1 1/2 Bay 44 PAGE 1 Of 4 MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS,
ARMAMENT BUILDINGS
WHITEHALL.
S.W.
SECRET. June 3rd., 1916. My dear Carson, Midleton seems to be working hard to prevent a
settlement. He is working up his friends to bring all
the pressure in his power to bear upon the Unionist
members of the Cabinet. Every prominent Unionist in the
South of Ireland is urged to write letters to Long and
Bonar Law and Lansdowne, and I have no doubt Chamberlain.
Long sends these letters on to me, and in the innocence
of his heart he thinks it is all a spontaneous outburst
of indignation. They all come practically from the old
landlord class. So far there has been no exhibition of
anxiety on the part of the big business men in the
South. Stewart is the exception, but I understand that he
is a considerable land agent. My information shows that
the business community is in a quiscent, if not in an
assentient mood. Stewart's deputation for Monday is a carefully
picked 2 picked one. I have ascertained that some of the leading
Protestant Unionists of Dublin have been deliberately
left out. I have therefore asked Taylor, who is my
informant, to get Sir William Goulding, Mr, Dockrell,
Mr. Jacob, and other big business men from Dublin and
Cork - all Unionists - to come over to see me. Since I saw you another suggestion has occurred
to me. I think it is most important that the Unionist
minority should be adequately represented in the
Provisional Govern Parlia ment at Dublin as well as in the
Executive. I therefore suggest that instead of having a
seperate House during the Provisional period the
Government nominees should sit in the first Chamber. We
might thus arrange that in the Lower Chamber there
should be 20 or 30, or even more, leading representatives
of the minority, and that in the Executive or Cabinet
there should be at least two Protestant Unionists. This
would be much more valuable than to pack these men into
a separate chamber. When the time comes to consider the
permanent settlement all this can be re-adjusted; but I
feel 3 feel that the presence of a powerful minority in the Lower
Chamber would give the Protestant Unionists the greater
confidence at this time. This terrible disaster in the North Sea makes it
more necessary than ever that we should get Ireland out of the
way in order to press on with the war. We cannot allow things
to remain as they are. We are losing on all fronts, and now,
alas, comes this omen from the sea, where we all thought
we were reasonably secure. The management of the war on the
part of the Allies is fortuitous and flabby, and unless
something is done immediately the British Empire and civilis-
-ation will sustain the greater disaster since thedays of
Attila. I must therefore have a talk with you with a view to
taking immediate action to force a decisive change in the
control of the war. An appreciation of the situation by the
General Staff has just come to my hands. It has filled me
with gloomy forebodings. There is no time to lose. I must
have a talk with you on Monday, not only about Ireland but
about the whole position, before you leave for Belfast. Let
us 4 us settle Ireland promptly. It will give us both strength
and foothold to insist upon essential changes in other
spheres. Yours sincerely, D Lloyd George I should like to see you before
you introduce the diputation.
Have you any news from Belfast? The Rt. Hon. Edward Carson, K,C., M.P.