0:00:07 > 0:00:11100 years ago, Ireland stood at the brink of a bloody civil war.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16At the time, the whole of the island was ruled from London,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20but a bill before the House of Commons at Westminster
0:00:20 > 0:00:22planned to establish Home Rule,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24creating a separate parliament in Dublin
0:00:24 > 0:00:27that would have extensive powers over Irish affairs.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31In a dramatic act of protest, half a million Unionists,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34men and women from all classes of society,
0:00:34 > 0:00:39signed their names to what became known as the Ulster Covenant.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42Some, it was said, even signed in their own blood.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47The first person to sign the Covenant
0:00:47 > 0:00:50was the charismatic Unionist leader, Edward Carson.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55Using this pen at this very table here at Belfast City Hall,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59he swore an oath to oppose the break-up of the United Kingdom
0:00:59 > 0:01:03by any means necessary, even an armed insurrection.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07What followed was an unprecedented stand-off
0:01:07 > 0:01:10between Unionists and the British government,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13one that threatened a military rebellion in Ireland
0:01:13 > 0:01:16and violence on the streets of Britain.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24This is the story of that extraordinary episode from British and Irish history,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27one that is cloaked in mystery, myth and misconceptions,
0:01:27 > 0:01:32but which was to turn this man, the Dublin-born Edward Carson,
0:01:32 > 0:01:38into an unlikely but defining figurehead for Ulster Unionists
0:01:38 > 0:01:42and an event that was to shape the political landscape we live in today.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
0:01:57 > 0:02:01in Belfast's new Titanic Quarter is a repository of our history.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10It contains literally millions of documents
0:02:10 > 0:02:13dating as far back as the 13th century,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16all neatly boxed away for safekeeping.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21These boxes may look rather anonymous,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24but they contain the laws, the letters, the diaries,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28the accounts, the maps and the photographs that tell our story.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41And in the boxes on these shelves
0:02:41 > 0:02:44is a collection of particularly significant documents.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Signatures, hundreds of thousands of them,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03bound together in little folders by county.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08Each foolscap page contains ten signatures, names and addresses
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and at the top, a copy of the Ulster Covenant -
0:03:11 > 0:03:14the solemn promise made by Unionists
0:03:14 > 0:03:19and signed on a clear-skied Saturday in September 1912.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24There are lords and ladies, politicians and clergy,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28soldiers and police officers, teachers, shipyard workers,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32labourers and linen workers. They're all here.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35And also here, someone by the name of William Crawley.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39He also added his signature to the Covenant that day.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Beyond the same name, I can find no other connection to him.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47He gives his address as 34 Ormeau Street in South Belfast
0:03:47 > 0:03:49and the place where he signed the Covenant
0:03:49 > 0:03:52was the old town hall in the city centre.
0:03:53 > 0:03:59But what fired up Unionists like this William Crawley?
0:03:59 > 0:04:03What triggered this avalanche of written defiance?
0:04:03 > 0:04:04It's simple, really -
0:04:04 > 0:04:11this Covenant was a response, a call to arms, a reply in simple black ink
0:04:11 > 0:04:15to a document these people believed was a political death sentence.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22But political change was not the only issue
0:04:22 > 0:04:25troubling the people of Ulster at this time.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27On 15th April 1912,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31news began to reach Belfast of a shocking disaster.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Titanic, the world's largest passenger liner,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38launched from the city's shipyard the previous year,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41had struck an iceberg with a terrible loss of life.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45The industrial pride of Ulster was shattered.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57But Ireland's Unionists believed
0:04:57 > 0:05:00they were now facing an even greater crisis.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Four days before the Titanic disaster,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07the British Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10had introduced the Home Rule Bill for Ireland.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13If it was passed into law, Ulster would be governed
0:05:13 > 0:05:16not by a British Parliament in London,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18but by an Irish Parliament in Dublin,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22exercising extensive powers devolved from Westminster.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Here in the archives of the Houses of Parliament
0:05:35 > 0:05:38is this rather innocent looking document.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40It's got a lovely parchment cover,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44the green ribbon of the House of Commons at the side and it's called
0:05:44 > 0:05:47"An Act to Amend the Provision for the Government of Ireland."
0:05:47 > 0:05:50We think of it as the Home Rule Bill.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52It does look innocent but in fact,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54this is what the Ulster Covenant was about.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59This is why 500,000 people signed their names and pledged,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02if necessary, to give their lives to fight.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16You get a real sense of the scope of what is intended in this act from the first page.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19"Notwithstanding the establishment of the Irish Parliament
0:06:19 > 0:06:23"or anything contained in this act, the supreme power
0:06:23 > 0:06:26"and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
0:06:26 > 0:06:29"shall remain unaffected and undiminished
0:06:29 > 0:06:33"over all persons, matters and things in Ireland
0:06:33 > 0:06:36"and every part thereof."
0:06:39 > 0:06:42Why were Unionists so enraged by this document?
