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The Unionists and Ireland, 1914–18

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

John O. Stubbs
John O. Stubbs
Affiliation:
Trent University
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Extract

The thirteenth edition of The campaign guide: A handbook for unionist speakers was published on the eve of the Great War. This massive 900 page Guide, like its predecessors, was ‘prepared with a view to giving to Unionist Candidates and Speakers…a handy reference work covering the whole field of contemporary political controversy.’ The fourth largest chapter in the book (74 pages) dealt with Ireland and was reflective of the ‘present position’of ‘THE IRISH QUESTION’ being ‘in the front rank of political controversy’ Four years later Election notes, an 87 page pamphlet assembled prior to the 1918 election as a hasty substitute for what would have been an entirely inappropriate Campaign guide, had no chapter on Ireland, no reference to the Irish question in the index and, in fact, conveyed not a single word on the subject.

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Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 867 - 893
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

l The campaign guide: A handbook for Unionist speakers (London), n.d. [1914]), pp. v, 280Google Scholar.

2 Lord Hugh Cecil to Law, 11–12 Sept. 1914, Bonar Law papers, House of Lords Record Office (henceforth H.L.R.O.), 34/6/36,38; ‘The manifesto on coalition policy’, 21 Nov. 1918 reprinted in Gleanings and memoranda, LI (Feb. 1920), 164.

3 Plain facts about home rule (London, n.d. [1913])Google Scholar; for a more sophisticated statement of the Unionist case see The campaign guide, ch. x, passim.

4 Law to Long, 8 Nov. 1913, Bonar Law papers, 33/6/96; see s1imilar letters from Law to J. P. Croal (editor of The Scotsman), 18 Oct. 1913 and to Lansdowne, 8 Oct. 1913, Bonar Law papers 33/6/84 and 33/5/68 cited in Boyce, D. G., ‘British conservative opinion, the Ulster question, and the partition of Ireland, 1912–21’, Irish Historical Studies, XVII (03 1970), 92–3Google Scholar.

5 ‘Impressions of the session’, Bridgeman diary, 10 Aug. 1914, Bridgeman papers. On this period generally see Jalland, Patricia, The Liberals and Ireland: The Ulster question in British politics to 1914 (Brighton, 1980)Google Scholar; Stewart, A. T. Q., The Ulster crisis (London, 1970)Google Scholar; Ramsden, John, A history of the Conservative party: The age of Balfour and Baldwin, 1902–1940 (London, 1978), chs. 4–5Google Scholar; Buckland, Patrick, Irish unionism, I; The Anglo-Irish and the New Ireland, 1885–1922 (Dublin, 1972)Google Scholar, ch. 1; Buckland, Patrick, Irish unionism, II: Ulster unionism and the origins of Northern Ireland, 1886–1922 (Dublin, 1973)Google Scholar, chs. I-V; Phillips, G. D., The diehards: aristocratic society and politics in Edwardian England (Cambridge, Mas., 1979), pp. 149–55Google Scholar; Rodner, W. D., ‘Leaguers, covenanters, moderates: British support for Ulster, 1913–1914’, Eire-Ireland, XVII (Fall, 1982), 68–85Google Scholar.

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7 The debate is fully examined in Jalland, Patricia and Stubbs, J. O., ‘The Irish question after the outbreak of war in 1914: some unfinished party business’, The English Historical Review, XCVI (10 1981), 778–807CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Executive committee, National Union, 6 Aug. 1914, 1911–17 Minute Book, pp. 156–8.

9 R.J.Shaw (Secretary of the I.U.A.) to Carson, 7 Aug. 1914, Ulster Unionist Records, D989A/8/4, Northern Ireland Public Record Office (henceforth N.I.P.R.O.), cited in Buckland, P., Irish Unionism 1885–1923: A documentary history (Belfast, 1973), p. 343Google Scholar; Buckland, , Irish unionism, I, 42–3Google Scholar.

10 65 H. C. Deb. 5s, cols. 1601–2

11 The Times, 4 and 5 Aug. 1914.

12 62 H. C. Deb. 5s, cols. 955–6, 12 May 1914.

13 Law to Grey, 6 Aug. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 37/4/5; Asquith papers 36, Bodleian Library, Oxford, fos. 66–9.

14 Asquith to Redmond, 6 Aug. 1914, J. A. Spender papers, British Library (henceforth B.L.), London, Add. MS 46388, fo. 125.

