of his hand. The only thing
which troubled most of us was that the hand, whether we licked it or
snarled at it, was never full enough. The idea of self-help was
intensely unpleasant, and as for self-sacrifice!" The note of
exclamation sufficiently conveys the writer's meaning.

The Sinn Fein organisation as a national movement made very little
progress and exercised no considerable influence in affairs. But its
principles undoubtedly spread, particularly among the more earnest and
enthusiastic young men in the towns. The one Parliamentary election it
contested--that of North Leitrim, where the sitting member, Mr C.J.
Dolan, resigned, declared himself a convert to the new movement and
offered himself for re-election--proved a costly failure. It
established a daily edition of _Sinn Fein_, but this also had no
success and had to be dropped. For some following years Sinn Fein
could be said merely to exist as a name and nothing more. The country
had dangled before it the project of the triumph of Parliamentarianism
and it discouraged all criticism of "the Party," no matter how just,
honest or well-intended. In April 1910, _Sinn Fein_ announced, on
behalf of its Party, that Mr John Redmond, having now the chance of a
lifetime to obtain Home Rule, "will be given a free hand, without a
word said to embarrass him." Sinn Fein took no part in the elections
of 1910. "This," says Mr Henry, "was not purely an act of
self-sacrifice. In fact, Sinn Fein was never at so low an ebb." Its
attitude towards the Home Rule, which now seemed inevitable, was
stated as follows:--"No scheme which the English Parliament may pass
in the near future will satisfy Sinn Fein--no legislature created in
Ireland which is not supreme and absolute will offer a basis for
concluding a final settlement with the foreigners who usurp the
Government of this country. But any measure which gives genuine, if
even partial, control of their own affairs to Irishmen shall meet with
no opposition from us and should meet with no opposition from any
section of Irishmen."

From now onward until 1914 the Sinn Fein Movement was practically
moribund and its name was scarcely heard of. When it appeared again as
an active force it was not the old Sinn Fein Movement that was there.
As Canon Hannay justly remarks: "It cannot be said with any accuracy
that Sinn Fein won Ireland. Ireland took over Sinn Fein. Indeed,
Ireland took over very little of Sinn Fein except the name." And t