‘Our enemies will have to trample on my grave’ – Ulster Premier’s defiant stand (1923)

He declared: “Our enemies will have to trample over my grave before they steal a yard of Northern territory.”

At Rosslea, Sir James Craig received a very warm welcome from the scattered Loyalists who gathered to greet him.

In the course of his address, Sir James said: “I have never been so proud as when I was going round that morning to see the men and women who were worth fighting for. What you are doing in Rosslea thrills me and makes the heart beat faster.

“The Ulstermen on the border have been undefeated in the past and are undefeatable so far as the future was concerned.

“'No Surrender' was as much you watchword and cry as it had ever been. No border commission can filch away territory from you, made sacred by the way the men and women have defended it.”

On arrival at Lisnaskea Sir James Craig, who was accompanied by Sir Basil S Brooke, Bart. Special Constabulary County Commandant, Sir Charles Wickham, Inspector General RUC, and Major Cavendish Butler, Area Commandant, USC, was entertained to luncheon.

Replying to the toast of his health, Sir James said in Stormont Castle the room at present occupied by Lady Carson during her visit was called ‘Lisnaskea’.

He said: “This is Lord Carson's week in Ulster. I have been associated all through their stirring times in Ulster with Lord Carson and I am overjoyed that once again he is with us in our province.”

He added: “Those who have threatened, invaded, and failed to terrorise Ulster are now in the most miserable, sneaking manner trying to bring down the Northern Government by back door methods.

“All those methods will fail, just as the direct attempts have failed. So long as the Ulster people trusted the government and their leaders no harm can befall them.

“The most sacred territory was the border. Our border today takes place of Derry, Enniskillen, and the Boyne in the old days.

“That border is sacred ground, and, so far as I can prevent it, not a yard, or a Protestant, will be handed over to a foreign country or a foreign flag.”