ce and authority which his manner left: and
Redmond supported him. It was plain that the two men would understand
each other. In the upshot their view prevailed; Redmond, Mr. Barrie and
Lord Midleton were instructed to suggest names, and after an interval
they came back with a list of nine. Lord Midleton was for the Southern
Unionists; Mr. Barrie, Lord Londonderry and Sir Alexander McDowell for
the Northern; Redmond, Mr. Devlin and Bishop O'Donnell represented the
parliamentary Nationalists, and to them were added Mr. W.M. Murphy and
Mr. George Russell.

This left eleven of us unemployed, and some days later we were formed
into three sub-committees, the first dealing with the question of
Electoral Reform and the composition of an Irish Parliament; the second
with Land Purchase, and the third with a possible Territorial Force and
the Police. But the marrow of the business rested with the original
sub-committee of nine.

They, however, could not get rapidly to work; other affairs pulled them
in different directions. Redmond was forced to go to Westminster, where
the Franchise Bill was coming on; moreover, the Irish party felt that
it must raise the question of Irish administration.

As our leader, he was obliged to speak on both matters. His reply to the
Ulster amendment proposing to extend redistribution to Ireland was that
this departed from the compromise reached at the Speaker's Conference,
and moreover ignored the existence of the Convention. He spoke with
studied brevity and avoidance of party spirit: but the debate became a
wrangle. Mr. Barrie brought back into it some of the Convention's
friendlier atmosphere; but his argument was that in the interests of the
Convention this concession should be made.

The second debate, on October 23rd, was inevitably contentious: it
deplored the policy being pursued by the Irish Executive and the Irish
military authorities "at a time when the highest interests of Ireland
and the Empire demand the creation of an atmosphere favourable to the
Convention." Redmond had an easy task in convicting the Government's
action of incoherence and of blundering provocation--but to do this was
of no advantage to his main purpose, which he served as best he could by
a side-wind, eulogizing the temper of the Convention and specially the
"sincere desire for a reasonable settlement" shown by the Ulster
delegates.

Still, at the best, it was impossible for him not to feel that the
reaction of