Treason, seeking support from socialistic greed, was thus the origin of the Land League conspiracy, for this was its only legitimate name. I have glanced at this movement, on its political side, as it was associated with the cause of Home Rule; I must here consider it on its agrarian side, the most prominent, if not the most dangerous, to the State.[64] The compact between Davitt and the moderates of the Clan na Gael was called the 'New Departure;' Davitt returned to Ireland to stir up what became known as the 'Land War;' Fenian emissaries went to Ireland, about the same time, in order to collect arms and to drill peasants, with a view to a possible rising should the occasion be found. Meanwhile, Davitt had addressed himself to what was more immediately at hand; in the spring of 1879 he got a meeting together, in his native county, Mayo, at which 'landlordism' and all its works were savagely denounced; during the following months other meetings of the same sort were held, but as yet only in the western province of Connaught. At these gatherings the crusade against the landed gentry went on; rebellious utterances were blended with ferocious diatribes against[65] landlords sometimes marked out for vengeance by name; and the peasantry were called on to keep 'a firm grip on their lands;' these would become their own should they only be steadfast. The Land League movement was now launched on its course; but it was known to be an essentially Fenian movement; it was subsidised from Clan na Gael funds; it was supported by a murderous Clan na Gael print; it was condemned in the severest language by an aged Catholic prelate, one of the few of O'Connell's surviving friends. The movement, however, as yet was not of much strength; Davitt had opinions about the 'nationalisation of the land,' which, like those of the Fenian leaders of 1865-67, were not to the mind of the peasantry; his efforts, hitherto, had not had much success. In this position of affairs he addressed himself to Parnell, who had had Fenian sympathies and associations for years, and had, we have seen, attracted Fenian admiration abroad; what passed between the two men has not transpired; but Parnell, if with reluctance, consented at last to become the head of the Land League and to direct the movement. The measures he adopted were skilfully designed, in harmony with the 'New Departure,' and with the double-dealing nature of a true conspirator. A Central Land League was established in Dublin; it was to have 'branches' extending through the country; it was to make a steady attack on the land system. Its professed objects, however, were constitutional, nay, fair; it was 'to agitate against rack-rents and unjust evictions,' and to 'facilitate the ownership of the soil by its occupants.' The ultimate purpose of the League, nevertheless, was that of the Fenian chiefs; of its seven high officers four were Fenians; it was wholly supported by Fenian moneys; its most prominent members made a boast of their Fenian sentiments.[66] It was, in a word, a rebellious organisation in a constitutional garb; it was the embodiment of what Parnell avowed afterwards: 'A true revolutionary movement in Ireland should, in my opinion, partake both of a constitutional and an illegal character. It should be both an open and a secret organisation, using the Constitution for its own purposes, but also taking advantage of its secret combination.'[67]