IFE 
 
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 CharlesS.Parnell 
 
 MP. 
 
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THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. 
 
 CONTAINING A 
 
 DETAILED ACCOUNT OF HIS ANCESTRY, BIRTH, 
 AND EARLY TRAINING. 
 
 JOINS THE HOME RULE LEAGUE, first APPEARANCE ON' THE POLITICAL 
 STAGE, THE MEATS BU KD ill- ENTRY IMu RAEL1MENT, 
 
 ALLIES HIMSELF WITH JOE BIGGAE AM) INAUGURATES THE 
 "OBSTRUCTION" CA.Ml'AH.N, Ills VISIT TO THE UNITED 
 I HE BE LBJBB Of THE NATIONAL ADDRESS, 
 ADDRESSES THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
 TIVES. RETURNS AND 
 
 IS ELECTED FOR CORK CITY, 
 
 PASSING OF THE land BILL, PIOHT AGAINST coercion and EXPULSION Of 
 THE IRISH If EMBERS, SI PRE8SION OF THE LAND i.eacce and IMPRISON- 
 MENT OF MB. PARNELL AND OTHER LEADERS, Tin: "NO RENT" 
 MANIFESTO, THE KILMAINBAM TREATY, FIHENIX PARK TRAGEDY 
 AND Tin: REPRESSION LCT, nil-: ARREARS act, Tin. LABOR] 
 DWELLINGS ACT, DEFEAT OF THE LIBERAL MINISTRY.- 
 ERAL ELECTION AND TRIUMPH Of THE NATIONAL TARTY, 
 
 THE " THREE ACRES and a cow." OVERTHROW Of THE 
 
 TORY ADMINISTRATION. INTRODUCTION OF HOME 
 
 RILE BY GLADSTONE His GREAT SPEECH, 
 
 DIVISION ON THE HOME RULE BILL 
 
 JUNE 7TB, 1888. 
 
 BY* 
 
 THOMAS SHERLOCK and J. S. MAHONEY. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS OF THE PROMINENT IRISH 
 MEMBERS OF PARLIMENT. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 MURPHY AND MCCARTHY, 
 
 27 Warren Street. 
 
I 
 
 c: 
 
 COPYRIGHT. 1381, 
 
 By MURPHY & MCCARTHY. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL, M.P. 
 
 Before sketching the career of Mr. Parnell 
 
 from his birth to the present hour, we deem it 
 proper to give some account of the sources 
 whence he sprang. It will be found that on the 
 maternal as well as on the paternal side he had a 
 distinguished ancestry ; the former being as noted 
 for honest, hearty hate of English oppression and 
 love of domination as the latter for sincere and 
 practical Irish patriotism. 
 
 The story we have to tell must naturally pos- 
 sess a powerful interest for the Irish people ; but 
 even if Charles Stewart Parnell were not so en- 
 deared to them as he is, the record would have 
 intrinsically a strong attraction for every reader, 
 for it deals with a number of people eminent or 
 illustrious in their day, some of whom played 
 leading parts on the world's great stage, and 
 some, again, about whose lives there is all the 
 brilliancy of romance. In this latter category 
 stands the Irish-American Admiral Stewart, 
 whose daring and successful exploits on the 
 ocean, iu especial against the British in the war 
 of 1812, were extraordinary, and whoso splendid 
 
 M128291 
 
4 0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 career will be traced with considerable fulness of 
 detail in a subsequent paper. Another of Mr. 
 Parnell's maternal ancestors, Judge Tudor, took 
 a stern part against the British in the American 
 war of independence ; so that we have the inter- 
 esting fact that the gallant member for Meath has 
 in his veins the blood of men who fought against 
 England in the two wars between that country 
 and the United States. We may add here that 
 the facts we shall set down will be drawn from 
 authentic sources, many of which are not gener- 
 ally available. 
 
 Beginning with the Parnells, we must say at the 
 outset that they were originally an English family, 
 settled for many centuries in the neighborhood 
 of Congleton in Cheshire. Whatever English 
 prejudices concerning Ireland they may have had 
 at first they soon lost ; the English sympathies 
 they must have brought with them in the begin- 
 ning grew more and more modified as generation 
 after generation intermarried in Ireland, until at 
 length the family obtained renown for its Irish 
 patriotism. 
 
 Strange it is, but true, that many of our most 
 honored patriots of the past — the men whose 
 memory the Irish people will ever cherish and 
 reverence — sprang originally from the alien race. 
 They saw the great mass of the people ground 
 into powder, and at the same time cut off from 
 their natural leaders by the infamous penal laws ; 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 5 
 
 and with generous hearts aflame with indignation 
 they sprang to the front, and thought, wrote, 
 spoke, fought, and died in the effort to right Ire- 
 laud's wrongs. So we had Tones and Emmets, 
 Sheareses and Fitzgeralds, leading the people, 
 when O'Briens and MaeCarthys, Kavanaghs and 
 O'Neills were hidden away in enforced obscurity. 
 Times have changed since then, and numbers of 
 men of the old race have taken and are taking 
 the part that befits them in the front rank of our 
 political life ; but deep down in Ireland's grateful 
 heart — rooted, fixed, immovable — is the passion- 
 ate recollection of services rendered and sacrifices 
 made in her cause by so many whose ancestors of 
 a few generations before were as English as the 
 towers of Windsor Castle. Never again will it 
 be possible to create disunion, as in former days, 
 between "the old Irish" and "the new Irish." 
 The unalterable creed of our people is the creed 
 so well preached by Thomas Davis : — 
 
 " Yet start not, Irish-born man — 
 If you're to Ireland true, 
 We heed not blood, nor creed, nor clan — 
 We have no curse for you. 
 
 " And oh ! it were a gallant deed 
 
 To show before mankind 
 How every race and every creed 
 
 Might be by love combined — 
 Might be combined, yet not forget 
 
 The fountains whence they rose 
 As filled by many a rivulet 
 
 The stately Shannon flows." 
 
6 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 The founder of the Parnell family in Ireland 
 was one Thomas, who came over from Cheshire 
 about the time of the restoration of the Stuart 
 dynasty to the British throne in the person of 
 Charles the Second. 
 
 Thomas Parnell bought an estate in the Queen's 
 County, and so came by it in an honester way 
 than three-fourths of the ancestors of the present 
 landed proprietors of Ireland. He throve on this 
 estate ; his affairs prospered ; and he gave an 
 excellent education to his two sons, John and 
 Thomas, whom he respectively devoted to law and 
 the Church. 
 
 John, the younger, who finally came into the 
 family estates, both in Ireland and England, was 
 a man of ability and prominence in his day. He 
 attained a seat in the Court of Queen's Bench, and 
 died, leaving behind him accumulated property. 
 
 The parson was also a man of much ability, and 
 enjoyed, not only in his own day, but even up to 
 a generation ago, considerable renown as a poet. 
 He was also a scholar and a wit. He was born 
 in Dublin in 1669, and educated at Trinity Col- 
 lege, where he took his degree of M. A. in 1700. 
 Three years afterwards he was ordained ; and in 
 1705 he received the appointment of Archdeacon 
 of Clogher. But his predilections leaned more 
 towards literary work than to ministerial duties, 
 and he preferred to mingle with Swift and Addi- 
 son, Steele, Congreve, and Pope, in the warm 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 7 
 
 London coffee-houses, than to mumble through 
 written-out homilies in the cold church of Clogher. 
 Some excuse may be found for him, however ; for, 
 although he was probably never reduced to the 
 extremity of his friend Dean Swift at Laracor, 
 when, unable truthfully to begin his sermon with 
 the formal "Dearly beloved brethren," he com- 
 menced his address to his sole listener, the parish 
 clerk, with the famous " Dearly beloved Roger," 
 Parson ParnelFs congregation must of necessity 
 have been scanty. So in Loudon he spent much 
 of his time, writing poems of a highly moral ten- 
 dency, as befitted a preacher of the Gospel, occa- 
 sionally trying his hand at prose, but more often # 
 revelling in the enjoyment of the brilliant conver- 
 sation of the wits with whom he mixed. 
 
 His wife, a lady celebrated both for her beauty 
 and her amiability, died after a union with him of 
 but seven years. He never recovered from the 
 blow. Thenceforth, to the end of his own life, he 
 was subject to fits of despondency, and generally 
 shunned the gay society fn which formerly he had 
 taken such keen delight. Dean Swift obtained 
 for him the living of Finglas, near Dublin, and so 
 added another to the literary attractions and mem- 
 ories which, through Steele, Addison, Tickell, 
 Sheridan, Delany, and Swift himself, surround 
 the neighborhood of the old hamlet of Glasnevin. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Parnell died at a comparatively 
 early age, on his way from London to Ireland, in 
 
8 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 the ancient city of Chester, in 1717. His remains 
 were interred in one of the churches of the place 
 of his death. He was only in his thirty-eighth 
 year, and had survived his wife but for half a de- 
 cade. He had issue ; but his branch of the Par- 
 nell family soon died out. Among his prose 
 works was the "Life of Homer" which was pre- 
 fixed to the poet Pope's translation of the Iliad. 
 Pope held Parnell in high honor, and after his 
 death edited an edition of his poems. Other 
 poets joined in applauding him. Oliver Gold- 
 smith wrote of him that " his language is the lan- 
 guage of life, conveying the warmest thoughts in 
 .the simplest expressions." The Scotch poet, 
 Campbell, still more laudatory, says of Pamelas 
 poetry that" its compass is not extensive, but its 
 tone is peculiarly delightful, from the graceful and 
 reserved sensibility that accompanied his polished 
 phraseology." And he adds : "The studied hap- 
 piness of his diction does not spoil its simplicity. 
 His poetry is like a flower that has been trained 
 and planted by the skill of the gardener, but 
 which preserves, in its cultured state, the natural 
 fragrance of its milder air." Even Dr. Johnson 
 joined in the chorus of praise, saying of Parnell 
 that " he is sprightly without effort, and always 
 delights, though he never ravishes;" and further 
 observes concerning some of his poems : " It is 
 impossible to say whether they are the produc- 
 tions of nature so excellent as not to want the 
 
0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 9 
 
 help of art, or of art so refined as to resemble 
 nature." With this brief notice we must be con- 
 tent to part from the one bard of the Parnell 
 family. 
 
 John, the judge, was more fortunate with re- 
 gard to posterity than his brother. He left behind 
 him a son — another John — from whom descended 
 a line of illustrious men. First there was this lat- 
 ter John, who sat in the Irish House of Commons 
 as member for Maryborough for several successive 
 Parliaments. He is described as ee a man of great 
 integrity and most amiable character." The * great 
 integrity" was undoubtedly hereditary in the fam- 
 ily, as we shall see; the "amiability*' has de- 
 scended too, with this difference — that it is not 
 unvarying or unalterable, but is at timed con- 
 sidered very much out of place, more especially 
 in the British House of Commons. 
 
 John, the judge, had settled at Rathlengue in 
 Queen's County ; and, as previously intimated, 
 had left his son a man of good estate. This 
 latter, the member for Maryborough, married in 
 1744 into a family which, if names are to be re- 
 lied on, must have been of tolerably pure Gaelic 
 blood. His spouse was Anne Ward, daughter 
 of Michael Ward, of Castle Ward, county Down. 
 Those Wards were by no means ashamed of their 
 Irish name, as is proved by the fact that they be- 
 stowed it on their residence. The Wards of Cas- 
 tle Ward were people of consequence in their 
 
10 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 day ; a brother of Mrs. Anne Parnell having been 
 created Lord Bangor. Her husband, too, — the 
 " man of great integrity " — must have been a man 
 of ability also, and have "done the State some 
 service," for we find that he was created a baronet 
 in the year 1766, and was thenceforth entitled to 
 be addressed as M Sir John." 
 
 Sir John had a son, also christened John, con- 
 cerning whom more must be said than of his 
 father. While the father sat as member for Mary- 
 borough, the son entered the House of Commons 
 in Collegegreen as member for Bangor. Both, 
 in fact, were striving together to serve their 
 country in a public capacity — and by this time 
 the Parnells had learned to think no country in 
 the world as theirs but Ireland. 
 
 The son was a remarkable man. He had a 
 genuine talent for business ; and as the circum- 
 stances of the family forbade its exercise in the 
 paths of commerce, he gave the full benefit of it 
 to his land. In public speaking he never at- 
 tempted to be rhetorical ; at a time when Irish 
 Parliamentary orators sought after brilliant pe- 
 riods and pointed epigrams and flashing images, 
 this John Parnell, of whom we now speak, was 
 content to say out his thoughts plainly, without 
 straining after ornament. Wholly unaffected in 
 feeling, he was satisfied with "correct language 
 and a delivery close to his subject ; " and indeed 
 seems to have concerned himself more with the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 11 
 
 matter than the manner of his speeches — to have 
 been more solicitous to have something weighty 
 to say than as to the way in which he said it. He 
 is described as being a man of "blunt honesty, 
 a strong discriminating mind, and good talents." 
 
 His father — the ^man of great integrity" — 
 died in the year of the declaration of the inde- 
 pendence of the Irish Parliament, 1782, and left 
 him in turn "Sir John." This second Sir John 
 was colonel of a regiment of the famous Volun- 
 teers of '82, and at a very early stage of the move- 
 ment for independence both himself and his corps 
 adopted it zealously and strenuously, lb 4 clung 
 to it without swerving till his last breath, though 
 he had the misfortune to live to see the unforgiv- 
 able crime of the Union accomplished. After the 
 death of his father he became member for Queeu'd 
 Count}', for which he was elected again and again 
 until the extinction of the native Parliament in 
 which he had labored so long and so honestly. 
 
 From an early period of his career he was 
 selected for the holding of office. In 1780, while 
 yet plain John Parnell, he was appointed a com- 
 missioner of the revenue ; he was made a privy 
 councillor in 178G ; and in 1787, when the Right 
 Honorable John Foster — another firm opponent 
 of the Union — vacated the post of Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer to take up that of Speaker of the 
 Irish House of Commons, Sir John Parnell suc- 
 ceeded him in the Chancellorship. In this posi- 
 
12 C. S, PARKELL, M. P. 
 
 tion he took an honest, independent part as a 
 member of the Ministry, and devoted himself with 
 zeal to the furthering of practical measures to for- 
 ward the prosperity of his native land. He 
 lightened the burden of taxation on the people ; 
 he limited the pension list so that the Government 
 were hampered in buying disgraceful political ser- 
 vice at the expense of the country ; he secured a 
 favorable commercial treaty with France to the 
 great advantage of Irish trade ; and he promoted 
 the canal system at home for the better develop- 
 ment of our industrial resources — very creditable 
 work indeed for the eleven years during which he 
 held the seals of the Chancellorship. 
 
 He seems to have been so immersed in his use- 
 ful projects as not to have given requisite care to 
 the consideration of the larger and wider political 
 principles which were then being enunciated in 
 Ireland. Fatal fault ! Keform would have saved 
 our Parliament, yet Sir John Parnell continued to 
 hold his position in the Ministry that refused Ke- 
 form, he dreaming, apparently, that inattention to 
 the question could never surely pave the way for 
 the overthrow of the native legislature he so high- 
 ly prized. He was destined to a rude awakening. 
 
 After the collapse of '98, when the country lay 
 bleeding, bound, and helpless at the feet of wicked, 
 rampant, and unscrupulous power, Sir John Par- 
 nell was sent for, and the project of the Union 
 broached to him. His advice, forsooth, on the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 13 
 
 question was first requested. He gave it prompt- 
 ly — gave it firmly — gave it inflexibly. It would 
 be a ruinous measure for Ireland. 
 
 The villain Castlereagh was much concerned at 
 Sir John's attitude. His personal influence in the 
 House of Commons was great, on account of his 
 admitted honesty, judgment, and talents. His 
 secession from the Ministry would of necessity 
 weaken it. Besides, he represented at least two 
 unpurchasable votes; for, having married early 
 in life a daughter of the Right Hon. Arthur Brooke, 
 he had now a son, Henry, standing beside him on 
 the floor of the House as member for Maryborough, 
 and possessed of as much integrity and firmness 
 of purpose as any of his predecessors. Castle- 
 reagh was at length reduced to his last shift with 
 Sir John Parnell, who was left the option of "re- 
 vising his opinions" with regard to the destruction 
 of the Irish Parliament, or relinquishing his post 
 with its honors and emoluments, and the certain 
 prospect of elevation to the peerage — the post, 
 too, in which he had already been enabled to do 
 so much for the good of his fellow-countrymen. 
 
 It was not in the nature of Sir John Parnell to 
 hesitate before such a choice. He honestly believed 
 a free legislature to be necessary for Ireland's weal, 
 so he abandoned his office, turned his back on its 
 advantages, crossed the floor of the House, and 
 flung himself into the ranks of the patriotic Oppo- 
 
14 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 sition, where in the debates on the Union question 
 he did effective service. 
 
 Sir John Parnell's constituents of Queen's 
 County presented him with an address approving 
 of his conduct. The address was dated the 18th 
 Jauuary, 1799, and was signed on behalf of the 
 electors by the high sheriff of the county. In it 
 they remarked that although he had been a mem- 
 ber of the Ministry they had such unbounded con- 
 fidence in his honor that they did not hesitate to 
 elect him three times in succession, and that now 
 he had proved to them that that confidence was 
 justified. In his reply he promised to continue 
 his opposition to the Union project " as a measure 
 which seems to me more likely to endanger than 
 to give strength to the State " — the State that 
 was in his thoughts being Ireland of course. He 
 declined to allow any weight to the arguments in 
 favor of the Union frequently advanced from the 
 legislative union between Scotland and England. 
 He admitted no analogy between the cases. "Scot- 
 land," he said, "in respect to its commerce, was 
 sure of advantages, and did not then risk an ex- 
 tensive trade such as Ireland possesses." 
 
 The merchants and traders of Dublin city — 
 most of them Orangemen, be it remembered — 
 were delighted with his spirited behavior ; and 
 they too approached him with a highly compli- 
 mentary address, in which they alluded to his ex- 
 pulsion from the Ministry. In reply to them he 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 15 
 
 said with quiet dignity: "As to my personal 
 situation I acquiesce under it without any adverse 
 feeling. The regards of the most respectable and 
 the most honorable members of the community are 
 a better foundation of honest pride than rank and 
 emolument." 
 
 The Maryborough yeomanry, of which he was 
 captain, "added their tribute of respect and con- 
 gratulation," and presented him with a sword of 
 honor, "as a testimony," they said, "of your dig- 
 nified and independent principles and conduct." 
 He told them in return that he would be proud to 
 wear that sword in defence of their king, "and of 
 his kingdom of Ireland." 
 
 To the last Sir John Parnell and his son Henry 
 actively opposed the Union, both in the House of 
 Commons and elsewhere. Others who began on 
 their side of the question grew weak and accepted 
 bribes, either in place, pension or title, until the 
 farce of carrying the odious measure by a pur- 
 chased majority was gone through in 1800. But, 
 whoever might waver, the two Parnells would not. 
 They stood firm and unbending to the end, un- 
 tempted by the golden showers rained from the 
 Treasury, unallured by the coronet that would 
 gladly have been offered as the wages of degra- 
 dation — indeed as a cheap recompense for their 
 betrayal of their country. 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington contributes the following 
 testimony to Sir John Parneirs character, and it 
 
16 C. S. PARNELL, M. P 
 
 is all the higher when we remember how at that 
 period politicians of all shades, both in England 
 and Ireland, strove to divert as much as possible 
 of the public revenue into the pockets of them- 
 selves or their relations: "Though many yesrs 
 in possession of high office and extensive patron- 
 age, he showed a disinterestedness almost un- 
 paralleled ; and the name of a relative or a 
 dependent of his own scarcely in a single instance 
 increased the place or the pension lists of Ireland." 
 In Grattan's Life his character is described thus : 
 "An honest, straightforward, independent man, 
 possessed of considerable ability and much public 
 spirit; . . . amiable in private, mild in dispo- 
 sition, but firm in mind and purpose." 
 
 After the Union Sir John was sent to the Lon- 
 don House of Commons by his old constituency, 
 the electors of the Queen's County. But he did 
 not long survive his country's Parliament. Death 
 seized him, without much warning, on the 5th De- 
 cember, 1801, in London. He was succeeded in 
 the title and estates by his son, Henry, whose 
 career was also a very distinguished one, and 
 highly honoring to himself. He entered the 
 British Parliament as member for the Queen's 
 County in 1802, and while there was always the 
 staunch friend of the oppressed Catholics. 
 
 All the members returned to the London Par- 
 liament from Ireland — even those who had been 
 most devoted to their native legislature, and who 
 
C. S. PARXELT,, M. r. 17 
 
 had striven hardest against its extinction — ac- 
 cepted in quiet their new position. Grattan him- 
 self, though he advised his countrymen to "keep 
 knocking at the Union" in the hope of demolish- 
 ing it, never dreamt that the place where the 
 hardest knocks of all could be given was in the 
 London Parliament itself. It never occurred to 
 him that by using his great powers towards the 
 hampering of every proceeding of that institution 
 he could offer to the British only a choice between 
 the disintegration of their own legislature, or the 
 restoration of the Irish one. Yet nothing seems 
 more likely than that if the Irish representation 
 as a whole had behaved, from the very beginning 
 in 1801, as a foreign substance introduced into the 
 imperial body, rankling in it more and more as 
 time went on, straitening it in its every action, 
 making it feel sore at every movement, the British 
 would very soon have been heartily sick of the 
 Union, and been glad to submit to the one oper- 
 ation that alone would relieve them from the 
 inflaming foreign substance. Of course, in fol- 
 lowing this line, the Irish members, to be success- 
 ful, should have acted with prudence as well as 
 firmness, and, while availing themselves of every 
 Parliamentary privilege, should have been careful 
 to keep well within Parliamentary rules; but 
 want either of tact or of courage was not charac- 
 teristic of the Irish gentlemen of the beginning 
 of the present century, unless the records of the 
 
18 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 time misrepresent them much. Indeed, it re- 
 quired no greater degree of those qualities to be 
 generally antagonistic and troublesome than it did 
 to face, on numerous special occasions, the angry 
 demon of English bigotry on the Catholic ques- 
 tion ; yet several Irish members did so face it, 
 and among them one of the foremost was Sir 
 Henry Parnell. 
 