15 Jalland, and Stubbs, , ‘The Irish question’, pp. 786–7, 801Google Scholar; Carroll, F. M., American opinion and risk the Irish question, 1910–1923: A study in opinion and policy (Dublin, 1978), pp. 36–7Google Scholar.

16 Asquith to Law, 8 Aug. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 34/3/18–20; Law to Asquith, 8 Aug. 1914, Asquith papers 13, fos. 199–200.

17 66 H. C. Deb. 5s, cols. 435–52.

18 66 H. C. Deb. 5s, cols. 882–93.

19 Stubbs, J. O., ‘The impact of the Great War on the Conservative party’ in Peele, Gillian and Cook, Chris (eds.), The politics of reappraisal, 1918–1939 (London, 1975), pp. 18–19Google Scholar. For the reluctantly changing views of another famous ‘Diehard’ see Cosgrove, R. A., The rule of law: Albert Venn Dicey, Victorian jurist (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1980), pp. 261–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 ‘Any public expression of the thoughts Carson uttered tonight… will… absolutely ruin the cause of the Union’, Chamberlai n to Lansdowne, 2 Aug. 1914, SirPetrie, Charles, The life and letters of the Right Hon. Sir Austen Chamberlain, 2 vols. (London, 1939–1940), I, 375Google Scholar.

21 Carson to Law, 18 Aug. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 34/4/52; The Times, 4 Sept. 1914; The Northern Whig (Belfast) cited in Gleanings and memoranda (Oct. 1914), pp. 351–2.

22 James Craig to Carson, 20 Aug. 1914, Colvin, Ian, The life of Lord Carson, 3 vols. (London, 1932–1936), III, 30Google Scholar.

23 Buckland, , Irish unionism, II, 42–3Google Scholar; R. D. Bates (secretary, Ulster Unionist Council) to H. de F.Montgomery, 11 May 1918, Montgomery papers, N.I.P.R.O., D 627/432 cited in Buckland, , Irish unionism…A documentary history, pp. 293–4Google Scholar.

24 Lord Monteagle to F. S. Oliver, 1 Sept. [1914], F. S. Oliver papers, originally seen when in private hands and now in the National Library of Scotland.

25 The Times, 1 Sept. 1914.

26 Lansdowne to Law, 3 Sept. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 34/5/11; A. Chamberlain to Lloyd George, 1 and 3 Sept. 1914; Lloyd George to Chamberlain, 2 Sept. 1914, Lloyd George papers, H.L.R.O., C/3/14/2–4.

27 Younger to Law, 5 Sept. 1914; J. W. Hills to Law, 6 Sept. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 34/5/16,20.

28 The Daily Telegraph, 2 Sept. 1914; The Observer, 6 and 13 Sept. 1914.

29 Croal to Law, 1 Sept. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 34/5/3.

30 Most notably in late August and then in early September. See Jalland, and Stubbs, , ‘The Irish question’, pp. 794–801Google Scholar.

31 Asquith to Law, II Sept. 1914, Bonar Law papers, 34/5/34.

32 The Times, 15 Sept. 1914; see also the ‘authorised report’ in Gleanings and memoranda (Oct. 1914), pp. 352–61.

33 66 H. C. Deb., 5s, cols. 893–905, Sept. 1914.

34 Lord Robert Cecil to Select Committee on Procedure 1914, cited in Beattie, Alan, ‘British coalition government revisited’, Government and Opposition (10 1966–01 1967), 8Google Scholar.

35 See memo in A. Chamberlain papers, Birmingham University Library, AC 12/29; Selborne to Lord Salisbury, 18 Sept. 1914, Salisbury papers, Hatfield House, S(4) 75/186 and memo by Lord Hugh Cecil, Quickswood papers, Hatfield House, QUI 18/191–4. Some allusive indications of the great care the Speaker's Office took in dealing with the two bills can be found in a memo by Ilbert, 7 Oct. 1914, H.L.R.O., B 1/7/1/2 and Ilbert diary, 14 Sept. 1914, House of Commons Library, MS 77.

36 Stubbs, , ‘The impact of the Great War on the Conservative party’, pp. 20–8Google Scholar; Ramsden, , A history of the Conservative party, pp. 110–14Google Scholar.

37 Long to Law, 19 Dec. 1915, Bonar Law papers, 52/1/44.

38 ‘Military Service Bill’ (draft), 30 Dec. 1915, Cab 37/139/67, London, Public Record Office. A copy of this draft in the Asquith papers has ‘Great Britain’ substituted for the ‘United Kingdom’ in what appears to be Asquith's handwriting. Asquith papers 82, fos. 117–20.

