and authority that MacDonnell enjoyed in India was greater than any he could hope to hold as Under-Secretary in Ireland. Additionally, the Government in London was in the hands of the Conservative Party; MacDonnell was a Liberal and a Catholic. The decision to offer the role to MacDonnell may have had its origins in the Conservative policy of "killing Home Rule with kindness". It is clear that MacDonnell saw his role as far more significant than that of an administrative functionary. At the time of his appointment as Under-Secretary, he was also given a seat on the Council of India, to provide an alternative should his time in Ireland fail to meet his expectations. His commitment to Ireland, however, had become clear by 1903, in which year he was offered a return to India as Governor of Bombay; King Edward VII intervened to persuade MacDonnell that he was needed more in Ireland than in India. MacDonnell's early years as Under-Secretary were a success. The Conservative Chief Secretary, Wyndham, was supportive of constructive steps to reform systems of land tenure in Ireland, and the 1902 Land Conference resulted in the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903, which allowed tenants to buy their holdings from landlords through a system of state-provided loans. Plans for reform of the Dublin Castle administration were also brought forward. Following on from these administrative reforms, MacDonnell entered more politically dangerous territory, by collaborating with several liberal landlords led by the Fourth Earl of Dunraven in drawing up a plan for the devolution of some governmental authority from the Westminster parliament to an elected council in Dublin, albeit in a manner consistent with the Act of Union 1800. The landowners involved formed a group known as the Irish Reform Association, and published the outline of the scheme in a 1904 manifesto; Lord Dunraven requested that MacDonnell formulate the plan in greater detail. Understanding that he had the support of the new Lord Lieutenant, Lord Dudley, as well as Wyndham, MacDonnell proceeded to draft a document on Dublin Castle notepaper which constituted a second devolution manifesto, and sent it to Dunraven, who had it published. It quickly became publicly known that MacDonnell had assisted the Irish Reform Association in the drafting of the scheme. This enraged Ulster Unionist interests, who had in any event been suspicious of MacDonnell due to his known sympathies toward Home Rule. The events precipitated a