 Sir Henry Parnell's instincts and convictions 
 were all towards liberal ideas. From a very early 
 period of his career he espoused the cause of his 
 downtrodden Catholic countrymen with the ardor 
 and honesty of his family. His pen as well as 
 his voice he laboriously exerted in their behalf. 
 It is hardly possible to exaggerate the beneficial 
 effect on the cause of Emancipation, produced by 
 his " History of the Penal Laws " and his " His- 
 torical Apology for the Irish Catholics." A Prot- 
 estant himself, and one whose honor and disin- 
 terestedness were beyond question by even the 
 most malignant bigot, his powerful arrays of facts 
 supporting his strong arguments must have con- 
 verted many a sturdy but honest foe into a friend 
 of the Catholic claims. In the British House of 
 Commons also, he took every opportunity of 
 speaking on behalf of his Catholic countrymen's 
 rights. He was the constant ally of Grattan and 
 Plunket in the many debates raised from time to 
 time on the Catholic question in that House. 
 Every one knows that it was the mass of the Irish 
 
C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 19 
 
 people under O'Connell, who in the end overthrew 
 the stronghold of British bigotry ; yet sight 
 should not be lost of the fact that the three Irish 
 Protestants just named, in conjunction with some 
 others and some liberal-minded English ones, 
 made the first sharp assaults, took the formidable 
 outworks, and undermined the massive walls. 
 Though the details of their efforts be not now 
 generally remembered — though, in fact, there be 
 tens of thousands in Ireland who have never even 
 heard of their endeavors — one remarkable conse- 
 quence of those and like generous efforts unalter- 
 ably remains. There is no office of trust or 
 honor in the gift of Irish Catholics to which an 
 Irish Protestant may not aspire, in the full con- 
 fidence that it will be given to him as freely as if 
 he worshipped in the same temple as they, pro- 
 vided only that he show himself a true Irishman. 
 One particular hardship pertaining to the lot 
 of Irish Catholics excited Sir Henry Parneirs 
 deepest pity for the victims, and his warmest in- 
 dignation against the intolerable oppression — 
 the tithe system. Pressed to the very earth by 
 the exactions of his landlord — often reduced, 
 after all his unending toil from year's end to 
 year's end, to subsist on a scanty portion of the 
 humblest fare, to live in a hovel not a whit better 
 than a pigsty, and to clothe himself in a raiment 
 of tatters such as the ragman would not touch 
 with his crook, much less put into his bag — the 
 
20 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 peasant had still to support in idleness and lux- 
 ury the parson whose ministrations he utterly 
 rejected, and whose teachings he declined with- 
 out thanks. The parson, on his part, sought his 
 "tithes" much as a wolf seeks its prey, and com- 
 monly seemed to take a fiendish pleasure in add- 
 ing every circumstance of aggravation to the 
 collection of the hateful impost. Sir Henry Par- 
 nell beheld all this, and his heart was wrung with 
 compassion, his soul was moved with righteous 
 wrath. With pains and labor he gathered revolt- 
 ing instances of the shocking oppressiveness of 
 the tithe exaction, and brought them before the 
 British House of Commons. He exposed the 
 rapacity of numerous clergymen of the estab- 
 lished Church in regard to tithes ; held up to 
 public execration the diabolical ingenuity which, 
 by the addition of legal costs, ran up the sum for 
 which the peasant was liable to five or six times 
 its original amount ; he showed the monstrosity 
 of having the tithe-claimers themselves the judges 
 of their own cases against the peasantry in M the 
 bishop's court ; " and denounced the glaring 
 wickedness of parsons like the one who dis- 
 trained five sheep from a farmer for a tithe of 
 five shillings, and bought them in himself after- 
 wards, under the distress, for a shilling apiece. 
 As with Emancipation, so with tithes — it was 
 the Irish people themselves who overturned the 
 abominable system at last ; but the task was ren- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 21 
 
 clered easier for them by Sir Henry Parncll ; his 
 battering rams had shaken the citadel of iniquity 
 to its foundations, and but that it was buttressed 
 by the combined aristocratic and ecclesiastic 
 power of England it must have fallen before their 
 shocks. 
 
 Both before and after Emancipation Sir Henry 
 was in general politics what used to be called a 
 Radical. Taught, probably, by his experience of 
 the Irish Parliament, he was devoted to reform 
 of the English one. He lived to become a peer 
 of Great Britain ; but all his life he was heart 
 and soul a democrat, lie was one of the men 
 who are said to be in advance of their time, hut 
 whose life-labors are nevertheless fruitful for 
 those who come after them. Among the projects 
 he advocated in the British House of Commons 
 were the abolition of all laws restricting either 
 labor or capital, including the abolition of the 
 corn law r s which made the food of the people 
 dear ; the removal of all unequal taxes, and the 
 substitution of a property tax ; the shortening of 
 the term for which members of Parliament are 
 elected, so that constituencies could sooner deal 
 with those who misrepresent them ; an extension 
 of the franchise ; the introduction of the ballot 
 for the protection of voters from intimidation ; 
 and the abolition of flogging in the army and 
 navy, and of impressment in the latter. Most of 
 these projects have since been converted into the 
 
22 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 law of the British empire; and so lately as 1879 
 Mr. C. S. Parnell carried into effect one of the 
 leading ideas of his far-seeing and reforming rel- 
 ative by virtually "killing the 'cat.'" 
 
 The English people, as well as the Irish, have 
 much for which to thank Mr. C. S. Parnell ; and 
 the case is exactly like with Sir Henry. He it 
 was who opened for them the way to a reform 
 of their Parliament. William the Fourth came 
 to the British throne in the August of 1830. 
 His Prime Minister was the Duke of Wellington ; 
 his Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Robert Peel. 
 On the 12th of November Sir Henry Parnell 
 moved a resolution — "That a select committee 
 shall be appointed to take into consideration the 
 estimates and amounts proposed by command of 
 his Majesty regarding the Civil List." As a 
 lively English writer says : " The Civil List is a 
 list of all the revenues of the Crown — the income 
 of the king in fact. And here scarcely had his 
 Majesty got warm in his seat when this audacious 
 man proposed to overhaul it. His Majesty was 
 wrathful, and ordered his Ministers to oppose 
 this daring proposal with all their might. Aud 
 this, we may be sure, was done. But, lo ! when 
 the division came off, Sir Henry found that he 
 had beaten the Government by a majority of 
 -twenty-nine. That was a very great thing to do. 
 But mark what came of it. The Government 
 resigned; the reign of Toryism — that 'anarchy 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 23 
 
 old' — was overthrown at last; and the way was 
 opened for Earl Grey and Reform. This opened 
 a new era." It opened a new era for Sir Henry 
 Parnell himself also ; for he was made Secretary 
 for War in Lord Grey's Government, and Pay- 
 master-General of the Forces in Lord Mel- 
 burne's. After thirty-nine years of membership 
 in the House of Commons he was transferred to 
 the Lords under the style and title of Baron Con- 
 gleton. Mental overwork and illness brought on 
 delirium, in 1842; and on the eighth of June in 
 that year, at the age of sixty-five, while insanity 
 obscured his reason, he unfortuuately killed him- 
 self. He left a son, the second Baron Congleton, 
 who has at least the merit of voting in favor of 
 liberal measures. 
 
 Sir Henry, like his father, had no pretensions 
 to oratorical power; but he was admittedly an 
 excellent debater. He is described towards the 
 close of his career as "of the middle size, rather 
 inclining to stoutness ; his complexion is fair ; his 
 features are regular, with a mild expression about 
 them ; and his hair is pure white." 
 
 Besides Sir Henry, Sir John Parnell left a son, 
 William, who was content to live the life of a 
 plain country gentleman, possessed of ample for- 
 tune. He had a son, named, after his distinguished 
 grandfather and uncle, John Henry ; and of this 
 John Henry Parnell Mr. Charles Stewart Par- 
 nell, M.P., is the fourth son. 
 
24 C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Though this branch of the Parnell family was 
 the younger, it was well endowed with worldly 
 means, and had near aristocratic connections. 
 Neither William nor John Henry was distinguished 
 in the political world ; but tradition says that as 
 landlords their relations with their tenantry were 
 of the most satisfactory kind. They would seem, 
 too, to have cherished some pride in connection 
 with the era of Irish independence, to judge from 
 the care with which certain flags of the Volunteers 
 of '82 have been handed down — flags which at 
 present grace C. S. Parnell's mansion of Avon- 
 dale, near Kathdrum, county Wicklow. 
 » One of these most interesting relics of a glori- 
 ous episode in Irish history is a cavalry ensign, 
 of thick silk, richly ornamented on both sides. 
 In shape it is of the kind known as a burgee — 
 that is, an oblong flag with a trangular piece taken 
 from its outer edge. On one side the color of the 
 ensign is red, and on the other yellow. Its di- 
 mensions are three feet by two. In a centre- 
 piece on one side appears a dog, with, divided 
 above and below it, the inscription, "Velox et 
 acer — et lidelis amicis," which means, "Swift 
 and sharp — and faithful to friends. " Divided 
 above and below the border of the centre-piece is 
 the further inscription, "Independent Wicklow 
 — Fors. Lt. Drags."; which last we take to rep- 
 resent "Foresters' Light Dragoons." On the ob- 
 verse is an oval centre-piece depicting a harp with 
 
0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 25 
 
 crown surmounting a massive castellated structure ; 
 and fitted into the corners — a word iu each — the 
 following : " July — Anno — Dom — 1779," show- 
 ing the date at which the Independent Wicklow 
 Foresters' Light Dragoons were embodied. A 
 similar device to this obverse one is painted on, 
 not worked into, the other flag, which is a large 
 infantry ensign of thin silk, now unfortunately 
 giving way before the ravages of time. 
 
 John Henry Parnell, when a young man, went 
 about seeing the world with his cousin Lord 
 Powcrscourt; and while travelling in America he 
 met, at Washington, the daughter of Admiral 
 Stewart, of the American navy. He made her 
 acquaintance; they became intimate; an attach- 
 ment sprang up between them ; and after a while 
 the aristocratically connected young Irishman 
 took to wife the daughter of the old republican 
 sea- warrior. The marriage was solemnized in 
 New York. By this step John Henry Parnell 
 brought into the family the blood of two men who 
 had dared death in mortal combat with the British 
 forces, and who, we may be sure, had trans- 
 mitted to their offspring little love of the power 
 whom they had considered it a duty and an honor 
 to oppose even to the shedding of blood. A man's 
 marriage is often the most momentous action of 
 his own life. In the case of John Henry Parnell 
 it was large in its consequences to Great Britain 
 as well as to Ireland ; for the issue of his marriage 
 
26 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 was five sons and six daughters ; among those sons 
 was the present virtual leader of the Irish people, 
 and if the land question of Ireland bids fair to get 
 a satisfactory settlement largely through his guid- 
 ance, the Parliament of Great Britain has received 
 at his hands a shock to its traditions from which 
 it can but slowly recover, if indeed it ever do re- 
 cover at all. 
 
 At this stage of our record we shall leave the 
 Parnells for a while, and turn to Charles Stewart 
 ParnelPs maternal ancestry. We shall find in 
 their history many facts of deep interest. 
 
 More than a century ago, a Mr. Stewart, of 
 Belfast, who was married to a lady whose maiden 
 name was Sarah Ford, left Ireland in deep disgust 
 with the state of affairs there, and determined to 
 settle in what were then called the British colonies 
 in North America, but which are now infinitely 
 better known to all the world as the United States. 
 The Fords, w r e need hardly observe, were origi- 
 nally a Connaught clan, and of as pure Milesian 
 blood as any in Ireland. A great number of 
 Northern Irishmen emigrated to America like Mr. 
 Stew T art about that period, and one and all, as 
 even Mr. Froude admits, bore with them a burn- 
 ing hate of English misgovernment. 
 
 After the Irish fashion, the Stewarts had a large 
 family. On the 28th of July, 1778, the youngest 
 of eight children, a sou, was born to them in 
 Philadelphia, but a few weeks over two years sub- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 27 
 
 sequent to the famous "Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. " This son of Irish parents, overflowing with 
 the vitality of the eternal Celtic race from which 
 he drew his origin, lived to become one of the 
 great naval heroes of history, had a career which 
 cannot be described as anything less than roman- 
 tic ; and died after bearing for seven years the 
 title of "admiral" — he being the very first on 
 whom that title was conferred in the navy of the 
 United States. Previous to 1862 the designation 
 of the highest rank in that navy was "commo- 
 dore;" and Admiral Stewart had been so dubbed 
 formally for a great many years. He was the 
 maternal grandfather of Charles Stewart Parnell. 
 We mean to record bis career with some detail ; 
 but for the sake of clearness in the general narra- 
 tive we shall leave him for a little while, and turn 
 for a moment to another branch of C. S. Parncll's 
 maternal ancestry. 
 
 At the beginning of the American war of inde- 
 pendence there was settled in Boston a young 
 lawyer whose name was Tudor. A very English 
 name, every reader will exclaim who remembers 
 that it was the family name of the infamous mon- 
 arch, Henry the Eighth of England. A very 
 English name it was, in truth. But Englishmen 
 had been driven from their own land by govern- 
 mental persecution just as Irishmen had been ; 
 all who entertained ideas of liberty, whether in 
 the civil or religious domain, were obnoxious to 
 
28 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 the powers that were. So it came to pass that 
 hosts of English colonists brought with them 
 from their own to American shores an abiding 
 sense of wrong, and a firm determination to resist 
 any encroachments of the home government on 
 their new-found liberties. Therefore, when this 
 English-descended lawyer found the colonists 
 ready to take up arms for freedom's sake, he was, 
 like the Irish-descended lawyer, John Sullivan, 
 one of the first to declare for it. He joined the 
 army of the immortal Washington, and went 
 through all the perils of the revolutionary war. 
 
 In doing so, besides risking life and limb, 
 Tudor sacrificed his tenderest feelings for what he 
 was convinced was his duty. He was ardently 
 attached to a young lady whose people were de- 
 voted adherents of the British cause. They were 
 engaged to be married when the civil commotion 
 arose. It opposed a barrier to their union, which 
 would not be allowed because forsooth he was a 
 "rebel" to the British Government. He went on 
 fighting against that Government as if he were 
 wholly indifferent on the subject of the marriage ; 
 but after five years, when success was smiling on 
 the cause of the insurgents, it was conveyed to 
 him that all objections would be withdrawn. 
 There are many men who, under like circum- 
 stances, would have exhibited the obstinacy of 
 wounded vanity ; but Mr. Tudor loved his sweet- 
 heart for her gracious self, not for her political 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 29 
 
 notions — whether they happened to be what he 
 thought right or wrong — so he gladly espoused 
 her after their long separation. 
 
 The spirit of Judge Tudor was communicated 
 to his offspring; and when, after a generation, 
 the rebellious stream of the Tudor blood was 
 mingled with the fiery, indignant stream of the 
 Stewarts', the mixture was not of a kind very 
 susceptible to impressions favoring the notion 
 that the inhabitants of England are a heaven- 
 ordained governing race. 
 
 Admiral Stewart's father had been the master 
 of an American merchant vessel. In less than 
 two years after the birth of his youngest child, 
 Charles, he died. The revolutionary war was 
 still being actively waged, with the natural result 
 of damaging almost every commercial interest in 
 the country. Mrs. Stewarts resources were 
 crippled like those of the mass of her fellow- 
 citizens ; and in these circumstances it was no 
 easy matter for the widow to rear and educate 
 eight children. But this daughter of the Fords, 
 who is said to have been a woman of talent and 
 great energy, accomplished her task single- 
 handed for several years. Eventually she gave 
 her children a step-father in the person of Captain 
 Britton, who was a member of Congress, an inti- 
 mate friend of Washington, and the commander 
 of the body-guard of that most illustrious because 
 most unselfish of successful soldiers. Captain 
 
30 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Britton was fond of young Charles Stewart, took 
 him about with him, and on one occasion, in the 
 presence of both Houses of Congress, introduced 
 the boy, when he was about the age of twelve, to 
 Washington himself. The incident made a deep 
 impression on the youngster's mind. Even in his 
 old age he was fond of recalling it, and used to 
 speak with glee of the effect it had on his Phila- 
 delphian playfellows. "Not one of them," he 
 would say, "dared knock a chip off my shoulder 
 after that." 
 
 Charley was a wild, courageous boy, and cher- 
 ished from an early age a positive passion for the 
 sea. It would appear as though his naval aspira- 
 tions were discouraged in the home circle ; for 
 about the age of thirteen he gave his friends the 
 slip, ran away from school, and began his eareer on 
 the ocean — a career destined to be so glorious — in 
 the very humble capacity of cabin boy on board a 
 merchant vessel. Just two years afterwards he 
 was near losing his life at the hands of a leader of 
 the negro insurgents of Hayti — namely, Chris- 
 tophe, who afterwards became king of the Island. 
 Christophe had been a slave and a tavern-cook ; 
 but when the insurrection broke out against the 
 French in San Domingo he joined the insurgents, 
 and partly on account of his enormous stature 
 and great strength, partly by reason of his reck- 
 less daring and abundant energy, soon rose to a 
 position of high command. We append a de- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 31 
 
 scription of the incident above referred to, taken 
 from an old Life of Stewart : — 
 
 "The Loraine, owned by Britton and Masse}-, of 
 Philadelphia, and commanded by Captain Church, 
 came to anchor at St. Domingo, in 1793, just at the 
 time of the insurrection. Charles Stewart was on 
 board, still at the lowest round of the sailor's ladder, 
 for he was only fifteen } T ears old and had been but two 
 years at sea. One day, Christophe, a leader of the 
 insurrectionists, came alongside In a row-boat, with 
 several of his sable followers. The l citizen-general' 
 was attired in the elegant uniform of a French officer, 
 which illy accorded with his ungainly carriage and bare 
 black feet. Two of the teeth of his lower jaw pro- 
 truded like the tusks of an animal, and added to the 
 incongruous and grotesque effect. The awkward row- 
 ing of the natives, together with the comical appear- 
 ance of the magnate, were too much for Charley. 
 When Christophe asked him to throw him something 
 by which to ascend the side of the ship, a spirit of 
 deviltry seized the lad, and instead of tossing the rope 
 to the visitor, he shook it in his face, and burst into a 
 laugh. 
 
 "In an instant Charley realized the extent of his 
 offence, and, fearing vengeance, ran towards the cabin 
 for protection. The commodore alwa} T s said, in telling 
 this story, that while on his way to the cabin 'some- 
 thing told him' that if he went there it would cost him 
 his life. He at once changed his course, hurried to the 
 place where the cook kept his wood, opened the trap- 
 door, and jumping into the hole, replaced the cover 
 and shoved a stick through the ring, so that the door 
 
32 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 could not be opened from above. He had not been 
 there many minutes when he heard Christophe and his 
 men searching for him overhead. 
 
 " It seems that the blacks finally succeeded in getting 
 on board, the leader blind with rage. He demanded 
 that that ' white-headed boy ' should be given up to 
 him immediately, and swore that he would have the 
 fellow's life. Captain Church was not sufficiently pro- 
 vided with arms to prevent violence, and pretended to 
 aid him in his quest, after having failed to convince 
 him that the lad had jumped overboard and swam to a 
 French vessel which was lying not far off. Every por- 
 tion of the Loraine was searched, and the sailors were 
 even compelled to shift a part of the cargo in the hold. 
 
 " At last Christophe caught sight of the trap-door, 
 beneath which the boy was lying in a state of fearful 
 suspense. The moment the sailors found that this had 
 been fastened from beneath, they knew that Charley must 
 have made here his hiding-place, and .they swore still 
 more stoutly that he had swam to the French vessel. 
 They exerted themselves, however, in fruitless mock 
 efforts to lift the door ; but Christophe, not satisfied, 
 thrust his sword down on every side, the blade just 
 escaping young Stewart, who cuddled himself up into 
 small space in the centre. 
 
 " At last the search was given up, and the captain, in 
 order to appease Christophe, made him the magnificent 
 present of a pair of stockings. These pleased the 
 savage so that he fairly danced with delight ; his good 
 humor was still further augmented by the gift of a pair 
 of shoes. The fellow finally got drunk on their liquors, 
 supplied without stint, and in this condition they suc- 
 ceeded in getting rid of a most unwelcome guest. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 33 
 
 u A week or two after this adventure — the ship still 
 remaining at St. Domingo, as it was found difficult to 
 dispose of the cargo in consequence of the disturbed 
 state of affairs — young Stewart resolved to venture 
 ashore. The captain gave him permission, at the same 
 time warning him of his danger. But Stewart thought 
 that, as Christophe had only seen his white head, he 
 could easily disguise himself so that he would not 
 recognize him. Accordingly he put on a different rig, 
 and pulled his hat over his eyes so as to hide his silver- 
 colored hair. 
 
 "The very first man he met, in sauntering up the 
 street, was Christophe — French uniform, sword, pis- 
 tols, musket, tusks, and all. We may be sure that the 
 little fellow's heart sank within him, and that his first 
 impulse was to take to his heels. But the boy's char- 
 acteristic presence of mind and coolness in the face of 
 danger saved his life. Carelessly whistling a tune, he 
 kept on steadily, and in passing Christophe his clothes 
 actualty brushed against him. He felt that the savage 
 had his eye fixed upon him suspiciously ; and after 
 passing him heard with affright the click caused by the 
 cocking of a musket. The boy still moved on slowly, 
 and apparently with the utmost unconsciousness ; but 
 turning the first corner, he scampered down a side 
 street as fast as his legs could carry him. The rest of 
 the day he lay hidden in the mountains, returning after 
 dark to shore, and finding means to make his way 
 back to the ship." 
 
 Rut if Charley Stewart at the age of fifteen was 
 still only at the foot of the seaman's ladder, he did 
 not long remain so. Before he was yet twenty he 
 
34 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 had risen, step by step, through every grade of 
 the merchant service, to the command of an India- 
 man — a position almost unparalleled at so early an 
 age. Still Charles Stewart was not content. He 
 wished to devote himself to his country's service ; 
 for the French had made certain demands regard- 
 ing rights of search and of capture of American 
 vessels which the Government could not but with- 
 stand, and the two republics were on the verge of 
 war. Therefore, Charles Stewart sought and 
 found admission to his country's armed navy, and 
 on the 9th of March, 1798, he was duly commis- 
 sioned a lieutenant of the frigate United Stales 
 commanded by the gallant Wexford man, Com- 
 modore John Barry, whose business it was to put 
 an end to the depredations of French privateers 
 on American commerce in the neighborhood of 
 the West Indies. 
 
 In little more than two years — to wit, on the 
 16th of July, 1800 — the young lieutenant re- 
 ceived an independent command in the schooner 
 Experiment, fourteen guns. His cruising ground, 
 was still in the neighborhood of the West Indies. 
 He had now the opportunity of distinguishing 
 himself, and he hastened to avail himself of it. 
 
 From a sketch of his life we copy the following 
 summary of his brilliant exploits in the Experi- 
 ment: — 
 
 "On the night of the first of September he fell in 
 with, and, after an action of ten minutes, captured the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 35 
 
 French schooner, Deux Amis, of eight guns, which he 
 sent home for condemnation. While watering in Prince 
 Rupert's Bay, in the island of Dominica, two British 
 sloops of twenty guns each arrived, one having an 
 American named Amos Seeley impressed among its 
 crew. Seeley wrote to Stewart imploring his help. 
 He at once opened a characteristic correspondence with 
 the British captain, demanding the release of the 
 American, and in a personal interview w r ith the officer 
 used such logic as to induce him, although with reluc- 
 tance, to eompl}\ While cruising at daylight, on the 
 13th of September, two sails were discovered, bearing 
 down on the Experiment, with the English colors flying. 
 The Experiment was laying to with the British signal 
 of the da} r flying. As they refused to answer his signal, 
 and proved to be a brig of eight guns and a schooner 
 of fourteen, Stewart determined to try the sailing 
 qualities of the vessels. Discovering the Experiment 
 could outsail them, they abandoned the chase, running 
 up the French flag, and firing a gun of defiance to wind- 
 ward. Stewart immediately tacked ship and worked to 
 windward, and gaining the gauge on them in turn be- 
 came the pursuer. About three o'clock in the evening 
 she ranged up on the larboard quarter of the stern 
 most one and poured a broadside into her. In a few 
 minutes the schooner struck and surrendered to the 
 Experiment. She proved to be the French schooner 
 Diana., on board of which were a lieutenant and a de- 
 tachment of thirty invalid soldiers, a crew of sixty- 
 five men, and General Rigaud on his way to France. 
 Stewart immediately started after the brig, but she had 
 got safe beyond his reach. After disposing of his 
 prisoners at St. Christopher, Lieutenant Stewart did 
 
36 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 valuable service in protecting American commerce in 
 those seas. 
 
 u On the 16th of November, at midnight, he fell in 
 with an armed vessel, which refused to answer his hail. 
 After repeated efforts to learn the character of the 
 stranger, he sent a shot into her, which was answered 
 by a broadside. A running fight of forty minutes en- 
 sued, when the unknown struck. She proved to be a 
 privateer of Bermuda, carrying eight guns. She was 
 much cut up in her rigging, and had two shots through 
 her bottom. Stewart lay by all next day assisting in 
 the repair of her damages. 
 