39 The Times, 1 and 10 Jan. 1916.

40 78 H. C. Deb., 5s, cols. 37–57, 17 Jan. 1916. See also the debates of January 6 an d 11. Addison, Christopher, Four and a half years: A pesonal diary from June 1914 to January 1919, 2 vols. (London, 1934), 1, 18 01 1916, p. 161Google Scholar.

41 Asquith, ‘Ireland, I: The actual situation (19 May 1916); II: The future (21 May); III: Transitional (21 May)’, Cab 37/148/13, 18. 82 H. C. Deb., 5s, cols. 2309/11. Two differing interpretations of why Lloyd George accepted this task are found in Savage, David W., ‘The attempted home rule settlement of 1916’, Eire-Ireland (08 1967), p. 135Google Scholar and Lowe, Peter, ‘The: a rise to the premiership, 1914–1916’, in Taylor, A. J. P. (ed.), Lloyd George: twelve essays (London, 1971) P. 116Google Scholar. See also Fair, John D., British interparty conferences: A study of the procedure of conciliation in British politics, 1867–1921 (Oxford, 1980)Google Scholar, ch. vi.

42 Lloyd George to Carson, 29 May 1916, Colvin, , Lord Carson, III, 166Google Scholar.

43 Lloyd George made this absolutely clear in the house of commons after the negotiations had a failed. 84 H. C. Deb., 5s, col. 1436, 24 July 1916. Redmond's very interesting account of the negotiations is to be found in cols. 1427–34.

44 George, David Lloyd, War memoirs, 2 vols. (London [1930]), 1, 421Google Scholar; ‘Headings of a settlement as to the government of Ireland’, Cd. 8310 (1916). See also Boyce, D. G., ‘British opinion, Ireland and the war, 1916–1918’, The Historical Journal, XVII, 3 (1974), 579–81Google Scholar.

45 Lansdowne's memorandum on Lloyd George's proposals, 2 June 1916, Lloyd George papers, D/15/1/10 and Lansdowne, ‘The proposed Irish settlement’, 21 June 1916, Cab 37/150/II.

46 Buckland, Irish unionism, I, ch. 3.

47 The Times, 12 June 1916.

48 Long to Asquith, 11 June 1916, enclosed in letter of 13 June 1916, Asquith papers 16, fos. 193–7. See also a very similar letter from Long to Lloyd George, 11 June 1916, Lloyd George papers, D/14/2/28. Long was convinced that the Americans ‘will never sacrifice their pockets to their polities’. Long to Asquith, 8 June 1916, Asquith papers 16, fo. 186. On American reaction to the Easter Rising and its aftermath see: Carroll, , American opinion and the Irish question, pp. 55–70Google Scholar and Ward, A. J., Ireland and Anglo-American relations 1899–1921 (Toronto, 1969), ch. 5Google Scholar.

49 Long, ‘The Irish scheme’, 13 June 1916, Selborne papers 80, Bodleian Library, Oxford, fos. 178–84. This appears to be a document for Unionist members of the cabinet.

50 The Morning Post, 13 June 1916 in Gleanings and memoranda (July 1916), p. 41. For an extremely detailed and revealing account of Ulster Unionist thinking in June see H. de F. Montgomery to C. H. Montgomery, 22 June 1916, Montgomery papers, D 627/429 cited in Buckland, , Irish unionism… documentary history, pp. 405–8Google Scholar .

51 Lloyd George to Asquith, 12 June 1916, Lloyd George papers, D/14/2/30. Carson told the Unionist cabinet members that this was so. Selborne, ‘Memorandum on the crisis in Irish affairs which caused my resignation from the cabinet in June 1916’, 30 June 1916, Selborne papers 80, fos. 226–43.

52 Long to Lansdowne, 15 June 1916, cited in Savage, , ‘The attempted home rule settlement of 1916’, p. 141Google Scholar.

53 Cecil, , ‘Memorandum. Home rule question. Interview with prime minister’, 17 06 1916Google Scholar , Bonar Law papers, 63/C/59. Such a statement was not made, however, until July 10. 84 H. C. Deb., 5s, cols. 57–60. For Long's role as the proposer of this meeting see Curzon to Balfour, 15 June 1916, A. J. Balfour papers, B. L., Add. MS 49734 fo. 25. Bonar Law was in Paris at the Allied Economic Conference and Lansdowne was visiting his Irish estates at the time.

