He was therefore taken by back
streets to the Midland terminus, and without waiting for the ordinary
train by which he had arranged to travel, was as hastily as possible
despatched to Larne by a special train before it was generally known
that Royal Avenue and York Street were to see him no more. Mr. Churchill
tells us in his brilliant biography of his father that when Lord
Randolph arrived at Larne in 1886 "he was welcomed like a King." His own
arrival at the same port was anything but regal, and his departure more
resembled that of the "thief in the night," of whom Lord Randolph had
bidden Ulster beware.
So this memorable pilgrimage ended. Of the speech itself which Mr.
Churchill delivered to some thousands of Nationalists, many of whom were
brought by special train from Dublin, it is unnecessary here to say more
than that Sir Edward Carson described it a few days later as a "speech
full of eloquent platitudes," and that it certainly did little to
satisfy the demand for information about the Home Rule Bill which was to
be produced in the coming session of Parliament.
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