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Well, I think one way of dealing with that
0:06:44 > 0:06:46is to look at the Covenant itself.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49The first point it makes is it believes that this bill
0:06:49 > 0:06:52represents a threat to the material well-being of North East Ulster.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55It must be remembered, at that time, Belfast was considered
0:06:55 > 0:06:58to be one of the premier industrial cities in the world.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00The second point that they make is
0:07:00 > 0:07:04it's a threat to their civil and religious liberty.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08And the third key point, more positive, is the idea to challenge
0:07:08 > 0:07:12what they call the equal citizenship of Northern Irish Unionists
0:07:12 > 0:07:15within the United Kingdom.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19In addition to their concerns that this might eventually lead to independence,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22the Unionists were clearly also concerned
0:07:22 > 0:07:24about the influence of the Catholic Church -
0:07:24 > 0:07:27"Home Rule means Rome Rule," they said.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Yes, and again that is an argument which it is very hard to say
0:07:30 > 0:07:33has been refuted by subsequent history.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36But there were particular cases which alarmed Unionists
0:07:36 > 0:07:39about the growing influence of the Catholic Church,
0:07:39 > 0:07:44and there are also occasions of very unwise statements by Catholic clergy,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47as there are by some Protestant clergymen in this period,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51which again created a spasm in the Unionist mind.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54But the subsequent history of 20th-century Ireland
0:07:54 > 0:07:56does not disprove the thesis
0:07:56 > 0:07:59that self-government is some form of Rome Rule.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03It's really clear from the bill that the British King would remain the King of Ireland.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08How can this be read as a strategy towards independence?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- It's devolution, isn't it? - Oh, it IS devolution.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Look, the best way of thinking about this bill now
0:08:14 > 0:08:18is to think of it as something similar to the Scottish model
0:08:18 > 0:08:20that we've seen in recent years.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23But it is equally reasonable to say, and Unionists make this point
0:08:23 > 0:08:27and again and again, once you have devolved this power,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30once you give the prestige of an Irish Parliament
0:08:30 > 0:08:33and you set it up in Dublin and that Parliament says,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35"We want to take further powers,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37"we want to move in a more separatist reaction,"
0:08:37 > 0:08:40it's actually going to be very hard to stop it
0:08:40 > 0:08:43because that Parliament will have a legitimacy
0:08:43 > 0:08:46and an emotional appeal which wasn't there before.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52The seeds of the crisis had been planted two years earlier,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56in 1910, when a Liberal government was elected to Westminster
0:08:56 > 0:08:59with a majority of just two seats.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02That left the Irish Nationalists,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05led by John Redmond, the MP for Waterford,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08holding the balance of power in the British Parliament.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10With the crucial leverage they needed
0:09:10 > 0:09:15to press forward with Home Rule, they seized their moment.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18In return for the Irish Nationalists' backing in Parliament,
0:09:18 > 0:09:23Asquith's Liberal government supported their demand for Home Rule
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and agreed to introduce the bill in 1912.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32It was a political deal that kept the Liberals in power,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36but as events would prove, Asquith gravely miscalculated
0:09:36 > 0:09:38the ferocity of Unionist opposition to it.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Asquith's Cabinet colleague, Winston Churchill,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48would soon look that opposition in the eye when in February 1912,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52he travelled to Belfast to present the case for Home Rule.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Fearing violence,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59the Army even had to deploy five battalions of soldiers
0:09:59 > 0:10:03to guarantee Churchill's safety when he addressed a rally in the city.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Afterwards, as crowds of unionists gathered at the Belfast hotel
0:10:09 > 0:10:12where Churchill was staying, the authorities arranged for him
0:10:12 > 0:10:15to slip out of the city through the back streets
0:10:15 > 0:10:19and secreted him away to an early departure from Larne Harbour.
0:10:19 > 0:10:26He exited Ulster, Unionists said, "Like a thief in the night."
0:10:29 > 0:10:31The political battle lines were drawn.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36Sometimes literally, in cartoons and propaganda posters,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40caricaturing the key players in the unfolding drama.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44In the case of the unionist campaign,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46depicting the political apocalypse
0:10:46 > 0:10:49that would befall the prosperous city of Belfast
0:10:49 > 0:10:51if Home Rule was granted.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58This grand house in East Belfast
0:10:58 > 0:11:01soon became the epicentre of Unionist resistance to Home Rule.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06In 1912, it was the home of the man who could rightly be described
0:11:06 > 0:11:10as the architect of Unionist opposition -
0:11:10 > 0:11:12the MP for East Down, James Craig.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Craig was the son of a self-made whiskey millionaire.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23He trained as a stockbroker,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26but it was his military service in the Boer War
0:11:26 > 0:11:28that equipped him with the tactical skills
0:11:28 > 0:11:32he would deploy in the Unionist struggle against Home Rule.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44100 years ago, Craigavon House was alive with Craig's personality.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47This is the room where Craig entertained his guests,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50some of the leading political figures of his day.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54It features a stained-glass window Craig had designed
0:11:54 > 0:11:58to commemorate his connection with some of the greatest men in history.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Mozart and Titian -
0:12:02 > 0:12:05all, like Craig, thought to be Freemasons.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10While he was a skilled organiser,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Craig knew that with nationalists pressing for Home Rule,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17Unionists needed a charismatic champion for their cause.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20In effect, they needed a first-class lawyer,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23a man who would forcefully argue their case
0:12:23 > 0:12:25before the court of British opinion.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Craig also knew that only one man had the legal skill,
0:12:30 > 0:12:35the personal charisma and the political stamina to play that role -
0:12:35 > 0:12:39a Dublin MP who had curiously little knowledge or experience
0:12:39 > 0:12:42of the very people he would have to represent -
0:12:42 > 0:12:44the Protestants of Ulster.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47His name was Edward Carson.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Student debaters at Trinity College Dublin
0:12:57 > 0:13:00are perfecting their skills as orators.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03This is the college's Historical Society,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05known to everyone as The Hist.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10People fear what they don't understand
0:13:10 > 0:13:12and they hate what they cannot conquer.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16It's where the public voice of the future leader of Unionism,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20the Dublin-born Edward Carson, was first heard.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24I'm here today to motivate you to stand in opposition to this foolhardy idea.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26We say that the modern society has in many senses gone
0:13:26 > 0:13:31from a backward one, in which we fought each other and which oppressed,
0:13:31 > 0:13:33into one which is now free and fair and democratic.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39Some say Carson even in these first forays into public debate
0:13:39 > 0:13:42was already refining the granite-like appearance
0:13:42 > 0:13:45that would eventually become his political calling card.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47I beg you to oppose.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49APPLAUSE
0:13:56 > 0:14:00While Carson maintained a pretty mediocre academic record at Trinity,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03it was followed by a brilliant career at the bar
0:14:03 > 0:14:05that would see him acting in
0:14:05 > 0:14:08some of the most high-profile cases of his day.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13He was the victorious counsel in the famed Winslow Boy trial,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15when he defended a teenage naval cadet
0:14:15 > 0:14:17against an allegation of theft.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Even more sensational was his role in the libel trial
0:14:22 > 0:14:26of one of his most celebrated contemporaries from Trinity days, Oscar Wilde.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30When Wilde discovered that he would face Carson in the court
0:14:30 > 0:14:32he's reported to have said,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34"No doubt he will pursue his case
0:14:34 > 0:14:37"with all the added bitterness of an old friend."
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Carson's growing distinction at the bar, both in Dublin
0:14:44 > 0:14:48and in London, made a career in politics almost inevitable.