 "The Experiment being ordered home, Lieutenant 
 Stewart on the voyage rescued sixty-seven persons 
 from a reef off Saona Island, and carried them to their 
 homes in St. Domingo, the Government of which island 
 wrote a warm letter of thanks to President Jefferson." 
 
 A reduction of the navy was carried out by the 
 Government in 1801, when only thirty-six out of 
 the whole body of lieutenants were retained in 
 the service. Of these thirty-six Charles Stewart 
 was one. He lost his independent command, 
 however, being appointed first officer in the frig- 
 ate Constellation in 1802. When the vessel re- 
 turned from her cruise, the war with Tripoli was 
 afoot. In times of strife men like Stewart are 
 properly valued in every navy. This was espec- 
 ially the case in the infant one of the United 
 States. Stewart was at once appointed to the 
 command of a new r war-brig, the Siren, carrying 
 sixteen guns, and ordered forthwith to join the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 37 
 
 squadron off the coast of Barbary. Here he was 
 employed blockading Tripoli and the harbors ad- 
 jacent ; in which service he succeeded in captur- 
 ing a British brig and a Greek vessel. We read, 
 (hat "on the 3d of August, 1804, the Siren led the 
 attack on the town, flotilla, and batteries of Trip- 
 oli. For the gallant manner in which Stewart 
 brought his vessel into action and prompt obedi- 
 ence to signals, the commodore the next day in 
 general orders thanked him. For the whole of 
 August and part of September the squadron vig- 
 orously bombarded the city and batteries of 
 Tripoli whenever the wind would permit their 
 approach and withdrawal. Upon all such occa- 
 sions, night or day, they sent their flaming shells 
 or crushing round shots at the foe, sinking sev- 
 eral of their flotilla and damaging the batteries 
 and houses." The conclusion of a treaty of peace 
 put an end for the time to Stewart's chances of 
 distinguishing himself further. 
 
 So far the incidents of Charles Stewart's naval 
 career were evidences of his gallantry and skill. 
 His next service was one which exhibited in him 
 clear-sightedness, good sense, and highly honor- 
 able feeling. He had been promoted to the rank 
 of Master Commandant, put in charge of a thirty- 
 two gun-ship, the Essex, and despatched with a 
 squadron to Tunis, between which State and the 
 Union there was trouble brewing. The American 
 consul sought refuge on board the fleet, so hos- 
 
38 C. S. PARNELL, If.. P. 
 
 tile was popular feeling among the Tunisians. 
 The posture of affairs was so serious, we read, 
 that "a council was convened on board the flag- 
 ship, the situation was explained, and the opinion 
 of the officers demanded whether hostilities ought 
 not to be immediately commenced. Captain 
 Stewart gave it as his opinion that there was no 
 power under the constitution which authorized 
 hostilities and war on others, but that which was 
 lodged exclusively with Congress ; that the Pres- 
 ident could not exercise this power without the 
 action and authority of Congress, much less the 
 commander of an American squadron ; that due 
 respect for the laws of nations forbade aggres- 
 sion, and only justified self-defence by vigilance 
 and convoy for the protection of citizens, their 
 property and commerce ; but where hostile at- 
 tempts were made on either, he would be justi- 
 fied in seizing all persons engaged in them, but 
 no farther would his country sanction his acts." 
 His sound reasoning and discretion prevailed, 
 and amicable relations were soon restored ; the 
 consul returning to his post, and the Bey of 
 Tunis sending a special Minister to the United 
 States. When President Jefferson received from 
 the consul-general a copy of that opinion as de- 
 livered to the council, he expressed to his Cabinet 
 "the high satisfaction he felt at having an officer 
 in the squadron who comprehended the interna- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 39 
 
 tional law, the constitution of his country, and 
 the policy of his Government." 
 
 Naturally promotion followed a man who could 
 not only fight and handle a ship, but could think 
 clearly and judiciously for his country's interests 
 and good name as well. A post-captaincy — then 
 the highest rank in the United States navy — was 
 bestowed on him the 22d of April, 1806 ; and as 
 there was no need to employ him on active ser- 
 vice, his versatile talents were turned to account 
 in another way — namely, in superintending, at 
 New York, for a coaple of years, the construc- 
 tion of a flotilla of gun-boats. 
 
 Several years of peace followed, which Post- 
 Captain Stewart, with the sanction of the author- 
 ities, utilized for his own profit in commercial 
 enterprises which added considerably to his 
 means. However, on the breaking out of the 
 war with England in 1812, the first thought of 
 the hero was not for himself or his interests but 
 for his country's. He hastened to Washington 
 to offer his services ; but was stunned by receiv- 
 ing, at the navy department, the dismaying in- 
 telligence that President Madison's Cabinet, in 
 view of the overwhelming superiority of the 
 British navy, had decided to collect all the Union 
 ships of war in New York harbor, partly to de- 
 fend the place and partly to save the infant navy 
 from annihilation. Stewart and Captain Brain- 
 bridge joined in an effort to convert the Secretary 
 
40 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 of the Navy from the holding of a tenet so humil- 
 iating to the country j and that same evening they 
 addressed a joint letter to President Madison, so 
 spirited, powerful, and convincing "as to cause 
 him to immediately direct the Secretary of the 
 Navy to send the vessels of war to sea to seek 
 their enemy, and he would take the responsibility 
 on himself." So that, before a shot was fired, 
 Stewart had already covered himself wdth glory 
 by being so deeply instrumental in taking his 
 country out of a position of disgraceful timidity 
 and national humiliation. The result fully proved 
 the wisdom as well as the courage of both Brain - 
 bridge and Stewart ; for the naval annals of this 
 war of 1812 are among the brightest records of 
 heroic feats of arms and marvellous successes of 
 which Americans can legitimately boast. 
 
 The day after the writing of the timely and in- 
 fluential letter just referred to, Stewart received 
 instructions from the Secretary of the Navy to 
 proceed immediately to New York to take com- 
 mand of the Argus, with which he was to scour 
 the West Indies and the Gulf Stream, and to 
 attack and capture every British ship he could, 
 whether of war or merchandise. In the Secre- 
 tary's communication occurs the following sen- 
 tence, so highly flattering to Stewart: "To your 
 judgment, your valor, and your patriotism is 
 committed the best course to be pursued to ac- 
 complish the object of these instructions/' 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 41 
 
 Nevertheless Stewart did not assume command 
 of the Argus. A better vessel was put at his 
 disposal. We read : "At a ball given to Captain 
 Stewart and his officers before they proceeded to 
 sea in the Constellation, by the citizens of Wash- 
 ington, in December, 1812, about ten o'clock at 
 night, midshipman Hamilton, the son of the Sec- 
 retary of the Navy, arrived with the flag of the 
 Macedonian (British) frigate, and despatches 
 from Captain Decatur, announcing his having 
 captured her with the frigate United States. The 
 dancing ceased, the Hag was unrolled, and the 
 despatch read to the President and the assembled 
 ladies and gentlemen. The wildest scene of glo- 
 rious confusion followed. A venerable Senator of 
 the United States embraced the President ; and 
 the Secretary of the Navy, in a spirit of frankness 
 beyond praise, announced to those assembled : *It 
 is to Captains Brainbridge and Stewart you owe 
 your naval victories. '" 
 
 The Constellation was the vessel in which 
 Charles Stewart set forth against the British ; but, 
 notwithstanding her starry appellation, her per- 
 formances were not brilliant on that cruise. It 
 was her gallant commander's ill fortune to be 
 blockaded in the harbor of Norfolk, Virginia, by 
 a fleet of heavy ships belonging to the enemy, 
 against which it would have been sheer madness 
 to dream of contending. But to be inactive at 
 such a crisis in the fortunes of his land was the 
 
42 C. S. PARNELL, M. P 
 
 idea which of all others he could least entertain. 
 He accordingly got himself transferred to the 
 frigate Constitution, in which he set sail from Bos- 
 ton in December, 1813, for the West Indies. In a 
 short time he had met and destroyed several Brit- 
 ish ships, including the Picton, of sixteen guns, a 
 privateer of ten guns, a schooner, and a brig. 
 The Constitution had put so hurriedly to sea that 
 after a few months she had to return to get new 
 sails, instead of the worn-out ones she carried. 
 On her way she was chased by two of the enemy's 
 frigates, and Captain Stewart, not satisfied that 
 his craft was just then in proper fighting trim, 
 skilfully gave them the slip, and ran her almost 
 under the guns of the fort of Marbleheacl, about 
 sixteen miles north-east of Boston, where she was 
 in safety. In a few days she was able to make 
 Boston to refit. 
 
 It had happened many years previously that in 
 an idle moment Charles Stewart had submitted to 
 the imposition of one of that class of frauds 
 known as "fortune-tellers," by whom he had been 
 informed that it was his fate to marry "the belle 
 of Boston." By one of those singular coinci- 
 dences which sometimes happen, the prediction 
 was literally verified. While waiting for his ship 
 to be got ready he fell in love with and espoused 
 Miss Delia Tudor, daughter of the Judge Tudor 
 before mentioned, and who was pre-eminently 
 "the belle" of the city. Short time was allowed 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 43 
 
 afterwards for nuptial bliss. The Constitution 
 was ready for another cruise, and the bridegroom 
 could no longer tarry with his bride. As he 
 parted from her he asked her what present she 
 would like him to bring for her on his return. 
 "Bring me a British frigate," was her patriotic 
 answer. "You shall have two," he replied, his 
 eyes kindling with love and pride ; "and I shall 
 wear my wedding uniform in battle." 
 
 It was in the December of 1814 that he again 
 put to sea, as little regardful of the Winter's wild 
 storms as of the enemy's countless ships. Two 
 of the latter were soon in his hands. One he de- 
 stroyed ; the other, which had on board a valuable 
 cargo, he sent to New York. 
 
 By February, 1815, he was off the coast of 
 Spain. There was some repining among the sub- 
 ordinate officers of the Constitution at the ill luck 
 of the vessel in not having had a brush with the 
 enemy off the European coast. Charles Stewart 
 overheard them grumble. Perhaps he had a pre- 
 sentiment of what was about to come ; perhaps — 
 and this is more likely — he was actually in search, 
 from information he had picked up, of certain 
 British war-ships in his neighborhood. Whatever 
 his inspiration, it is certain that he bade the offi- 
 cers to keep up their spirits, for the chance of dis- 
 tinguishing themselves for which they sighed was 
 close at hand. "I assure you, gentlemen," he 
 concluded, "that before another sun sets you will 
 
44 C. S. TARNELL, M. P. 
 
 be engaged in battle with the enemy, and it will 
 not be with a single ship." This was said on the 
 morning of the 19th of February. 
 
 About half-past one o'clock on the same day a 
 sail some twelve miles away was descried by the 
 look-out on the masthead of the Constitution. 
 Chase was given until four o'clock, by which 
 time the distance between the vessels was lessened 
 by one-half, when unfortunately, under the power 
 of a freshening breeze, the main-royal mast of 
 the Constitution was carried away. Nothing 
 could well be more vexatious to men ?f spoiling for 
 a fight " as were those on board, since the accident 
 in the short February evening gave the chase an 
 excellent chance of slipping away. However, the 
 gallant captain wasted no time in fretting over the 
 mishap ; but got to work at once in repairing the 
 damage, and with such celerity that in half an 
 hour a new spar had been put up, the royal sail 
 again set, and the Constitution was forging ahead 
 at her utmost speed. Just at this time another 
 ship of war was reported by the look-out, and ev- 
 idently exchanging signals with the chase. Cap- 
 tain Stewart understood the signals, and from 
 them divined that the vessels were British men-of- 
 war and cousorts. What followed is so well de- 
 scribed in the Life of Stewart, from which we 
 have before quoted, that we shall make use of the 
 description here : — 
 
 " One of the vessels being painted with double yel- 
 
0. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 45 
 
 low streaks and false ports in the waist, had at a dis- 
 tance the appearance of a double-decked ship, and 
 Lieutenant Ballard told Captain Stewart that she must 
 be at least a fifty -gun ship. He replied that she looked 
 too small to be a ship of that class, but might be an 
 old fort} T -four on two decks. ' However,' he added, 4 be 
 this as it may, you know I promised you a fight before 
 the setting of to-morrow's sun, and if we do not take it 
 now that it is offered, we can scarcely have another 
 chance. We must flog them when we catch them, 
 whether she has one gun-deck or two ! ' 
 
 41 At five o'clock the leeward ship bore up before the 
 wind, under easy sail, to enable the chased ship to join 
 her. The Constitution having gained considerably on 
 the chase, with a hope of crippling her, or bringing 
 her to action before she could join her consort, fired a 
 shot at her which fell short. The chase continued until 
 the two ships joined, and a little before seven o'clock, 
 the moon shining brightly, the British ships hauled to 
 the wind in a line ahead of each other, about two 
 hundred yards apart. Reducing to fighting sail, and 
 heaving to with the main-top sails to the masts, they 
 awaited the American's Coming up. The Constitution 
 was on the starboard quarter of the sternmost vessel, 
 about one mile distant. Furling in all except the top- 
 sails, jib, and topgallant sails, reduced to fighting trim, 
 she gradually lutfed to starboard, and ranged along the 
 windward side of the sternmost ship until she reached 
 the desired position, which was at t lie apex of the equi- 
 lateral triangle, the British ships forming the base line. 
 Stewart heaving the Constitution to, with the mainsails 
 to the mast and the jib in brails, he fired a shot, not at 
 either, but between both, with a view to invite the ac- 
 
46 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 tion and draw their fire. His motive for this was to 
 make the British commit the first act of hostility, he 
 having boarded a Russian ship three days before, direct 
 from London, and received from her captain a copy of 
 the London Times, containing the heads of the treaty 
 of Ghent, as signed by the Ministers of the United 
 States and Great Britain, and said to have been ratified 
 by the Prince Regent. Supposing the British ships 
 might have later information than himself, he wished 
 to give them a chance to decline battle if peace had 
 been made between the two countries." 
 
 Here we may interrupt the narrative for a mo- 
 ment to note how scrupulously Captain Stewart 
 respected the rules and regulations of naval war- 
 fare, or, as it would be phrased in the London 
 Parliament kept himself "in order. " But to con- 
 tinue : — 
 
 " The Cyane (Captain Gordon Falcon) and the 
 Levant (Captain Hon. George Douglas) answered 
 with broadsides and musketiy, and the Constitution 
 opened with a division on the gun deck and another on 
 the forecastle on the Levant, and two divisions on the 
 gun deck and another on the quarter deck on the 
 Cyane. The Constitution maintained the same position 
 throughout the fight, as a nearer approach would have 
 thrown one of the ships out of the line of her fire, and 
 exposed her to being raked. Thus the battle was con- 
 tinued for about forty minutes, when the Levant wore 
 off before the wind and retired from the fight. Her 
 consort the Cyane, immediately after wore short 
 round, and hauling close to the wind, poured in her 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 47 
 
 broadside with her colors struck and hanging over the 
 taffrail, as the Constitution was in the act of wearing 
 around after her. Not the slightest injury was done by 
 this fire. Stewart, though feeling incensed, did not 
 return it, determined to hold the officer in command 
 responsible. The matter was afterwards explained as 
 occurring in mistake. The Cyane was immediately 
 taken possession of, and her officers sent on board the 
 Constitution, which filled away to leeward after the 
 Levant, followed by the prize, with the American en- 
 sign flying. The Levant, finding it impossible to 
 escape, wore ship, and ranged under larboard tack 
 along the starboard battery of the Constitution in close 
 and gallant style, and delivered her fire. The Consti- 
 tution poured into her a broadside, and wearing short 
 around, plunged into her stern three chase shots, which 
 arrested her escape and brought down her colors. She 
 was immediately boarded and her officers sent to 
 Stewart's ship. 
 
 u The principal injury received by the Constitution 
 was in her rigging ; that of the enemy's ships in their 
 hulls. The Americans had three killed and twelve 
 wounded, three of the latter mortally. The Cyane lost 
 twelve killed and twenty-six wounded ; the Jjeto 
 twenty-three killed and sixteen wounded — total 
 British casualties, seventy seven. The Constitution 
 mounted fifty-one guns, twenty-four of which were 
 thirty-two pounders ; the Cyane thirty-two guns, of 
 which twenty-two were thirty-two pounders ; and the 
 Levant twenty-one guns, eighteen of which were thirty- 
 two pounders. The odds against the Constitution is 
 most clearly shown in the calibre of the guns, the 
 British carrying sixteen more thirty-two pounders." 
 
48 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 In his History of the American Navy, J. Fen- 
 niraore Cooper, commenting on this splendid 
 naval victory, says : — 
 
 " The manner in which Captain Stewart handled his 
 ship on this occasion excited much admiration among 
 nautical men ; it being unusual for a single vessel to 
 engage two enemies and escape being raked. So far 
 from this occurring to the Constitution, however, she 
 actually raked both her opponents ; and the manner 
 in which she backed and filled in the smoke, forcing 
 her two antagonists down to leeward when they were 
 endeavoring to cross her stern or forefoot, is surely 
 the most brilliant manoeuvring in naval annals." 
 
 A couple of anecdotes relating to this sea-fight 
 can hardly fail to be interesting here. 
 
 While the victor was sitting in his cabin, talk- 
 ing with one of his prisoners, a British captain, 
 there entered a midshipman of the Contitution, to 
 inquire if the crew might have their usual allow- 
 ance of grog. Now the ordinary time of serving 
 out grog had passed before the action began ; so 
 Captain Stewart, in surprise, asked if the men had 
 not been supplied already. M No, sir," replied 
 the midshipman ; " it was mixed ready for serving 
 just before the battle began, but the forecastle 
 men and other old sailors of the crew said they 
 didn't want any Dutch courage on board, and cap- 
 sized the grog-tub in the lee-scuppers." That is 
 precisely the sort of spirit which at least deserves 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 49 
 
 success, and which generally succeeds in attain- 
 ing it. 
 
 The two British captains were foolish enough 
 to dispute in Stewart's presence concerning the 
 conduct of the battle, and to blame each other for 
 not having done this, that, or the other which must 
 infallibly have brought about a different result to 
 the action. Such paltry endeavors to shift blame 
 from each to the other were eminently distasteful 
 to a truly brave man, as Stewart was ; and at 
 length he felt bound to interfere. "Gentlemen," 
 said he, "there is no use in getting warm about 
 it ; it would have been all the same whatever you 
 might have done. If you doubt that, I will put 
 you all on board again, and you can try it over." 
 Englishmen would say that the remark was only a 
 specimen of "Yankee bumptiousness;" impartial 
 critics may see in it merely the confidence of a 
 man who knew why and how he had won, and 
 who felt himself able to do again what he had 
 already done. At all events the British cap- 
 tains did not jump at his offer, but preferred to 
 remain snug and safe as prisoners of war on board 
 the Constitution. 
 
 On the 10th of March the Constitution and ber 
 two splendid prizes arrived at Port Praya in the 
 island of Santiago, the largest of the Cape de 
 Verde group. Next day the British captains 
 were allowed on shore, on parole, to make ar- 
 rangements for the transport of their crews to 
 
50 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Barbadoes. They secured two brigs in the har 
 bor. While the Constitution's boats were carry- 
 ing provisions, etc., to the brigs, a heavy British 
 squadron, under Sir George Collier was discov- 
 ered approaching in the thick fog, within three 
 miles of the position of Stewart's ship and her 
 prizes. It was the well known policy of the 
 British ships of war to attack their enemy's 
 cruisers in neutral waters if it could be done with- 
 out danger. They preferred reimbursing any 
 claims made upon such neutral by an enemy than 
 to allow that enemy's vessel to escape and commit 
 depredations upon their commercial marine. Stew- 
 art was well aware of this ; he appreciated accu- 
 rately the utterly unscrupulous character of the 
 British; and he instantly recognized the danger 
 of his position. Beating to quarters, making all 
 sail, and cutting cable, he got under way, and 
 stretched out of the harbor, followed by the two 
 prizes. The British fleet hurried immediately in 
 pursuit, the Acasta, of fifty guns, gradually 
 crawling up to the prize Cyane. Stewart signalled 
 the latter to tack and separate from him, which she 
 did, and doubled their rear, and arrived safe in 
 New York. The fleet held steadily in pursuit of 
 the Constitution ; the Newcastle > sixty- four guns 
 (Captain Lord George Stewart), coming well up. 
 Fortunately, however, she opened lire by divi- 
 sions, which had the effect of retarding her sailing 
 much. Stewart apprehended most from the posi- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 51 
 
 tion and weatherly qualities of the Acasta, which 
 he saw w r ould soon obtain a position to hold the 
 Constitution in check until her more powerful con- 
 sort could come up. Fighting was out of the 
 question, as his crew was short by reason of hav- 
 ing to subtract from it the crews which took pos- 
 session of the prizes ; while the crews of the 
 prizes themselves were of necessity much too weak 
 to handle those vessels in an encounter with a 
 powerful squadron. Nothing was left to Com- 
 mander Stewart, therefore, than to trust to his 
 skill in manoeuvring to get away unscathed. He 
 consequently signalled the Levant to tack, and 
 lighted his shot-furnace, in the hope of putting a 
 few red-hot balls into the enemy's hull and Betting 
 her on fire, so forcing her- consorts to go to her 
 relief. 
 
 Immediately after the Levant tacked, a signal 
 was thrown out from the Leander, the sixty-four 
 gun ship of Sir George Collier, who commanded 
 the squadron, for the Acasta to tack after the 
 Levant, and the Leander and the JVeiccaslle tack- 
 ing at the same time to cut off her retreat by their 
 rear, thus compelled the Levant to return to Port 
 Praya, where she anchored under the guns of the 
 forts, in neutral waters, in which, according to in- 
 ternational law, she should have been perfectly 
 safe from attack. The British fleet, however, fol- 
 lowed her and entered the harbor, taking her 
 thence by force with them to the West Indies, 
 
52 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 together with the boats of the Constitution and 
 her anchors, and those of the Cyane and Levant, 
 left in the neutral waters of the harbor. Not the 
 slightest attempt was made by the forts to pre- 
 serve the neutrality of the waters inviolate. The 
 Portuguese, being weak, w T ere afraid to stand up 
 for their rights ; and the British, who have a 
 great respect for the strong, and none whatever 
 for the weak, trampled without scruple, after their 
 wont, on the undoubted rights of the Portuguese, 
 simply because they were weak. 
 
