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Mr. Redmond was attacked in front and flank. 
The extreme Nationalists protested against the 
acceptance of a mutilated Ireland. The Unionists 
taunted the Nationalist leader with his repudiated 
pledges. The Catholic Hierarchy ranged themselves 
strongly in favour of rejection. 
By many Irish Nationalists it was believed that 
Mr. Redmond had set himself an impossible task ; 
it was feared that even with the cordial support of 
his trusted colleagues, Mr. Dillon, and Mr. Devlin, 
he would fail to carry the unpalatable proposals. 
Amongst the “ Die Hard ” Unionists a corresponding 
hope’ was felt. When Mr. Lloyd George's scheme 
for the immediate establishment of Home Rule was 
made public there was not a whisper of dissent from 
Lord Lansdowne or Lord Selborne. When the pro- 
posals were accepted by the Ulster Unionists the 
extremists still maintained an approving silence 
awaiting the inevitable rejection by the Nationalists. 
The Morning Post was then the solitary voice shriek- 
ing in the wilderness, “faithful alone amid the faith- 
less found ” to the exploded policy of coercion. 
It was only when the impossible happened, when 
the Nationalists accepted the proposals, that the 
irreconcilables’ protest began. Their tacit acceptance 
was pure bluff. When Mr. Redmond “saw them,” 
Lord Lansdowne kicked down the card table. 
There was no real inconsistency in the action of 
sither Mr. Redmond or Sir Edward Carson when, 
in apparent defiance of their pledges, they accepted 
the policy of exclusion and commended it to their 
followers, Both had good ground for believing it 
to be the easiest way of securing a united Ireland, 
Mr. Redmond, at least, made no secret of his policy. 
The representative Conference held in Belfast of the 
Nationalists of the counties proposed to be excluded, 
Antrim, Down, Derry, Armagh, Tyrone, and Fer- 
managh, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, at his