54 Lloyd George to Dillon, 17 June 1916, Lyons, , John Dillon, p. 396Google Scholar.

55 Lady Carson diary, 14 June 1916, Carson papers, N.I.P.R.O., D 1507/6/2; Carson to Law, 14 June 1916, Colvin, , Lord Carson, III, 171–2Google Scholar. On the Southern Unionists see Buckland Irish unionism, 1, ch. 3 and G. F. Stewart [Vice-Chairman, Irish Unionist Alliance (Dublin)] to H. de F.Montgomery, 18 June 1916, Montgomery papers, D 627/429 cited in Buckland, , Irish Unionism…documentary history, p. 353Google Scholar.

56 Bridgeman diary, 20 June 1916, Bridgeman papers.

57 Bridgeman diary, 21, 22 June 1916, Bridgeman papers; McNeill to Carson, 22 June 1916, Carson papers, D 1507/96/36. For other meetings see T. P. O'Connor to Redmond, 20 June 1916, Gwynn, Denis, The life of Redmond (London, 1932), pp. 509–10Google Scholar.

58 Where a number of Unionist malcontents (Cromer, Halsbury, Midleton, Salisbury and Balfour of Burleigh) were taking a strongly anti-home rule line. See their letter to The Times, 24 June 1916.

59 Balfour to Salisbury, 14 June 1916, Balfour papers, Add. MS 49758, fo. 68; Balfour, , ‘Ulster and the Irish crisis’, 24 06 1916Google Scholar, Cab 37/150/17.

60 Asquith to king, 27 June 1916, Asquith papers 8, fos. 171–8; on Law's views see Beaverbrook, Lord, Politicians and the war (London, 1960), pp. 267–8Google Scholar.

61 Chamberlain to Lansdowne, 23 July [sic june] 1916, A. Chamberlain papers, AC 14/5/5; Cecil to Salisbury, 29 June 1916, Salisbury papers S(4) 77/127a–c.

62 Salvidge to Law, 30 June 1916, Bonar Law papers, 53/3/8.

63 ‘Ireland, Mr. Lloyd George's proposals. Summary of views of provincial papers’, n.d. [mid-June 1916], Bonar Law papers, 63/C/65. Buckland, , Irish unionism, I, p. 66Google Scholar. Boyce, D. G., Englishmen and Irish troubles: British public opinion and the making of Irish policy 1918–22 (London, 1972), p. 33Google Scholar.

64 Asquith to king, 5 July 1916. Asquith papers 8, fos. 179–81. The safeguards the Unionists sought can be seen in a cabinet paper by Lord Robert Cecil dated 30 June but only circulated 5 July. It ensured extensive power for the Lord Lieutenant over Irish administrative and parliamentary acts, censorship, the police, provision of secret agents as well as a Chief Secretary and Lord Lieutenant acceptable to Unionist members of the cabinet. Cab 37/151/11.

65 Midleton to Law, 26 June 1916, Bonar Law papers, 53/3/6. Maxse to Law, Law to Maxse, 6July 1916, Maxse papers, West Sussex Record Office, 473/713–14.

66 Bridgeman diary, 7 July 1916, Bridgeman papers. A seventy page transcript of the meeting is in the Bonar Law papers, 63/C/64. See also Blake, Robert, The unknown prime minister: The life and times of Andrew Bonar Law, 1858–1923 (London, 1955), pp. 286–7Google Scholar. Both Hewins, a Unionist backbencher, and Bridgeman strongly suggest that it was the whips who talked Law out of seeking decision rather than, as Blake asserts, ‘Law shrewdly perceiving that to take a division might be unwise and merely crystallize opposition.’ Hewins, W. A. S., Apologia of an imperialist: forty years of empire policy, 2 vols. (London, 1929), II, 83Google Scholar.

67 Law to Garvin, 9 July 1916, Garvin papers, University of Texas, Austin.

68 Jenkins, , Asquith, p. 451Google Scholar; Buckland, , Irish Unionism, I, 79–81Google Scholar.

69 84 H. C. Deb., 5s, cols. 57–62, 10 July 1916. For Lloyd George's part in urging this question by Carson see ibid. cols. 1436–9, 1450, 24 July 1916. Devlin, the Nationalist leader in Ulster, understandably was ‘ in a fury' over Asquith’ answer to Carson. (Devlin to Lloyd George, 11 July 1916, Lloyd George papers, E/2/22/1.)

