the villages and towns in which
families were huddled together anyhow, and in our effort to bring
about this most necessary of social reforms we received little or no
assistance from public men or popular movements. We were left to our
own unaided resources and our own persistent agitation. As I have
already stated, I was elected Member of Parliament for Mid-Cork on the
death of Dr Tanner in 1901, and Mr O'Shee had been previously elected
for West Waterford, but not strictly on the Land and Labour platform
as I was. Nevertheless, we heartily co-operated in and out of
Parliament in making the Labour organisation a real and vital force,
and our relations for many useful years, as I am happy to think, were
of the most cordial and kindly character.

In the Land Purchase Act of 1903 Mr Wyndham included a few
insignificant clauses bearing on the labourer's grievances, but
dropped them on the suggestion of Mr O'Brien, to whom he gave an
undertaking at the same time to bring in a comprehensive Labourers'
Bill in the succeeding session. When that session came Mr Wyndham had,
however, other fish to fry. The Irish Party and the Orange gang were
howling for his head, and his days of useful service in Ireland were
reduced to nothingness. Meanwhile we kept pressing our demands as
energetically as we could on the public notice, but we were
systematically boycotted in the Press and by the Nationalist leaders
until a happy circumstance changed the whole outlook for us. It was
our custom to invite to all our great Labour demonstrations the
various Nationalist leaders, without any regard to their differences
of opinion on the main national issue. The way we looked at it was
this--that we wanted the support of all parties in Ireland, Unionist
as well as Nationalist, for our programme, which was of a purely
non-partisan character, and we were ready to welcome support from any
quarter whence it came.

Our invitations were, however, sent out in vain until, on Mr O'Brien's
re-election for Cork in October 1904, a delegation from the Land and
Labour Association approached him and requested him to come upon our
platform and to specifically advocate the labourers' claims, now long
overdue. Without any hesitation, nay, even with a readiness which made
his acceptance of our request doubly gracious, Mr O'Brien replied that
now that the tenants' question was on the high road to a settlement he
considered that the labourers had next call on the nati