A Cancer at the Heart of the Empire
'Instantly' may not be essential.
However, it is the broken promise that does the damage.
It was the dashing of hope that alienated many from the project of Union.
This 'betrayal' gave the cry of Perfidious Albion a regrettable plausibility.
The deliberate exclusion of the majority of Irelands' population inflicted a fatal wound to any chances of building a genuine partnership between the Nations.
I certainly wouldn't claim that the Irish people would have been exemplars of progressive citizenship were such a Union to have taken shape. In reality I would expect they would have been just like any other 'Briton' (which was kind of the point of the exercise in the first place).
Instead, justifiably or not, the Irish became seen as a constant 'fifth column' within the State. Successive administrations put 'Security Considerations' before any sense of justice.
Each further repressive action merely fuelled further antipathy.
Some of the brightest and best minds of their time proved incapable of breaking this destructive cycle.
The history of Britain and Ireland, while no more tragic than that of any other two neighbours of similiar disparity, resonants because of the global socio-political influence of the protagonists.
Conversely, were there to be a plausible Alternative constructed its' repercussions could be profound, not just for Britain (and Her Empire) but for the wider world.
Regards,
Falkenburg