1 Copy 17th June, 1916. My dear Willis, There is no question of Carson having been befooled.
He is not that kind of man. What he put before us was what
Lloyd George put before him. Redmond in view of the op position
in Ireland has represented then proposed Amendmant Bill as a mere
Emergency Provisional Measure. Asquith taking advantage of the
Proposal to hold an Imperial Conference, which may lead to a
change in the British Constitution has come to Redmond's help
by characterising any settlement made now as provisional.
This does not mean much. The difference between Carson and Redmond will, of course,
have to be cleared up, and Carson will go no further if Lloyd
George has yielded to Redmond to the extent of agreeing that the
Amendment Act shall be a mere Emergency Provisional Measure.
Carson was very emphatic on the importance of the exclusion
of Ulster being on the Statute Book as well as the Home Rule
Act when the Imperial conference met. I have not the least
doubt, and never had that Ulster Unionists can help Unionists
in the South far better if they are standing on the dry ground
of an excluded Ulster, or main part of Ulster, than they could
by submitting erging themselves in a permanent minority in a Dublin
Parliament. The proceedings for so far have not gone beyond
manouvering for position & the Ulster Council, under Carson's advice
made the right move Yours very truly, Dawson