132 THE IRISH AGRARIAN PROBLEM. 



accorded to the landlord in the interests of the 

 pacihcation of Ireland.^ 



The Bill brought in by W3'ndham in 1903 

 contained in point of fact all the provisions 

 demanded by the Land Conference. It must not 

 however be concluded from this that an impres- 

 sionable statesman had simply waited on and 

 complied with the public opinion of Ireland. It 

 is far more probable that Mr. Wyndham had 

 found ways and means to suggest to those who 

 took part in the Conference both the necessity 

 for that transaction and the results which it was 

 desired to produce. 



In any case, the Report made a deep impression 

 in England. The Irish landlord and the Irish 

 tenant were here for the first time at one, and 

 they indicated a method whereby England could 

 not fail to solve the Irish agrarian problem, if 

 only she were magnanimous enough to pay the 

 price of the reconciliation. 



This price was the rock on which the Report, 

 now embodied in a Bill, might have been wrecked; 

 for no exception in point of principle could be 

 taken to the other details of the measure, the 

 parties immediately concerned appearing to be 

 in full agreement about them. There remained, 

 indeed, some hidden sources of friction. Neither 

 the landlords in the Conference nor the repre- 



^ " Report of a Conference held at the INIansion House, 

 Dubhn, 1902-3;" "The Land Conference and its Critics," 

 by Wni. O'Brien, m.p., 1904. 



