"Did you notice the nice irony of history whereby Sinn Fein, could hold its meeting in the Ulster Hall, while there was day when that holy of holies was denied to no less a person than Winston Churchill?" He went on to refer to the account given in Randolph Churchill's second volume of biography on his famous father, Winston, then a Home Ruler was due to speak in the hall on February 8th, 1912. The fact that this was the place, where his father. Lord Randolph had proclaimed "Ulster, will fight and Ulster will be, right" was seen as particularly provocative.
There was a testy exchange of letters between Winston Churchill and Lord Londonderry, with the former professing shock that, the Ulster Conservatives would not allow their fellow country men from whom they differ, the right of public meeting. But if it was not the fact of the meeting that was in question and only the use of a particular hall, well, that was not reasonable but could be met.
Wily campaigner that he was, he released the letter to the Press the same evening that he sent it to Londonderry, who, of course, read it first in the following morning's papers. Londonderry in his reply rumbled on about "the culmination of many acts of insult and arrogance towards the loyalists of Ulster." And said that if Churchill held his meeting outside districts "which passionately resent your action" . . . he and his colleagues would strongly deprecate any attempt to interfere with the meeting.
Churchill had another letter pointing out that the Ulster Hall had originally been chosen merely because it happened to be free on the date in question. In steps the Master of Elibank - who ever he was - warning that the police report "great quantities of bolts and rivets have been abstracted from the yards and many revolvers have been taken out of pawn." Well, that's what it says in this authorised version.
Anyway, Winston came and brought his wife. Four battalions of soldiers guarded the route to Celtic Park where he was to speak. On the drive from the hotel to the park, The Lanchester Guardian reported, the back wheels of the car were lifted eighteen inches off the ground by an angry crowd be fore the police beat them off.
Four battalions of infantry guarded the route. Who dares say that Belfast never changes.