Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 3 June 1916 Letters 1916-1923 David Lloyd George

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Letter from David Lloyd George (1863-1945) to Edward Carson (1854-1935). Carson was a prominent Unionist Politician. Originally a practicing solicitor from Dublin, Carson's opposition to the proposed third Home Rule bill made him the figure head of Unionism throughout the island. He was the centerpiece of the speaking tour that culminated in Ulster Day (28 September 1912), when just under half a million signed Ulster's solemn league and covenant pledging to use ‘all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a home rule parliament in Dublin’. Carson inaugurated the Larne gunrunning in 1914 which armed the UVF, many of whom Carson would encourage to join the British Army throughout the First World War. David Lloyd George served as Minister of Munitions during the Shell Crisis of 1915. His role as Minister won him wide-spread support across Britain. He took over the role of Secretary of State for War on 6 June 1916, after the death of Horatio Herbert Kitchener, (1850–1916) who died on board the cruiser HMS Hampshire when it was sunk by a German mine on 5 June 1916, while on course to Russia. Following the collapse of Asquith's government, Lloyd George became Prime Minister of the coalition government in December 1916.

 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Carson Papers, D1507/A/17/7 https://letters1916.ie/item/4315 English David Lloyd George 1916-06-03 Ministry of Munitions, Armament Buildings, Whitehall, London, S.W., England Edward Carson Male 1945 Politics Politics World War I (1914-1918)

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 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 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 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 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. David Lloyd George Deportation Order from the Secretary of State to James Gough, 17 June 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to John Redmond, 29 September 1916Letter from Robert Telford to David Lloyd George, 9 May 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to John Redmond, 21 June 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to John Redmond, 6 October 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 3 June 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 14 October 1916 Edward Carson Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 29 May 1916Letter from Sir Dawson Bates to Edward Carson, 2 December 1915Letter from William Robert Young to Edward Carson, 9 July 1916Letter from Alexander McDowell to Edward Carson, 20 July 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 Edward Carson, 9 June 1916Letter from Frederick Hugh Crawford to Edward Carson, 8 March 1916Letter from Edward Carson to Thomas McGregor Greer, 12 July 1916Letter from Sir Edward Carson to Sir Robert Ponsonby Staples, 10 December 1915Letter to Edward Carson, 19 November 1915Letter from William R. Young to Edward Carson, 2 November 1915Letter from J.M. Wilson to Edward Carson, 3 November 1915Letter from Turner Oliver Read to Edward Carson, 12 November 1915Letter from William R. Young to Edward Carson, 12 November 1915Letter from Harold Tennant to Edward Carson, 17 November 1915Letter from Henry Mulholland to Pembroke Wicks, circa November 1915Letter from Wilfrid Spender to Edward Carson, 25 November 1915Letter Wilfrid Spender to Edward Carson, 3 December 1915Letter to Edward Carson, 4 December 1915Letter from Robert Thompson to Edward Carson, 18 December 1915Letter from W.T. Bailey to Edward Carson, 22 December 1915Letter from General Nevil Macready to Edward Carson, 1 May 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 2 May 1916Letter from Horace Plunkett to Edward Carson, 4 May 1916Postcard to Edward Carson, 4 May 1916Letter from D.P. Barton to Edward Carson, 5 May 1916Letter from Edward Carson to Herbert Asquith, 9 May 1916Letter from Herbert Asquith to Edward Carson, 10 May 1916Copy of a letter from John Crozier to Edward Carson, 9 May 1916Letter from J.M. Wilson to Edward Carson, 11 May 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 15 May 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 3 June 1916Letter from G.L. Moore to Edward Carson, 6 June 1916Letter from sir William Robert Robertson to Edward Carson, 7 June 1916Letter from Nevil Macready to Edward Carson, 8 June 1916Letter from Arthur Warren Samuels to Edward Carson, 14 June 1916Letter from Frederick Stringer Wrench to Edward Carson, 15 June 1916Letter from Somerset Francis Saunderson to Edward Carson, 15 June 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 17 June 1916Letter from Somerset Francis Saunderson to Edward Carson, 17 June 1916Letter from Charles Clements to Edward Carson, 21 June 1916Letter from Ronald McNeill to Edward Carson, 22 June 1916Letter from John Crozier to Edward Carson, 26 June 1916Letter from Charles F. Down to Edward Carson, 28 June 1916Letter from Charles Clements to Edward Carson, 29 June 1916Letter from Archibald Salvidge to Edward Carson, 30 June 1916Letter from Charles Clements to Edward Carson, 1 July 1916Letter from Charles Clements to Edward Carson, 3 July 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 5 July 1916Letter from Horace Plunkett to Edward Carson, 5 July 1916Letter from Charles F Down to Edward Carson, 8 June 1916Letter from Herbert Samuel to Edward Carson, 13 July 1916Letter from William Martin to Edward Carson, 13 July 1916Letter from Travers R. Blackley to Edward Carson, 11 July 1916Letter from Travers R. Blackley to Edward Carson, 13 July 1916Letter from Pembroke Wicks to Edward Carson, 14 July 1916Letter from Somerset Francis Saunderson to Edward Carson, 15 July 1916Letter from Edward Carson to William Martin, 17 July 1916Letter from Herbert Samuel to Edward Carson, 21 July 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 21 July 1916Letter from John Strachey to Edward Carson, 27 July 1916Letter from Alexander McDowell to Edward Carson, 5 October 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 7 October 1916Letter from Sharman D Neill to Edward Carson, 7 October 1916Letter from John Strachey to Edward Carson, 7 October 1916Letter from Rosalind Hamilton to Edward Carson, 10 October 1916Letter to Edward Carson, 14 October 1916Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 14 October 1916Letter from J. Beatty to Edward Carson, 16 October 1916Letter from Edward Carson to Richard Dawson Bates, 21 April 1919 Ministry of Munitions, Armament Buildings, Whitehall, London, S.W., England Letter from David Lloyd George to Edward Carson, 3 June 1916