0:14:49 > 0:14:55By 1905, he had served for five years as Solicitor General in a Conservative government
0:14:55 > 0:15:02and when Irish Unionist MPs at Westminster needed a new leader after the election of 1910,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Craig and others pressed Carson to accept the position.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Carson knew the odds were stacked against the Unionist cause,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14but as he walked into Parliament as the new leader of Unionism,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18he did so with the uncompromising zeal of a resistance fighter.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25It was here in September 1911, in the grounds of his home,
0:15:25 > 0:15:31that Craig mobilised 50,000 Unionists to meet their new leader
0:15:31 > 0:15:36to prove to Carson that their willingness to resist the Home Rule Bill was not in doubt.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44As Carson walked down the hill from the house,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48the massed Unionists gathered here roared their welcome.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50As he moved through their ranks,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52he climbed a specially constructed platform
0:15:52 > 0:15:57at the centre of what is essentially a natural amphitheatre here.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01In response to their demonstrations of support,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03he offered them determined words
0:16:03 > 0:16:07which anticipated the battle that lay ahead of them.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13"I know the responsibility you are putting on me today," he said.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18"In your presence, I cheerfully accept it, grave as it is,
0:16:18 > 0:16:23"and I now enter into a compact with you and everyone of you
0:16:23 > 0:16:27"and with the help of God, you and I joined together
0:16:27 > 0:16:31"will yet defeat the most nefarious conspiracy
0:16:31 > 0:16:34"that has ever been hatched against a free people."
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Events were moving quickly.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Carson's words were widely reported in the national press.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48But his rousing speech was soon dismissed by Winston Churchill
0:16:48 > 0:16:54as "nothing more than the trivial frothings of a Unionist politician."
0:16:57 > 0:16:59Churchill may have delivered
0:16:59 > 0:17:02a colourful rebuff to their campaign,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05but Carson and Craig found a high-profile supporter
0:17:05 > 0:17:08in a national politician of Ulster descent...
0:17:10 > 0:17:13..none other than the Conservative leader, Andrew Bonar Law.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18His father had served as a Presbyterian minister in Coleraine
0:17:18 > 0:17:21and Bonar Law, a frequent visitor to the province,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25understood the mindset of Ulster Protestants better than Carson.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33On 9th April 1912, Easter Tuesday,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37Bonar Law was the guest of honour at a demonstration of Unionist strength
0:17:37 > 0:17:41in the Royal Agricultural Grounds at Balmoral in Belfast.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47100,000 men and women paraded in front of his platform.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Nearby, a 90ft-high flagstaff
0:17:52 > 0:17:57flew what was said to be the largest Union Flag ever woven.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Three days later, on Friday 12th April,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08the Home Rule Bill was introduced in Parliament.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11The following Sunday, the Titanic struck an iceberg.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Amongst Unionists, the sense of depression
0:18:13 > 0:18:17and an air of impending defeat was palpable.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23The show of strength at Balmoral had been a triumph for Craig,
0:18:23 > 0:18:24but it was not enough.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27He wanted to give unionists in Ulster
0:18:27 > 0:18:30an opportunity to put their convictions into words,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34to signal their determination in a binding oath.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39In late spring at his club in London,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Craig found himself puzzling over the wording of that oath.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Sitting nearby was a well-known Belfast businessman
0:18:47 > 0:18:52called BWD Montgomery, who seeing Craig's furrowed brow,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54asked him what he was working on.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57When Craig explained,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Montgomery immediately suggested that he should model his text
0:19:00 > 0:19:04on the Scottish Covenant of the 17th century,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08which protested against interference by the King in the life of the Church.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14They called for the club's librarian
0:19:14 > 0:19:17and asked him to bring them a book on Scottish history.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Then, hurriedly, they searched for the Scots Covenant of 1638.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30It was the biggest eureka moment of Craig's life -
0:19:30 > 0:19:35rediscovering that Covenant in the 20th century was a revelation.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Craig's family was originally from Scotland,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42settling in Ulster during the Plantation of the 17th-century.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47Now here he was, reaching back in time to another moment of crisis
0:19:47 > 0:19:52for help in the Ulster Protestants' hour of need.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Getting the wording of the Ulster Covenant right
0:19:59 > 0:20:01was a matter of huge importance.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Craig wanted a manifesto that would set out the case against
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Home Rule persuasively, but he also wanted something that would
0:20:08 > 0:20:13move Unionists, if necessary, into action.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Craig also realised that the lengthy, archaic language
0:20:16 > 0:20:21of the Scottish Covenant would be lost on most of his followers.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25He needed something simpler, more plain spoken.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29The search was on for someone who could turn a phrase, but who
0:20:29 > 0:20:34also understood the quickening heartbeat of Ulster Unionists.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39The man given the crucial task of fashioning a completely
0:20:39 > 0:20:43original Covenant is all but forgotten today.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46His portrait, by the artist Frank McKelvey, is stored away here
0:20:46 > 0:20:49at the Ulster Museum's archives.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57This is Thomas Sinclair.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01A successful merchant
0:21:01 > 0:21:06and influential Presbyterian, Sinclair was a liberal in politics.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09He broke with the British liberals over their plans to introduce
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Home Rule and at Craig's request, he set to work on a draft
0:21:13 > 0:21:17of the Covenant, agonising over every phrase of it
0:21:17 > 0:21:22and incorporating important amendments from the Presbyterian Church.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32In short order, Sinclair delivered a text
0:21:32 > 0:21:33that put a smile on Craig's face.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Short enough to be carried in the wallet of every Unionist,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41it would bind its signatories to a defiant defence of Ulster.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47KEY LINES FROM THE COVENANT: "Being convinced in our consciences...
0:21:47 > 0:21:49"that Home Rule would be disastrous...
0:21:49 > 0:21:53"whose names are underwritten...religious freedom...
0:21:53 > 0:21:56"in solemn Covenant... to defeat the present conspiracy...
0:21:56 > 0:21:58"such a parliament being forced upon us,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02"and in using all means which may be found necessary...
0:22:02 > 0:22:07"confidently trusted...do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn Covenant."
