Anti-Parnellite Course
He was released in September, and in the spring of 1889 sailed for Australia and New Zealand, where he collected funds for the Nationalist party. On his return to Ireland he was again arrested, but, being allowed bail, sailed to America, and failed to appear at the trial. He returned to Ireland by way of Boulogne, where he and William O'Brien held long and indecisive discussions with Parnell after his divorce crisis over his continued leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party. When these broke down they surrendered to the police in February, and were interred in Galway gaol from where they were released in July 1890.
Both he and O’Brien had become increasingly perturbed with the tenor of Irish politics as epitomised by Timothy Healy. After Parnell’s divorce case the leader refused to step down and the party split. Dillon was one of his strongest opponents and joined the majority anti-Parnellite block, the Irish National Federation (INF), with Justin McCarthy becoming its leader. John Redmond led the minority pro-Parnellite Irish National League (INL) after Parnell’s death later in 1891. When the Liberals reclaimed office in 1892 Dillon took part in the negotiations on the second Home Rule Bill, the Irish Government Bill 1893, which was rejected by the House of Lords. Although he never lost sight of home rule or the land question, particularly the evicted tenants, he now concentrated on the day-to-day running of the INF as deputy-chairman.
Read more about this topic: John Dillon