591; whilst in Mayo, one of whose divisions Mr Dillon
represented in Parliament, and where his doctrines held sway, the
number of tenant purchasers in the same period was 774, and the amount
of the purchase money only L181,256. And be it noted what these
unfortunate and misguided Mayo men have to be grateful for: that they
have remained for all these years, since the Act of 1903 was placed on
the Statute Book, under the old inexorable rent-paying conditions,
whilst down in Cork the tenants are almost to a man the proprietors of
their own holdings, owning their own improvements, knowing that every
year that passes brings the time nearer when their land will be free
of annuities, and having all that sweet content and satisfaction that
flow from personal ownership. Up in Mayo, in a famous speech delivered
at Swinford, 12th September 1906, three years after the Land Purchase
Act was passed, Mr Dillon declared:

"Attempts have been made to throw the blame on Michael Davitt, _The
Freeman's Journal_ and myself, and it has been said that we have
delayed the reinstatement of the evicted tenants and obstructed the
smooth working of the Act more than we have done. It has worked too
smoothly--far too smoothly, to my mind. Some men have complained
within the past year that the Land Act was not working smooth enough.
For my part I look upon it as working a great deal too fast. Its pace
has been ruinous to the people."

There, in a nutshell and sufficiently stated, are the two policies. Mr
O'Brien wanted to expedite land purchase by every means in his power,
but he wished that the tenants should have proper advisers and should
act under the skilled guidance of their own organisation, so that they
may make no bad bargains. Mr Dillon, on his part, sought to kill land
purchase outright, but why he should have had this mad infatuation
against the most beneficent Act that was passed for Ireland in our
generation, I am at a loss to know, if it is not that he allowed his
personal feeling against Mr O'Brien to cloud the operations of his
intellect. It is a curious commentary, however, on the good faith of
the Party leaders, that whilst Mr Dillon was making the speech I have
quoted to his constituents at Swinford, his bosom friend and
confidant, Mr T.P. O'Connor, who was seeking the shekels in New York,
was telling his audience that "the Irish landlords were on the run,
and, if they continued to yield, in fifteen years the very name of
landl