THE AGRARIAN REFORM OF 1903. 127 



utilized by Horace Plunkett/ then a Member of 

 Parliament, in order to focus public discussion 

 on a policy which he had hitherto been pursuing 

 on a smaller scale. For a long time he had been 

 endeavouring to introduce into Irish agriculture 

 the various forms of co-operative organization. 

 Though he was not acquainted with the systems 

 of agricultural co-operation on the Continent, he 

 had been led to follow this path by his familiarity 

 with the needs of Ireland, and by the practical 

 experience of business which he had gained in 

 America. He lacked both of the qualities with 

 which Irishmen, whether of the opposition or the 

 government party, are generally endowed — the 

 fiery rhetoric of the popular tribune, and the 

 ambition of the place-hunter who seeks to make 

 some lucrative little post his own. On all sides, 

 therefore, he was met with the justified mistrust 

 of those on whose accustomed orbits of motion he 

 began to exercise an incalculable and a disturbing 

 influence. He had however got together a little 

 company of enthusiasts from both camps, and had 

 at last, by sheer persuasiveness, formed a com- 

 mittee composed of leaders of the landlord 

 interest, of the tenants, and of the industrialists 

 of Ulster. This body was called the Recess 

 Committee, and its business was to formulate an 

 economic policy for Ireland." Its next aim was 



1 Now Sir Horace Plunkett, k.c.v.o., and Vice-President of 

 the Irish Department of Agriculture. 



2 Sir Horace Plunkett, " Ireland in the New Century," 

 Part II. 



