His purpose was to stamp the whole of this proposed agreement with a provisional and transient character.

It was to be simply a war measure, subject to re-arrangement at the close of hostilities; and it was to be adapted to a community still agitated by rebellion.
An Irish Parliament with an Executive responsible to it was to be set up at once.

But no elections were to be held.

The existing members for the existing constituencies were to be the provisional Parliament till the war ended.
The same considerations precluded the possibility of a referendum in Ulster.

Nationalists accepted an area defined by agreement.