"Just what was he doing that the Unionists felt they had to stop him?"

Some local Unionists felt that this constituency should be represented by a ship-owner, but others noted McArthur was as much involved in shipping as the owners.

"When you've got a government that increasingly wants to detach from you, it makes the Unionists feel unwanted and a bit paranoid," Mr. Wilson said.

As the state watched to see what South Carolina would do, many Unionists felt that the greatest danger to the state came not from the North but from "rash secession" by the lower South.

Annand's opponent at the 1906 general election, the Liberal Unionist, Archibald White Maconochie, who had been the local MP from 1900 till 1906, declined to stand again and the Unionists felt it was inadvisable to bring a stranger into the constituency at short notice after their recent defeat.

Unionists felt under threat, he said, from an alliance between a large and vibrant Catholic minority, a secure and prosperous neighbor to the south and what many of them perceive to be a "spineless, ungrateful and even perfidious parent across the Irish Sea."

Unionists, who favor union with Britain, feel the language actually seems to encourage a united Ireland.

Dominion status for 26 counties, with partition for the six counties that the Unionists felt they could comfortably control, seemed the best compromise possible at the time.