir Edward Carson had made up his mind that he could not prevent the passage of the Bill, and he decided upon the strongest course, which was to advocate unlimited support to the war.

Any other course would have been ruinous to his cause, which depended always upon a profession of the extremest loyalty.

Yet only a strong man, confident in his leadership, could have taken this line at a moment when Ulstermen were about to feel that all their preparations were wasted and that the game had been won against them by a paralysing chance.
Before the House reassembled there was a meeting at the Carlton Club; a report communicated to the Press attributed these words to Sir Edward Carson--they are typical of the tone of the time: "We asked for no terms and we got none.

We did not object to go under the War Office.

We did not make speeches calculated to humbug or deceive while we meant to do nothing." On September 15th Government announced its intentions.