The Irish Executive, according to the Dublin Correspondent of _The Times_, objected to the employment of troops for this purpose; because-- "If the Belfast Unionists decided to resist the soldiers, bloodshed and disorder on a large scale must have ensued.

If, on the other hand, they yielded to the _force majeure_ of British bayonets, and Mr.Churchill was enabled to speak in the Ulster Hall, they would still have carried their point; they would have proved to the English people that Home Rule could only be thrust upon Ulster by an overwhelming employment of military force.

The Executive preferred to depend on the services of a large police force.

And this meant that Mr.Churchill could not speak in the Ulster Hall; for the Belfast democracy, though it might yield to soldiers, would certainly offer a fierce resistance to the police.

It seemed, therefore, that the Government's only safe and prudent course was to prevent Mr.Churchill from trying to speak in that Hall."[16] The Government, in fact, had been completely out-manoeuvred.