CARSON, SIR Edward Henry, Irish Unionist leader: h. Dublin. 9 Feb. 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, was called to the Irish bar in 1889, and became solicitor-general for Ireland 1892. He was called to the English bar in 1894; and was solicitor-general for England in the Unionist administrations 1900-06. He became very prominent during the passage of the Irish Home Rule Bill in 1912; organized the resist ance of Ulster to that measure; inaugurated and was the first to sign the Solemn League and Covenant which pledged the Ulster Protes tants to resist, by force of arms if necessary, submission to a Dublin Parliament; and he was the head of the provisional government nominated in 1913 to administer the province in that event. This work of organization and the ensuing political campaign entailed enor mous inroads on his time and strength, and in order to carry it through he surrendered a great practice at the bar that was yielding him an income of $100,000 a year. For a time it appeared as if civil war might be the issue; when the Great European War intervened to put an end, for a time at least, to factional strife in Ulster; and Sir Edward's energies became devoted to stimulating the government to stronger measures with a view to winning the war. He became Attorney-General in the
Asquith Coalition Government in June 1915, but resigned on 18 October following, owing to divergencies of view, mainly on the Balkan question. He negotiated with Mr. Lloyd-George and Mr. Redmond the provi sional agreement on the Irish question, which, as modified by the Cabinet, was repudi ated by the Nationalist members, and subse quently withdrawn. On the occasion of that withdrawal, on 24 July, he made in the House of Commons what was perhaps the greatest speech of his life, and one which showed that the European War had sensibly altered his horizon when he declared that it would be a good thing for Ireland if he and Mr. Redmond could shake hands on the floor of the House, and gave a contingent hint that Ulster might become reconciled to Home Rule and desire inclusion, if she saw the rest of Ireland well governed by a Dublin Parliament.