 Stewart, however, contrived to elude them, and 
 in the Constitution proceeded to Brazil, landed his 
 prisoners, and returned to Boston. The news of 
 his remarkable victory was received with enthusi- 
 asm throughout the country. In Boston he and 
 his officers were honored with a triumphal pro- 
 cession. In New York the council voted him the 
 freedom of the city, gave him a gold snuff-box, 
 and him and his officers a public dinner. Penn- 
 sylvania voted him the thanks of the common- 
 wealth and a gold-hilted sword. Congress passed 
 a vote of thanks to him and his brave officers, 
 caused a gold medal to be struck in his honor, 
 and presented it to him in commemoration of 
 the event. 
 
 The remainder of Admiral Stewart's career we 
 condense from an excellent sketch of his life which 
 appeared in the Bordentown Register, and to 
 which we have been already indebted. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 53 
 
 The war having terminated with Great Britain, 
 Captain Stewart never again met the enemy in 
 battle. Yet his active career of usefulness in the 
 service of his country was not ended. In the 
 Mediterranean squadron, commanded by Commo- 
 dore Chauncey, a widespread spirit of mutiny had 
 manifested itself. So far had it gone that the 
 malcontent officers had actually " threatened to 
 draw their swords on their commanders. " Com- 
 modore Stewart was in 1817 sent in ship-of the- 
 line Franklin to supersede Chauncey and restore 
 the proper discipline. In 1819 he ordered a 
 court-martial to meet on board the Guerriere, to 
 try a marine for an alleged offence. The officers, 
 however, preferred to sit at a hotel in Naples, 
 where the man was tried and convicted. The 
 commodore, knowing that the session of the court 
 at any place than that directed by orders was 
 illegal, disapproved the proceedings, released the 
 prisoner, and informed the court of his action. 
 The court passed a scries of resolutions, which act 
 was instantly followed by the arrest of every com- 
 manding officer of the vessels of the squadron. 
 This summary proceeding at once restored a 
 healthy state of feeling throughout the squadron. 
 The President and Cabinet approved of Stewart's 
 proceeding, but as the officers expressed regret at 
 their conduct, the matter was dropped. 
 
 AVhile the squadron lay at Naples the Emperor 
 of Austria and suite visited the Frahldin. The 
 
54 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 grand master of the Empress, arrayed in a mag- 
 nificently brilliant uniform, being somewhat near- 
 sighted, mistook a wind sail for a mast, and fell 
 from the deck to the cock-pit, breaking his ankle. 
 The commodore, who was engaged in conversation 
 at the time, not seeing what had happened, asked 
 what the matter was. The old quartermaster of 
 the watch, whose duty it was to see everything, 
 far and near, replied coolly, "Oh, nothing, sir; 
 only one of them bloody kings has fallen down 
 the hatch ! " 
 
 In 1821 Commodore Stewart was sent in the 
 Franklin to the Pacific. The Spanish-American 
 provinces were struggling for independence 
 Spain was a friendly Power to whom the United 
 States owed justice and a strict neutrality. The 
 "Patriots" possessed all American sympathies. 
 The Pacific was swarming with buccaneers claim- 
 ing the protection of Spain, who were depreda- 
 ting on American commerce, and the "Patriots" 
 had declared a paper blockade of hundreds of 
 miles of coast. Stewart owed but one duty, and 
 that was to his country. He promptly put an 
 end both to the nominal blockade and to the pro- 
 tected piracy. 
 
 On his return home he was confronted by a 
 long series of charges, some of trifling, some of 
 serious import, regarding his demeanor while in 
 the Pacific. The Navy Department thought best 
 that these accusations should be submitted to a 
 
C. S. PABNELL, M. P. 55 
 
 court-martial. The court honorably acquitted the 
 commodore, and stated they felt compelled "by 
 a sense of duty to go farther, and to make un- 
 hesitatingly this declaration to the world — that, 
 so far from having violated the high duties of 
 neutrality and respect for the laws of nations ; so 
 far from having sacrificed the honor of the Ameri- 
 can flag, or tarnished his own fair fame, by acting 
 upon any motive of a mercenary or sordid kind ; 
 so far from having neglected his duty, or betrayed 
 the trust reposed in him by refusing proper pro- 
 tection to American citizens and property, or 
 rendering such protection subservient to individ- 
 ual interests, no one circumstance has been de- 
 veloped throughout the whole course of this 
 minute investigation into the various occurrences 
 of a three years' cruise, calculated to impair the 
 confidence which the members of this court, the 
 navy, and the naLion have long reposed in the 
 honor, the talents, and the patriotism of this dis- 
 tinguished officer, or to weaken in any manner 
 the opinion which all who know him entertain of 
 his humanity and disinterestedness. These vir- 
 tues only glow with brighter lustre from this 
 ordeal of trial, like the stars he triumphantly dis- 
 played when valor and skill achieved a new victory 
 to adorn the annals of our naval glory. 
 
 Upon the commodore's return from Washington , 
 where his trial took place, to his native city Phil- 
 
56 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 adelphia,, his friends greeted him with a public 
 dinner. 
 
 Many years later on, his popularity continued 
 so great that an effort was made to "run " him for 
 the Presidency. In the course of four months no 
 less than sixty-seven papers declared for him. 
 But the project did not receive his sanction ; he 
 gave it no countenance ; he would not even dis- 
 cuss it ; he was "unusually nervous and fidgety" 
 during the agitation of the subject ; and at length 
 its promoters were impelled to give it up. He re- 
 gained his usual equanimity only when his name 
 ceased to be bandied about by the political press. 
 
 Commodore Stewart while on shore was con- 
 stantly employed upon naval boards and commis- 
 sions, court-martials, etc., and for many years was 
 in command of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, 
 from which latter position he was relieved at his 
 own request in 1861. He was long the confiden- 
 tial and trusted adviser of the Navy Department 
 and the naval committees of Congress. In 1855 
 Congress created a retiring board, and Stewart 
 was among its illustrious victims. A few years 
 afterwards a special Act of Congress was passed, 
 conferring upon him the title of "Senior Flag Of- 
 ficer" on the active list. He refused to receive 
 the commission, claiming that he already held that 
 rank. His commission as Eear Admiral, the first 
 sent out under the new law, bears date July 16th, 
 1862. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 57 
 
 Admiral Stewart was in his eighty-third year 
 when the insurgents of the South fired upon Fort 
 Sumpter. It roused the blood of the old man's 
 heart to hear of this insult to his nation's flag. 
 At once he wrote to the department imploring to 
 he put on active service. "I am young as ever," 
 he pleaded "to fight for my country." It was 
 hard to deny the old hero the opportunity to draw 
 once more his sword in defence of the flag and 
 Government he loved so well, but younger men 
 were required for the steamship service, to which 
 he was a stranger. 
 
 He lived on for nine years more, towards the 
 last suffering fearfully from a deadly disease. In 
 his Life we fiud this passage : — 
 
 " We know how he suffered, and how gradually, yet 
 surety, he was failing. And } T et we heard how near 
 the invalid came to blowing himself up in some strange 
 chemical experiment, and what fun he made of the 
 danger. To the last he was cheerful and hopeful — 
 busied with affairs, dictating letters, cracking jokes, 
 expecting soon to be well again. Then he could not 
 leave his bed — was unable to speak without agony — 
 
 wrote on a slate ' I want ' . They could not read 
 
 what it was he wanted, his hand trembled so. Per- 
 haps it was the cup of cold water they pressed to his 
 parched lips. Thus, surrounded by those who loved 
 him, the brave spirit passed peacefully away." 
 
 11 His death took place on the afternoon of Novem- 
 ber 6th, 18G9, he being in the ninety-second year of 
 his age. The council of Bordentown passed appropri- 
 
58 C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 
 
 ate resolutions, the bells tolled their requiem, business 
 was suspended, and the citizens paid their reverence. 
 A government steamer was despatched from the Phila- 
 delphia Navy Yard to convey his body to that city. 
 It grounded, and the remains, accompanied by the 
 maj'or, council, and distinguished citizens, were con- 
 vej'ed by rail. With the naval escort, the stars 
 shining brightly, they proceeded to Independence 
 Hall, where silently they laid him down, while the 
 old bell tolled forth its solemn notes. The next day, 
 after thousands of citizens had paid their humble rev- 
 erence, amidst the booming of guns, the muffled notes 
 of bells, and the funeral strains of music, in the pres- 
 ence of the distinguished men of the nation and of the 
 city, and thousands of veterans of the late war for the 
 Union, the old hero's body was given back to mother 
 earth." 
 
 His personal appearance, manner, and mental 
 characteristics are described as follows : — 
 
 "Commodore Stewart was about five feet nine 
 inches high, and of a dignified and engaging presence. 
 His complexion was fair, his hair chestnut, eyes blue, 
 large, penetrating, and intelligent. The cast of his 
 countenance was Roman, bold, strong, and command- 
 ing, and his head finely formed. His control over his 
 passions was truly surprising, and under the most irri- 
 tating circumstance his oldest seaman never saw a ray 
 of anger flash from his eye. His kindness, benevo- 
 lence, and humanity were proverbial, but his sense of 
 justice and the requisitions of duty were as unbending 
 as fate. In the moment of greatest stress and danger 
 he was as cool, and quick in judgment, as he was 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 59 
 
 utterly ignorant of fear. His mind was acute and 
 powerful, grasping the greatest or smallest subjects 
 with the intuitive mastery of genius. He was a 
 thorough seaman, and not only fully understood his 
 profession as a naval commander, but all the various 
 interests of commerce, the foreign polic}* of his coun- 
 try, the principles of government and the law of na- 
 tions. His numerous official letters and reports, his 
 correspondence and public writings, embracing as the}' 
 did a wide range of subjects, showed great accurac}-' 
 of information." 
 
 Characteristic of the man are the following 
 anecdote and incident : — 
 
 The Franklin, while under his command, was lying 
 one night at anchor in Gibraltar Bay, when a sudden 
 blow came up from the eastward, causing her to drag 
 her anchors and go adrift. A midshipman aroused 
 the commander with the startling news : u How's the 
 wind?" said Stewart. u From the east," was the 
 reply ; u she has dragged down hill, and is drifting 
 towards Algeria." " Well," was the quiet rejoinder, 
 44 the anchors will take when she drifts over there, as it 
 will be up hill on the other side." 
 
 M I never lost but one tooth in my life," he said to a 
 friend ; " it ached, and I pulled it out with a bullet 
 mould, aboard ship, in a gale of wind." 
 
 " As a story-teller Stewart was inimitable ; he was 
 famous, moreover, for repartee, and an ever ready wit. 
 His manners were always polite, even distinguished ; 
 he dispensed a liberal hospitality, and at the head of 
 his table he was unsurpassed. Throughout he pre- 
 
60 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 served a native dignity, and parried with ease every 
 familiarity, as well as the many inconvenient demands 
 which men in his position are constantly subject to." 
 
 On a high bluff of the Delaware, south of 
 Black's Creek, in the environs of Bordentown, is 
 the old country seat of Admiral Stewart, called 
 by him Montpelier, but now generally known as 
 Ironsides. A former proprietor caused to be 
 erected the present large mansion house. The 
 admiral purchased it in 1816, added another story, 
 tastefully laid out the grounds, and planted many 
 white pines, whose tops now reach the height of a 
 hundred feet. 
 
 Admiral Stewart left two children, Delia Tudor 
 and Charles Tudor Stewart. Charles graduated 
 at college, became a civil engineer, and assisted 
 in laying out railroads. At twenty-seven years 
 of age he performed so well some delicate work 
 in investigating the affairs of a New Orleans firm 
 engaged in supplying timber for foreign navies 
 that he was taken into partnership, and entrusted 
 with the entire management of the business in 
 Europe. Being well acquainted with Prince Mu- 
 rat, whom he had often befriended during his 
 exile and poverty in Bordentown, the prince pre- 
 sented him to his cousin the Emperor Napoleon 
 the Third, and the chiefs of the Naval Department 
 of France, from whom he obtained heavy con- 
 tracts for timber. In comparatively a few years 
 he amassed a large fortune. After travelling 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 61 
 
 much through Europe he went to New Orleans, 
 where he studied law and became quite noted in 
 his new profession. He died several years ago, 
 leaving his estate to his sister Delia, who, as has 
 been previously stated, had become the wife of 
 John Henry Parnell. 
 
 John Henry and Delia Parnell had five sons and 
 six daughters. Five of the latter and three of the 
 former are still living — namely, John Howard, 
 Charles Stewart, Henry Tudor, the Misses Fanny, 
 Anna, ;ind Theodosia, and two married sisters — 
 Mrs. Thompson, who resides in Paris with her 
 husband ; and Mrs. Dickenson, who generally 
 lives in her native land. On the death of their 
 father, at the comparatively early age of forty- 
 eight, he left behind him three estates in Ireland. 
 Charles Stewart Parnell was his fourth son. 
 
 Charles' elder brother, John Howard Parnell, 
 inherited a considerable property in the comity 
 Armagh, on which he usually resides. He also 
 owns an extensive farm iu the State of Alabama. 
 At the general election of 1874 he stood as a 
 Home Rule candidate for the representation of 
 county Wieklow, but was defeated. The remain- 
 ing and youngest brother, Henry Tudor Parnell, 
 was educated to the bar, and is the owner of 
 landed property iu the county Kilkenny. lie 
 mostly lives in England. The three unmarried 
 sisters of Mr. C. S. Parnell, as is now pretty 
 generally known, share his Irish sympathies, are 
 
62 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 proud of the honest manly part he has taken in 
 Irish politics, and are ever ready to defend it and 
 him against all slanderous assailants. They were 
 the first to start subscriptions in America for the 
 Irish people threatened with famine, early in the 
 last quarter of 1879. 
 
 Mrs. Delia Parnell, the daughter of Admiral 
 Stewart, brought to her Irish home of Avondale 
 a strong American love of independence, and a 
 hearty hate of British greed and desire for domi- 
 nation. She became in thought and feeling an 
 Irish Nationalist ; and from her mainly is derived 
 the warm popular sympathies which glow in the 
 breasts of four of her children. During her resi- 
 dence in Ireland she used the means at her dis- 
 posal most liberally in alleviating the perennial 
 miseries of the poor around her. At the time of 
 the Fenian troubles she exerted herself in effect- 
 ing the escape of some who were badly "wanted " 
 by the authorities — a circumstance which pro- 
 cured for her house in Upper Temple Street, 
 Dublin, the distinction of a visit from and search 
 by the police. In the end she retired to the home 
 of her youth, Bordentown, New Jersey, with her 
 unmarried daughters ; at which place she spends 
 most of the year, but winters at New York. As 
 the heir of her father and brother, as well as 
 through the resources left her by her husband, 
 she is mistress of an ample income. 
 
 Charles Stewart Parnell was born in the month 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 63 
 
 of June, 1846, at Avondale, Eathdrum, the man- 
 sion now in his own possession. 
 
 As a child, his mother says, he showed an un- 
 common love of study ; devoting far more time 
 to his books than to the ordinary sports of child- 
 hood. His memory was admirable, and he was 
 by no means deficient in wit and sprightliness. 
 As a boy of ten he amused his fellow-passengers 
 in a coach on a country road by comparing the 
 population and military strength of the various 
 countries in Europe, with a view to determining 
 their respective chances in the event of a general 
 war. At this time, however, his mind ran less 
 in the direction of politics than toward mechani- 
 cal science, and he amused his friends and taxed 
 his own mind not a little in the effort to solve the 
 problem of a perpetual-motion machine. Again, 
 when he wanted some bullets and had no mould 
 in which to form them, he conceived the idea of 
 making them as shot is made — by dropping hot 
 lead from a high tower. The family knew noth- 
 ing of his design till they were startled by the 
 butler's cry — "Come down there, you young 
 rascal! What are you trying to do?* and the 
 next moment that worthy man rushed up the 
 winding staircase to the roof in time to save 
 the ingenious lad from breaking his neck by a fall 
 of fifty feet to the ground below, where, on the 
 well-worn stones, lay a cake of flattened lead. 
 
 Another anecdote of the politician would cause 
 
64 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 a moment's wonder that he has not become a mil- 
 itary rather than a civil leader of men. The 
 nursery at home was well garrisoned with Lilipu- 
 tian soldiers, of whom Charles commanded one 
 well organized division, while his sister directed 
 the movements of another and opposing force. 
 These never came into actual conflict, but faced 
 one another impassively, while their respective 
 commanders peppered with pop-guns at the en- 
 emy's lines. For several days the war continued 
 without apparent advantage being gained by either 
 side. One morning, however, heavy cannonading 
 was heard in the furthest corner of the room 
 (produced by rolling a spiked ball across the 
 floor). Pickets were called in, and in three min- 
 utes from the firing of the first shot there was a 
 general engagement all along the line. Strange 
 as it may seem, Miss ParnelPs soldiers fell by the 
 score and hundred, while those commanded by her 
 brother refused to waver even when palpably hit. 
 This went on for some time, until, as she obsti- 
 nately refused to surrender, the young lady's host 
 was completely routed and victory perched upon 
 the standards of her foe. It was learned, from 
 his own confession an hour after this Waterloo, 
 that Charles had, before the battle began, glued 
 his soldiers' feet securely to the table. 
 
 Following the un-Irish fashion of his caste — 
 that of the upper classes — John Henry Parnell 
 determined to give his son an English education. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 65 
 
 He seems to have been of opinion also that the 
 process of Anglicizing could not be too soon 
 begun on the child ; for at the age of six little 
 Charles was carried over to and left at a private 
 school near the picturesque little town of Yeovil 
 in Somersetshire. There he remained for about 
 three years. A violent attack of typhoid fever 
 seized him at the Yeovil school, where he lay for 
 weeks at the point of death. His constitution 
 never afterwards quite rallied from the effects of 
 that dreadful prostration ; and for years he was 
 considered absolutely a delicate boy. How he 
 has borne up under the accumulated fatigues, ex- 
 ertions, and travels undergone during his active 
 political career seems, when read in the light of 
 the fact last mentioned, but little short of the 
 miraculous. 
 
 A couple of years spent amid the bracing airs 
 of the Wicklow hills restored him sufficiently to 
 admit of his being again sent to school. The 
 place selected was again in England — namely, at 
 a spot called Kirk-Langley, near the town of 
 Derby. Here he grew apace, springing up into a 
 tall slender young lad. As the time drew nigh 
 when it was meant that he should enter a univer- 
 sity he was placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. 
 Whishaw, then residing at Chipping-Norton, not 
 far from the city of Oxford. This reverend 
 gentleman afterwards became chaplain to the 
 School for the Blind at Liverpool, and enjoys the 
 
66 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 reputation of being one of the most celebrated 
 pulpit orators of that great emporium. 
 
 John Henry Parnell had entered the university 
 of Cambridge himself ; and the same university he 
 selected for his son Charles, who matriculated 
 there at the age of eighteen. It was the father's 
 wish that his son should go to the bar ; but the 
 son had no liking for the lawyer's life or work, 
 and resolutely opposed the parental choice of 
 a destiny for him. He carried his point, almost 
 as a matter of course. 
 
 He remained but two years at the university, 
 and so did not graduate. Following in his father's 
 footsteps, he went abroad to see the world, and 
 travelled in the United States during the years 
 1872 and 1873. 
 
 As a youth, Charles Stewart Parnell showed no 
 particular interest in the affairs of Ireland — how 
 could he with such a denationalizing course of 
 training as was inflicted on him? — and when he 
 discussed Irish politics with his sisters he fre- 
 quently took the Conservative side, to annoy 
 them in a harmless way. This humor sometimes 
 worried his mother, who, as she declares, has an 
 American, horror of Toryism. Like his father, 
 John Henry Parnell, Charles was a skilful crick- 
 eter, and when at home always took part in the 
 game, which is much played in Wicklow. In 
 those days he was something of a wag, and would 
 keep the tabFe in a roar. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 67 
 
 But in the November of 1867 an incident had 
 occurred iu Manchester which fastened itself on 
 his memory — the execution of Allen, Larkia, 
 and O'Brien. As he had entered on manhood, 
 and learned to think seriously of men and events, 
 he dwelt on "the Manchester three " and their 
 cruel fate, and thought of the brief, pregnant 
 prayer which came from their lips as they hov- 
 ered on the dizzy verge of eternity — the immortal 
 "God save Ireland !" At length he resolved to do 
 what in him lay for her safety. He consulted with 
 his uncle Charles Stewart, then living iu Paris, 
 and his resolve received the approval of the brave 
 old admiral's son. Next he laid his intention be- 
 fore his mother; and we need hardly observe that 
 Mrs. Delia Parnell was not the one to oiler him op- 
 position in such a cause. Finally he took the step 
 of joining the Home Rule League — a decisive one 
 in many ways for him, but especially because it 
 cut him oiF as a political heretic from several near 
 relatives with whom he would naturally have 
 ivished to live iu the closest unity, political as 
 well as social. 
 
 Having thus thrown in his lot with the people 
 and their supreme cause — the cause of self-gov- 
 ernment — he was eager to work and make sacri- 
 fices in their behalf. The opportunity soon came. 
 Immediately after the general election of 1874, 
 Colonel Taylor, one of the members for Dublin 
 County, having accepted a post in the Govern- 
 
68 C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 ment, it was needful that he should seek re- 
 election. The country was then full of spirit and 
 hope, and it was determined that he should not 
 have his seat without a fight for it. But a candi- 
 date was wanted who would be willing to speud 
 money freely on the election, for the general good 
 of the cause, and in the full knowledge that for 
 the expenditure he must not expect a seat in the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 Charles Stewart Parnell was at hand. He was 
 asked if he would be the man in the gap on this 
 occasion, and he willingly consented to take up 
 the uninviting position of a candidate foredoomed 
 to defeat. 
 
 Though the contest for Dublin County was from 
 the first a hopeless one on the Home Rule side, it 
 was, nevertheless, deemed judicious to hold a pub- 
 lic meeting in Dublin, in support of Mr. Parnell's 
 candidature. If such a meeting could attain no 
 other useful purpose, it would at least introduce 
 the young and unknown politician to the people 
 he was so eager to serve. Accordingly, the coun- 
 cil of the Home Rule League convened a meeting 
 in the Rotundo for the afternoon of the 9th of 
 March, 1874. On the occasion the room was 
 filled, early as was the hour ; the platform was 
 thronged with an influential and representative 
 assemblage, including many members of Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 As at this meeting Mr. Parnell made his first 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 69 
 
 appearance before the public, it is worthy of some 
 notice in this narrative. Among the M.P.'s pres- 
 ent the most prominent were Honest John Martin ; 
 Isaac Butt, then in reality as well as in name the 
 trusted leader of the Irish people ; A. M. Sulli- 
 van, Mitchell Henry, and Richard O'Shaughnessy. 
 It was pretty generally known by then that Charles 
 Stewart Parnell was a scion of the family which 
 had produced Sir John, the stout and self-sacri- 
 ticing foe of the Union, and Sir Henry, the life- 
 long advocate of Catholic equality ; so there was 
 great enthusiasm among those assembled on that 
 day in the Rotundo in favor of the relative of 
 those two worthies who had come forward to 
 identify himself with the people and their cause. 
 The popular instinct, which is so seldom wrong in 
 public affairs, had seized on the fact that the young 
 man was the inheritor of great reputations and 
 unsullied memories, and inferred from it that he 
 would follow in the footsteps of his honored pred- 
 ecessors, and that, in whatever else he might 
 fail, he might be relied on for honesty of pur- 
 pose. This was the reason why the room was 
 thronged at an hour when men in the city are 
 usually minding their private business, as well as 
 why so deep an interest was taken in the object of 
 the meeting. 
 
 To Mr. A. M. Sullivan was committed the duty 
 of proposing the first resolution, which warmly 
 approved of the candidature of Mr. Charles Stew- 
 
70 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 art Parnell. The speaker had uttered but a few 
 sentences when there occurred one of those striking 
 coincidences, dramatic in their effect, which dwell 
 for ever in the memory of beholders. Mr. Sulli- 
 van was expressing the delight that should be felt, 
 and the hope that should be inspired, by seeing the 
 bearers of historic names like that of Parnell 
 coming back into the ranks of the people ; when, 
 just as the sentence was finished, a tall, slender 
 young man came through the doorway, and look- 
 ing neither to the right nor the left, began quietly 
 making his way through the crowd towards the 
 platform. Of those in the room probably not a 
 score had ever seen him before, nor even heard 
 his personal appearance described ; yet, by some 
 subtle process of intuition, characteristic of the 
 Irish mind, it at once became known among the 
 mass of the large gathering that the new arrival, 
 so unostentatiously moving up the room, was the 
 very bearer of a historic name to whom Mr. Sul- 
 livan had just referred. It was like the work of 
 magic in its wondrous suddenness. Every eye 
 was fixed on the young man ; people stood on 
 tiptoe and craned their necks to get a view of 
 him; while cheer after cheer resounded through 
 the spacious hall, loud and long-sustained, and 
 threatening, if not to raise the roof off the place, 
 at least to split the ears of all in the assembly. 
 Such a scene of enthusiastic but not disorderly 
 animation is but rarely witnessed. Eyes bright- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 71 
 
 ened, faces beamed, hats and handkerchiefs waved 
 in the air, voices were making themselves hoarse ; 
 yet all the while the object of the demonstration, 
 with bent head and downcast eyes, quietly pursued 
 his way, as if unconscious of the honor paid him 
 — or, if conscious, as though he felt it unfitting 
 to receive popular rewards before he had done 
 enough to deserve them. Yet it was plain that 
 his feelings were deeply moved by his reception ; 
 for when he stepped on to the platform he was 
 pale, and indeed exhibited the appearance of agi- 
 tation. When, after the last burst of cheering, 
 Mr. Sullivan, resuming his interrupted speech, con- 
 firmed the instinct of the audience by saying that 
 literally, as well as figuratively, his friend Mr. Par- 
 nell had come among them, there was another 
 enthusiastic outburst, prolonged and deafening ; 
 and before it was over some of the thoughtful 
 present were asking themselves if a great public 
 career lay not before this modest-looking youthful 
 politician, whose very presence, unheralded, un- 
 announced, could take captive public confidence 
 in a manner so remarkable. As for the mass, 
 they waite I with impatience for the speech they 
 expected him to deliver. 
 
 The time came for him to speak, and he rose to 
 his feet to make his first public deliverance, amid 
 a tempest of cheers. All present saw that he waa 
 laboring under strong emotion, for his color camo 
 and went, and his breast heaved perceptibly. 
 
72 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 We can fancy the thoughts which stirred the 
 fountains of feeling within him to their veiiest 
 depths. He had resolved to devote himself to his 
 people, to work for them with all his might; and 
 here, at the very outset of his career — before, as 
 it were, he had yet actually put his hand to the 
 plough — was he receiving an earnest of the grat- 
 itude which the Irish people are ever ready to 
 lavish on all who have even tried honestly to serve 
 them. No doubt he knew that the good deeds of 
 Sir John and Sir Henry Parnell had paved the 
 way for him to the core of the people's hearts ; 
 and no doubt also he inly resolved at that moment 
 that he would leave behind him at least the repute 
 of being as much "a man of integrity" as any one 
 of his forefathers. At all events, whatever his 
 thoughts may have been, he was considerably un- 
 nerved ; for when he began to speak it was in 
 broken sentences, and in a voice that faltered with 
 excess of feeling. 
 
 It was a scene to be long remembered. There, 
 on the front of the platform, by the chairman's 
 table, he stood, tall, slender, pale, lofty of fore- 
 head, his lips unquivering, his chin firm and reso- 
 lute-looking, his bosom laboring, his brown eyes 
 flashing over the throng, his back well set up, 
 and indeed with a carriage that suggested a mili- 
 tary training. And while in the excitement of that 
 moment — an excitement the exact like of which 
 he could never again know — his tongue grew un- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 73 
 
 willing to express his thoughts, and forced him to 
 hesitate and to pause, a painfully intent silence 
 fell on the anxious audience. In the chair was 
 O'Gorman Mahon, sitting with soldierly erectness 
 in spite of his advanced years, and with a piercing 
 gaze fixed on the faltering novice. From the 
 right of the platform kindly as well as "honest" 
 John Martin surveyed the young Protestant 
 patriot, with a benignant smile illuminating his 
 grave, sweet countenance ; the homely, genial face 
 of Isaac Butt beamed with overflowing good- 
 nature ; the blue eyes of Alexander Sullivan 
 glowed in eager sympathy, while his whole air in- 
 dicated to observers an intense desire to spring to 
 the aid of the speaker, and to invest him with his 
 own power of apt and fluent expression ; Mitchell 
 Henry, too, from the left of the platform, exhib- 
 ited an unmistakably kindly interest in the young 
 speaker, whose native modesty and excited feel- 
 ings combined to impair his delivery of the 
 thoughts surging in his brain. Indeed every eye 
 was riveted on him, both from the platform and 
 from the floor of the hall ; and though a great 
 many were criticising unfavorably his first effort 
 as a public speaker, it must be admitted that there 
 was something in his appearance which impressed 
 every one favorably, for every one undoubtedly 
 cheered him without stint. 
 
 When the meeting broke up there was a good 
 deal of discussion among groups of the assem- 
 
74 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 blage concerning the chances of the candidate's 
 success in public life. The verdict of many, who 
 had noted only his faltering utterance and his 
 broken sentences, was, "That young man will be 
 a failure. He can't speak." But the shrewder, 
 who had noted the firm set-up of his back and the 
 resolute rigidity of mouth and chin, more sagely 
 observed, "There is something in that young man. 
 It will come out in time. Wait and see. " Which 
 section was right all know now. 
 
 The Dublin County election at which Mr. Par- 
 nell was a candidate is hardly worth referring to 
 further now than to say that, as was expected, he 
 was beaten. It is very well known that the Tories 
 of that county look carefully after the Parliament- 
 ary register, year by year; while, on the other 
 hand, hundreds on hundreds of men possessing 
 popular sympathies, and having the needful elect- 
 oral qualifications, are too apathetic to take the 
 trouble to attend at revision sessions to secure 
 their undoubted right to vote. It must suffice to 
 say that when the polling day had come and gone, 
 and the votes cast had been counted, it was found 
 that Colonel Taylor had received 2,122 ; that Mr. 
 Parnell's tally was only 1,141 ; and consequently 
 that the former had been returned by a majority 
 of 981. 
 
 One feature of this contested election must still 
 retain a strong interest for every reader. We al- 
 lude to Mr. ParnelPs candidatorial address to the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P 75 
 
 constituency. Few people have ever dreamt of 
 referring to it since his defeat; and yet it cannot 
 but be important to know on what publicly an- 
 nounced principles he began his political career. 
 They furnish a safe test both of his honesty in 
 adopting them and his consistency in adhering to 
 them. We have pleasure, therefore, in reproduc- 
 ing the main portions of this address, which we are 
 confident our readers will welcome jvith equal 
 pleasure : — 
 
 " Upon the great question of Home Rule I will by 
 all means seek the restoration to Ireland of our domes- 
 tic Parliament, upon the basis of the resolutions passed 
 at the National Conference last November, and the 
 principles of the Home Rule League, of which I am a 
 member. 
 
 "If elected to Parliament I will give 1113- cordial ad- 
 herence to the resolutions adopted at the recent con- 
 ference of Irish members, and will act indcpcndentl}' 
 alike of all English parties. 
 
 " I will earnestl} r endeavor to obtain for Ireland a 
 system of education in all its branches — university, 
 intermediate, and primary — which will deal impar- 
 tially with all religious denominations, by affording to 
 every parent the opportunity of obtaining for his 
 child an education combined with that religious teach- 
 ing of which his conscience approves. 
 
 11 1 believe security for his tenure, and the fruits of 
 his industry, to be equally necessary to do justice to 
 the tenant and to promote the prosperity of the whole 
 community. I will, therefore, support such an exten- 
 
76 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 sion of the ancient and historic tenant-right of Ulster, 
 in all its integrity, to the other parts of Ireland, as 
 will secure to the tenant continuous occupation at fair 
 rents." 
 
 In addition he promised to work for " a com- 
 plete and unconditional amnesty;" and, after a 
 graceful reference to the efforts made by his rela- 
 tives, Sir John and Sir Henry, for the good of the 
 Irish people, he concluded : — 
 
 " If you elect me I will endeavor, and think I can 
 promise, that no act of mine will ever discredit the 
 name which has been associated with these recollec- 
 tions." 
 
 No need to ask now whether any act of his has 
 since discredited that name. Has he fulfilled 
 both in letter and spirit those early pledges given 
 when a young untried man ? Has he sought the 
 restoration of our domestic Parliament "by all 
 means"? Has he acted "independently alike of 
 all English parties"? Has he been idle in refer- 
 ence to the land question ? Was he " behind the 
 door" in regard to the amnesty? Has he neg- 
 lected the cause of religious equality in educa- 
 tion? Most of our readers remember enough of 
 the political life of the last five years to give to 
 nil of these questions such answers as could not 
 fail to be complimentary to Mr. Charles Stewart 
 Parnell. Yet in the rush and hurry of the time 
 people forget many things which are worth recol- 
 
C. S. TARNELL, M. P. 77 
 
 lection ; and we purpose in this narrative to 
 recall several such things to their memories — 
 events of deep interest and great importance to 
 the Irish nation. 
 
 After the Dublin election nothing was heard by 
 the public of Mr. Parnell till John Mitchel came 
 over from America, after his long exile, to beard 
 the British lion in his den by seeking the repre- 
 sentation of Tipperary County. Two circum- 
 stances in connection with that event roused 
 Charles Parnell to active sympathy on the rebel 
 candidate's behalf. One w r as the opportunity 
 given of striking a resounding blow against Brit- 
 ish domination in Ireland; the other was the in- 
 domitable, unconquerable spirit of Mitchel himself, 
 so near akin to Mr. Parnell'fl own. On this occa- 
 sion he emerged from the privacy into which he 
 had retired after the Dublin County election, in 
 an admirably written letter to the papers, an- 
 nouncing his hearty approbation of MitcheFs 
 course, and giving £25 towards the expenses of 
 the contest which Mr. Stephen Moore of Barna 
 forced on "the premier county. " 
 
 Tipperary put Mitchel at the head of the poll by 
 an immense majority, but he died, alas! in the 
 arms of victory. At his funeral his brother-in- 
 law, political colleague, and fellow-convict, John 
 Martin, was seized with a mortal illness, and 
 within a week followed him to the grave. John 
 Martin's death took place the 29th of March, 1875. 
 
78 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Ireland was stricken with sorrow ; but Meath 
 County bewailed a special loss, for in gentle John 
 Martin she had had a representative as honest and 
 earnest, as upright and firm, as ever championed 
 the cause of "Ireland a nation" in the London 
 House of Commons. To find a fitting successor 
 for such a man was no easy task ; but by a happy 
 stroke of fortune Charles Stewart ParneJl, having 
 been recommended by the council of the Home 
 Eule League, was adopted as the popular candi- 
 date by a large representative meeting of the 
 electorate. Another Home Ruler, a solicitor of 
 much local influence, opposed him ; and a Tory 
 gentleman of the county, beholding a prospect of 
 division in the national ranks, and fancying that 
 he might be able to slip into the seat through the 
 split, also took the field. AVhen, on the 19th of 
 April, 1875, the votes having been counted, the 
 declaration of the poll was made, it was found 
 that the numbers were — Charles Stewart Parnell, 
 Home Ruler, 1,771 ; J. L. Naper, Tory, 902 ; J. 
 T. Hinds, Home Ruler, 138 ; from which figures 
 it will be seen that the mass of the electors refused 
 to play the game of the common enemy by fight- 
 ing among themselves. 
 
 There was tremendous rejoicing in Royal Meath 
 over the victory. Enthusiastic crowds assembled 
 in thousands to give vent to a common feeling of 
 delight ; bonfires blazed in many quarters ; and 
 the populace of Trim, in which town the declara- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 79 
 
 tion of the poll had been made, having discovered 
 Mr. Parnell walking down from the parochial 
 house to his hotel, laid lovingly violent hands on 
 him, carried him in triumph round their own 
 special bonfire in the market square, and finally 
 set him standing on the head of a cask to speak a 
 few words to them. To those acquainted w r ilh 
 the Irish nature it is unnecessary to say that no 
 such wild familiarity would have been taken with 
 him if during the course of his canvass he had 
 not become a popular favorite. 
 
 Mr. Parnell did not delay to receive congratu- 
 lations on his success. Parliament was in session 
 at the period of his election, and, moreover, the 
 Government had just then in hands a Coercion 
 Bill for Ireland. Mr. Joseph Gillis Biggar had 
 determined that this proposed tyrannical enact- 
 ment should be met with a still* resistance. 
 Therefore the new member for Meath, who 
 meant work, not pleasure, hurried over to Lon- 
 don, formally took his seat, and was in good 
 time to record his first vote against the Coercion 
 Bill on the 22d of April, 1875. As he was in 
 Trim on the night of the 19th, it is plain that he 
 "did not let the grass grow under his feet," to 
 use an expressive Irish phrase. 
 
 The struggle over the Coercion Bill was stout 
 
 CO 
 
 and prolonged. Mr. Biggar began it with the 
 famous four hours' speech which drove the as- 
 sembled Commons at Westminster into alternate 
 
80 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 flushes of rage and despair. That struggle was 
 the first taste they had got of what has since been 
 called "Obstruction" — a word which merely ex- 
 presses briefly that it is within the power of even 
 a few resolute Irish members of Parliament to 
 prevent any administration from having every- 
 thing its own way. That struggle further showed 
 that even a score of resolute Irish members could 
 at least prevent anything approaching to bad 
 measures for their country. It remained for Mr. 
 Parnell afterwards to prove that good measures 
 could also be obtained by a continued pursuance 
 of the same method. 
 
 Only on the 11th of April did the bill get 
 through the House of Commons, after a consump- 
 tion of Government time which caused in Great 
 Britain a feeling of positive dismay. There were, 
 of course, a large number of divisions over the 
 various amendments proposed ; and it is to be re- 
 corded to the credit of Charles Stewart Parnell 
 that, even at the very outset of his Parliamentary 
 career, he was present and took the Irish side, in 
 every one of those divisions. Others there were 
 of his colleagues, much more advanced in years, 
 infinitely better known to the public, and posses- 
 sing the full confidence of too confiding constitu- 
 encies, who were absent again and again with no 
 better cause than a desire to take their pleasure in 
 London drawing-rooms. But he stood up to his 
 work with a diligence from which they might have 
 
C, S. PARNELL, M. P. 81 
 
 taken example. The rest of the session passed 
 over without anything remarkable being done by 
 tJ the Irish party " in Parliament ; and during that 
 period Mr. Parnell was by far more constant in 
 his attendance than the majority of his fellow- 
 members. He did not address the House ; but 
 employed himself much in mastering its cum- 
 brous and intricate forms and the rules which 
 guide its course of procedure. 
 
 Now there was a representative of Cork city, 
 who, having been a hot revolutionist in '48, had 
 taken refuge under the stars and stripes, and 
 dwelt in America for many years, in the practice 
 of his profession of civil engineer. Having 
 amassed a fortune, he returned to his native land, 
 and set up his habitation on the banks of the 
 beautiful Lee. He had profited by contact with 
 the shrewd American mind ; and when he bad ob- 
 served the London Commons for some time he 
 came to a conclusion which he expressed in pretty 
 much the following fashion : — 
 
 " You will never get them to listen to you until you 
 begin to take as active an interest in English affairs 
 as they take in Irish ones. I am too old to have the 
 necessary energy for the work. Why don't some of 
 you j'oung fellows try it?" 
 
 The man who said this was generally spoken 
 of with affectionate familiarity as "Honest Joe 
 Ronayne." Peace to his ashes ! He died in the 
 
82 0. S. PABNELL, M. P. 
 
 Spring of 1876. He loved Ireland well, and 
 served her well too, and will be long borne in 
 her grateful memory. 
 
 Charles Parnell heard the saying, and pondered 
 deeply on it. The more he thought of it the 
 more it appeared like a revelation ; until at 
 length he determined that, since the practised 
 speakers among the Irish members seemed to 
 shrink from the labor involved, he himself would 
 test the wisdom of Joe Konayne's dictum. With 
 this view he set himself to looking out for some 
 Government measure in which he could take a 
 tremendous interest. He eventually chose the 
 English Prisons Bill, which proposed to hand 
 over the management of local prisons to the ex- 
 ecutive ; and he made the selection with a view 
 to first modifying it to his desires, and afterwards 
 insisting that the Irish Prisons Bill which was to 
 follow should be modelled on the precedent thus 
 afforded. For it occurred to Mr. Parnell that 
 the time of political prosecutions in Ireland had 
 not yet passed away, and that it would be wise 
 to prepare for occurrences of the kind, to the 
 extent at least of saving those convicted of sedi- 
 tion from the indignities and maltreatment to 
 which theretofore they had been invariably sub- 
 jected in Irish jails. 
 
 We have previously intimated that Mr. Parnell 
 had little or no experience in public speaking. 
 From native modesty, or a diffidence in his own 
 
0. 8. PA4NELL, M. P. gg 
 
 powers, he shrank from obtruding himself on 
 audiences accustomed to being addressed by ora- 
 tors, rhetoricians, and practised debaters. But 
 to carry out the scheme of tactics which was 
 slowly maturing in his mind it was absolutely 
 needful to gain such experience ; and to the task 
 he began to set himself at the beginning of the 
 Parliamentary session of 1876. The strength of 
 his purpose impelled him to surmount every ob- 
 stacle that lay in his path ; so he made use of the 
 House of Commons as a debating society in which 
 he might acquire ease and fluency of public ad- 
 dress. 
 
 The first opportunity of which he took advan- 
 tage was of a kind peculiarly grateful to him. It 
 was supplied by the very first of the resolute 
 struggles to which some members of the Irish 
 Parliamentary party have since very often treated 
 the assembled Commons of Westminster, and 
 which have received from the newspapers the ex- 
 pressive designation "scenes in the House." 
 
 The "scene" to which reference is now made 
 arose in this way. Early in each session the 
 Commons elect members to sit on various com- 
 mittees having certain duties to discharge in con- 
 nection with the business of the House. The 
 Whig and Tory party leaders usually agreed 
 beforehand on a list of members for each commit- 
 tee, taken impartially from the ranks of both 
 parties in fair proportion to their respective 
 
84 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 numbers ; with the result that when the elections 
 came on each name was passed simply as a matter 
 of course — such a thing as taking a division 
 against any one being almost unheard of. The 
 formation of a third party — the Home Rule one 
 — disturbed the little arrangement mentioned; 
 and at the beginning of 1876 both Whigs and 
 Tories combined totally to ignore the existence of 
 that third party by drawing no members of com- 
 mittees from its ranks. Some of the Irish repre- 
 sentatives made up their minds to resent this 
 grossly unfair course of the English party mana- 
 gers by indiscriminately challenging every name 
 put up for election. 
 
 Late on the night of Monday, the 6th of March, 
 there being at the time but six members of the 
 Irish party present — of whom, as might be ex- 
 pected, the ever-diligent Charles Stewart Parnell 
 was one — a motion was made " That the select 
 committee on referees on private bills do consist 
 of twenty-one members." Absurdly few as were 
 the Home Rulers on the spot, they determined to 
 fight the matter out with resolution, and to teach 
 the Whig and Tory conspirators a lesson they 
 would not soon forget. Mr. A. M. Sullivan 
 promptly rose to his feet, and moved that the 
 number of the committee should be twenty-three 
 instead of twenty-one, with the object of adding 
 on two of his own party. The gage of battle 
 thus thrown down was quickly taken up by the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. V. 85 
 
 overwhelming majority furnished from the ranks 
 of the two British parties, united for the occasion, 
 as usual, in doing an injustice to the Irish. They 
 won in the division of course, although on the 
 Irish side there voted several fair-minded English- 
 men — there are fair-minded Englishmen even in 
 the London House of Commons — whose aid 
 brought the Irish muster up to twenty-one. 
 
 Immediately "the scene" began. Every name 
 put up was challenged in turn, and a division 
 taken on it. What that meant, and how great was 
 the loss of time it involved, will be understood 
 when we say that previous to each division two 
 minutes are allowed before the closing of the en- 
 trance door of the House, to allow of members 
 rushing in from the bar, the dining-room, the 
 smoke-room, the library, and so forth, to take 
 part in the division, although they may not have 
 the faintest idea of what it is about. The mem- 
 bers are warned of each division by the ringing of 
 bells set up for the purpose. When the door is 
 closed, the Commons file slowly into two great 
 corridors known as "the division lobbies," one de- 
 voted to the "ayes" and the other to the "noes." 
 In the entrance to these lobbies stand the re- 
 spective "tellers," who stop each member as he 
 passes, and take down his name. When the names 
 are all entered, they are very carefully counted, 
 all return to the chamber where sits Mr. Speaker, 
 and the numbers for and against are announced. 
 
86 C. 8. PARNELL, M. F. 
 
 There is usually some cheering after each an- 
 nouncement ; and when that is over the House 
 proceeds again to business. Each division ordi- 
 narily takes about fifteen minutes. 
 
 From the above it will easily be seen that if 
 a number of divisions be taken in a night, not 
 only is "the time of the House " consumed but a 
 good deal of enforced pedestrianism falls to the 
 lot of members, many of whom from one cause 
 or other may not be very well able to walk, es- 
 pecially in the small hours of the morning. And 
 it was precisely to such consumption of time and 
 such enforced pedestrianism the resolute Irish six 
 condemned their unscrupulous Whig and Tory 
 opponents. Naturally these latter became an- 
 noyed under the punishment they were receiv- 
 ing, and a good deal of temper was displayed. 
 It is in the midst of one of the short but warm 
 discussions of the night that we find the first 
 record of Mr. Parnell addressing his fellow Com- 
 moners. The hour was one at which Parliament- 
 ary reporters do not trouble themselves to take 
 down the sayings of members in full, therefore 
 the record is extremely brief; but one phrase of 
 it is so characteristic of Mr. Parnell that there is 
 hardly room for doubt that it was reported in the 
 exact words which fell from his lips. The report 
 goes : — 
 
 w Mr. Parnell said they had deliberately adopted 
 this course, and they would stick to it" 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 87 
 
 Significant words indeed, if his hearers but 
 knew their full meaning when coming from him. 
 And stick to it he did. Respect for not a name 
 on the list was shown. Division followed di- 
 vision with a regularity beyond all praise. The 
 weary Britishers walked in and out of their lobby 
 muttering execrations on the heads of those ob- 
 stinate Irish who still kept up the battle, and 
 would not acknowledge themselves vanquished. 
 The counting of British noses was a toilsome 
 process, there were so many of them. On the 
 Irish side the counting was easy indeed, for their 
 English allies fell away after the first division, 
 and the Home Rule tellers had only five names to 
 put down ; after the twelfth the number fell to 
 three. 
 
