the
magnificent resolves of the people. But the Parliamentarians were
astute manipulators of the political machine: they had for the most
part wormed themselves into the good graces of the local leaders, and
arranged for their own re-election when the time came. But there was
nevertheless a considerable leavening of new members--young,
enthusiastic and uncontaminated by the feuds and paltry personalities
of an older generation. They brought, as it were, a whiff of the free,
democratic air of the country to Parliament with them, and gave an
example of fine unselfishness and devotion to duty which did not fail
to have their influence on their elder and more cynical brethren. The
feud between the Dillonites and Healyites had not, however, been ended
with the general treaty of peace. Mr Redmond did not want Mr Healy
fought, but in the interests of internal peace Mr Dillon, Mr Davitt
and Mr O'Brien appear to have come to the conclusion that they could
not have Mr Healy in the new Party. Accordingly, Mr Healy and his
friends were fought wherever they allowed themselves to be nominated,
and Mr Healy himself was the only one to survive after a desperate
contest full of exciting incidents in North Louth.

I made my first bid for Parliamentary honours in the 1900 election,
when I had my name put forward as Labour candidate at the South Cork
convention. I was not very strongly supported then, but the following
May, on the death of Dr Tanner, I was nominated again as Labour
candidate for Mid-Cork, and after a memorable tussle at the Divisional
Convention I headed the poll by a substantial majority. Hence I write
from now onward with what I may claim to be an intimate inside
knowledge of affairs.

The first few years after the 1900 election saw us a solidly united
opposition in Parliament for the first time for ten years. Question
time was a positive joy to us younger members, who developed almost
diabolical capacity for heckling Ministers on every conceivable topic
under the sun. Our hostility to the Boer War also brought us into
perennial conflict with the Government. The Irish members in a very
literal sense once more occupied "the floor of the House," and there
were some fierce passages-at-arms, resulting on one occasion in the
forcible ejection of a large body of Nationalists by the police--an
incident which had no relish for those who were jealous of the
prestige and fair fame of the Mother of Parliaments. In Ireland the
fi