Any man who undertook to lead them at such a juncture as had been reached in 1910 must make that determination the starting-point of his policy.

It was a task that would require not only statesmanship, but political courage of a high order.

Lord Randolph Churchill, in his famous Ulster Hall speech, had said that "no portentous change such as the repeal of the Union, no change so gigantic, could be accomplished by the mere passing of a law; the history of the United States will teach us a different lesson." Ulster always took her stand on the American precedent, though the exemplar was Lincoln rather than Washington.

But although the scale of operations was, of course, infinitely smaller, the Ulster leader would, if it came to the worst, be confronted by certain difficulties from which Abraham Lincoln was free.

He might have to follow the example of the latter in forcibly resisting secession, but his legal position would be very different.