 A compromise was suggested ; but the Brit- 
 ishers, who would have been glad to agree to it 
 an hour earlier, were now thoroughly irate ; in 
 defiance of Dr. Watts, they had "let their angry 
 passions rise ; " and with their tremendous major- 
 ity they were resolved not to give way an inch. 
 Appeals were made to the Irish to cease a hope- 
 less struggle ; and then, we read in the report : — 
 
 * Mr. Parnell said the compromise had been re- 
 fused, and the fight should go on." 
 
 And on it went steadily ; the Irish cool but de- 
 termined, the Britishers wild with rage, and now 
 and again giving angry vent to their excited feel- 
 ings. The gallant Major O'Gorman led his di- 
 
88 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 vision of three into the lobby, having called on 
 the honorable member for Meath to be his co-teller. 
 The honorable member for Meath gladly obliged his 
 honorable and gallant friend. The thirteenth divi- 
 sion was taken , and still the fight was not at an end. 
 The fourteenth followed, and then the fifteenth ; 
 and when, at a quarter past four in the morning, 
 the result of the sixteenth was announced, the an- 
 griest Whig or Tory of them all had been brought 
 to his senses. Though the names proposed were 
 every one carried, and in that sense the Britishers 
 might congratulate themselves on winning several 
 petty successes, yet the end for which the few Irish 
 struggled was achieved — the exclusion of mem- 
 bers of their party had to be given up — the at- 
 tempt to ignore the existence of a distinct third 
 party in the House was defeated — and in that 
 sense, the true one, victory was with the Irish, 
 their operations had been successful, and they had 
 conquered all along the line. 
 
 It was during this session of 1876 that Mr. 
 Parnell began to cultivate that devotion to the 
 Governmental estimates for which he afterwards 
 became so distinguished. There were many "great 
 debates " got up that year by the Home Rule party 
 — field-day displays which gave the do-nothings 
 an opportunity of posing before their constituents 
 as zealous servants, through the easy means of 
 letting off in the House elaborate speeches to which 
 no one paid any attention during their deliverance, 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 89 
 
 but which were pretty certain to find their way 
 into the columns of the Irish press, and to receive 
 therein an amount of space which gave them a 
 solid, substantial, responsible look, calculated to 
 impress the minds of admiring but extremely 
 simple electors to the West of St. George's Chan- 
 nel. Of course we are not to be understood as 
 attributing no value whatever to such debates. 
 On the contrary, they have their use, and are in- 
 deed at times necessary. But if there ends the 
 work of Irish members in the English Parliament 
 the advantage of the field-days is small indeed. 
 Mr. Parnell allowed any one who chose to take a 
 prominent part in those displays. For himself he 
 did not care for them, lie saw that hypocrites 
 systematically made use of them for the purpose 
 of throwing dust in the eyes of their constit- 
 uencies, so he merely closed his lips more tightly, 
 and waited with what patience he might for the 
 crushing defeat sure to follow on the division — 
 for which, however, he took care to be on hand. 
 But he did active work when the House went into 
 committee, and contrived to make himself, by sheer 
 practice, an excellent debater. And when he felt 
 the needful confidence in himself he proposed on 
 his own responsibility a motion in favor of the 
 political prisoners, which he supported in a telling 
 speech, powerful not only in argument but in the 
 unusual boldness of the tone which struck the 
 ears of the British Commons. The date of this 
 
90 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 effort to redeem the pledge regarding amnesty, 
 given in his earliest address as a Parliamentary 
 candidate, was the 22nd of May, 1876. 
 
 In his speech on this occasion — which may be 
 regarded as his first sustained effort at speech- 
 making — he made such references to the trials 
 consequent on the rescue of Kelly and Deasy from 
 the police van at Manchester as startled most of 
 his hearers. One of them, Sir Michael Hicks- 
 Beach, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, bore Mr. 
 Parnell's remarks bitterly in mind; and when, in 
 the Home Rule debate on the 30th June, the tor- 
 pid English baronet rose to speak against the Irish 
 claim, he lugged in by the horns, as it were, a 
 direct allusion to what Mr. Parnell had said on the 
 22nd of May previously. This proceeding of Sec- 
 retary Beach was a distinct breach of a rule of the 
 London House of Commons which prohibits mem- 
 bers from referring to any previous debate of the 
 same session ; yet, singular to relate, he was not 
 called to order by any authority of the assembly. 
 However, Sir Michael of the retentive memory 
 but little knew at that time the kind of man whom 
 he had singled out for a thrust. He, as well as 
 every one of his colleagues, is better informed by 
 now, and none, we fancy, would go out of his 
 way to assail the honorable member for Meath. 
 Even at that time the baronet was not allowed 
 to remain long undeceived ; for Mr. Parnell rose 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 91 
 
 to his feet on the instant, interrupted Sir Michael, 
 and calmly retorted as follows : — 
 
 " The right honorable gentleman looked at me so 
 directly when he said he regretted that any member of 
 this House should apologize for murder, that I wish to 
 say, as publicly and directly as I can, that I do not 
 believe, and never shall, that any murder was com- 
 mitted at Manchester." 
 
 It will be remembered that it was the fate of the 
 Manchester Three which first set Mr. Parnell 
 thinking seriously of Ireland and her unhappy 
 destinies ; and at no time since has he been pre- 
 pared to listen silently to any defamation concern- 
 ing them. The imprudent Secretary, on hearing 
 the observation quoted above, seemed for a while 
 like one who had received a good box on the ear ; 
 he stammered out a Parliamentary paraphrase of 
 "I didn't know you'd take it that way, I'm sure ;" 
 and then, carefully avoiding any further allusion 
 to either the Manchester cases or the honorable 
 member for Meath, addressed himself to his sub- 
 ject proper. 
 
 One other feature of Mr. Parnell's conduct dur- 
 ing this session of 1876 deserves notice here. He 
 attended strictly to party discipline. Whenever 
 there were meetings of the Irish party he was 
 present ; whatever the decision arrived at by the 
 majority he helped to carry it out. Nay, on 
 occasions — and there was at least one — when 
 Mr. Butt earnestly wished his followers to abstain 
 
92 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 altogether from voting on Imperial questions, so 
 as to preserve intact the individuality of the party, 
 and to exhibit its strength conspicuously to both 
 Whigs and Tories ; and when men like MacCarthy, 
 Downing and Major O'Gorman obstinately refused 
 to be led by their leader, and insisted on their 
 right to vote with the English party of their 
 choice ; Mr. Parnell was one of the small faithful 
 band who followed Mr. Butt in a body out of the 
 chamber when the bells for the division were set 
 a-ringing ; as, for instance, after the debate on the 
 proclamation giving to Queen Victoria the title of 
 Empress of India — a debate which came off on 
 the 11th of May, 1876. 
 
 Yet at the very time that Mr. Parnell, for the 
 sake of union, submitted so willingly to the bonds 
 of party discipline, and obeyed with such alacrity 
 the wishes expressed by the party leader, he was 
 conscious that all was not well in that organiza- 
 tion, and he had already begun a kind of guerilla 
 warfare against the House of Commons, in con- 
 junction with his stanch friend and ally, sturdy 
 Joseph Biggar, one of the members for Cavan. 
 He was also projecting a sterner struggle for the 
 next session. He had mastered the "rules of the 
 House ;" he had had practice in debate, both in 
 Parliament and in the consulting rooms of the 
 Irish party ; his diffidence had been torn away in 
 the conflicts wherein he had engaged ; self-con- 
 sciousness had been driven off, and in its stead 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 93 
 
 there remained only the rapidly growing power of 
 his unflinching purpose. His laborious attend- 
 ance in Parliament for several consecutive months 
 compelled a brief rest for a couple of weeks in 
 June ; but he was back in his place in time for the 
 Land Bill and for the Home Kule debate in which 
 he so bewildered Sir Michael Hicks-Beach to- 
 wards the end of that month. 
 
 So far he was comparatively unknown to the 
 general Irish public; but keen observers of politi- 
 cal events had noted his course ; and when, in the 
 August of 1876, the Home Rule Confederation of 
 Great Britain, to test the practical value of the 
 Irish Convention Act, since repealed, determined 
 to hold their annual convention in Dublin, it 
 was Mr. Charles Stewart Parnell who was put 
 into the second chair at their public meeting 
 in the evening, when the vote of thanks was pro- 
 posed to Isaac Butt for presiding, although there 
 were several other members of Parliament present, 
 whose age and acknowledged standing in the 
 political world were much beyond Mr. Parnell's. 
 
 During the Winter of 1866-7 he reflected much 
 on Joe Ronayne's pithy saying, and gradually im- 
 proved his plan of operations against the anti- 
 Irish majority in the London House of Commons. 
 While still adhering to his intention to take an 
 active interest in purely English affairs, he saw 
 his way also to working successfully for the bene- 
 fit of Irish ones. Since the formation of the Irish 
 
94 0, 8. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 party a sessional " rule of the House " had been 
 framed to prevent measures from going forward a 
 stage after half-past twelve at night if notice of 
 opposition of any kind had been formally given. 
 It seemed to be a most innocent rule — a rule de- 
 vised to let members go off home to bed at some 
 approach to reputable hours — a rule, in fact, 
 with which no respectable man, be he member of 
 Parliament or not, could quarrel. As a matter of 
 fact, however, it was employed to stay the passage 
 of the various bills brought in by the Irish party ; 
 notice of opposition having been promptly given 
 to every one of them, while other bills of all kinds 
 remained unopposed. The rule had been found 
 to work so well in the way intended that it was 
 again triumphantly passed at the opening of the 
 session of 1877. Forthwith Mr. Parnell and Mr. 
 Biggar indiscriminately gave formal notice of op- 
 position to a score of English and Imperial bills, 
 by which simple tactical proceeding they brought 
 them all under the operation of the half-past 
 twelve rule, and so checkmated the wily British 
 schemers. The cry of "obstruction" was at once 
 raised by those injured innocents ; vague but 
 dreadful punishments on the offending pair were 
 darkly menaced in the British prints ; cold looks 
 from the majority of their own colleagues, and 
 angry ones from the great mass of British mem- 
 bers, met Messrs. Parnell and Biggar for their 
 spirited but most natural action; everything was 
 
C. S. PABNELL, M. P. 95 
 
 done by friend .and foe alike to make their posi- 
 tion most unpleasant; yet, though they did not 
 revel, as Mark Tapley might have done, in the 
 annoyances that incessantly met them — indeed, 
 if the plain truth is to be told, they felt the bolts 
 keenly enough when shot by their own colleagues 
 — they held persistently in the course on which 
 they had entered, and dug a deep grave for that 
 "rule of the House" which had been so craftily 
 utilized to hamper the bills brought in l>3 r the 
 Irish party. 
 
 It is quite possible — nay, even probable — that 
 there are many people who believe that Mr. Par- 
 nell'szeal in the cause of Irish peasant-proprietor- 
 ship is a new thing — that the idea is one he 
 suddenly adopted merely to gain access of popu- 
 larity — that, in short, he had no real conviction 
 on the question when early in 1879 he began to ad- 
 vocate it so strenuously. Well, to such doubters 
 of his good faith in the matter we commend the 
 fact that on the 14th of February, 1877, he urged 
 the British House of Commons to assent to t ho 
 second reading of a bill whose provisions were 
 wholly directed towards making more easy the 
 conversion of tenant-farmers into peasant-pro- 
 prietors. The title of the bill was "The Irish 
 Church Act Amendment Bill ; " and its sole object 
 was to amend the Church Disestablishment Act 
 in such a way that those tenants who held the 
 glebe lands should have much greater facilities 
 
96 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 and inducements for becoming owners than the 
 Act originally afforded. His able statement con- 
 verted a great many British members to his views. 
 In the division 110 followed him into the lobby, 
 of whom but 39 were his party colleagues. Only 
 150 in all voted against his bill. Though he did 
 not win a complete victory over British prejudice, 
 he helped very materially to bring the principle of 
 Irish peasant-proprietorship to the front ; and in 
 any case he then put beyond question the good 
 faith of his subsequent advocacy of that solution 
 of the Irish land problem. 
 
 Before reverting to Mr. ParnelPs Parliamentary 
 career in 1877 — which was a most notable one 
 indeed — we must refer, however briefly, to a very 
 interesting event in which he figured prominently, 
 and which could not but have had some effect, not 
 only on the results of his American mission in 
 1879, but also in deepening and widening the 
 kindly relations between Ireland and the United 
 States. In the Autumn of 1876 the project was 
 mooted of sending from the Irish people a con- 
 gratulatory address to the States on the centenary 
 of their independence. It was known in Ireland 
 that the people of the Union meant to celebrate 
 that glorious hundredth anniversary with unpar- 
 alleled displays of public rejoicing; and with 
 those rejoicings the Irish, so long suffering from 
 the loss of their own independence, could more 
 than any other people in Europe keenly sympa- 
 
C. S. FAKNELL, M. P. <)7 
 
 thize. It was resolved to put that sympathy in 
 evidence in a form that would euclure. No sooner 
 was the project mooted in the press than its pro- 
 moters found it so warmly and widely taken up 
 that they conceived they had absolutely national 
 sanction for the undertaking. * An enormous 
 mass meeting of the citizens of the Irish me- 
 tropolis adopted the address "from the Irish 
 nation," which was inscribed to President Grant 
 as the chief representative of the Union. Messrs. 
 Parnell and O'Connor Power were deputed as the 
 bearers of this historical document, which was 
 richly illuminated on parchment and splendidly 
 framed. 
 
 The two gentlemen proceeded on their mission 
 towards the close of 1876. Arrived at their des- 
 tination they found themselves confronted by 
 obstacles which hindered them from fulfilling the 
 trust confided to them. President Grant declined 
 to receive the address from its bearers. If he 
 should accept it at all on behalf of the American 
 people it should come through the British am- 
 bassador at Washington. It was roundly as- 
 serted at the time that the said ambassador had 
 himself raised this difficulty for the two Irish 
 envoys. However that may be, Messrs. Parnell 
 and Power could see nothing but a wild incon- 
 gruity in presenting through a British ambassador 
 an address congratulating a people on having 
 been fortunate enough to fling off the British 
 
98 0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 yoke, and coming from a people who were them- 
 selves struggling to get rid of British domination. 
 The President stood firm in the position he had 
 taken up. The two Irishmen would on no ac- 
 count agree to the condition he imposed ; and to 
 ordinary observers it seemed as if the mission 
 must turn out a conspicuous failure. 
 
 But those who knew something of Mr. Parnell's 
 energy and readiness of resource did not believe 
 he would be so easily baffled ; nor were they mis- 
 taken. Cancelling the illuminated parchment 
 brought from Dublin, he got another illuminated, 
 paying for it from his own purse ; and in this 
 copy of the address he substituted for the super- 
 scription to President Grant one to the people of 
 the States. This he determined to have accepted, 
 if possible, by the House of Representatives at 
 Washington. In the end his change of tactics 
 proved eminently successful ; although, being 
 anxious to prove his new scheme of policy against 
 the tyrant majority in the British House of Com- 
 mons, he recrossed the Atlantic before the recep- 
 tion of the address by Congress. 
 
 The session of 1877 was the most memorable 
 for extraordinary scenes in British Parliamentary 
 history. Beginning with the opposition of Messrs. 
 Parnell and Biggar to "the half-past twelve rule," 
 and concluding with the famous twenty-two hours' 
 debate on the South African Bill, there occurred 
 a succession of unexampled episodes, in every one 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 99 
 
 of which Mr. Parnell was a prominent figure. It 
 was from no love of notoriety that the energetic 
 member for Meath took such a conspicuous part 
 in those unusual proceedings. We have already 
 said that he knew that all was not well with the 
 Home Rule party. The utter indifference to the 
 interests of their country, displayed by the majori- 
 ty of them, was a perpetual goad to him. Other 
 members of the party also had been galled by that 
 indifference — Mr. Biggar notably so. Mr. A. M. 
 Sullivan had commented on it in the press as deli- 
 cately as he might, only with the effect of evoking 
 a tumult against himself from those whose con- 
 sciences pointed them out as culprits. Even Mr. 
 Butt, although he totally disapproved of the new 
 tactics inaugurated by Messrs. Parnell and Biggar, 
 was yet most painfully aware of the want of ear- 
 nestness and genuineness of too many of his fol- 
 lowers. In private he often spoke bitterly about 
 the discouraging fact ; and once at least he gave 
 vent to his feelings in public. At a banquet given 
 to him in Dublin in the first week of February, 
 1877, he alluded, in the course of a magnificent 
 speech, to the remissness of the majority of the 
 party, in terms which it must prove interesting to 
 the reader to have now recalled. He said : — 
 
 " I hope that during the ensuing session we shall 
 have a full attendance of Irish members — such an 
 attendance as shall enable us to act effectively in the 
 small hours of the morning, when discussing in Parlia- 
 
100 C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 
 
 ment the questions in which we are so interested. It 
 is not in great parades the battle of Ireland is to be 
 fought. The man does not serve Ireland who comes 
 over only two or three times in the session. The cause 
 is not served by such a man, even though he take the 
 opportunity of making a grand speech. Many men 
 have clone far wiser in making no speeches at all, but 
 who have been always present at the hour of need — 
 present at any hour of the morning when their services 
 were of material use to the cause of their country. 
 Now I do think I have a right to ask the attention of 
 the Irish people. Give me whole-hearted support — 
 give me whole-hearted support — no half-hearted sup- 
 port — or rather, if } t ou will, infuse into half-hearted 
 supporters the whole of your own support ; and then 
 when the day does come, when the struggle is passed, 
 when future generations will pronounce their judgment 
 on the part acted by an individual so humble as my- 
 self — and believe me that the man placed in the posi- 
 tion you place me in will occupy a place in the historic 
 page — let me be judged fairly. If I struggle, let the 
 Irish people struggle too, and then I will not be 
 ashamed or look with fear to the place that my name 
 will occupy ." 
 
 Here positively we have Mr. ParnelFs views 
 powerfully expressed ; and we only can say now 
 it was a pity that Mr. Butt, starting with the same 
 ideas, should have veered so wide apart from his 
 young follower in the conclusions he ultimately 
 reached. As for Mr. Butt's appeal for whole- 
 hearted support from the do-nothings of the party, 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 101 
 
 so far as its effect on them was concerned, it might 
 as well have been addressed to the bricks in the 
 walls of the room in which his speech was deliv- 
 ered. His sentiments were cheered to the echo ; 
 nevertheless the majority of the party remained as 
 reluctant as ever to act up to them. 
 
 Under the circumstances so referred to by the 
 leader of the party Mr. Parnell felt himself 
 thoroughly justified in following his own course 
 for the benefit of Irish interests, and especially of 
 the cause of self-government, whether with or 
 without the approval of Mr. Butt. That able and 
 distinguished man, astute as he was in most af- 
 fairs, was yet unable to perceive the exact bearing 
 of the new policy. He regarded it as plain and 
 simple obstruction of the business of the House of 
 Commons, and again and again prophesied that 
 it would be put down. But Mr. Parnell had no 
 notion of taking up an attitude which he could 
 not maintain ; and one of the cardinal features of 
 the novel plan of action he had struck out — one, 
 too, which seems wholly to have escaped Mr. Butt's 
 notice — was to endeavor to benefit the British 
 democracy while offering steady opposition to a 
 British aristocratic Government. By this simple 
 means he at once served the broad interests of 
 humanity, incapacitated the London Parliament 
 for speedy work, and provided an excellent and 
 sure-acting buffer which saved himself from being 
 crushed. 
 
102 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 On this principle he stood while opposing the 
 English Prisons Bill, to which embryo piece of 
 legislation he had given very close study. All his 
 amendments (and he proposed a great many indeed) 
 were directed towards liberalizing the measure. 
 He wanted to secure even criminals from brutal 
 treatment inside the prison walls, and from being 
 compelled by the cruelty of jailors to suffer pun- 
 ishments beyond those to which they had been 
 condemned ; he wanted adequate supervision and 
 inspection of prisons; he wanted, above all, to 
 save political prisoners from the degradations 
 properly meted out in jail to the murderous burg- 
 lar, the callous baby-farmer, or the beast convicted 
 of unspeakable crimes. Amendment after amend- 
 ment was proposed by him only to be lost; and 
 still on succeeding clauses of the bill he calmly 
 brought up fresh amendments having in view the 
 same or similar objects. The bill, in consequence, 
 made little or no headway in committee ; and the 
 wrath of the hitherto omnipotent majority steadily 
 accumulated against the daring offender who by 
 his audacious pertinacity was single-handed prov- 
 ing himself a match for hundreds. 
 
 And just now Mr. Parnell developed a singular 
 zeal in the interests of the soldiers of Great Brit- 
 ain, and devoted himself with heroic constancy 
 to the improvement of their lot by moving amend- 
 ments to the Mutiny Bill — a measure which had 
 been therefore passed annually as a mere matter 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 103 
 
 of form, and any provision of which the ordinary 
 British member would have deemed it sacrilege to 
 touch. 
 
 The gathering waters of rage in the end burst 
 through the. dam, aud there came "a scene in the 
 House." It was immediately after the Easter re- 
 cess ; the hour was advanced in the morning ; 
 Mr. Parnell had been at constant and harassing 
 work for some ten hours ; he wished to propose 
 some new amendments on a clause about to be 
 discussed, and, as he had not the amendments 
 prepared, and was besides completely worn out, 
 he made the quite reasonable suggestion that the 
 committee should postpone its further labors to 
 another date. 
 
 Let the reader picture to himself the scene 
 which followed. The London House of Com- 
 mons is eighty feet long by fifty wide, and is 
 forty feet in height. The entrance door is at the 
 foot of this spacious apartment; and, facing the 
 door, at the head of the room, is the Speaker's 
 chair. A T-shaped table stands in front of the 
 Speaker's chair. Either side of the table rise up 
 seats, tier on tier, the higher each about twelve 
 inches above the one next below, and all lying 
 lengthwise down the room. Scattered over those 
 seats are some hundred members of Parliament, 
 most of them in the regulation "full dress" of 
 London — white tie, much shirt-front, small black 
 waistcoat, black trousers, and black swallow-tail 
 
104 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 coat. Many of these gentlemen have just come 
 to the House from dinner-parties at which wine 
 has been flowing pretty freely ; others have looked 
 in on their way home from balls where copious 
 libations of champagne had been offered up to 
 pleasure. These are boisterous. On the front 
 bench to the right of the Speaker's chair are half 
 a dozen members of the Government, asleep or 
 pretending to be asleep. In the chair sits the 
 chairman of committees, flushed and angry-look- 
 ing — his face suggestive of a wish to have some 
 one laid under a Nasmyth steam-hammer in full 
 blast. Far down the room, to the left of the 
 chair, stands erect a slim young man, calm, com- 
 posed, gentlemanly, undemonstrative either in 
 voice or gesture, and he i§ striving to address 
 the House. The convivial gentlemen converse 
 quite loudly with each other, and in concert, as if 
 of set purpose ; and the voice of the speaker is 
 smothered in the noise. The chairman does not 
 interfere. The young man persists, and raises 
 his voice above the din, which suddenly grows 
 twice as great as before. The speaker's pale face 
 waxes paler still, and there is an ominously bright 
 sparkle in his brown eyes ; further than this there 
 is no sign that he is moved by the vulgar rude- 
 ness which assails him. He pauses, standing still 
 erect. There comes a lull in the designed confu- 
 sion ; and into that lull he interjects a sharp, clear, 
 terse sentence, not at all conveying compliments 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 105 
 
 to the House. Then the hilarious young gentle- 
 men of from thirty-four to forty who have been 
 out dancing, or dining and wining, begin to dis- 
 play the variety of their accomplishments. Three 
 or four, as if to emphasize that frugality of na- 
 ture's gifts to them which, among their acquaint- 
 ances, causes them to be set down as "asses," 
 begin to bray. Others mimic the cries of barn- 
 yard fowl with more or less success. Some 
 whistle as if they were lunatics who fancied them- 
 selves railway locomotives giving out a warning ; 
 some ironically shriek "yaw-yaw" — which is 
 English for "hear, hear"; others scream "Vide, 
 'vide" — English for "divide, divide"; and one, 
 a sprig of nobility, very accurately reproduces 
 the sounds made by a man whose stomach revolts 
 against the inordinate quantity of strong liquor 
 with which he has overladen it. 
 
