On 11 January 1847, Fintan Lalor began to publish a series of "stirring and controversial letters and articles to newspapers such as The Felon and The Nation". Writing from Tenakill, his family home, Fintan Lalor put forward his views on current affairs and in particularly on land reform. His manner and style of writing quickly caught the attention of both its readers and staff. T. F. O’Sullivan commented that “the journal realise that a new force had arisen in the political world.” In the first letter, Fintan Lalor stated that contrasted with the question of the land, Repeal “was a petty, parish question.” On this he was quite emphatic “I will never contribute one shilling, or give my name, heart or hand for such an object as the simple Repeal.”