The ameliorative measures originated by Mr. Balfour when he was Chief
Secretary, and which culminated in the Wyndham Purchase Act, have
created a new Ireland. Mr. Redmond, speaking a year or two ago, said
that Ireland "was studded with the beautiful and happy homes of an
emancipated peasantry." It is a true picture, but it is a picture of the
result of Unionist policy in Ireland, a policy which Mr. Redmond and his
friends, including the present Government, have done their best to
hamper. The driving power of the agitation for Home Rule has always been
discontent with the land system of Ireland, and just in proportion as
land purchase has extended, the demand for Home Rule has died down. The
Nationalist leaders, realising this, and regarding political agitation
as their first object, have compelled the Government to put
insurmountable obstacles in the way of land purchase--not because it had
not been successful, but because it had been too successful.

The prosperity and the peace of Ireland depend upon the completion of
land purchase, and it can only be completed by the use of British
credit, which in my belief can and ought only to be freely given so long
as Ireland is in complete union with the rest of the United Kingdom. In
the present deplorable position of British credit the financing of land
purchase would be difficult; but it is not unreasonable to hope that the
return to power of a Government which would adopt sane financial
methods would restore our credit; and in any case, the object is of such
vital importance that, whatever the difficulties, it must be our policy
to complete with the utmost possible rapidity the system of land
purchase in Ireland.

It will also be our aim to help to the utmost, in the manner suggested
in different articles in this book, in the development of the resources