Traitors to Their Faith?: Protestant Clergy and the Ulster Covenant of 1912

Abstract

Traitors to Their Faith?Protestant Clergy and the Ulster Covenant of 1912 Nicola K. Morris The signing of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant on September 28, 1912, was one of the major set pieces of the Unionist campaign against Home Rule. The images that flooded the press of Unionist leaders signing the Covenant at Belfast City Hall and the huge crowds of Ulstermen queuing to pledge their support for the Unionist cause were, and have remained, some of the most iconic representations of Unionist resistance and have been consciously mimicked in more recent times. 1 This mass Unionist demonstration constitutes part of the creation myth of modern Unionism, and has been propagated as a moment of "unique internal unity within northern Unionism" when all sections of Protestant society, including clergy and women, were successfully mobilized. 2 The representation of Unionism as a homogeneous bloc, however, obscures or elides the degree of discord that was likewise an inescapable, integral feature of the movement. The third Home Rule crisis that peaked in 1912 to 1914 was distinct in tone and trajectory from the previous two crises of 1886 and 1893. It rapidly became clear that opposition to the Government of Ireland bill would focus principally on Ulster, home of the majority of Ireland's Protestant population. The Government of Ireland bill of 1912 proposed that a Home Rule parliament should be established in Dublin for the whole of Ireland dealing with such domestic matters as education, policing, and taxation. Unionists objected in principle to the creation of a Dublin legislature, but—given that some form of Home Rule was at that point believed inevitable—argued during the third Home Rule crisis [End Page 16] for some form of exclusion for certain of the counties of Ulster. This was confirmed as early as September 23, 1911, when Carson, at a rally of the Orange Order and Unionist Clubs at Craigavon, told the assembled crowd that, "We must be prepared . . . the morning Home Rule passes, ourselves to become responsible for the government of the Protestant Province of Ulster." The Ulster Unionist Council ratified this stance on the following Monday. 3 The text of the Covenant relied heavily on religious language and imagery, which reinforces the notion of a "common Protestantism" as the defining feature of Ulster Loyalism. 4 Contemporary commentators highlighted that this was a deliberate effort to present Protestants as a "solid and united phalanx," loyal to the United Kingdom and the British Empire. The effort was calculated to transform Home Rule from a purely political question into a moral one, particularly regarding the issue of religious liberty. 5 Signing the Ulster Covenant became the touchstone of loyalty, with considerable scorn rapidly displayed to those who had failed to exhibit their allegiance, whom contemporaries designated as "traitors to their faith." 6 As a demonstration of Ulster Unionist opposition to Home Rule, the Covenant was a clear success. A total of 237,368 men chose to append their names to the Covenant, while 234,046 women signed the corresponding Declaration. 7 Inspired by the Scottish Covenant of 1580, the text of the men's Covenant affirmed the belief that Home Rule would "be disastrous to the well-being of Ulster." Stating their reliance on God, these Ulstermen declared their willingness to use "all means which may be found necessary" to defend themselves from the threatened calamity. The full text of the Covenant reads: Being convinced in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of out civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship and perilous to the [End Page 17] unity of the Empire, we, whose names are undersigned, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V, humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn Covenant throughout this our time of threatened calamity to stand by one another in defending for ourselves and for our children our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom and in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat...