Leaf 20 recto

But the [chief and indeed] the paramount advantage of my
plan which any fool could see with half an eye, was
that I was fighting English influences in a really
effectual way, and one which, much as the Unionists
and the anti-Irishmen hated it, it was quite impossible
for them to fight [with] against. We were doing the only
business that really counted, we were keeping Ireland
Irish, and that in a way that the Government and
the Unionists though perfectly furious were powerless
to approve. So long as we remained a non-political
body there was no end to what we could do.
But the moment we became political all the sig-
-nificance of the movement as [a national] one to build
up a nation from all classes and creeds, came to an
instant end, and left the League on very unstable ground
if the Govt cares to attack it.