In 1914, after failing to pass an amendment to the Third Home Rule Bill a year earlier, Asquith attempted to avoid civil war in Ireland by introducing several measures proposing that island be partitioned. Unionists demanded that the six north-eastern counties of Ireland (four of which had Protestant majorities) be excluded from Home Rule. The idea was suggested that any county wanting to opt-out of Home Rule may do so for a period of six years. To this, Edward Carson retorted "we do not want a sentence of death with a stay of execution of six years!" He would go on to challenge the British Government in Westminster on implementing Home Rule is Ulster, after which, Carson left for Belfast to set up a provisional government. Fearing that the UVF would seize control of the province, Asquith had Churchill order a naval cordon in the Irish Sea. A flotilla set sail and troops were dispatched from all over Ireland into Ulster to prevent an uprising. Sixty cavalry officers from the Curragh base in Co. Kildare refused to obey the orders, saying they would prefer to be dismissed rather than lead their men against Ulster loyalists. Their commanding officer assured them in writing that they would not move against the loyalists militarily, for which he was dismissed by Asquith. The delay alerted the UVF, who quietly moved their headquarters to the heavily sandbagged home of James Craig, called "Craigavon", in east Belfast.