If Carson had permission to train his braves of the North to fight against the aspirations of the Irish people, then it was legitimate and fair for Labour to organize in the same militant way to preserve their rights and to ensure that if they were attacked they would be able to give a very satisfactory account of themselves." Thus began in a small sectional manner a national movement which led far indeed.

Mr.O'Cathasaigh, from whose _Story of the Irish Citizen Army_ I quote, attributes the failure of that purely Labour organization chiefly to the establishment of the Irish Volunteers.
This was a development which Redmond on his part neither willed nor approved, yet one which in the circumstances was inevitable.

Who could suppose that the formation of combatant forces would remain a monopoly of any party?
There was no mistaking the weight which a hundred thousand Ulster Volunteers, drilled and regimented, threw into Sir Edward Carson's advocacy.

As early as September 1913, during the parliamentary recess, Redmond received at least one letter--and possibly he received many--urging him to raise the standard of a similar force, and pointing out that if he did not take this course it might be taken by others less fit to guide it.

The letter of which I speak elicited no answer.