Article by Richard Pigott, [1881]. IE TCD MS 9386/1349

IE TCD MS 9386/1349: Press cutting of an article by Richard Pigott, undated but likely 1881, concerning the Irishman newspaper, and the impact of the Land League and land reform on the political landscape: "In such a condition of things the Irishman has vainly tried to keep the National flag afloat, and, while giving the movement for land reform an independent support, endeavoured to fix in the people's minds the idea that there ar ehigher and holier objects, of which they should not lose sight. But experience has shown me that the independent stand of the Irishman is an anachronism. It is now "aut Caesar, aut nulus" - Land League, and nothing else. Land law reform is a good thing, I admit, but independence is better; still better would be both combined. Land Leaguers, however, do not appear to think so. My friends will now see why it is that I have been obliged to resign my papers into the hands of those who are more in unison with the feeling of the country than I am. Henceforward the Irishman, Flag of Ireland, and Shamrock will belong solely to the Land League, and be conducted solely in the interests of that great organisation. In conclusion, while I unaffectedly regret the necessity which makes the severance of old associations imperative, I am not without hope that my humble efforts in the Irishman in sustainment of the National cause may eventually tend in some slight degree to the regeneration of my beloved country, and that I may yet look back upon them with pleasure. "Forsan et hoec olim meminisse juvabit.""