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Craig moved quickly to announce his new Covenant in the press.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20Saturday 28 September would be named Ulster Day,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24a public holiday and pivotal date in the history of Ireland
0:22:24 > 0:22:28when the loyalists of Ulster would be invited to sign
0:22:28 > 0:22:30their solemn league and Covenant.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Leaving nothing to chance, Craig staged managed
0:22:36 > 0:22:39ten days of rallies across the north of Ireland.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41CHEERING
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Carson set out on the campaign trail which began in Enniskillen,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49then swept eastward through Ulster towns as he sought to
0:22:49 > 0:22:51mobilise the support of Unionists.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58He was greeted like a returning hero with rank and file escorting him
0:22:58 > 0:23:02to platforms and tens of thousands of new volunteers marching
0:23:02 > 0:23:04past him in military order.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12But the wording of the Covenant was still to be revealed.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16That moment also had to be carefully choreographed.
0:23:21 > 0:23:22On the 19th of September,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25at precisely four o'clock in the afternoon,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Carson took his place on the front steps of Craig's home,
0:23:29 > 0:23:31which to all intents and purposes had become
0:23:31 > 0:23:36the birthplace of the Covenant, and addressed the assembled press.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41He read aloud the text of the Covenant
0:23:41 > 0:23:45and one phrase in particular was lost on no-one -
0:23:45 > 0:23:48they would pledge to resist Home Rule in using
0:23:48 > 0:23:51"all means that may be found necessary."
0:23:51 > 0:23:56Unionists had issued a conditional declaration of war.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01If a parliament in Ireland was forced upon them, they would fight.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13The charismatic man who would lead them
0:24:13 > 0:24:16earned not just the respect of Unionists,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20they looked to him as a political saviour. But Carson's public persona
0:24:20 > 0:24:23masked a deeply complex personality.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28What kind of man was Edward Carson?
0:24:28 > 0:24:31He was an interesting and equivocal figure.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35To the outside world he was the epitome
0:24:35 > 0:24:37of fortitude,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42resolution and he appeared like a messiah.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47But inside, he was prey to self-doubt
0:24:47 > 0:24:52and he was an intense hypochondriac.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58His letters to Lady Londonderry for example are full of complaints
0:24:58 > 0:25:04about his health and how he was taken to his bed yet again
0:25:04 > 0:25:05and that sort of thing.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Unionists clearly thought the Covenant a masterstroke
0:25:08 > 0:25:12- but it was certainly a political gamble too, wasn't it?- Yes.
0:25:12 > 0:25:18The background was quite serious sectarian violence in this city
0:25:18 > 0:25:22and the Covenant in a way was a safety valve.
0:25:22 > 0:25:30It allowed the people to let off steam in a ceremonial way
0:25:30 > 0:25:35by signing this solemn declaration.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39The Covenant may have been a safety valve but it had within it
0:25:39 > 0:25:41this phrase - "all means necessary",
0:25:41 > 0:25:46which was a kind of a ticking bomb inside that document.
0:25:46 > 0:25:52Yes. I think they were prepared to do "all things necessary."
0:25:52 > 0:26:01When Carson agreed to come over to the first mass meeting in 1911,
0:26:01 > 0:26:09he wrote to Craig and said, "I'm not for a game of bluff", and he wasn't.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13But his followers weren't either
0:26:13 > 0:26:15so it was entirely serious.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24At a mass rally in the Ulster Hall, Carson urged his followers
0:26:24 > 0:26:28to translate their opposition to Home Rule into a binding contract.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36It was 27 September - the eve of Ulster Day.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Inside, the hall was crammed to capacity,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46outside, thousands more filled the surrounding streets,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51held together by a sense that they were not just watching a unique event unfolding -
0:26:51 > 0:26:55they were making common cause in a moment of history.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59CHEERING
0:27:00 > 0:27:02The next morning Carson rose early
0:27:02 > 0:27:06and returned to the Ulster Hall for a church service.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09Across the province Ulster men and women followed his example,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12listening to sermons that drew parallels between the pledge
0:27:12 > 0:27:17they were about to sign and the Old Testament covenants
0:27:17 > 0:27:20between God and the people of Israel.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Suitably stirred by that religious endorsement, Unionists made
0:27:27 > 0:27:30their way to one of hundreds of designated venues,
0:27:30 > 0:27:32mostly church halls,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36where they would add their names to Craig's solemn oath.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42CHEERING
0:27:43 > 0:27:47An atmosphere of almost religious intensity greeted Carson as he
0:27:47 > 0:27:51walked in a military procession towards the City Hall.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Ahead of him, a flag that was said to have been carried
0:27:54 > 0:27:58by King William III's troops at the Battle of the Boyne.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Belfast's newly-built City Hall was by far
0:28:13 > 0:28:16the largest of the Ulster Day Covenant centres.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20It was just six years old in 1912 and this marked
0:28:20 > 0:28:25its transformation into the focal point of Ulster's defiance.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28CHEERING
0:28:34 > 0:28:38When he arrived at the City Hall, Carson was met by city fathers
0:28:38 > 0:28:41and tens of thousands of loyalists.
0:28:41 > 0:28:442,500 men from Orange Lodges
0:28:44 > 0:28:49and Ulster Clubs acted as marshals to ensure that Craig's choreography
0:28:49 > 0:28:52was followed literally to the letter.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Standing here under the dome of the City Hall,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13in this grand entrance space surrounded by civic,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18political and religious leaders, Carson leaned over the specially
0:29:18 > 0:29:23constructed table and this is the actual table, and as he looked down
0:29:23 > 0:29:27he saw a copy of the Covenant that had been placed here by James Craig.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36This is the actual pen used by Carson to sign the Covenant.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39It's a silver pen presented to him by the Ulster Committee
0:29:39 > 0:29:44on Ulster Day and look at the box that accompanies it - it has some
0:29:44 > 0:29:47of the names centrally connected with the Covenant's history.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Thomas Sinclair over here on the right,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53the man who drafted the words of the Covenant.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56BWD Montgomery the man who originally suggested
0:29:56 > 0:29:59the Scots Covenant as a model to James Craig in that London club,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02and of course over here on the left,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06Captain Craig MP, James Craig himself.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12As Carson and the other dignitaries stepped back from the table,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15marshals began to usher in the ordinary people of Ulster,
0:30:15 > 0:30:22in waves of 500 at a time until the doors were closed at 11pm.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37They signed using makeshift desks
0:30:37 > 0:30:40constructed along the City Hall's corridors.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54While the men of Ulster signed using the main text of the Covenant,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58women added their names to a separate declaration,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01pledging to associate themselves with the men of Ulster
0:31:01 > 0:31:05in their uncompromising opposition to the Home Rule Bill.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14The resolve of those who signed on Ulster Day was so great,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18so visceral, that a story began to travel through the province
0:31:18 > 0:31:23and beyond, that some had even signed the Covenant in blood.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27There is however one signature that conforms to the myth.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Major Fred Crawford.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Or so it would seem.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37Crawford commanded the marshals on Ulster Day and his signature here
0:31:37 > 0:31:42is written in red, unlike all the others on the page.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45Of course it's possible that it's merely red ink.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49But look at this - those who signed were given personal copies
0:31:49 > 0:31:51of the Covenant and many of these were
0:31:51 > 0:31:55displayed on walls of homes all across the country.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59This is Fred Crawford's personal Covenant certificate.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02It says at the bottom, "The above was signed by me
0:32:02 > 0:32:05"on Ulster Day 1912..." and then just look here...
