The Irish Roman Catholics, in attacking the Papal Rescript, have
asserted that in working the " Plan of Campaign," the moneys deposited by the tenants " were freely lodged with persons whom they knew and trusted, to be held as an in- surance fund against eviction, and that these moneys are invariably returned without reduction on the request of the tenant." Mr. George W. Buxton, writing to Monday's Times, shows, on the evidence both of United Ireland and of Mr. Dillon himself, how very far this statement is from em- bodying even an approximation to the " Plan of Campaign " as it was expounded and exulted in by its chosen apostles. A correspondent of United Ireland had suggested that it would be better to lodge the tenants' money with the treasurer of the Irish National League, rather than with unknown persons, to whom United Ireland replied, on October 30th, 1886 :—" The objection to the suggestion is manifest. What is desired is privacy as to the quarter in which the money is lodged." Again, Mr. Dillon, who said at Herbertatown (Limerick County) on April 27th last that two tenants who ran away, after putting their money " in the war-chest," "could not get it back again" (United Ireland, May 5th, 1888), signed his name on May 17th to the assertion that the money was always deposited by the tenants "with persons whom they knew and trusted." In a word, United Ireland and Mr. Dillon describe the " Plan of Campaign" in one way when they want to glorify its efficiency as a measure of war, and in quite an opposite way when they want to show how innocent it is, in answer to the Papal Rescript.
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