1 II D1507/A/16/3

11 PAGE 1 OF 4 1916 Dublin Rebellion
? from whom 2nd May, 1916. Thank you very much for letter. Last week has been
rather a trying one for everybody up here. The moment we
heard of the disturbances in Dublin steps were taken by the
U. V. F. authorities to put guards on the armouries to prevent
any possibility of the Sinn Feiners making a raid and thereby
creating disturbance. General Sir George Richardson at once
put himself into communication with Hacket-Pain and placed the
services of the U. V. F. at the disposal of the authorities for
any purpose. The U. V. F. Motor Corps got Motor Cars together
and placed these at the disposal of General Hacket-Pain to
enable him to provide a flying motor column. Steps were taken
to get the U. V. F. Commanders together with a view of imprerssing
upon the the necessity or tightening up the U. V. F. so as to
maintain discipline among the rank and file, and prevent any
possibility of any outbreak by way of retaliation. This applied
particularly to the shipyards where there is a large number of
Roman Catholics employed. As a result of these precautions
which were taken, General Hacket-Pain was enabled to furnish
troops to Dublin, and practically dilute the City of Police. 2 D1507/A/16/13

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Belfast, for the past week has, therefore, been in a unique
position. The commissioner of Police did not even consider
it necessary to close the pubs, and everything went on the
same as usual. The War Office have authorised General Hacket-Pain to
enrol 5,000 of the loyal Volunteers (whatever that title may
mean). This is being done by the U. V. F. in the ordinary way,
and by the Shipyards (most of these men will be U. V. F. men). I
understand, in addition, the Nationalists are enrolling men for
use in their own particular district. This, however, is only leading up to the question
which is at present before my mind, and that is, what action
the Government are going to take with regard to arms. I hear
to-day that the Government propose issuing a proclamation order-
ing all arms to be given up. If this is carried out in our
Districts, among the U. V. F., the Government will set back the
hands of the clock, and Belfast will revert to its old condition
of disorder. Strikes will result, and as regards the Belfast
Shipyards, the result will be that workmen may cease there for
months, and troops will have to be brought in to police the
city and country Districts. A more stupid or provocative
action could not possibly be imagined, if what I hear is true,
as order at the present time is maintained in Belfast by the
control which the men's selected leaders have over them. 3 D1507/A/16/3

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but if the arms are removed, all such control is gone. At
the present time, the arms, or most of them in Belfast, are
in Armouries which are maintained by the U. V. F., and protected
by them. In fact, the arms are there to satisfy the men. They
don't want to use them, and Hacket-Pain is, as I have said
before, bringing a number of the U. V. F. men in as Special
Constables. Therefore, these men are subject to discipline,
and to that extent the Armouries are under the control of the
Government. Why can they not let them remain so? Let the
Nationalists by all means have proper Armouries appointed and
maintained by them themselves, open to Government inspection;
all other Armouries but these to be confiscated. This would
get over the whole difficulty and, as I said before, let the
U. V. F. and the Nationalist Volunteers respectively be recognised
as Volunteers, subject directly to the War Office, and not to
Dublin or any political faction. Let there be no sentimental
nonsense about mixing Nationalists with Unionists, which has
always been a failure. I write to you to put the facts before you so that
you may use your efforts to avert what I may describe as nothing
short of calamity. If any other General than Hacket-Pain
had been in Belfast during the past week, the condition of
affairs here would have been very different. Let General
Hacket-Pain remain here in control. I hope you will forgive me writing and bothering you 4 D1507/A/16/3 PAGE 4 OF 4 14

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about this matter, but it is very urgent, and I thought you
should know about the circumstances as they appear to me. I
will write you again about other matters; meanwhile, it is as
well that you should have this letter. Lloyd Campbell is
beleagured in Malahide, where he has been since before Easter. In haste,
Yours ever,