importance. It is simply a declaration for Home Rule and is quite a wonderful thing. With these men with us Home Rule may come at any moment." O'Brien welcomed it for the change it indicated in the attitude towards the national question of a powerful group of moderate Irish Conservatives. He welcomed it particularly for its harmony with his own principles of Conference, Conciliation and Consent. It was, he added, a fresh manifestation of the spirit of national fellowship and co-operation engendered by the Land Conference. Devolution is the Latin for Home Rule happily chimed in T. P. O'Connor MP from London In contrast John Dillon MP and Michael Davitt were wholly in discord, that the Association blocked the advance of the Nationalist cause. The diehard Unionists of Ulster were also against the scheme – "worse than Home Rule of the Gladstone type, or Repeal of the Union", said Sir Edward Carson MP. Devolution The head of the Civil Service in Dublin Castle, Sir Anthony MacDonnell, a Mayo Catholic originally appointed by Wyndham, anxious to do something for Ireland, helped Dunraven's group at his invitation and began to draft a scheme on the possible extension of the principle of self-government for Ireland. On 31 August 1904 the Reform Association released a preliminary report calling for the devolution of larger powers of local government for Ireland. This was followed by a publication on 26 September outlining a scheme foreseeing administrative control over Irish finances by a partly elected authority to promote bills for purely Irish purposes. When with the approval of the Lord-Lieutenant, the Earl of Dudley, MacDonnell sponsored this scheme for the devolution of certain domestic affairs to an Irish Council, it heralded high hopes for O'Brien, that Ireland had somehow entered a new era in which 'conference plus business' could replace agitation and parliamentary tactics as a primary strategy for achieving national goals. Crisis After the publication a storm broke loose. Wyndham publicly denied knowledge of the scheme and disavowed Home Rule in any guise, though MacDonnell let it be known that he had informed him. Wyndham later claimed he mislaid his letter. The whole matter developed into the "Devolution Crisis of 1904–5", a complex affair, involving political intrigue and personal drama. The reports became quickly less significant than the scandal that the Unionist administration in Dublin Castle, headed by Wyndham and Dudley, had apparently “gone native” and succumbed