 Calmly, in spite of all, the speaker goes on 
 whenever a moment's lull gives him a chance. 
 He talks as argumentatively as though he were 
 addressing a roomful of philosophers, and he does 
 not resume his seat until he has finished the reasons 
 which impel him to move "that the chairman do 
 report progress" — one of the forms for bringing 
 to an end a sitting of the House in committee. 
 
 And now occurs a regrettable incident. Mr. 
 Butt has been taking his ease outside in one of 
 the lobbies. Mr. Butt is genial to a fault ; he is 
 impressionable too ; he is not fond of fighting at 
 
106 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 all ; he has a cordial dislike of wounding British 
 susceptibilities ; and, to crown all, in the words 
 which Major O'Gorman once applied to him dur- 
 ing his lifetime at a public meeting, "He is too 
 soft with those English — he often says 'hear, 
 hear,' when he should say 'no, no.'" Some one 
 rushes out of the House to seek Mr. Butt, finds 
 him, gives him a garbled account of what had 
 been taking place inside, and induces him to 
 come in and use his influence in putting down the 
 terrible young man who not only stops the wheels 
 of the Parliamentary machine, and threatens to 
 smash it up altogether, but is also "doing incalcu- 
 lable damage to the Home Rule cause." How 
 tender the regard of Englishmen just then for 
 "the Home Rule cause ! " 
 
 Mr. Butt, without thinking, and without taking 
 the trouble to make sure that his informant had 
 not deceived him, launches out into a denunciation 
 of Mr. Parnell which earns for the denouncer the 
 hearty cheers of the assembly, the aforesaid con- 
 vivial young men verging on middle age included. 
 There is great smiling in the British ranks at this 
 episode, and much mutual congratulation. Surely 
 Mr. Parnell will hearken to the voice of his leader ; 
 surely he is now effectually muzzled and fettered ; 
 surely they can get through their Mutiny Bill that 
 night, and so put it beyond the power of any 
 Irish member thereafter to busy himself in a 
 matter so purely and entirely English. 
 
C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 107 
 
 These were ff the pleasing hopes, the fond de- 
 sires," in which British members indulged as Mr. 
 Butt poured out with rapid tongue his heated ut- 
 terances ; and it does not seem to have occurred 
 to any one of those membeTs that an Irish mem- 
 ber's right to take an active part in the settlement 
 of purely English affairs has been, since the 
 Union, quite as good as an English member's to 
 take an active part in purely Irish affairs ; though 
 the latter occurs frequently every session. 
 
 But alas for those delightful speculations ! Mr. 
 Parnell, though grieved at the tone taken up by 
 Mr. Butt, was not to be turned aside from his 
 purpose. As it is the privilege of any member to 
 move alternately the motions, f? That the chairman 
 do report progress," and "That the chairman do 
 leave the chair," just so long as he chooses, it 
 came to pass, the moment it was found that Mr. 
 Parnell had really made up his mind to have the 
 further consideration of the Bill postponed, that 
 the House and the Government gave way, seeing 
 plainly that nothing whatever was to be gained by 
 a continuance of the fight, and that nothing could 
 result from it but increased disorder and confusion. 
 They had had some experience of Mr. Parnell by 
 that time, and they had already learned that when 
 he entered deliberately on any course he would 
 w stick to it." The Bill was therefore held over to 
 another date. 
 
 The wear and tear of struggling almost single- 
 
108 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 hand against hundreds, as well as of his close and 
 constant attendance in the House the whole time 
 it remained sitting, began even so early in the 
 session to tell on Mr. Parnell's health. Instead 
 of prescribing for himself a period of rest, he sent 
 over to Ireland for a couple of his hunters, on 
 which he could every day take a spin in the fresh 
 rural air, and so brace himself up physically for 
 the hard work still before him. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Butt had thought proper pri- 
 vately to lecture Messrs. Parnell and Biggar on 
 what he thought the folly of their course. He 
 was annoyed with the majority of his followers 
 for doing nothing ; but he was still more annoyed 
 with a small minority for doing what he consid- 
 ered too much. The members for Meath and 
 Cavan, however, while responding courteously, 
 declined to have their hands tied by their leader 
 on matters outside his jurisdiction. The leader 
 appealed to the party ; and as the earnestness and 
 activity of Messrs. Parnell and Biggar was in 
 itself an incessant and stinging reproach to the 
 majority for their total want of either one quality 
 or the other, the majority naturally took sides 
 with Mr. Butt, with the utmost alacrity, on the 
 point in dispute. 
 
 This, of course, did not make more smooth the 
 pathway of the two incriminated members, more 
 especially as it gave the good-for-nothings the 
 very excuse they wanted for staying away from 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 109 
 
 any divisions Mr. Parnell or Mr. Biggar might 
 wish to take. Yet, on the other hand, it appears 
 to have shamed the party into fits of action now 
 and again ; as when, on the 1st of May, by offer- 
 ing a prolonged resistance in the Parnell manner 
 they compelled the Government to raise the num- 
 ber of the committee, on cattle plague and 
 importation of live stock, from twenty-three to 
 twenty-seven, for the purpose of adding to it four 
 men of the Irish party ; and likewise forced them 
 to put on the roll of the committee a couple of 
 names which had been at first rejected. Still 
 further, throughout the greater part of the session 
 the members for Meatfa and Cavnn received most 
 valuable aid at critical momenta from some half- 
 dozen of their colleagues, including Major O'Gor- 
 man, Major Nolan, Mr. A. M. Sullivan, Mr. 
 O'Connor Power, and Mr. G. H. Kirk. 
 
 Mr. Butt about April wrote a lengthy letter to 
 Mr. Biggar, and subsequently another long one to 
 Mr. Parnell, on the subject of their new patent 
 breechloading weapon for attacking the British 
 House of Commons. As these letters did not pro- 
 duce the effect for which the} r were ostensibly in- 
 tended, he most unwisely hastened to publish 
 them. There can be no doubt that they were 
 originally written with a view to eventual publica- 
 tion. They were couched in a style meant rather 
 for the Irish people at large than for the two 
 gentlemen addressed. Mr. Parnell replied in an 
 
110 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 extremely able and convincing letter, intended 
 just as plainly for Mr. Butt's eyes only. Before, 
 however, it was quite finished, Mr. Parnell was 
 amazed to see both the communication he had 
 himself received and that which had been for- 
 warded to Mr. Biggar appearing in the columns 
 of the Irish press. This circumstance of course 
 left Mr. Parnell no option but to publish his reply. 
 At that time it had been the fashion with many 
 people who conceived themselves very owls for 
 wisdom to speak of Mr. Parnell as a well meaning 
 young man, but very headstrong and imprudent. 
 We reprint here the conclusion of this letter, from 
 which readers may be able to judge for themselves 
 whether the balance of prudence in this contro- 
 versy lay on the side of Mr. Butt or of Mr. 
 Parnell. The passage is as follows : — 
 
 U P. S. — Since writing much of the above I find 
 that your action in publishing your letter to Mr. 
 Biggar, and subsequently that to myself, will necessi- 
 tate the publication of this my reply. I regard your 
 conduct in thus appealing to the public upon a matter 
 which you have never even yet brought under the con- 
 sideration of the Parliamentary party as most precipi- 
 tate and deplorable, and well calculated to lead to 
 serious dissension ; but as you have taken the step I 
 must disclaim for myself the responsibility of any 
 damage which the knowledge of the serious charges 
 contained in my letter may do to the Home Rule party 
 in the minds of the public. 
 
 "0. S. P." 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. Ill 
 
 Throughout all this controversy and others that 
 followed between the parties, not one uncourteous 
 word fell from Mr. Parnell's lips or pen in respect 
 to Isaac Butt. He conducted his arguments with 
 unimpeachable gentlemanliness throughout; and 
 even when the great old man, then fast declining 
 towards the grave, had sunk in the popular esti- 
 mation, Mr. Parnell never wrote or spoke of him 
 a single syllable that could rankle in his heart or 
 cause him a personal pang. The consequence was 
 that till the last, however much he disapproved 
 of his policy, Isaac Butt cherished a sincere re- 
 spect for Mr. Parnell. 
 
 As was to be expected, Mr. Butt's attacks on 
 Messrs. Parnell and Biggar, and their defences, 
 when given to the public, created no little sensa- 
 tion, not only in Ireland, but in Great Britain 
 also. The press of the latter country patted the 
 leader of the Home Rule party on the back, and 
 found out numerous good qualities in him which 
 it had not before discovered. There was joy in 
 the British camp ; for was not the old delightful 
 game of Irish dissension being played as charm- 
 ingly as ever? Mr. Butt was a very distinguished 
 man; he had experience; he knew what "the 
 tone of the House " was ; he respected its tradi- 
 tions ; his great ability enabled him to see how 
 damaging even to Irish interests was the course 
 on which Parnell and his friends, men without 
 brains or experience, had entered ; though un- 
 
112 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 fortunately he had lent himself to a scheme 
 which threatened "the integrity of the empire,'* 
 he was yet at heart a constitutionalist. Such 
 was the style of comment bestowed on him by 
 his new patrons, the London editors; and as, in 
 truth, he really believed the most of it, his anx- 
 iety to shackle the active men was not thereby 
 lessened. 
 
 In Ireland, however, a widely different kind of 
 comment began to prevail. Though in the pro- 
 British and the trimming journals abuse or depre- 
 cation of " obstruction " was a staple topic, all 
 the organs of national opinion which had earned 
 a character for honesty in the past encouraged 
 Mr. Parnell and his auxiliaries to persevere. 
 Elderly people, wealthy people, "loyal" people, 
 and people by nature timid, in addition to the 
 old women of both sexes, alarmed by Mr. Butt's 
 denunciations of the new policy as "revolution- 
 ary," shrieked out against it ; but the mass of the 
 nation, who in all probability saw nothing in it 
 then but a means of punishing the British Parlia- 
 ment for its confirmed hostility to Irish rights, 
 promptly ranged themselves on the side of Par- 
 nell and Biggar. In this state of affairs Mr. 
 Butt, having failed to achieve the purpose in- 
 tended by the publication of his letters to those 
 gentlemen, convened for the 16th of June a meet- 
 ing of the Irish Parliamentary party to take the 
 "obstruction" question into consideration. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 113 
 
 Meanwhile, undeterred by the storms gathering 
 around them from opposite quarters, the few 
 adherents of this "revolutionary" policy went 
 steadily on in their course. As at a bull-baiting 
 the remorseless dog seizes his enormous antago- 
 nist by the lip, pinning his head to the ground, 
 and with iron jaws holds him immovable and help- 
 less, so they held the House of Commons in an 
 inexorable gripe, overmastering, persistent, unre- 
 laxing. The House might bellow as much as it 
 liked, and bellow outrageously it did pretty often, 
 but that was nearly the utmost it could do. Now 
 Mr. Parnell worried it on the question of the re- 
 lease of the political prisoners ; now on the cor- 
 rupting employment of secret service money in 
 Ireland; now on the Irish Judicature Bill; now 
 on the Irish County Courts Bill ; now on the 
 army estimates ; and so on. Whatever the meas- 
 ure the Government might bring on, a watchful 
 wide-awake Irish half-dozen were present to see 
 that it received proper discussion. And here it 
 may be remarked that one of the rare occasions 
 on which Mr. Parnell was called to order occurred 
 in a contest with the House on the 1st of May, 
 1877, over the nomination of Mr. Biggar to a 
 place on the cattle-plague inquiry committee. 
 Some paltry snob of an Englishman had the au- 
 dacity to sneer at Mr. Biggar for being in trade. 
 At this insult to his fast friend and consistent 
 colleague the hidden fire of Mr. ParneH's nature 
 
114 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 flamed forth. That mode of personal attack is 
 essentially an offensively vulgar one ; while Charles 
 Stewart Parnell, from the crown of his head to 
 the sole of his foot, is a gentleman every inch. 
 In denouncing the British snob the warmth of his 
 feelings caused him to forget his customary pru- 
 dence, and he twice fell foul of the "rules of the 
 House." Very few gentlemen of any country 
 would think anything the worse of him for this 
 rare exhibition of loss of perfect self-control. 
 Most Irishmen, we fancy, would emphatically 
 pronounce the throwing of prudence to the wiiids 
 under such circumstances to be -' a good fault." 
 
 Once again, a little later on, he was hurried into 
 excitement during a debate on the Irish political 
 prisoners. Home Secretary Cross had denied 
 that there were any then in durance. The Fenian 
 soldiers still held he described as military prison- 
 ers ; O'Meara Condon and Meledy as murders ; 
 and Mr. Michael Davitt as an ordinary convict. 
 Such a classification of men, whose real crime in 
 British eyes was notoriously their connection with 
 an organization which aimed at the overthrow of 
 British rule in Ireland, stung Mr. Parnell to the 
 quick ; therefore he rose to reply to Mr. Cross, 
 and to expose his misrepresentations. Although a 
 newspaper correspondent described him on that 
 occasion as speaking " with the placidity and gen- 
 tleness of demeanor, and in the cultivated accents, 
 which are the marvel of strangers who are shown 
 
U. S. PARNELL, M. P, 115 
 
 tor the first time the terrible twin obstructive," 
 the outward calm but hid a volcanic working be- 
 neath, and after a few sharp sentences, brimming 
 over with indignation, yet couched in language of 
 the kind considered not inadmissible in that tem- 
 ple of manners, the London House of Commons, 
 he was compelled by the strength of his emotions 
 to bring his remarks to a close with the statement 
 that he could not trust himself to speak further. 
 And the stolid British majority, who had been 
 accustomed to think him in nature as not unlike 
 one of themselves, incapable of warm sympathies 
 or generous feelings, received that statement with 
 derisive shouts of "Oh!" The broader purpose 
 of working out his tactics skilfully — the only 
 way in which they could be worked — made him 
 check himself before he had infringed his privi- 
 leges as a member of Parliament; and in a little 
 while after, on the same night, he was able to 
 assail, with the most absolute self-control, but 
 with a sharpness which was certainly not blunted 
 by Secretary Cross' earlier observations on Irish 
 political prisoners, the whole system of spies and 
 K informers " in Ireland, in a debate which he 
 raised on the estimates for "secret service money." 
 The 16th of June came ; and oh ! what a flock- 
 ing to the London chambers of the Irish party 
 there was of its members. It had got bruited 
 among them that Parnell and Biggar and the 
 other troublesome persons who wanted activity 
 
116 0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 and earnestness and courage in Irish members of 
 Parliament were now at last to be definitely 
 squelched. Men whom the most urgent requisi- 
 tion of their leader could not bring thither when 
 it was only a question of taking counsel how best 
 to forward some Irish interest in Parliament, were 
 prompt in attendance when the object in view was 
 the highly important one of annihilating such ex- 
 hibitions of zeal in the country's service as were a 
 standing reproach to those members who did not 
 care one jot about the country or its interests so 
 long as confiding constituencies could be found to 
 elect political hypocrites to represent them. The 
 do-nothings turned up in alarming force at the 
 meeting, now at last resolved to "do something" 
 — not for Ireland ; oh ! no ! but for the ridding 
 their own precious selves of a perpetual annoy- 
 ance. The contrast between activity and indo- 
 lence, between earnestness and indifference, be- 
 tween steady application to Parliamentary duty 
 and almost equally steady neglect of it — this was 
 setting up a totally new example, establishing an 
 alarming precedent, instilling into the minds of 
 Irish electors the pernicious notion that they 
 ought to expect real service from their represent- 
 atives ; and of course the sooner such a mon- 
 strous conception of political duty was smothered 
 the better. To those London chambers of the 
 Irish party also crowded the old Whigs who had 
 masqueraded as Home Rulers at the general 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 117 
 
 election of 1874, and who, so long as a Tory Gov- 
 ernment was in office, might be depended on to 
 appear pretty constantly in opposition to it — 
 whether as followers of Isaac Butt or of the Mar- 
 quis of Hartington mattered but little for the time. 
 To the same chamber came also Hie more limited 
 number of Tories who had donned the Home Rule 
 cloak to secure election, but who were equally 
 anxious with the two other classes to put down 
 the men that were lunatic or idiotic enough to 
 keep Ireland — Ireland only — in view in the Brit- 
 ish Parliament. 
 
 Yet it is somewhat consoling to remember that 
 a very considerable number of the Irish Parlia- 
 mentary party who were not able conscientiously 
 to accept the new policy, or did not quite under- 
 stand all its bearings, made it their business to 
 attend this meeting of the 16th of June, 1877, to 
 interpose themselves between the "too active" 
 minority and the too idle majority. Their well- 
 meant services, however, were not needed at the 
 time. Isaac Butt was no fool. Ho found on this oc- 
 casion forty of his nominal followers surrounding 
 him — a number by far greater than he could ordi- 
 narily gather around him in what he deemed crises 
 of the very first importance in Irish affairs. He 
 knew, too, how reedlike was the support afforded 
 him by many of those who had answered with 
 such unusual alacrity his present summons. And 
 he knew that the one complaint he had to make 
 
118 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 against the Parnell and Biggar handful was what 
 he unfortunately considered too much zeal. Con- 
 sequently, when they explained the motives which 
 had moved them in the Parliamentary action to 
 which he took exception, and corrected the false 
 impression of it which he had conceived, there 
 was an end for the moment of all controversy. 
 No resolution condemnatory of them was passed ; 
 but instead was one inculcating the need of more 
 frequent meetings of the party, so as to secure 
 more unity and greater activity in its proceedings. 
 Vain hopes ! delusive dreams ! Wild horses, un- 
 tamed elephants, could not have dragged back 
 again to those chambers wherein that resolution 
 was unanimously voted several of those who as- 
 sented to it that day. They had gone there to 
 assist in putting down inconvenient activity ; in 
 the turn that affairs took they were left only the 
 alternative of exposing their hypocrisy or agree- 
 ing to the resolution ; they chose the latter course, 
 but apparently with a mental reservation which 
 gave them liberty to exempt themselves from the 
 scope of the resolution. At all events, the rooms 
 of the party were but seldom afterwards enlight- 
 ened with their presence. 
 
 The wonderful effect of this famous meeting in 
 restraining those whom it was called together to 
 handcuff will presently be seen. A few days after 
 it was held, however, an event happened which 
 contributed to give some extraordinary develop- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 119 
 
 menls to the new Irish policy in the British Par- 
 liament. This was the election of Mr. Frank 
 Hugh O'Donnell as member for Dungarvan on 
 the 23d of June, 1877. 
 
 Mr. O'Donnell was a graduate of the Queen's 
 College, Galway, and a man of varied accom- 
 plishments and much ability, who had gravitated 
 towards the London press. For years he had 
 waged relentless war against the mixed system of 
 education, especially as illustrated in the Queen's 
 Colleges ; and year after year he had undevi- 
 atingly attended the convocation of the Queen's 
 University to assail, generally single-handed, in 
 the teeth of an adverse majority, its fundamental 
 principle. As he never had more than one sup- 
 porter on these occasions, and usually had not 
 even one ; and as the other members of convoca- 
 tion, from the occupant of the chair to the young- 
 est graduate, were zealous adherents of the 
 "mixed system," it is easy to see what hardihood 
 he must have had to stand up for the right in a 
 gathering so completely adverse, and to fancy 
 what hootings, jeerings, clamor of all kinds — to 
 say nothing of perpetual calls to order by the 
 chairman — he had to endure. 
 
 One who had received such rough but suitable 
 training was eminently a man for the new Parlia- 
 mentary policy ; and as if by natural instinct Mr. 
 O'Donnell took to it. He became at once, and 
 continued to be, one of the most efficient of Mr, 
 
120 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Parn ell's aids. There was no fear whatever that 
 the wildest tumult of the London Commons would 
 put him down. As the stormy petrel is at home 
 when elemental fury is at its highest, so was Mr. 
 O'Donnell amid the hurricane rage of a bitterly 
 hostile assembly. 
 
 He had formally taken his seat but a few da}^s 
 when he gave his fellow Commoners a taste of his 
 quality. The date was the night of the 2nd July, 
 or rather the morning of the 3d. The hour was 
 one o'clock. The occasion was the wish of the 
 few watchful, industrious Irish members present 
 to protest against the denial to Ireland of volun- 
 teer corps. The opportunity afforded was the 
 vote for the British volunteers in the army esti- 
 mates. 
 
 At one o'clock in the morning, Captain Nolan 
 (who has since attained the rank of Major) , whose 
 courage and fidelity are worthy of all honor, 
 opened the ball by moving "that the chairman do 
 report progress/' His object was to secure the 
 bringing on of the vote for the British volunteers 
 at an hour when a discussion on the Irish side of 
 the question could be raised with effect ; it being 
 notorious that in the small hours of the morning 
 the British Commons are utterly impatient of and 
 adverse to discussion, wanting to have done with 
 business of any kind, however important, and to 
 go home to bed ; and it being almost equally no- 
 torious that Government business which is likely 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 121 
 
 to evoke discussion, comes on, by some singular 
 chance, at those same small hours. 
 
 And here it may be remarked that the essence 
 of what is now commonly called the Parnell policy 
 consists in having, on every occasion when it is 
 brought in play, a distinct, appreciable, and reas- 
 onable purpose. Its strength lies in the fact that, 
 while every form of Parliament is to be availed 
 of, nothing is to be done blindly, or without an 
 object readily comprehensible by at least the 
 leaders of the House. It is elastic also as well as 
 strong, for it can be employed on every variety 
 of topic that can come before the Commons at 
 Westminster. Also — since the Union compels 
 the return of Irish members to the British Parlia- 
 ment — so long as the Union lasts (and that is to 
 say, so long as Irish members are sent to that Par- 
 liament), there is no possible way of checking the 
 employment of that policy, even a little, except 
 by restricting the liberties of British members 
 themselves. For the Act of Union puts Irish 
 members on precisely the same footing as those of 
 Great Britain ; and any distinction made between 
 them would tear up the last shred of that Act. 
 Even the alternative of ejecting from the House 
 obnoxious individual Irish members, while a prece- 
 dent full of evil possibilities for the British them- 
 selves, would be useless in presence of a de- 
 termined spirit in the Irish constituencies ; since 
 the seats made vacant could be easily filled — and 
 
122 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 would certainly be in such circumstances — by 
 men who would very soon be at least as obnoxious. 
 Again, with half a hundred members working in 
 concert on the principles invented by Mr. Parnell, 
 it would even be impossible to single out indi- 
 vidual members for censure or punishment ; and 
 therefore a really resolute Irish party might tri- 
 umphantly exclaim to the most intolerant British 
 majority that ever existed since 1801, "Now, infi- 
 del, I have thee on the hip ! " In short, even to 
 cripple " obstruction, " carried out systematically 
 and skilfully by only a score of members acting 
 on a common understanding, the majority must 
 cripple themselves also, must part with valuable 
 priviliges, materially impair not only the prestige 
 and the freedom of the London Parliament, but 
 its strength as a bulwark of English liberties as 
 well, and surrender portion of its power of re- 
 sisting the encroachments of tyranny. 
 
