loyalty to principle and to a policy which had been signally
ratified by the repeated mandates of the people, a reasonable measure
of generosity and a frank fellowship and all would be well.

But no; we had committed the cardinal offence of preferring a policy
to a personality and, in famous phrase, we were marked down to "suffer
for it." Hordes of organisers were dispatched to our constituencies to
"pull the strings" against us. I can aver, with a certain malicious
satisfaction, that wherever they made their appearance in Cork, we met
them and we routed them. This may appear an ill way to conduct a
political campaign, but be it remembered that we were fighting for our
lives, almost resourceless, and that the aggressors had practically
limitless powers, financially and otherwise. I will mention one
incident to explain many. It was announced that Mr Redmond was to
speak at Banteer, on the borders of my constituency. I could not allow
that challenge to pass unnoticed without surrendering ground which it
would be impossible to recover; and so I took the earliest opportunity
of proclaiming that if Mr Redmond came to Banteer my friends and I
would be there to meet him. He never came! Meanwhile through a private
source--for none of his colleagues were in communication with him--Mr
O'Brien heard of the nefarious attempts that were being made to
exterminate his friends and he broke silence for the first time since
his retirement by despatching the following message to the Press
Association:--

"If these people are wise they will drop their campaign of vengeance
against my friends."

Doubtless "these people" thought this the threat of a man helpless
through illness, and not to be seriously noticed, for they went on
with their preparations, surreptitious and otherwise, for our
destruction, in suitable time and form. I will ever remember it with
pride and gratitude that the labourers of the south, the President of
whose Association I was, were gloriously staunch and loyal and that
there never was a demand I made upon them for support and
encouragement they did not magnificently respond to. They gave
repayment, in full measure and flowing over, for whatever little I was
able to accomplish in my lifetime for the alleviation of their lot and
the brightening of their lives.

Meanwhile the Party had matters all their own way, yet their only
"great" achievement was to get the Birrell Land Bill passed into law
and to put an end to