0:32:05 > 0:32:08"In my own blood."
0:32:14 > 0:32:21In total 471,414 men and women signed,
0:32:21 > 0:32:26women outnumbering by about 10,000 and they signed not only
0:32:26 > 0:32:31in Ulster, but in Dublin, where 2000 signatures were collected,
0:32:31 > 0:32:35in Scotland where 20,000 people added their names
0:32:35 > 0:32:40and in exotically far-flung places like South Africa and even China.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Some of them weren't even on land.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50This is a collection of signatures from a ship en route to Canada
0:32:50 > 0:32:53bringing people from Ireland who were emigrating, and they've
0:32:53 > 0:32:57divided their signatures into second and third class passenger lists.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11On the evening of Ulster Day, while thousands were still signing
0:33:11 > 0:33:14at the City Hall, Carson was the Lord Mayor's guest of honour
0:33:14 > 0:33:17for dinner at the Ulster Club in the centre of Belfast.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21They toasted the King and revelled in the sheer triumph
0:33:21 > 0:33:23they had just witnessed.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25CHEERING
0:33:25 > 0:33:28That night as Carson made his way to Belfast docks to catch
0:33:28 > 0:33:32the boat to Liverpool, thousands of cheering, waving supporters
0:33:32 > 0:33:36lined his route, imploring him not to leave.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Obviously, Ulster Day itself was in every sense
0:33:43 > 0:33:45a red-letter day for Protestants.
0:33:45 > 0:33:50What was that day like for Nationalists here?
0:33:50 > 0:33:53I think it was ostentatiously ignored by Nationalists in Belfast
0:33:53 > 0:33:55and Derry and elsewhere.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57It was a normal day - football matches proceeded,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01men went to the bookies, whatever they did on Saturday really.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04It was very much a Protestant occasion and it was mocked,
0:34:04 > 0:34:09of course, by the Nationalist press as a carnival of fools, you know.
0:34:09 > 0:34:15It's a kind of masquerade of noise, a cacophony of Orange bluster.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18Did any Catholics sign the Covenant?
0:34:18 > 0:34:20I think it's absolutely certain that no Catholic signed
0:34:20 > 0:34:23the Ulster Covenant. The best example would be
0:34:23 > 0:34:26the leading Roman Catholic Unionist, Denis Henry who later became
0:34:26 > 0:34:29Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland,
0:34:29 > 0:34:30a close colleague of Carson's.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34He didn't sign the Covenant because it was not invoking his God
0:34:34 > 0:34:36or his religious experience.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39As an Ulster Catholic, an Irish Catholic, his background was
0:34:39 > 0:34:43the penal laws, Catholic emancipation, that was his background.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47It wasn't the God of Presbyterian battles which was
0:34:47 > 0:34:48invoked by the Covenant.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51There was also a counter Covenant of a kind, wasn't there?
0:34:51 > 0:34:53- A second Covenant?- Absolutely.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57Towards the end of 1912, people like Rev JB Armour,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00the great Presbyterian minister from Ballymoney, Sir Roger Casement
0:35:00 > 0:35:05and others produced this counter Covenant which actually expressed enthusiasm for Irish Home Rule.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08It was perhaps signed by about 3,000.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10Which is proof that not all Protestants were on the side
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- of the Covenant. It wasn't just one story.- It certainly wasn't.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17And in certain areas like the Route area around Ballymoney
0:35:17 > 0:35:20where Protestant Home Rule sentiment was strong, in fact,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24a very strong nexus of feeling, Ulster Day was hardly acknowledged at all,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28thanks to the influence of people like Armour and others.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32But throughout the bulk of Ulster, from Cavan to the Giant's Causeway
0:35:32 > 0:35:36to the streets of Belfast there was this occasion of solemnity,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40of Protestant solidarity, preceded by church services attended by
0:35:40 > 0:35:42the gentry, and of course, in Belfast,
0:35:42 > 0:35:44by people like Carson and Craig.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55The Nationalist newspapers may have been witheringly dismissive
0:35:55 > 0:35:57of what they described as "Carson's circus",
0:35:57 > 0:36:01depicting it as a grotesque farce that would lead nowhere,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05but if they believed the signing of a Covenant was the final act of
0:36:05 > 0:36:10this political drama, they clearly misread the Unionist script.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14Carson and Craig never believed signatures on a piece of paper
0:36:14 > 0:36:18could halt the Home Rule Bill's path through Parliament.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21They never saw the Covenant as a kind of petition to present
0:36:21 > 0:36:24to Parliament, in fact, it was never presented to anybody.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29Instead, the Unionist leaders saw the Covenant as their mandate,
0:36:29 > 0:36:33a mandate to resist Home Rule in Ireland and if necessary,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37to create an alternative government in Ulster.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45But a government without an army is a government without teeth.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50Within four months of Ulster Day, in January 1913,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Unionist leaders took a momentous decision that would set them
0:36:54 > 0:36:57on a collision course with the British state.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Recently, unearthed minutes from those Unionist meetings record
0:37:01 > 0:37:05plans for the establishment of a provisional government
0:37:05 > 0:37:08and the creation of a military council.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13The die was cast.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18The men of Ulster, those between the ages of 17 and 65, would be asked
0:37:18 > 0:37:23to join the ranks of a new militia, the fighting arm of the resistance.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26It would be called the Ulster Volunteer Force.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34In effect, those who had signed the Covenant would be urged to
0:37:34 > 0:37:38follow through on their pledge and stand as brothers-in-arms.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45The new military council wanted a force of 100,000.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50James Craig in a speech in Ballymena in 1913, went even further.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54"I will not rest content", he said, "until every man who calls himself
0:37:54 > 0:37:58"an Ulsterman is in the ranks of the Ulster Volunteer Force."
