ght for constitutional reform went on with unabated energy. All the
old engines of oppression and repression were at work, and the people
proved that they had lost none of their wit or resource in the
struggle with the forces of the Crown. Mr George Wyndham, whom I like
to look back upon as one of the most courtly and graceful figures in
the public life of the past generation, was installed in Dublin Castle
as Chief Secretary. I can imagine that nothing could have been more
distasteful to his generous spirit than to be obliged to use the
hackneyed weapons of brute force in the pursuance of British policy.
As an answer to the agitation for compulsory land purchase and a
settlement of the western problem Mr Wyndham introduced in 1902 a Land
Purchase Bill which fell deplorably short of the necessities of the
situation. It would have deprived the tenants of all free will in the
matter of the price they would be obliged to sell at, and left them
wholly at the mercy of two landlord nominees on the Estates
Commissioners, whilst it did not even pretend to find any remedy for
the two most crying national scandals of the western "congests" and
the homeless evicted tenants. No doubt there were many good and
well-meaning men in the Party, and out of it, who thought this Bill
should have been accepted as "an instalment of justice." But there are
times when to be moderate is to be criminally weak, and this was one
of them. It is as certain as anything in life or politics can be that
if the Bill of 1902 had been accepted, the Irish tenants would be
still going gaily on under the old rent-paying conditions. The United
Irish League was still in the first blush of its pristine vigour, and
when the delegates of the National Directory came up from the country
to Dublin they soon showed the mettle they were made of. They wanted
no paltry compromises, and it was then and there decided to enter upon
a virile campaign against rack-renters, grazing monopolists and
land-grabbers such as would convince the Government in a single winter
how grossly they had under-estimated the requirements of the country.

Some of the older men of the Party were pessimistic about the new
campaign. Messrs Dillon, Davitt and T.P. O'Connor wrote a letter to Mr
O'Brien remonstrating with him, in a tone of gentle courtesy, on the
extreme character of his speeches and actions. But Mr O'Brien was not
to be deflected from his purpose by any friendly pipings of this kind.