The whole history of nations
and peoples battling for the right is against it. The more a people
get upon their feet, the more they secure a grip upon themselves and
their inheritance, the more they are established in security and
well-being, the more earnestly, indefatigably and unalterably are they
determined to get all that is due to them. They will make every height
they attain a fortress from which to fight for the ultimate pinnacle
of their rights. The more prosperous they become, the better are they
able to demand that the complete parchments and title-deeds of their
liberty and independence shall be engrossed. Hence the broader-minded
type of Irish Nationalist saw nothing to fear from Mr Balfour's
attempts to improve the material condition of the people.
Unfortunately for his reputation, Mr Dillon always uniformly opposed
any proposals which were calculated to take the yoke of landlordism
from off the necks of the farmers. He seemed to think that a
settlement of the Land and National questions should go hand in hand,
for the reason that if the Land Question were once disposed of the
farmers would then settle down to a quiescent existence and have no
further interest in the national struggle.

Accordingly Mr Balfour's good intentions were fought and frustrated
from two opposing sources. His Land Act of 1906 and his Local
Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, were furiously opposed by the Irish
Unionists and the Dillonites alike. The Land Bill was by no means a
heroic measure, and made no serious effort to deal with the land
problem in a big or comprehensive fashion. The Local Government Bill,
on the other hand, was a most far-reaching measure, one of national
scope and importance, full of the most tremendous opportunities and
possibilities, and how any Irish leader in his senses could have been
so short-sighted as to oppose it will for ever remain one of the
mysteries of political life. This Bill broke for ever the back of
landlord power in Irish administration. It gave into the hands of the
people for the first time the absolute control of their own local
affairs. It enfranchised the workers in town and country, enabling
them to vote for the man of their choice at all local elections. It
put an end to the pernicious power of the landed gentry, who hitherto
raised the rates for all local services, dispersed patronage and were
guilty of many misdeeds and malversations, as well of being prolific
in every conceivable for