70 The Morning Post, 12 Jul y 1916.

71 22 H. L. Deb., 5s, cols. 646–51, 11 Jul y 1916; Gwynn, , Redmond, pp. 518–19Google Scholar.

72 Gwynn, , Redmond, p. 520Google Scholar; Asquith to king, 19 Jul y 1916, Asquith papers 8, fos. 185–6.

73 Executive committee, National Union, 13 July 1916, 1911–17 Minute Book, pp. 221–6. No records of the meeting scheduled for 19 July have been located and it is conceivable that it was cancelled as a result of the cabinet decision that day.

74 Asquith to king, 27 July 1916, Asquith papers 8, fos. 187–8.

75 Amery to Maxse, 24 July 1916, Maxse papers 473/734. For a summary of press commentary on the failure to settle the Irish question once again see Boyce, , ‘British opinion, Ireland and the war…’, pp. 583–4Google Scholar and Garvin, in The Observer, 23 07 1916Google Scholar who placed the blame on Asquith's ‘ruling habit of delay’.

76 A. G. Boscawen to Salisbury, 17 July 1916, Salisbury papers, S{4) 77/157. See also The Daily Telegraph and The Times, July 1916, passim.

77 Executive committee, National Union, 13 July and 16 Nov. 1916, 1911–1917 Minute Book, pp. 221–26, 374–77.

78 Maxse to Law and Law to Maxse, 6 July 1916, Maxse papers, 473/713–4; Maxse to SteelMaitland, 13 July 1916, ibid. 473/721; Executive Committee, National Union, 13 July 1916, 1911–17 Minute Book, pp. 221–6. So uncertain was the mood of the party that the Executive Committee, meeting earlier on the afternoon of the meeting, decided not ‘to have a vote of thanks and confidence in the Leader of the Party…[but] a vote of thanks only.’ Ibid. 9 Aug. 1916, pp. 227–9. See The Times and The Morning Post, 10 Aug. 1916 for Law's speech and the elaborate attempts to restrain Maxse and others from asking questions.

79 Lansdowne to Strachey, 31 July 1916, Strachey papers, H.L.R.O., S/9/7/18.

80 George, Lloyd, War memoirs, I, p. 1028Google Scholar; Hughes to Lloyd George, 29–30 Dec. 1916, Lloyd George papers, F 32/4/1 4 cited in Boyce, , ‘British opinion, Ireland and the War…’, p. 584Google Scholar.

81 Wilson to Lansing for Page, 10 April 1917, Ward, , Ireland and Anglo-American relations, pp. 146–7Google Scholar. For a suggestion that Lloyd George ha d something to d o with the creation of such pressure see Taylor, A. J.P. (ed.), Lloyd George: A dairy by Frances Stevenson (London, 1971), 25 and 26 04 1917, pp. 155–6Google Scholar. The leader of the mission was Salisbury's cousin, the former Unionist leader, Aurthur Balfour, and Curzon felt certain he was well aware of Unionist feelings. Salisbury to Curzon an d Curzon to Salisbury, 1 May 1917, Salisbury papers, S(4) 79/134–5, 141.

82 Lloyd George to Duke, 26 Jan. 1917, Lloyd George papers, F/37/4/8; Duke to Lloyd George, 30 Jan. 1917, ibid.; cited in Lawlor, Sheila, Britain and Ireland, 1914–1923 (Dublin, 1983), p. 16Google Scholar.

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84 Barnes, John and Nicholson, David (eds.), The Leo Amery diaries, Vol. 1, 1896–1929 (London, 1980), 22 01 1917, pp. 139–40Google Scholar and Amery to W. M.Hughes, 8 Jan. 1917, ibid. pp. 138–9. Amery to Lloyd George, 16 Feb. 1917, Lloyd George papers, F/89/1/1.

85 On the evolution of the convention see McDowell, R. B., The Irish convention 1917–18 (London, 1970), pp. 64–100Google Scholar; Turner, John, Lloyd George's secretariat (Cambridge, 1980), pp. 83–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

86 McDowell, , The Irish conuention, pp. 77–8Google Scholar.

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88 Fisher, J. R., ‘Ulster and the Irish angle’, Nineteenth Century, LXXXVII (01–06 1918)Google Scholar, 1088 cited in Boyce, , ‘British Conservative opinion…’, pp. 95–6Google Scholar. For Fisher as an official Ulster Unionist propagandist see Buckland, , Irish unionism… Documentary history, pp. 424–5Google Scholar.

