wanted was to remain at Local Government, but when George Wyndham resigned as Chief Secretary for Ireland, Balfour was faced with a crisis. Wyndham resigned on 5 March 1905, over what became known as the "Wyndham-MacDonnell Imbroglio". Sir Antony MacDonnell was a successful Indian civil servant appointed as administrator in Dublin by Wyndham, on the strict understanding that the permanent post made MacDonnell's role a non-political position. MacDonnell was a Catholic from Mayo, whose appointment left unionists wondering if they had been betrayed by London. Nevertheless, having been an experienced and competent implementer of the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903, MacDonnell came to be widely seen as a force for moderation. Wyndham was occupied in London with cabinet duties, and so appreciated the implied need for permanent governance. Balfour had already considered Long for the post in January 1905, and to that end consulted both Edward Carson and John Atkinson under pressure from Horace Plunkett and Gerald Balfour, to continue the policy of moderate reform. Due to his Irish connections (both his wife and his mother were Irish), it was hoped that Long might be more acceptable to Irish Unionists than his predecessor. Long was reluctant to accept the offer; frustrated and angered by Lord Dunraven's proposals and MacDonnell's initiatives that he regarded as anti-Unionist. In mid-March he was determined to bring Unionism back from the brink of extinction in Ireland. Arriving in Dublin on 15 March, at dinner there he took the pragmatic view to work with MacDonnell. Throughout March and April he saw no grounds for MacDonnell's dismissal. Yet labouring closely with Unionists to discuss agrarian and non-agrarian crime, and discipline in the RIC, he continued to appease Unionist opinion. He appointed Unionists William Moore as Solicitor-General for Ireland, John Atkinson, as Lord of Appeal, while Edward Saunderson, the Ulsterite member of the Orange Order, became a confidant and close friend. Patronage was usually dispensed by the Lord Lieutenant: this sparked a row with Lord Dudley, and a constitutional argument prompted an appeal to the Prime Minister. Long's motto of "patience and firmness" was designed to placate Irish Unionists at public meetings, speeches and tours of Ireland, made to reassure local community officials. On 20 April 1905, he made an important speech at Belfast emphasizing that he was a stickler for order and the rule of law. But in the south and west, obdurate landlords refused land sales