The most
dramatic moment at Balmoral--if for once the word so hackneyed and
misused by journalists may be given its true signification--the most
dramatic moment was when the Ulster leader and the leader of the whole
Unionist Party each grasped the other's hand in view of the assembled
multitude, as though formally ratifying a compact made thus publicly on
the eve of battle. It was the consummation of the purpose of this
assembly of the Unionist hosts on Ulster soil, and gave assurance of
unity of aim and undivided command in the coming struggle.
Of the other speeches delivered, many of them of a high quality,
especially, perhaps, those of Lord Hugh Cecil, Sir Robert Finlay, and
Mr. Scott Dickson, it is enough to say that they all conveyed the same
message of encouragement to Ulster, the same promise of undeviating
support. One detail, however, deserves mention, because it shows the
direction in which men's thoughts were then moving. Mr. Walter Long,
whose great services to the cause of the Union procured him a welcome
second in warmth to that of no other leader, after thanking Londonderry
and Carson "for the great lead they have given us in recent difficult
weeks "--an allusion to the Churchill incident that was not lost on the
audience--added with a blunt directness characteristic of the speaker:
"If they are going to put Lord Londonderry and Sir Edward Carson into
the dock, they will have to find one large enough to hold the whole
Unionist Party.
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