On This Day / February 5, 1921
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19210205
Reference Date
19210205
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 5th February 1921, Sir Edward Carson delivered his final speech as Unionist leader, urging tolerance towards the Catholic minority while defending Partition and Northern Ireland’s new parliament. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Carson on Tolerance | On This Day – 5th February 1921
THERE was a large attendance of delegates at the annual meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council in the Assembly Hall, Belfast yesterday afternoon when Sir Edward Carson presided for the last time over that body in his capacity as Unionist leader.
Sir Edward said that the reason he had to refuse [the premiership] was a question of age and energy. He had gone through a long and difficult life.
Day by day what was happening in Ireland demonstrated to him how right they had been in the past. They had their own parliament but, having got it, they must keep it.
They had many enemies, many who would still try to drag them down in Great Britain at the heels of political parties.
One is the great advantages of getting their own Parliament was that they hoped no longer to be a pawn in the [Westminster] political game.
Sir Edward continued: ‘You will be a Parliament for the whole community. We used to say we could not trust an Irish Parliament 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.
‘I have often said to those who differed from us in the South and West, ‘If you want to take Ulster, you must either fight her or win her’.
‘Let us take care that we win all that is best amongst those who have been opposed to us in the past in this community. …
‘Let us show them … that they have a right to expect all that is sacred to them and their religion will receive the same toleration.
‘What has driven us asunder is not the religion itself, but the fact that the majority of those who differ from us in religion would not accept loyalty to the King and Constitution (applause) and if they had, I believe there never need have been the acute differences between us at all.
‘And so I say from the start, be tolerant of all religions …
‘We hear a great deal about bringing about a united Ireland. What have the South and West – I am talking of the majority – ever done to bring about that result?
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: In his last political speech as Unionist leader, Carson appealed to Unionism to treat the Catholic minority fairly.
Ironically, during the Westminster debates on the 1920 Act, he had rejected every demand for nationalist safeguards from PR to a protective Senate while ensuring strong safeguards for the Southern Unionists.)
On This Day – 5th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210205
Reference Date
19210205
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 5th February 1921, Sir Edward Carson delivered his final speech as Unionist leader, urging tolerance towards the Catholic minority while defending Partition and Northern Ireland’s new parliament. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Carson on Tolerance | On This Day – 5th February 1921
THERE was a large attendance of delegates at the annual meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council in the Assembly Hall, Belfast yesterday afternoon when Sir Edward Carson presided for the last time over that body in his capacity as Unionist leader.
Sir Edward said that the reason he had to refuse [the premiership] was a question of age and energy. He had gone through a long and difficult life.
Day by day what was happening in Ireland demonstrated to him how right they had been in the past. They had their own parliament but, having got it, they must keep it.
They had many enemies, many who would still try to drag them down in Great Britain at the heels of political parties.
One is the great advantages of getting their own Parliament was that they hoped no longer to be a pawn in the [Westminster] political game.
Sir Edward continued: ‘You will be a Parliament for the whole community. We used to say we could not trust an Irish Parliament 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.
‘I have often said to those who differed from us in the South and West, ‘If you want to take Ulster, you must either fight her or win her’.
‘Let us take care that we win all that is best amongst those who have been opposed to us in the past in this community. …
‘Let us show them … that they have a right to expect all that is sacred to them and their religion will receive the same toleration.
‘What has driven us asunder is not the religion itself, but the fact that the majority of those who differ from us in religion would not accept loyalty to the King and Constitution (applause) and if they had, I believe there never need have been the acute differences between us at all.
‘And so I say from the start, be tolerant of all religions …
‘We hear a great deal about bringing about a united Ireland. What have the South and West – I am talking of the majority – ever done to bring about that result?
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: In his last political speech as Unionist leader, Carson appealed to Unionism to treat the Catholic minority fairly.
Ironically, during the Westminster debates on the 1920 Act, he had rejected every demand for nationalist safeguards from PR to a protective Senate while ensuring strong safeguards for the Southern Unionists.)
On This Day – 5th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19210205
Reference Date
February 5, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 5th February 1921, Sir Edward Carson delivered his final speech as Unionist leader, urging tolerance towards the Catholic minority while defending Partition and Northern Ireland’s new parliament. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Carson on Tolerance | On This Day – 5th February 1921
THERE was a large attendance of delegates at the annual meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council in the Assembly Hall, Belfast yesterday afternoon when Sir Edward Carson presided for the last time over that body in his capacity as Unionist leader.
Sir Edward said that the reason he had to refuse [the premiership] was a question of age and energy. He had gone through a long and difficult life.
Day by day what was happening in Ireland demonstrated to him how right they had been in the past. They had their own parliament but, having got it, they must keep it.
They had many enemies, many who would still try to drag them down in Great Britain at the heels of political parties.
One is the great advantages of getting their own Parliament was that they hoped no longer to be a pawn in the [Westminster] political game.
Sir Edward continued: ‘You will be a Parliament for the whole community. We used to say we could not trust an Irish Parliament 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.
‘I have often said to those who differed from us in the South and West, ‘If you want to take Ulster, you must either fight her or win her’.
‘Let us take care that we win all that is best amongst those who have been opposed to us in the past in this community. …
‘Let us show them … that they have a right to expect all that is sacred to them and their religion will receive the same toleration.
‘What has driven us asunder is not the religion itself, but the fact that the majority of those who differ from us in religion would not accept loyalty to the King and Constitution (applause) and if they had, I believe there never need have been the acute differences between us at all.
‘And so I say from the start, be tolerant of all religions …
‘We hear a great deal about bringing about a united Ireland. What have the South and West – I am talking of the majority – ever done to bring about that result?
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: In his last political speech as Unionist leader, Carson appealed to Unionism to treat the Catholic minority fairly.
Ironically, during the Westminster debates on the 1920 Act, he had rejected every demand for nationalist safeguards from PR to a protective Senate while ensuring strong safeguards for the Southern Unionists.)
On This Day – 5th February 1921
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.