It stayed at the lower figure for several months, till it was raised again by efforts for which Redmond was chiefly responsible.

I do not know whether Sir Edward Carson's presence in the Attorney-General's office, or his absence from the Opposition benches in debates, was worth ten thousand men; but that is a small measure of what was lost in Ireland by his inclusion.
IV The formation of the Coalition Government marks the first stage in the history of Redmond's defeat and the victory of Sir Edward Carson and Sinn Fein.
Of what he felt upon this matter, Redmond at the time said not a word in public.

Six months later, on November 2, 1915, when a debate on the naval and military situation was opened, he broke silence--and his first words were an explanation of his silence.

He had not intervened, he said, in any debate on the war since its inception.

"We thought a loyal and as far as possible silent support to the Government of the day was the best service we could render." This silence had been maintained "even after the formation of the Coalition"-- when the Irish view had been roughly set aside, and when the personal tie to the Liberal Government with which he had been so long allied had been profoundly modified.