# data[].attributes.body
"Ulster will not be a consenting party; Ulster at the proper moment will resort to the supreme arbitrament of force; Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right."

# data[].attributes.body
Loyalist feared being 'left to the tender mercies of the Catholic majority, egged on by a vengeful priesthood'
The fear was that a Dublin Home rule government would subject them to religious persecution.
This might include redistribution of wealth and confiscation of the richer land and property of Ulster Protestants. (Opposition to Irish Home Rule, 1885-1922
Luke Blaxill, University of Oxford)
Protestant Unionist fears are made explicit within the text:
'The present Nationalist majority is controlled by the Roman Catholic priesthood. This majority, through an Irish Parliament would govern Ulster. Let anyone imagine Ulster in fact governed by the Irish priesthood. One need not paint in detail the effect on trade, education and the most important questions of modern life'.
Protestants point out role of Catholic priests in IPP.
Fear of Catholic dominance also propagated by papal infallibility being brought in in 1871.

According to Jonathan Bardon, ‘Protestants visualised a Dublin government putting education entirely in the hands of the Church and forcing their children to attend Catholic schools and reserving public employment exclusively for Catholics'. http://www.arts.ulster.ac.uk/ulsterscots/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/UNIT-17-A-Level-History-Unionism-and-Nationalism-1800-1900-Opposing-the-Second-Home-Rule-Bill.pdf)

From a protestant perspective: 'In terms of doctrine, evangelicals were united in their belief in the final authority of the Bible and the protestant understanding of salvation. This meant that evangelical religion was firmly protestant and reflected the religious anti-Catholicism of the protestant Reformation.  This growth of evangelical religion led directly to the Anglican Second Reformation of the 1820s and, more spectacularly, the great religious revival that swept Protestant Ulster in 1859'.(http://qub.ac.uk/sites/irishhistorylive/IrishHistoryResources/Articlesandlecturesbyourteachingstaff/ThedevelopmentofUnionismbefore1912/#II)

Unionist phrase: “Home Rule is Rome Rule”
Protestants’ image of the Catholic Church convinced them that they would be threatened by a Dublin parliament which would represent an overwhelming Catholic majority
Irish nationalists did not recognise the genuine Unionist fears about consequences of Home Rule
But, Unionists underestimated the emotional force of an Irish nationalism aimed at unity and freedom for the whole island

# data[].attributes.body
31 deaths (official estimate)
371 injuries
442 arrests

The riots intensified on 8 June, the day that the home rule bill was defeated in parliament. Celebrations were held throughout the city to celebrate the defeat. Some of those celebrating attacked Catholic homes and businesses.

# data[].attributes.body
30-40 deaths

I would draw the attention of the right hon. Gentleman to three incidents which have been reported.

The first appears to have occurred on Friday night or Saturday morning after the result of the Division on the Second Reading of the Home Rule Bill, when a crowd of Orangemen belonging to Ballymacarrett, a suburb of Belfast, smashed the windows in one of the Catholic quarters on both sides of the street for a considerable distance.

On Saturday morning a crowd of Queen's Island workmen, numbering about 800 or 900, marched in a body from the works, and, passing up North Street, attacked a Catholic crowd.

# data[].attributes.body
Unionists feared that the industrialised areas such as Belfast would suffer economically by weakening the Union.
Ireland and Ulster were different, Ireland was agricultural and Ulster was industrial. Ulster's industry was in linen and ship building.
Ulster depended on the link with Britain as they were provided with raw materials to keep the industry booming.
it was likely that the Irish Parliament would introduce tax to British goods and raw materials.
Ulster Unionists felt economy would fail under Home Rule.
All progress in Ulster was achieved under Home Rule, so why change it ?

# data[].attributes.body
Irish Unionist feared an Irish Parliament

They believed it would be dominated by extreme nationalists, radicals and Fenians

They believed that by opposing Home Rule they were defending the integrity of the British Empire

Home rule would weaken the authority of the British empire while strengthening the power of the Vatican in Ireland

The concession of home rule would be interpreted as a sign of weakness and would have a domino effect and may have encouraged nationalist revolts in other over sea British areas