THE AGRARIAN REFORM OF 1903. 125 



Moreover, the United States did not take the 

 same interest as formerly in Irish affairs ; their 

 relations to England had grown much friendlier ; 

 their contributions to the Irish Parliamentary 

 Fund could not, in spite of the collection- 

 missions vigorously undertaken by Irish poli- 

 ticians, be raised to the old figure. The breach 

 which Parnell's fall had made in the Irish party 

 had never been fully healed, loudly though the 

 unity of the party was now proclaimed. Personal 

 bitterness between the various fractions had 

 increased in proportion as the differences on 

 matters of principle grew more insignificant. 

 The great opportunity, longed for by generation 

 after generation, when England should be 

 entangled in a dangerous foreign crisis, had 

 passed away unutilized. The deeds of the Irish 

 Brigade in the Transvaal war had done no serious 

 harm to the position of England, while the Irish 

 regiments in the British army had done more 

 than their duty, and the leaders of the Celtic 

 people had been wise enough to give to the 

 cause of the Boers a purely moral support. 



The Irish landlord too had become a wiser 

 man. He saw that his role as a feudal magnate 

 had been played to the end. He shuddered to 

 think of the moment when, at the end of another 

 fifteen years' term, the Land Court would again 

 reduce his rent. That Ireland must become a 

 peasant-land has long been clear to all eyes. 

 Already, in the year 1898, Gerald Balfour had 

 drawn the necessary administrative conclusions, 



