1 PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
TELEPHONE Nos 2610, 2611, 2612
CARRSON & McDOWELL. 51 Royal Avenue,
Belfast. 5th October, 1916. Dear Sir Edward, This is just to keep you informed of what has been
transpiring here in relation to Mr. Duke's visit. He arrived on Friday
evening and met a few of us at dinner at the Lord Mayor's house. There
was a very full and frank expression of opinion and a number of sugges-
tions which had been made to him were put before us and discussed and
all rejected. We suggested to him that it would be desirable that he
should come into contact with every phase of thought and opinion in the
North and we have assisted him in getting at this in every way in our
power. He has both privately aand publicly met all classes and condi-
tions of Society and I think he is leaving tonight impressed with the
view of the complete solidarity of the people here of all classes that
the exclusion of the six Counties or the total repeal of the Bill Act can
be the only solution of the difficulty. He has not committed himself
to anything beyond an expressed determination that while he is Chief
Secretary he will see that the law of the land is obeyed by all sections
North South East and West. His position is that at present he is only
collecting information to thoroughly understand the position from each
of the parties' point of view. One suggestion which appparently had been
made to him and which he expressed and discussed was that Ulster might
accept Home Rule provided a majority was given to Unionists in the 2 Parliament and the way it was proposed to give this majority was by a
property qualification. I think he is satisfied that even if business
men did agree to such a proposition it would be impossible to carry it
with the rank and file either of Nationalists or of Unionists in Ireland
and that so far as England was concerned we thought the English people
would not be likely to consent to the establishment of any ascendancy
based on property Valuation. I think probably we have heard the last of
that scheme. Then another suggestion which had been made to him was
that the Nationalists might be satisfied if we reduced the six Counties
to four and left out Tyrone and Fermanagh. The reasons for the inclusion
of Tyrone and Fermanagh were explained very fully to him. He had to
admit the cogency of the arguments and I think he saw clearly enough
that the suggestion would not work but in any event would not be
acceptable. The question of conscription was raised at several of the
talks and the position which was taken up was that in this part of the
world we thought no difference should at first have been made between
Ireland and England; that we did our best to get Ireland treated on the
same basis as England but that the Government did not see its way to
acquiesce; that if the Government deemed it now advisable to bring in
conscription Ulster would accept it and loyally carry it out and that
notwithstanding the sacrifices she had already made she was prepared to
make further and any sacrifice for the Empire, but the move in that 3 direction must come from the Government. He was also told that if
we made any move it would only be stated by those on the other side
that it was done for the purpose of causing further embarrassment to
them and to get a party advantage and that was not a position that the
people here would care to be placed in. At the same time we told him
that if conscription on the English principle was applied here it would
for all practical purposes amount to nothing because tribunals con-
stituted on the English system would be certain to grant exemptions
to such an extent as to really nullify the Act; that if conscription
was brought in by the Goverment it ought to be a really workable
measure that would get men and not a measure which could be used to
excuse men for remaining out. The Lord Mayor entertained him yesterday to a
Public Luncheon and he dined with me last night where he met fourteen
of our principle business men not only from Belfast but from the
Provinces. The Harbour Commissioners gave him a Public Luncheon
today on his inspection of the Harbour and the Shipbuilding yards and
he was to have dined with George Clark this evening to meet some more
people but he is called to London to attend a Cabinet Council tomorrow
and his engagements therefore, at least for the present, with us are 4 at an end. The Chamber of Commerce and Trades Association had
decided to invite him to a Public Luncheon tomorrow to meet the
different Trade Representatives. That of course is now cancelled. On going through the Shipyards arrangements were
made that he was able to converse with the men and get their views
and I understand their views coincided in the result with the views
that had been given to him by the business men. Yesterday after the Mayor's Public Luncheon the
Mayor arranged that the Nationalist members of the Corporation,
together with their Bishop, should see him alone in the Lord Mayor's
parlour. We of course do not know what took place but we have a
suspicion that the interview did not give him any hopeful feelings. The above little resume I think will convey to you
in a concrete from the exact position and result and I felt you would
be interested in knowing it at first hand. I will very probably be in London next week and if I
am will take the liberty of ringing you up with a view to arranging a
convenient time to have a few words conversation. Yours truly, Alexander McDowell The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Carson, K.C. M.P
Miramar
Birchington-on-Sea.