Letter from Richard Dawson Bates to Willis, 17 June 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Richard Dawson Bates

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This is a copy of a letter from Sir Richard Dawson Bates (1876-1949) to Willis. In the letter Bates refers to negotiations regarding the six county scheme i.e. the partition of Ireland due to Home Rule. Dawson states that there is no question of Edward Carson (1854-1935), Unionist leader, being fooled, and that what he put before the Unionists is what David Lloyd George (1863-1945), member of parliament and negotiator in the Home Rule discussions, put before Carson. He notes that John Redmond (1856-1918), Irish Parliamentary Party leader, has stated that the six county scheme is provisional for the period of the war, which Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-1928), prime minister, has also suggested. Bates also states that Carson will go not further with discussions if this is the case, also discussing the situation of Unionist in the south of Ireland regarding the scheme.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Montgomery of Blessingborn Papers; D/627/429/38 https://letters1916.ie/item/2240 English Richard Dawson Bates 1916-06-17 Willis Male Politics Politics

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 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 Richard Dawson Bates Letter from Sir Dawson Bates to Edward Carson, 2 December 1915Letter from Richard Dawson Bates to Willis, 17 June 1916Letter from Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery to Sir Richard Dawson Bates, 23 June 1916Letter from John Boraston to Richard Dawson Bates, 15 February 1919Letter from J. Mackay Wilson to Richard Dawson Bates, 19 April 1919Letter from Edward Carson to Richard Dawson Bates, 21 April 1919Letter from Richard Dawson Bates to John E Walsh, 11 February 1919