own
blessed work of appeasement and national healing unhampered by what,
as after knowledge conclusively proved to me, was nothing but a
hypocritical unity for selfish salvation's sake. Mr O'Brien puts the
whole position in a nutshell when he says: "The Party was reunified
rather than reformed." The treaty of peace they entered into was a
treaty to preserve their own vested interests in their Parliamentary
seats.

But a generous and forgiving nation was only too delighted to have an
end of the bickerings and divisions which had wrought such harm to the
cause of the people, and accordingly it hailed with gratification the
spectacle of a reunited Irish Party.

It is probable, nevertheless, that had the process of educating the
people into a knowledge of their own power gone on a little further
the United Irish League would have been able at the General Election
to secure a national representation which would more truly reflect
national dignity, duty and purpose.

The first result of the Parliamentary treaty was the election of Mr
John E. Redmond to the chair. In the circumstances, the majority party
having pledged themselves to elect a Parnellite, no other choice was
possible. Mr Redmond possessed many of the most eminent qualifications
for leadership. He had an unsurpassed knowledge of Parliamentary
procedure and seemed intended by nature for a great Parliamentary
career. He was uniformly dignified in bearing, had a distinguished
presence, a voice of splendid quality, resonant and impressive in
tone, and an eloquence that always charmed his hearers. Had he
possessed will power and strength of character in any degree
corresponding to his other great gifts, there were no heights of
leadership to which he might not have reached. As it was, he lacked
just that leavening of inflexibility of purpose and principle
which was required for positive greatness as distinct from
moderately-successful leadership. At any rate, he was the only
possible selection, yet once again Mr Dillon exhibited a disposition
to show the cloven hoof. For some inscrutable reason he made up his
mind to oppose Mr Redmond's election to the chair, but when Mr O'Brien
and Mr Davitt (who had returned from the Transvaal) got word of the
plot they wired urgent messages to their friends in Parliament that Mr
Redmond's selection was the only one that could give the leadership
anything better than a farcical character. Result--Mr Redmond was
elected by a ver