Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Willis, 10 June 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery

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This a letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery (1844-1924) to a Mr Willis. Originally a liberal and a strong supporter of Gladstone, Montgomery was also a firm Unionist, but by 1916 he believed that Ulster Unionists had no choice but to accept Lloyd George's proposal for a six-county Northern Ireland. In the letter, Montgomery discusses the threat of Home Rule in Ireland, stating that the Unionist MPs have accepted that John Redmond (1953-1918), Irish Parliamentary Party leader, will gain some form of Home Rule in Ireland. The letter also states that this is even being accepted by radical Unionist newspapers who call for Ulster to be excluded from an Ireland with Home Rule. It goes on to state that Carson should be encouraged to to enter discussions to prevent Ulster being part of and Ireland with Home Rule. Montgomery also describes the granting of Home Rule following the Easter Rising as an act of lunacy, naming Walter Long (1854-1926) and Bonar Law (1858-1923), Unionist members of parliament, as being effected by the lunacy. The letter ends suggesting an emergency meeting should be held to discuss the matters and propose an amendment to the Home Rule Bill to prevent landlords from being ruined.

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Montgomery of Blessingbourne Papers, D/627/429/28 https://letters1916.ie/item/2231 English Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery 1916-06-10 Willis Male 1924 Politics Politics

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 Copy Private and Confidential 10th June 1916 My Dear Willis, Thank you for your letter of 7th, All you say is perfectly true, but our leaders have made us acquainted at private meetings with an amazing and alarming state of things which makes it impossible for us to take the steps that most of us would like to take, and which, under circumstances as presented by you we ought to take. It appears that diplomatic complications of a very serious sort have convinced the whole Cabinet, including the Unionist Members, that it is necessary to give John Redmond some form of Home Rule to come into operation at once. The whole Unionist Press with the exception of the "Morning Post" has taken up the cry that the Irish question must be settled out of hand. The majority of the Unionist Members of the House of Commons are now of the same mind in spite of all our friends can say. The only life-buoy that is visible in this hostile flood of things is a provisio which even most of the Radical papers make, that "Ulster must not be coerced." The only question before us here at present is, shall we authorise arson to enter into conference with Redmond and Co. for a settlement on the basis of the exclusion of six counties in Ulster, with regard to which Lloyd George professes to have arrived at a preliminary tentative agreement. In the present state of British public opinion it is clear that whichever party refuses to treat on the basis of Lloyd George's proposals will incur odium and diminish its chances of getting anything it wants in the future . If Carson receives the authority of the Unionist Council to treat on this basis it will, of course, be understood that he will make the best bargain he can as regards details and safeguards for the minority in the part of Ireland not excluded from the Home Rule Act. The Unionist Council with whom the decision in this matter rests is a very diplomatic democratic body, and it will be impossible to raise landlord points there. If the Unionist Council on Monday decide to accept the proposed basis of negotiations Redmond will still have to get his supporters to do the same, and to me it appears that the establishment of Home Rule is still some way off. Of course on the face of it, the mere proposal that Home Rule should be granted now as a consequence of the Rebellion looks like sheer lunacy. The reasons behind the curtain which have induced Walter Long and Bonor Law Law & & a Chamberlain to agree to this apparently mad step must have been of extraordinary force. Of course if the country was ruled by a Pitt instead of an Asquith a very different course would have been pursued, but we must take facts as they are. I think the landlords must sit tight for the present, but I agree with you that as soon as it appears to be settled that an Amending Bill to the Home Rule Act now on the Statute Book is to be brought at once, we should have an emergency meeting to see whether it is possible to get anything inserted in this Amending Bill on the point you mention or others to save land lords from ruin. Yours very truly, Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to William Coote, 25 March 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenerg Montgomery to Edward Carson, 31 May 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Edward Carson, 9 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Willis, 10 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Edward Carson, 9 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to 'Canon', 10 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to W. G. Vance, 13 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Vernon, 15 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Willis, 15 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Hamilton, 10 June 1916Letter to Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery from Walter Long, 2 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to George Francis Stewart, 17 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to James Stronge, 3 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to John Edward Fowler Sclater, 3 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to James Stronge, 9 June 1916.Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Mr Glasgow, 18 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to George Francis Stewart, 18 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Hugo, 27 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Maurice Headlam, 19 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery, 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Charles Hubert Montgomery, 30 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to William Hovenden Ffolliott, 2 August 1916Letter from Charles Hubert Montgomery to Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery, 29 May 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to John Ross, 27 May 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to William Coote, 27 May 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to William Coote, 22 May 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Waldron, 26 June 1916Letter to Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery from Sir John Ross, 2 June 1916.Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Sir Richard Dawson Bates, 23 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to William Coote, 9 Spetember 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Walter Long, 31 May 1916Letter from M. E. Sinclair to Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery, 18 September 1916