The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell Vol - I

-ifiT. 33] DEVOY AND KICKHAM 177
England and his sympathy with the Fenians. But he entered into no understanding with the Clan.
At a meeting of the supreme council of the I. B. B. in Paris, when the question of the ' new departure ' was fully discussed, Kickham was present, and offered a vehement opposition to it. He regarded it as dishonest and immoral, and denounced Devoy in vigorous language. Kickham, it should be said, was very deaf, and could only be approached through a speaking-trumpet. As he proceeded in his condemnation of Devoy's scheme, Devoy and Davitt tried now and again to get at the trumpet and to put in a word in reply ; but Kickharn waved them off. He carried the council with him; in fact Devoy and Davitt found only one supporter in that body. One point, however, Devoy gained. It was agreed that, while no alliance should be entered into between the supreme council and the Parliamentarians, 'the officers of the organisation should be left free to take part in the open movement if they felt so disposed—such officers to be held responsible for acts or words deemed to be injurious to the revolutionary cause.'l
Devoy now sailed for America, where, in defiance of the supreme council of the I. B. B., he threw himself heart and soul into the work of the ' new departure'; and Davitt stayed in Ireland to co-operate cordially and vigorously at his end with the American Fenians.
Meanwhile the land agitation grew apace. In Connaught, Davitt's province, the pinch of poverty was most sorely felt, and Connaught became the centre of disturbance.
On April 20 a great land meeting was held in
1 This permission was withdrawn in 1880. Davitt attended no more meetings of the supreme council.
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