 Lauded as a future party leader, in late 1906 he went to America, participating in a number of propaganda and fund-raising meetings.In the House of Commons at Westminster he was renowned as an amusing and often caustic speaker, as a staunch supporter of the Irish Party and its constitutional path to Home Rule, also engaging in debates for the provision of higher education for Irish Catholics and on Ireland's economic condition.He was deeply steeped in European culture.