Autograph letter signed by Edward Carson to Andrew Bonar Law about Ireland 1920

An important political letter regarding the Government of Ireland Act 1920
 
CARSON, Sir Edward (1854-1935) Autograph Letter Signed to Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923) concerning the Government of Ireland Bill and former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. 29 March 1920.
 
Autograph letter signed, 180 x 230 mm, written on one side of a single sheet of 5 Eaton Place writing paper and signed by Edward Carson. Old horizontal and vertical folds, light handling marks, otherwise very good.
 
A private political letter from Sir Edward Carson to Andrew Bonar Law concerning the parliamentary handling of the Government of Ireland Bill. Referring to a recent telephone conversation, Carson advises that Bonar Law should speak immediately after the former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith:
"Since speaking to you on the Telephone I feel that it is much better that you shd speak after Asquith. The House will want an early lead from an emphatic character..."
 
Carson explains that, because he and his supporters were not voting for the Bill, his own speech might "appear lukewarm & probably leave some undecided." Although Carson accepted the Bill as the best available means of safeguarding the Unionist counties of Ulster, his longstanding opposition to Home Rule prevented him from voting in its favour. He therefore feared that his own qualified position might fail to give wavering members a sufficiently clear lead.
 
The Government of Ireland Bill proposed separate parliaments for Northern and Southern Ireland and later became the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Asquith, who as Prime Minister had introduced the earlier Home Rule settlement providing for a single Irish parliament, opposed the Lloyd George Government's proposal to divide Ireland between separate Northern and Southern legislatures. Bonar Law, then Leader of the House of Commons, supported the Government's compromise and had worked closely with Carson throughout the Home Rule crisis.
 
The letter records the private coordination of parliamentary strategy between two of the leading Unionist politicians of the period, with Carson carefully judging the order of speakers and the likely effect of his own position upon undecided members. A strong political association letter.