0:37:58 > 0:38:03Those gathered to hear him speak that day shouted, "We are ready!"
0:38:03 > 0:38:06CHEERING
0:38:06 > 0:38:08HORSE WHINNIES
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Thousands of Unionist women
0:38:11 > 0:38:14also volunteered to serve as part-time nurses
0:38:14 > 0:38:17but not only that, when their husbands, sons
0:38:17 > 0:38:20and brothers drilled, they drilled alongside them.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Wealthy local businessmen were among those who offered money
0:38:27 > 0:38:29to equip the new force.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35First they needed guns which would have to be imported from abroad.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40It was a dangerous move but British law permitted militias to organise
0:38:40 > 0:38:45and arm themselves so long as their purpose was to defend the Empire.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50It was a loophole that Carson, the lawyer, turned to his advantage.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55The Unionist campaign to mobilise an armed force would be entirely legal.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01As MPs in Westminster debated the passage of the Home Rule Bill
0:39:01 > 0:39:05and Unionist militia men wondered when, if ever, they would start
0:39:05 > 0:39:09drilling with real rifles instead of broom sticks, 500 delegates
0:39:09 > 0:39:15from the Ulster Unionist Council assembled here in the Ulster Hall.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18And revolution was on the agenda.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28If the organisation of a militia was made possible by a legal anomaly,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31what was about to take place in the Ulster Hall
0:39:31 > 0:39:35was illegal to the point of treason.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39These minute books from the Ulster Unionist Council
0:39:39 > 0:39:43show that they voted that day in January 1913
0:39:43 > 0:39:47to delegate their powers to a provisional government.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Carson was named chairman of its central authority
0:39:50 > 0:39:54and departments were formed dealing with finance and law,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56education and defence,
0:39:56 > 0:39:57transport and health,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00customs and excise,
0:40:00 > 0:40:01even a post office.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06When the public announcement
0:40:06 > 0:40:09of a planned provisional government was made,
0:40:09 > 0:40:13it was accompanied by the sound of flute bands and drums.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15UVF parades were held across the province,
0:40:15 > 0:40:19co-ordinated from the force's new command centre
0:40:19 > 0:40:21here at the old town hall in Belfast,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24now part of Belfast's Laganside Courts.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35It's an irony that this place is now a courthouse,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39given how much illegality was dreamt up between these walls in 1913.
0:40:39 > 0:40:44James Craig served here as a UVF staff officer
0:40:44 > 0:40:46and working alongside him was a man
0:40:46 > 0:40:52who would play a crucial role in making that new force battle-ready.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55When Fred Crawford opened a vein
0:40:55 > 0:40:58and spilled his blood on the Ulster Covenant,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01he knew what that signature represented -
0:41:01 > 0:41:05a willingness not just to risk his own life but the lives of others
0:41:05 > 0:41:08in the fight against Home Rule.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10GUNFIRE
0:41:10 > 0:41:13And Crawford's blood was stirred by an adventure.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14He had travelled the world
0:41:14 > 0:41:17and saw action in the Boer War as an artillery officer.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23When he returned to Belfast,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27the same year Carson was elected to Westminster,
0:41:27 > 0:41:29he was drawn into the battle against Home Rule.
0:41:31 > 0:41:32Crawford's military experience
0:41:32 > 0:41:35and his developing contacts with arms dealers
0:41:35 > 0:41:37made him the perfect candidate
0:41:37 > 0:41:41to serve as the UVF's director of ordnance
0:41:41 > 0:41:44but the force's efforts to get hold of guns
0:41:44 > 0:41:46would have to be conducted very secretly.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51In December 1913,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Asquith's government used robust new legislation
0:41:54 > 0:41:58to close the loophole that permitted arms importation.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Where others felt inhibited by this change in the law,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07Crawford was in his element.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11He loved to play the cloak and dagger role of a secret agent,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14scuttling from one fake identity to another,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17scouring Britain and Europe for contacts.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21And Crawford had a plan.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23If he pulled it off, he said,
0:42:23 > 0:42:28it would be a coup and a humiliation for Asquith's government.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32He faced opposition from some within the UVF Military Council,
0:42:32 > 0:42:37who clearly thought Crawford was, to say the least, out of control.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42But he knew he needed the support of one man above all others.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47At Carson's home in London's exclusive Belgravia district,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49Crawford set out his plan -
0:42:49 > 0:42:52one that he knew could cost him his life.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55He told Carson he would go through with it
0:42:55 > 0:42:59only if he had the Unionist leader's total support.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03Carson listened carefully, then looked Crawford in the eye
0:43:03 > 0:43:07and said, "Crawford, I'll see you through this business
0:43:07 > 0:43:10"even if I have to go to prison for it."
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Then he added, "You are the bravest man I have ever met."
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Crawford replied, "I leave tonight."
0:43:24 > 0:43:27His destination was Germany,
0:43:27 > 0:43:31where he had already sourced thousands of rifles and machine guns
0:43:31 > 0:43:33and millions of rounds of ammunition.
0:43:33 > 0:43:39Now all he needed was a vessel that would transport the arms to Ireland.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Meanwhile, in Britain, tensions were rising.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48The hawks in Asquith's government,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51not least Winston Churchill,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54wanted the army placed on a war footing.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56As rumours reached Belfast
0:43:56 > 0:43:59that arrest warrants for Unionist leaders had been signed,
0:43:59 > 0:44:04Craigavon House, the place where Carson first announced the Covenant,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07was now under UVF guard.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12James Craig's wife Mary kept a meticulous record
0:44:12 > 0:44:14of the extraordinary events
0:44:14 > 0:44:17taking place just outside her drawing-room.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Look at this page from Mrs Craig's scrapbook.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23What looks like a domestic image,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Sir Edward Carson at their home visiting with them,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29and below it, British Army troops marching into Holywood barracks,
0:44:29 > 0:44:33just along the street from Craigavon House, but in fact,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36Craigavon House was itself a military compound at that point,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38and these images
0:44:38 > 0:44:41are the images of war in the air.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50With Parliament in uproar and Belfast under siege,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53the unfolding drama would now move along the coast
0:44:53 > 0:44:57to the County Antrim port of Larne.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02And at the centre of that story was Drumalis House.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05A century ago, this was the home of the Smileys,
0:45:05 > 0:45:09a well-known Unionist family, and Carson was a frequent visitor here.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16Today, the building is home to the Sisters of the Cross and Passion.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19The peacefulness of this setting today
0:45:19 > 0:45:23is a world away from the escalating tensions of 1914,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26when armed lookouts studied the horizon
0:45:26 > 0:45:29from the roof of this stately home,
0:45:29 > 0:45:30ready to give the signal that
0:45:30 > 0:45:35the riskiest venture in the history of unionism was about to begin.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39How big a gamble was this for Carson?