89 McDowell, The Irish convention, ch. III; Buckland, , Irish unionism, II, 109–19Google Scholar.

90 Lloyd George to Barrie, 23 Nov. 1917, Colvin, , Lord Carson, III, 303Google Scholar. Lloyd George also met with both Ulster and Southern Unionist leaders on 5 Dec. 1917. Ibid. p. 303 and McDowell, , The Irish convention, pp. 130–1Google Scholar.

91 Lloyd George to Law, 12 Jan. 1918, ‘Confidential’ Bonar Law papers, 82/8/4.

92 McDowell, , The Irish convention, pp. 154–63Google Scholar.

93 Plunkett diary, 15 Feb. 1918 cited in Fair, , British interparty conferences, p. 218Google Scholar.

94 Kendle, J. E., ‘The Round Table movement’ and ‘Home rule all round’, The Historical Journal, XI (1968), 332–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

95 Boyce, D. G. and Stubbs, j. O., ‘F. S. Oliver, Lord Selborne and Federalism’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, v (10 1976), 67–71Google Scholar; Kendle, J. E., ‘Federalism and the Irish problem in 1918’, History, LVI, (1971), 209–11Google Scholar. For the ‘Monday night cabal’ see Gollin, A. M., Proconsul in politics: A study of bard Milner in opposition and in power (London, 1964), pp. 323–44Google Scholar354–64.

96 The Observer, 6 Jan. 1918; for press silence on the convention see Boyce, , ‘British opinion, Ireland and the war’, p. 586Google Scholar and fn. 61.

97 Carson to Lloyd George 14 Feb. 1918 encl. in Carson to Selborne, 18 Feb. 1916, Selborne papers 84/756; Colvin, , Lord Carson, III, 315–17, 325–7Google Scholar; Carson to Oliver, 9, 12, 16 Feb. 1918, Oliver papers.

98 Chamberlain to Lloyd George, 10 and 14 April 1918, A. Chamberlain papers, AC 18/2/6/8; Lloyd George to Chamberlain, ibid. AC 18/2/7; Chamberlain to Mrs. Chamberlain, 13 April 1918, ibid. AC 6/1/280; F. S. Oliver to Chamberlain, 10 April 1918, ibid. 14/6/97.

99 Long to Salisbury, 3 June 1917, Salisbury papers, S(4) 79/187; Kendle, ‘Federalism and the Irish problem’, pp. 217–30.

100 Ward, A. J., ‘Lloyd George and the 1918 Irish conscription crisis’, The Historical Journal, XVI (03 1974), 109–14Google Scholar.

101 Ibid. pp. 112–15.

102 Carson to Law, 8 April 1918, Bonar Law papers, 83/2/9; Long to Law, 4 April 1918, ibid. 83/2/9.

103 Guest to Lloyd George, 5 April 1918, Lloyd George papers, F/21/2/16.

104 Kendle, , ‘Federalism and the Irish Problem’, pp. 217–21Google Scholar; Boyce, and Stubbs, , ‘F. S. Oliver, n d Lord Selborne and Federalism’, pp. 71–2Google Scholar.

105 The Times, 17–18 April, 1918.

106 Guest to Lloyd George, 3 May 1918, Lloyd George papers, F/21/2/20; Barnes, and Nicholson, (eds.), The Leo Amery diaries, 24 04 1918 and fn. on p. 218Google Scholar; Amery to Lloyd George, 29 April 1918, Lloyd George papers, F/2/1/22; Astor to Lloyd George, 6 and 9 May 1918, ibid. F/83/1/18–19.

107 Younger to Davidson (Private Secretary to Law), 3 May 1918, Bonar Law papers, 83/3/11.

108 Ward, , ‘Lloyd George and the 1918 conscription crisis’, pp. 126, 120Google Scholar.

109 Younger to Davidson, 3 May 1918, Bonar Law papers, 83/3/11.

110 ‘Report of proceedings at a special conference of the National Union Association of Conservative and Liberal Unionist Associations’, 30 Nov. 1917. Bonar Law papers, 95/3. My italics.

111 ‘Report of proceedings at a meeting of the party’, 12 Nov. 1918, Bonar Law papers, 95/3.