"satisfactory to Nationalists," for they knew that the Government had to
"toe the line"; nor were they in doubt that what was satisfactory to
Nationalists must be unsatisfactory to themselves. What they were
thinking about was not what the Bill would or would not contain, but the
preparations they were making to resist its operation.

A day or two after Craigavon the leader spoke at a great meeting in
Portrush, after receiving, at every important station he passed _en
route_ from Belfast, enthusiastic addresses expressing confidence in
himself and approval of the Craigavon declaration; and in this speech he
considerably amplified what he had said at Craigavon. After explaining
how the whole outlook had been changed by the Parliament Act, which cut
them off from appeal to the sympathies of Englishmen, he pointed out to
his hearers the only course now open to them, namely, that resolved upon
at Craigavon.

"Some people," he continued, "say that I am preaching disorder. No,
in the course I am advising I am preaching order, because I believe
that, unless we are in a position ourselves to take over the
government of those places we are able to control, the people of
Ulster, if let loose without that organisation, and without that
organised determination, might in a foolish moment find themselves
in a condition of antagonism and grips with their foes which I
believe even the present Government would lament. And therefore I
say that the course we recommend--and it has been solemnly adopted
by your four hundred representatives, after mature discussion in
which every man understood what it was he was voting about--is the
only course that I know of that is possible under the circumstances
of this Province which is consistent with the maintenance of law
and order and the prevention of bloodshed."