0:45:39 > 0:45:40It's a ferocious gamble
0:45:40 > 0:45:45but the entire policy of militancy is a gamble, in my view.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49I think that militancy is about
0:45:49 > 0:45:53stoking up the pressure within the constitutional process at Westminster
0:45:53 > 0:45:57to narrow Asquith and the Liberal government's room for manoeuvre.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00I think what happens between 1912 and 1914
0:46:00 > 0:46:02is that Asquith is not budging
0:46:02 > 0:46:06and the Unionists therefore have to increase the pressure,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10so the culmination of this is the gunrunning of April 1914.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12Was this an act of treason?
0:46:12 > 0:46:16That's an extraordinarily difficult question to answer
0:46:16 > 0:46:20because it involves, obviously, the technical legal question of treason
0:46:20 > 0:46:23as opposed to, if you like, the wider question
0:46:23 > 0:46:28of betraying somehow the British identity that they sought to embrace.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31I think we can set out a variety of things in a clear-cut way.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35They are engaged, through the gunrunning, in acts of legality.
0:46:35 > 0:46:36The gunrunning is illegal.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38If you look, however, at the Covenant
0:46:38 > 0:46:41I think it perhaps gives us some clues
0:46:41 > 0:46:43as to the Unionist mindset at this time.
0:46:43 > 0:46:48The Covenant sets out, in my view, a listing
0:46:48 > 0:46:52of what the motivating factors within Unionist resistance are
0:46:52 > 0:46:53and the first of these factors
0:46:53 > 0:46:57is the material well-being of the Unionist people
0:46:57 > 0:47:01and the wider population of the north of Ireland.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05There's also referencing to civil and religious equality
0:47:05 > 0:47:09and the unity of the Empire comes, I think, some way down the list
0:47:09 > 0:47:12of what the Unionists are prioritising
0:47:12 > 0:47:14in terms of their motives.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17What's Germany's relationship to all of this
0:47:17 > 0:47:20and the Kaiser's role in this gunrunning?
0:47:20 > 0:47:23The arms, of course, originated in Germany
0:47:23 > 0:47:25and it's also the case, of course,
0:47:25 > 0:47:29that Germany has a vested interest in...
0:47:29 > 0:47:36in stirring the ugliness of Irish party political passions
0:47:36 > 0:47:39in the context of an earlier arms race with Great Britain
0:47:39 > 0:47:41and on the eve of the Great War.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43The Germans wanted guns in here?
0:47:43 > 0:47:47The Germans benefited from weapons arriving in Ireland, yes.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54While Britain and Ireland were on a knife edge,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56Crawford was still in Germany
0:47:56 > 0:47:59and had found a Norwegian cargo boat
0:47:59 > 0:48:03with the decidedly un-terrifying name of the SS Fanny
0:48:03 > 0:48:05to bring the guns to Ulster.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13In March 1914,
0:48:13 > 0:48:1725,000 rifles and more than three million rounds of ammunition
0:48:17 > 0:48:21were secretly transported from the docks in Hamburg
0:48:21 > 0:48:23and loaded onto the steamship
0:48:23 > 0:48:25before it set course for Ireland.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29It was a journey against the odds
0:48:29 > 0:48:32as Crawford and his cargo had to evade capture
0:48:32 > 0:48:35while they made their way through the English Channel
0:48:35 > 0:48:37and into the Irish Sea.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45At Tuskar Rock, off the coast of Wexford,
0:48:45 > 0:48:49the cargo was transferred to a coal ship called the SS Clyde Valley,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52which was a frequent visitor to Irish ports
0:48:52 > 0:48:54and therefore less likely to attract attention
0:48:54 > 0:48:58as it carried its new cargo to the port of Larne.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06Though not before Crawford renamed the Clyde Valley the Mountjoy,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10after one of the vessels that came to the rescue of Ulster Protestants
0:49:10 > 0:49:13during the siege of Derry in 1689.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17Crawford's Mountjoy reached its final destination
0:49:17 > 0:49:21here at Larne on the evening of the 25th of April.
0:49:24 > 0:49:29With great haste, the ship's deadly cargo was carried to Drumalis House
0:49:29 > 0:49:33and quickly dispersed in convoys of motor cars
0:49:33 > 0:49:36to arms dumps across the north of Ireland.
0:49:38 > 0:49:39It was all done
0:49:39 > 0:49:43before the authorities knew anything was happening.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Guns like this were brought in that night under the cover of darkness.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59This is one of the original Mauser rifles from Hamburg
0:49:59 > 0:50:02and after 100 years...
0:50:02 > 0:50:03it still fires.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06GUNSHOT
0:50:08 > 0:50:12The next day's newspapers were full of accounts of the gunrunning.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Asquith, fuming with indignation,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18described the event as an unprecedented outrage
0:50:18 > 0:50:22and considered ordering the arrest of UVF leaders.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28Advised that this would only inflame the situation, he relented
0:50:28 > 0:50:32and instead, ordered a cruiser and 18 destroyers
0:50:32 > 0:50:35to patrol the coasts of Antrim and Down.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40Even the hardline Churchill was moved to talk of compromise,
0:50:40 > 0:50:44imploring Carson to seek an amendment to the Home Rule Bill
0:50:44 > 0:50:47to secure the interests of Protestant Ulster.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51Another consequence of the UVF's illegal gunrunning
0:50:51 > 0:50:53was almost inevitable.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57While some nationalists laughed at the irony of Unionists arming
0:50:57 > 0:51:00to defend themselves from their own British government,
0:51:00 > 0:51:05the Republican leader Padraig Pearse said, "The Orangemen with a gun
0:51:05 > 0:51:08"is not as laughable as the Nationalist without one."
