Happy Ulster day folks.
Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant, commonly known as the Ulster Covenant, was signed on and before 28 September 1912. The signatories, 471,414 in all were in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill introduced by the British Government in the same year. Sir Edward Carson was the first person to sign the Covenant during a carefully choreographed ceremony at Belfast’s City Hall. Carson marched in military procession toward the hall, behind a flag said to have been carried by King William III’s troops at the Battle of the Boyne.
In the grand entrance he leaned over a circular table, tightly draped in the Union Flag and signed with a silver pen, followed by Lord Londonderry (the former viceroy of Ireland), representatives of the Protestant churches, then by Sir James Craig before the throngs waiting outside were ushered in, 500 at a time, until the doors were closed near midnight.
Women added their names to a separate declaration pledging to associate themselves with the men of Ulster.
We, their descendants, just as they were, are duty bound to defend our country and its people from any perceived threat to our way of life.
We know the war prepared
On ever peaceful home
We know the hells prepared
For such as serve not Rome
The terror, threats, and bread
In market, hearth, and field –
We know, when all is said,
We perish if we yield.
