fanatical  in  their  devotion  to  Mr.  Dillon,  had  been  actively
set  to  work  in  the  campaign  of  dislocation.  One  of  them
instigated  the  Birr  Board  of  Guardians  to  pass  a  resolution
of  enthusiastic  thanks  to  Mr.  Dillon  for  his  "  splendid  and
most  opportune  speech  at  Swinford  on  the  Land  Purchase
Act,"  and  to  send  it  around  to  all  the  representative  bodies
of  Ireland  for  endorsement.  A  large  number  of  those
representative  bodies,  little  suspecting  that  the  "snowball
resolution  "  was  anything  more  than  a  personal  compliment
to  an  eminent  Irishman,  adopted  it  without  hesitation,  and
their  action  was  recorded  from  day  to  day  in  flaming  char-
acters in  the  Freeman  as  though  the  country  were  in  open
revolt  against  Mr.  Redmond  and  his  colleagues.
