All that was necessary was for a Bill to be carried in three successive sessions through the House of Commons, to become law.

"The last obstacle to Home Rule," as Mr.Redmond called it, had been removed.

The Liberal Government had taken a hint from the procedure of the careful burglar, who poisons the dog before breaking into the house.
The significance of the manner in which the Irish question had been kept out of view of the electorate by the Government and their supporters was not lost upon the people of Ulster.

In January 1911, within a month of the elections, a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council was held at which a comprehensive resolution dealing with the situation that had arisen was adopted, and published as a manifesto.

One of its clauses was: "The Council has observed with much surprise the singular reticence as regards Home Rule maintained by a large number of Radical candidates in England and Scotland during the recent elections, and especially by the Prime Minister himself, who barely referred to the subject till almost the close of his own contest.