An order was issued calling on the Volunteers to elect additional representatives by counties to be added to the Committee.

Redmond at once publicly declared that this amounted to refusal of his offer, and he put the issue very plainly.

The Provisional Committee was originally self-constituted and had been increased only by co-option.

The majority of its members, he was informed, were not supporters of the Irish party: of the rank and file at least 95 per cent., he said, were supporters of the Irish party and its policy.
"This is a condition of things which plainly cannot continue.

The rank and file of the Volunteers and the responsible leaders of the Irish people are entitled, and indeed are bound, to demand some security that an attempt shall not be made in the name of the Volunteers to dictate policy to the National party who, as the elected representatives of the people, are charged with the responsibility of deciding upon the policy best calculated to bring the National movement to success.
"Moreover, a military organization is of its very nature so grave and serious an undertaking that every responsible Nationalist in the country who supports it is entitled to the most substantial guarantees against any possible imprudence.