THE ULSTER CONFLICT regional government to Ireland which was being mooted by Sir Anthony MacDonnell, the (Catholic) Irish Undersecretary. THE DEVOLUTION CRISIS The Land Act had, to a large extend, defused the Irish land question and the landlords who formed the Irish Reform Association in 1904 no doubt thought that this was a propritious moment to "freeze" the political situation whilst they still had a change of retaining their waning power. On September 20th 1904 the lrish Reform Association suggested a devolution scheme under whose terms a central council of "representative" Irishmen would operate a measure of local autonomy, though still within the framework of union with Britain. In their thinking, however, like the nationalists they had wished the Ulster unionists out of existence, assuming that any resistance they might put up could easily be overcome by the sovereign British government. The Ulster unionist leaders immediately asserted their existence and denounced the scheme. As far as they were concerned any compromise of the union with Britain was the first step towards Home Rule and total separation of Ireland from the British empire and their industrial interests. What really enraged them was the suspicion that members of the government were conniving at the Reform Association scheme, and although it turned out that MacDonnell had been co-operating with the Association without the consent or knoweldge of Wyndham, the Irish Secre-- tary, the Ulster unionist M.P.s at Westminster hounded Wyndham out of office. The feeling of being stabbed in the back was so great that the M.P.s began to reorganize unionist forces in Ulster. BUILDING THE u.u.e. Exhortations were published to "revive on a war footing for active work the various Ulster defence associations", and a conference was held in Belfast in December 1904 to set up a "democratic and representative" association of the local unionist associations, the Orange Order lodges, and Ulster unionist M.P.s and members of the British House of Lords. This eventually carne to be called the Ulster Unionist Council, 41
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