But now it was too late.

He was pledged.

He had joined the League.
He was its chief, and his defection might mean its disintegration at the very time when it needed all its strength to fight the land cases.

More than a mere deal in bad politics was involved.

There was the land grab.
His withdrawal from an unholy cause would mean the weakening, perhaps the collapse, of another cause that he believed to be righteous as truth itself.