On Wednesday Sir Edward Carson reviewed the drilled members of
Orange lodges at Kilkeel and Newry. The Times correspondent says that the recent improvement in the discipline and organization of the men is remarkable, and has produced a deep impression. At Kilkeel Sir Edward Carson said that be told them honestly he was only "longing for the day when there would be a collision between the two minds that were thoroughly made up, and they would see whether the mind of the Government, thoroughly made up by the mind of Mr. Redmond, was going to prevail, dr whether they in Ulster were going to remain freemen." They were not going into a conference which Meant absolute surrender. At Newry Sir Edward
Carson explained the nature of the Provisional Government, and continued :—
" We will set up that Government. I am told it is illegal ; of course it is. Drilling is illegal. I was reading an Act of Parlia- ment the other day forbidding it. The volunteers are illegal, and the Government know they are illegal. The Government dare not interfere with what they know is illegal, and the reason the Government dare not interfere is this—because they know the moment they interfere with you then you will not brook their interference, and then the moment you do not brook their inter- ference the knowledge would be brought home to every man in England that not only were you in earnest but that you were prepared to make any sacrifices to maintain your liberty, and the moment that is understood, the Government know well their game is up. Therefore do not be afraid of illegalities. They are illegalities which are not crimes ; they are not sordid or mean. They are illegalities taken to assert what is the elementary right of every citizen—namely, the protection of his freedom."
On Thursday Sir Edward Carson reviewed more volunteers at Banbridge and Dromore, and spoke in the same sense. It is announced that Lieutenant-General Sir G. L. R. Richardson has been appointed General of the Ulster Volunteers.