0:51:11 > 0:51:15And so within three months of the Larne gunrunning plot,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18the Irish Volunteers pulled off their own coup
0:51:18 > 0:51:21at Howth, just north of Dublin.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25They landed 1,000 rifles, also from Germany
0:51:25 > 0:51:27but this time, in broad daylight.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37The stakes were now very high indeed.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40Two armed militias were now drilling in Ireland.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42With the outbreak of fighting,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45supporters from England would almost certainly be drawn in
0:51:45 > 0:51:46to take up arms themselves
0:51:46 > 0:51:50and could even divide the loyalties of the British Army.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55Without a resolution, Britain itself could sink into Civil War.
0:51:59 > 0:52:04In an anxious effort to avoid open war on the streets of Belfast,
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Dublin, and quite possibly Liverpool, Glasgow and London, too,
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Asquith's government tabled a compromise -
0:52:11 > 0:52:14an amendment to the Home Rule Bill
0:52:14 > 0:52:17that would keep the Ulster counties
0:52:17 > 0:52:20within the United Kingdom for another six years
0:52:20 > 0:52:24while a parliament in Dublin was established.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27To Carson, it was merely a stay of execution.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29To Redmond and the Irish Nationalists,
0:52:29 > 0:52:33it was an assault on the very idea of Home Rule.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35But while politicians argued,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39militiamen in fields just like this one in south Antrim
0:52:39 > 0:52:40practised their shot.
0:52:42 > 0:52:43GUNSHOT
0:52:50 > 0:52:53On the 21st of July 1914,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56in a desperate attempt at mediation,
0:52:56 > 0:52:59the King, George V, intervened.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06He invited both sides to a crisis summit here at Buckingham Palace.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11For the first time in Irish history,
0:53:11 > 0:53:17a formal peace conference, what today we'd call "all-party talks",
0:53:17 > 0:53:21had been convened, involving both Unionists and Nationalists.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27Under the King's roof, Asquith and Lloyd George listened for three days
0:53:27 > 0:53:30as Carson and Redmond bickered and debated
0:53:30 > 0:53:34with any hope of a compromise diminishing by the hour.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37The summit ended in deadlock.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43But events in Europe were already crowding out their arguments.
0:53:45 > 0:53:5012 days after the Buckingham Palace conference ended in stalemate,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52Britain declared war on Germany -
0:53:52 > 0:53:56a war that would ultimately cost 35 million lives
0:53:56 > 0:53:58and redraw the map of Europe.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06The Home Rule Bill was passed into law in September 1914
0:54:06 > 0:54:08but with an accompanying provision
0:54:08 > 0:54:12that delayed its implementation until after the war.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17Now, despite the intensity of the Unionist campaign to resist the bill
0:54:17 > 0:54:21it was greeted in Ulster with silence.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23No violence on the streets,
0:54:23 > 0:54:25no protests, no demonstrations.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30Against the backdrop of war in Europe, it was practically ignored.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37The UVF, established to defend Ulster
0:54:37 > 0:54:41against what they saw as a treasonous British government,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44was soon to become the 36th Ulster Division of the British Army.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49They were to suffer devastating losses,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52a sacrifice they saw as the fulfilment of the promise
0:54:52 > 0:54:57they had made in the Covenant to defend the Empire.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59Many of the Irish Volunteers
0:54:59 > 0:55:02who armed themselves in response to the UVF
0:55:02 > 0:55:05also marched to war as the 16th Irish Division.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09They also bravely spilled their blood,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12alongside their Ulster counterparts
0:55:12 > 0:55:13and wearing the same uniform.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19Home Rule would eventually come to Ireland,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21but not as anyone had predicted.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23In the partition of the island
0:55:23 > 0:55:26that followed the War of Independence in 1921,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30the south would govern itself as the Irish Free State.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35The six north-eastern counties of Ulster,
0:55:35 > 0:55:37those where Home Rule was most resisted,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40were renamed Northern Ireland
0:55:40 > 0:55:44and granted their own devolved parliament here at Stormont.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49It's one of the many ironies of this story
0:55:49 > 0:55:52that a campaign aimed at resisting a parliament in Ireland
0:55:52 > 0:55:54would eventually lead to just that.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00As an Irish Unionist from Dublin,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03Edward Carson ended his political career
0:56:03 > 0:56:06disillusioned by the partition of Ireland.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10Likewise, the Unionists of the other three counties of Ulster
0:56:10 > 0:56:14who signed the Covenant - Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan -
0:56:14 > 0:56:18felt betrayed, excluded from the new state of Northern Ireland.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26Carson lived out the rest of his life in London.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29The man who once sanctioned illegal gunrunning
0:56:29 > 0:56:32was to become a British law lord.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35He's buried in St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast,
0:56:35 > 0:56:37a city he never lived in
0:56:37 > 0:56:40and which he said he hardly knew.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49James Craig would serve for 19 years
0:56:49 > 0:56:52as the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57The agreement he helped to broker,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00which divided Ireland into two states,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02was, he said, a pragmatic necessity,
0:57:02 > 0:57:06the only way to ensure that the Protestant Unionist tradition
0:57:06 > 0:57:09could be protected and given a future.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Craig's buried just feet away from Parliament Buildings, out of sight,
0:57:20 > 0:57:24still permitting the charismatic Carson to steal the limelight.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36And here at the base of Carson's statue,
0:57:36 > 0:57:38which dominates the approach to Stormont,
0:57:38 > 0:57:43these bronze reliefs record episodes in the story of a Covenant
0:57:43 > 0:57:47that continues to prompt political debate to this day.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52To some, it's the birth certificate of the new Northern Ireland,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55a symbol of loyalty and sacrifice.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59To others, it's the reason why this island was divided,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02the trigger that fired us into open conflict
0:58:02 > 0:58:05almost half a century later.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08However we read it, this much is clear -
0:58:08 > 0:58:12this continent, with its half a million signatures,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16united two very different men, Carson and Craig,
0:58:16 > 0:58:20in a struggle that would define both their lives
0:58:20 > 0:58:21and ours.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29A Covenant that's still cherished by Unionists
0:58:29 > 0:58:32but which needs to be understood by everyone on this island
0:58:32 > 0:58:36if we're ever to make sense of our common story.
0:58:58 > 0:59:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd