Refused to be Members of the First Dáil - Edward Carson

Carson signing Solemn League and Covenant

Sir Edward Carson

We saw Edward Carson in the years preceding the Rising. He was an anti-Home Rule advocate. He stated he would by "all means necessary" resist Home Rule. It is, therefore, not surprising that he would not sit in the First Dáil.

On 25 May 1915, Asquith appointed Carson Attorney-General when the Coalition Government was formed after the Liberal government was bought down by the Shell Crisis. He resigned on 19 October, however, citing his opposition to Government policy on war in the Balkans, which had left two British and one French division in Salonica instead of being dispatched to support the Serbs, who were being attacked by Austria-Hungary from the north and Bulgaria from the east.

Carson then became the leader of those Unionists who were not members of the government, effectively Leader of the Opposition in the Commons. During Asquith's coalition government of 1915-1916, there was no formal opposition in either the Commons or the Lords. The only party not in Asquith's Liberal, Conservative, Labour Coalition was the Irish Nationalist Party led by John Redmond. However, this party supported the government and did not function as an Opposition. After Carson, the leading figure amongst the Irish Unionist allies of the Conservative Party, resigned from the coalition ministry on 19 October 1915, he then became the de facto leader of those Unionists who were not members of the government, effectively Leader of the Opposition in the Commons.

When Asquith resigned as Prime Minister, Carson returned to office on 10 December 1916 as First Lord of the Admiralty, becoming a Minister without Portfolio on 17 July 1917.

Carson was hostile to the foundation of the League of Nations as he believed that this institution would be ineffectual against war. In a speech on 7 December 1917, he said:

Talk to me of treaties! Talk to me of the League of Nations! Every Great Power in Europe was pledged by treaty to preserve Belgium. That was a League of Nations, but it failed.

Early in 1918, the government decided to extend conscription to Ireland, and that Ireland would have to be given home rule in order to make it acceptable. Carson disagreed in principle and again resigned on 21 January. He gave up his seat at the University of Dublin in the 1918 general election and was instead elected for Belfast Duncairn.

He continued to lead the Unionists, but when the Government of Ireland Act 1920 was introduced, advised his party to work for the exemption of six Ulster counties from Home Rule as the best compromise (a compromise he had previously rejected). This proposal passed and as a result the Parliament of Northern Ireland was established.

After the partition of Ireland, Carson repeatedly warned Ulster Unionist leaders not to alienate northern Catholics, as he foresaw this would make Northern Ireland unstable. In 1921 he stated: "We used to say that we could not trust an Irish parliament in Dublin to do justice to the Protestant minority. Let us take care that that reproach can no longer be made against your parliament, and from the outset let them see that the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from a Protestant majority." His warnings were largely in vain.