 There were over a hundred British members in 
 the House, the Home Rulers were but seven in all, 
 when Captain Nolan rose to his feet. The Brit- 
 ish majority resented the intrusion of Irish mem- 
 bers in their affairs. But the Irish, few as they 
 were, were resolved to win. Captain Nolan 
 having withdrawn his motion, Mr. O'Connor 
 Power took it up. Of course he was beaten on a 
 division. Mr. O'Donnell promptly rose to move 
 w that the chairman do leave the chair." A hide- 
 ous din greeted him as he went on to speak to 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 123 
 
 his motion. Some of the gentlemen of "the first- 
 assembly in the world" began those imitations of 
 the speech of the lower animals at which they are 
 such adepts ; others laughed loudly in derision ; 
 others, again, indulged in inarticulate shouts ; and 
 others still, as the tremendous uproar went on, 
 exclaimed, "let us see how much he will stand." 
 Such terms as "hypocritical," "shabby," and such 
 choice flowers of rhetoric as "pigs could obstruct," 
 were bandied about amid the tumult of the night ; 
 and the chairman of committees, alarmed at the 
 state of violent disorder to which the House in its 
 anger had reduced itself, interposed sharply sev- 
 eral times to restrain the more violent, and even 
 threatened to briug the beastly conduct of one 
 "noble lord" before the House. The great British 
 Parliament, in fact — the model of representative 
 institutions all over the world — had been turned 
 for the nonce into a Bedlam. 
 
 Those who were anxious to know how much Mr. 
 O'Donnell "could stand" soon discovered that he 
 could stand a great deal indeed. When he had 
 been on his legs about half an hour, and a partial 
 lull in the storm had been obtained through the 
 chairman's exertions, he paralyzed his British 
 audience by coolly observing that as they had not 
 been able to hear his remarks it would be neces- 
 sary to make them over again. And he was as 
 good as his word. He began his speech anew, 
 and unconcernedly went over the whole ground he 
 
124 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 had before traversed ; and when at a quarter past 
 two he resumed his seat he had infused into the 
 breasts of his would-be tormentors a feeling lu- 
 dicrously akin to positive terror. 
 
 The House had been gradually receiving acces- 
 sions during these proceedings until the majority 
 reached about one hundred and fifty. The Irish 
 still fought on. Some British members, unwilling 
 to give way to the audacious Hibernian handful, yet 
 anxious to go home, had the House " counted," 
 but when forty members were found to be present 
 the sitting went on. Major O'Gorman followed 
 Mr. O'Donnell with a motion " that the chairman 
 report progress ; " when he was beaten Mr. O'Con- 
 nor Power moved "that the chairman leave the 
 chair ; " when he was beaten Mr. Richard Power 
 moved that progress be reported ; when he was 
 beaten Mr. Parnell moved the chairman out of the 
 chair; when he was beaten Mr. O'Connor Power 
 moved to report progress. Thus the British 
 majority were kept marching and countermarch- 
 ing in and out of the division lobby pretty actively 
 for an hour. 
 
 About this time, three o'clock having been 
 reached, the chairman felt that unsupported nature 
 could not sustain itself in such distressing circum- 
 stances, so he had refreshments brought to him 
 into the House, and consumed them with what 
 relish he could at the table in front of the chair. 
 The Speaker, whose office compelled him to wait 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 125 
 
 for the formal adjournment of the sitting, was 
 asleep in another chamber. Much talk went on, 
 much bandying of more or less polite abuse, much 
 crimination and recrimination ; and in the mean- 
 time the short Summer night had slipped away, 
 the morning sun was streaming in through the 
 windows, and at four o'clock the gas was turned 
 off. During the talk two other efforts to count 
 out the House had been made without effect. The 
 marching and countermarching began again. Mr. 
 Parnell moved to report progress ; Mr. O'Donnell 
 that the chairman leave the chair. These were 
 followed in quick succession by corresponding 
 motions from Mr. O'Connor Power, Major O'Gor- 
 man, and Mr. Richard Power; when another 
 effort to count out the House was made ; but still 
 there were found over forty brave Britons who 
 would perish on the spot rather than surrender. 
 
 The divisions had been going on in a grim, 
 business-like way for an hour, when Mr. Parnell 
 remarked that Irish questions were treated there 
 in a half-contemptuous way, and that by deter- 
 mined action they would force on the House the 
 duty of treating them properly. Whereupon an 
 English member, rejoicing in the name of Blake, 
 rather irrelevantly retorted that Mr. Parnell had 
 spoken disrespectfully of Mr. Speaker ; to which 
 charge Mr. Parnell, in calm accents, gave a "dis- 
 tinct denial" and "the flattest contradiction." A 
 hurricane of uproar and confusion supervened ; 
 
126 G. S. DARNELL, M. P. 
 
 and when the chairman had calmed it down some- 
 what the walking in and out of the lobbies recom- 
 menced. Mr. Richard Power and Mr. Parnell 
 moved the usual motions. Another futile effort 
 was made for a count-out ; then the division on 
 Mr. ParnelPs motion was taken, and announced 
 at five minutes to seven. Mr. O'Connor Power 
 at once moved that progress be reported. Some 
 talk ensued, in the course of which Sir John 
 Lubbock complained that only five Irish members 
 pursued this unprecedented course ; whereupon 
 Mr. Parnell enlivened matters by playfully re- 
 minding him that there is luck ill odd numbers; 
 and Mr. Whalley — kindly old soul that he was, 
 even if sometimes wrong-headed — who had man- 
 fully stood by the Irishmen all the livelong night, 
 threw in a scrap of the comic element by censur- 
 ing Ministers for having kept them there all night 
 "at the risk of their lives. " 
 
 The House was again counted. Only thirty-six 
 were found present ; so the Speaker was roused 
 from his slumbers and came into the Commons 
 chamber. Having again counted the House, and 
 found only thirty present, he declared the sitting 
 adjourned. 
 
 It is now twelve minutes past seven. The 
 warm glare of the July morning fills the large 
 apartment; and there, "like eagles in the sun, 
 the Irish stand/' cheering loudly — "the field is 
 fought and won. ,J They have gained their point. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 127 
 
 By sheer resolution and endurance they have 
 beaten the domineering British majority. 
 
 As may be supposed, the all-night contest of 
 the 3rd July, and the Irish victory in which it re- 
 sulted, roused to a white heat of fury the indig- 
 nant blood of every true Briton. "If this kind of 
 thing is to go on," was the universal cry from 
 Land's End to John-o'-Groats, "what is to be- 
 come of the most venerated of our institutions? 
 Parliament will be brought into permanent con- 
 tempt ; its prestige is already fearfully lowered ; 
 its morale has even now received alarming shocks 
 from which it must take time to recover ; and 
 where will it all end if 'obstruction' be persisted 
 in? Why, the Irish will be virtual dictators of 
 the House. They will destroy it altogether, or 
 compel it to let go its grasp on their country." 
 
 British editors, in especial, saw all this quite 
 clearly, and for weeks did not tire of ringing the 
 changes on it. Not only in the London but in 
 the provincial press rabid leaders against "the ob- 
 structives " were cvery-day occurrences. "Ob- 
 struction" should be put down with a high hand; 
 it should be stamped out, etc., etc. This was 
 the burden of their monotonous song. But how? 
 The question was a greater puzzle than the riddle 
 of the Sphinx in the antique days. All the writers 
 sagely and solemnly asseverated that "something 
 should be done ;" but not one of them could dis- 
 cover what that something could possibly be. The 
 
128 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 incriminated members had simply exercised the 
 privileges of their position. It was patent that to 
 punish them for so doing would not only wear an 
 ugly look in foreign eyes, but would establish a 
 bad precedent which might afterwards be em- 
 ployed to the detriment of British liberties. There 
 could be no possibility of hiding from the nations 
 abroad aught in connection with scenes which had 
 attracted the gaze of the civilized world ; nor does 
 history offer any guarantee that there may not 
 soon arise a designing British Minister of Imperial 
 proclivities, misleading genius, and mastery of 
 base arts, who, backed by a blind majority, 
 would not scruple to use any weapon he found 
 ready to his grasp to crush a handful struggling in 
 the House of Commons to preserve the rights so 
 hardly won for themselves by the British people. 
 Therefore the efforts made to crack the exceed- 
 ingly hard nut of " obstruction " got no farther in 
 the press than that "something should be done." 
 
 But if the editors were furious, what term can 
 describe the feelings surging in the breasts of the 
 mass of members of Parliament? If howling and 
 clamor, and all the ways of a cowardly mob, short 
 of actual personal violence, could vanquish the 
 Irish enemy, there would have been a speedy end 
 to the trouble. Those rude weapons, however, 
 had been tried and been found of no avail. Never- 
 theless it was clear that "something should be 
 done ; " so the active brain of one Mr. Puleston — 
 
C. S. TARNELL, M. P. 129 
 
 who strangely blends in himself British member- 
 ship, Yankee birth and connections, and violent 
 Tory leanings — was set to work. 
 
 On the 4th of July he came down to the House 
 with what he thought was an eighty-ton gun, 
 warranted to blow up " the obstructives " at a 
 single discharge, and all his own invention too. 
 Its charmingly simple principle was to entrust to 
 a majority of the House of Commons the power of 
 crushing a minority at will. Bnt this monster 
 piece of ordnance, while no doubt very effective 
 for the purpose Mr. Puleston had in mind, was 
 unfortunately too sweeping in its discharge, and 
 could not be counted on to avoid blowing up 
 others than mere Irish members. The House very 
 soon saw that this was the case ; and the conse- 
 quence was that Mr. Puleston's eighty-ton gun 
 was rejected amid general laughter. 
 
 The English Tory of the name of Blake — per- 
 haps smarting under that w flattest contradiction" 
 which he had received from Mr. Parnell on the 
 morning of the 3rd — returned to the charge on 
 the 4th, burning for the opportunity of bringing 
 the member for Meath to book about his alleged 
 disrespectful language concerning the Speaker of 
 the House, Being on that occasion foiled he 
 made another essay on the 5th. The forms of the 
 House stood in his way ; but Mr. Parnell was 
 quite anxious to accommodate Mr. Blake; and, 
 rising in his place, blandly observed that if the 
 
130 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 House wished for explanation on the matter, * he 
 did not in any way wish to stand in the way of 
 the House getting that explanation." The Speaker 
 himself closed the incident for the time ; but on 
 the 6th Mr. Parnell made an early opportunity 
 for giving his explanation, and so disposed of Mr. 
 Blake and his motion. 
 
 The same night, Mr. Biggar and he, as com- 
 posed as if nothing had ever happened out of the 
 usual course, and as if they had not been besides 
 the theme of numberless hostile leading articles in 
 the papers for several mornings, quite calmly and 
 deliberately opposed two English bills, taking 
 several divisions on motions to stop their progress 
 in committee, and in the end were again victo- 
 rious. Further, some English "gentleman" hav- 
 ing spoken of Mr. Biggar as a "blackguard" 
 during the struggle, Mr. Parnell had him at once 
 before the Speaker, and compelled him to with- 
 draw and apologize for using the offensive epithet. 
 
 About this period the Government was very 
 anxious to push on two Irish measures of its own 
 
 — the Judicature Bill and the County Courts Bill 
 
 — many of the provisions of both of which had 
 earned the condemnation of the Irish Parliament- 
 ary party, or, to speak more correctly, of such of 
 them as took the trouble to attend even moder- 
 ately to their public duties. Whenever any of 
 the party were inclined for work, Mr. Parnell 
 worked with them heartily. In conjunction with 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 131 
 
 them he took an active part in the issues raised on 
 the Judicature Bill, besides dragging up the 
 Phoenix Park outrage on the estimates for the 
 metropolitan police ; making efforts to improve 
 the constitution of the Local Government Board ; 
 and again drawing attention to the Phoenix Park 
 outrage on the constabulary estimates. He suc- 
 ceeded in procuring the adoption of several of his 
 amendments, as well as in extracting from the 
 Government a definite promise that they would 
 provide for independent inspection of all convict 
 prisons, so that their unhappy inmates should not 
 be left wholly to the tender mercies of hardened 
 officials. Good work for a single man, this will 
 no doubt be thought; yet not a tithe of what it 
 would have been but for the restraining presence 
 of Mr. Butt, who appealed to Mr. Parnell to give 
 way on the constabulary estimates. In spite of 
 what had passed between the two gentlemen, Mr. 
 Parnell, in deference to Mr. Butt, did give way. 
 Thus a "scene" which must have been more vio- 
 lent than any preceding one, was avoided on the 
 19th of July; for it had been Mr. Parnell's re- 
 solve to have challenged a division on every one 
 of thirty-two estimates, and it is but natural to 
 suppose that the tempers of the mob of unwill- 
 ing pedestrians should have suffered more than 
 ever under an infliction so unprecedented. Mr. 
 Parnell, however, did not leave the House in the 
 least doubt either as to the intentions he had en- 
 
132 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 tertained or the reason which moved him to forego 
 them. He openly stated that "it was fortunate 
 for the Government that the honorable and learned 
 member for Limerick was present ; for, had it not 
 been for his declared wish, he (Mr. Parnell) 
 should have divided the House on every one of 
 the thirty-two votes." A sense of relief must 
 have been experienced all along the Government 
 benches at this announcement, and a transitory 
 feeling of gratitude to Mr. Butt no doubt was 
 felt. Against Mr. Parnell, on the other hand, 
 the bitterest antipathy was excited by his auda- 
 cious declaration. It was borne in mind too ; 
 and the very next night the frantic hostility of 
 "the first assembly of gentlemen in the world," 
 as the English are fond of calling their House of 
 Commons, burst in a tornado of uproar, the equal 
 of which had never been known within the walls 
 of the Commons chamber. The scene which 
 took place was similar to those we have previ- 
 ously described, only much more disorderly, 
 tumultuous, and disgraceful. 
 
 The scene began by Mr. Biggar moving, near 
 one o'clock in the morning, that progress should 
 be reported. In the course of an animated dis- 
 cussion which ensued, Mr. Butt said he did not 
 regard the proceedings initiated by Mr. Biggar as 
 obstruction. Notwithstanding this pronounce- 
 ment of the leader of the Irish party, Mr. Mel- 
 don "protested against the course taken by the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 133 
 
 honorable member for Cavan as obstructive," etc. 
 Mr. O'Shaughnessy also, the junior member for 
 Limerick city, was rewarded by w loud cheers," 
 for a wanton attack apon his brother Irish mem- 
 bers. This brought Mr. Parnell to his feet in re- 
 ply. Then the full fury of the hurricane burst 
 forth. The uproar grew deafening. Most of it 
 was inarticulate noises — shouts, hoots, yells, 
 groans, howls — purposely made to try once 
 more to cow him, and at least to prevent him 
 from being heard. Amid the horrid din occa- 
 sionally could be heard shrieks of "Vide, 'vide," 
 screams of "sit down," and the like; while one 
 honorable gentleman, filled with an enlightened 
 zeal for "the tone of the House," roared out, 
 familiarly, "Finish up, Parnell." The member 
 for Meath, however, was not cowed, did not sit 
 down, and would not "finish up." Instead, he 
 showed a spice of resentment at the organized 
 clamor to which he was being subjected, and con- 
 trived to make himself distinctly heard while 
 uttering some stinging sentences not compliment- 
 ary to the English national character. But it 
 was hard work to go on. The following para- 
 graph will help the reader to realize the circum- 
 stances under which Mr. Parnell spoke that 
 night : — 
 
 "This is a sample (great uproar) — this is a 
 sample — (deafening uproar) — this is a sample of 
 your English fair play — (indescribable confusion ) . 
 
134 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 I have often heard of it — (continued uproar) — 
 but I have never seen it" — (prolonged uproar). 
 In the midst of the hideous and disgusting con- 
 fusion the chairman's voice is faintly heard, call- 
 ing on the honorable member for Meath to proceed ; 
 to which that honorable member calmly responds 
 that he will if he is allowed. 
 
 In the end, by persistence, Mr. Parnell won. 
 The very means designed to prevent what was 
 called "obstruction of business" proved in truth 
 an admirable instrument for preventing the House 
 from doing any business whatever. This fact 
 began to dawn on the Tory leaders when a couple 
 of hours had been spent in wild confusion ; and 
 at length the Chancellor of the Exchequer con- 
 sented to close the sitting. It was considerably 
 after two o'clock on a Saturday morning when the 
 House adjourned, on the understanding that there 
 should be a sitting for that day, beginning at 
 noon, to push on the Judicature Bill. Saturday, 
 except on very extraordinary occasions, is a holi- 
 day with the London Parliament, and members 
 are always very loath to give it up to business, 
 however important ; but in the temper of the 
 time most of the Commons were prepared to 
 make large sacrifices in the hope of squelching 
 the little band of irrepressible Irishmen who pre- 
 sumed to air opinions of their own in that assem- 
 bly, and who, not content with spurning incorpo- 
 ration, either with the Tory party or the Whig, 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 135 
 
 actually dared to refuse assent to the notions en- 
 tertained, however thoughtlessly or blindly, by an 
 overwhelming British majority. 
 
 For a whole week subsequently every sitting 
 had its "scene." The formal sitting of Saturday, 
 the 21st, came, and with it a mob of British mem- 
 bers prepared to send through committee at racing 
 speed the Government Judicature Bill. Their 
 good intentions, however, were all in vain. At 
 the very outset they w r ere met by a motion to re- 
 port progress ; and then through long weary hours 
 the wrangle between majority and minority went 
 on. It must be said of this day's sitting that by 
 no means such violence was displayed as at any 
 of the stormy night scenes ; a circumstance largely 
 due, no doubt, to the fact that it was held before 
 dinner, not after. 
 
 Mr. Butt made a remarkable intervention in 
 the tedious debate. He began by saying that "he 
 rose with feelings of humiliation to take part in 
 this miserable discussion. " Although the gist of 
 his speech was a condemnation of his own too, 
 zealous followers, he did not wholly acquit the 
 majority of blame. The portion of his remarks 
 first alluded to evoked "loud cheers" of course 
 from the British ; but they did not appreciate the 
 second portion at all — which was only what 
 might have been expected. In spite of his in- 
 fluential interference the Saturday sitting might 
 almost as well not have been held. But little 
 
136 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 was done except to expose more clearly than 
 ever the utter helplessness of the British House 
 of Commons in the grasp of a few resolute Irish 
 members. 
 
 The sitting of Monday, the 23rd, came, and 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose early in his 
 place to propose, in view of the alarmingly back- 
 ward state of "the business of the House," that 
 Tuesdays and Wednesdays — the days devoted to 
 the bills of private members — should be given 
 up by them to the Government for the rest of the 
 session. Mr. Parnell, !* who rose amid loud and 
 general interruption, " opposed the Chancellor's 
 proposition, and in the course of his speech took 
 occasion to point out that the House was really 
 overburdened with work; that in its insatiable 
 appetite for meddling with the affairs of other 
 peoples it had gorged itself with business ; and 
 that the only remedy for its complaint was dis- 
 gorgement. He was informed that he must not 
 discuss the question of Home Rule for Ireland on 
 a motion for facilitating the transaction of " the 
 business of the House," but he adroitly drove 
 home his point by saying that it would be neces- 
 sary very soon to take into consideration the 
 breaking up of the legislative functions of the 
 House, and their redistribution among smaller 
 bodies. That day there was another scene, of 
 course. The majority were in such a condition of 
 mind that they could not keep their tempers for 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 137 
 
 fifteen minutes at a time ; but as the climax of 
 violence had been reached in the sitting of the 
 20th, the tendency now was towards outbursts of 
 wrath less unreasoning. Mr. Parnell's share in 
 the inevitable " scene " was a warm interposition 
 in defence of Mr. ODonnell when that gentleman 
 was grossly attacked by a Tory named Chaplin. 
 
 An incident of a very peculiar kind occurred in 
 the sitting of Tuesday, the 24th July, which, 
 though it caused much laughter in the House at 
 the moment, was yet added to the long list of 
 offences of which in the minds of most of the 
 British members Mr. Parnell had been guilty. 
 The Irish County Courts Bill was under consid- 
 eration in committee ; the hour was one well into 
 Wednesday morning. Major O'Gorman moved 
 that progress should be reported. He named 
 Mr. Biggar for his co-teller. The two gentlemen 
 proceeded to the lobby of the "ayes" to count 
 those who were of opinion that progress should 
 be reported. They were followed into the lobby 
 by but one solitary member — Mr. Parnell. 
 Messrs O'Gorman and Biggar had small trouble 
 in fulfilling their duties as tellers. Not so the 
 Tory whips; for when the numbers were an- 
 nounced there appeared "ayes," 1 ; "noes," 147. 
 
 The gallant major was still unsatisfied. No 
 sooner was the result of the division given to the 
 House than he moved "that the chairman do now 
 leave the chair." Again he named Mr. Biggar to 
 
138 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 aid him in counting ; again that gentleman cheer- 
 fully assented ; and again Mr. Par n ell rose quietly 
 from his seat, and placidly walked alone into the 
 lobbj\ When the division on this second motion 
 of Major O'Gorman's was declared, it was found 
 that there was but one "aye " against 128 " noes." 
 There was something so unique, so sublimely 
 audacious, in these two unprecedented divisions, 
 that for the nonce the British saw only a comic 
 side to the affair, and the announcements of the 
 numbers were received with roars of laughter. 
 But, judging from what happened on the following 
 day, it would seem, after all, to have been bit- 
 terly remembered. 
 
 The Government had a bill in hands for form- 
 ing a confederation in their South African colo- 
 nies. They had also annexed, in a most unjusti- 
 fiable manner, the republic of the Transvaal. 
 Mr. O'Donnell had put down on the notice paper 
 some forty amendments to the South African 
 Confederation Bill. On Wednesday, the 25th 
 of July, as soon as the House was made, he 
 moved to report progress, on the ground that the 
 Government had given no clear and satisfactory 
 explanation of the annexation of the Transvaal. 
 As usual, he was greeted with shouts and inter- 
 ruptions, and appeals to the chair to declare him 
 out of order. When he had finished, Mr. Par- 
 nell rose amid interruptions, which were repeated 
 and continued while he spoke. His observations 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 139 
 
 were couched in a warmer style than was habitual 
 to him, for the subject was one on which he felt 
 strongly. In the course of his speech he said : — 
 
 " I feel as an Irishman, coming from a country which 
 has experienced to the fullest extent the result of Eng- 
 lish interference in its affairs, and the consequences of 
 English cruelty and tyranny, that I have a special 
 interest in thwarting and preventing the designs of 
 Government upon their unfortunate South African 
 colonists." 
 
 No sooner were these words spoken than Sir 
 Stafford Northcote sprang to his feet like a man 
 who saw an opportunity for which he had been 
 looking. He moved that Mr. ParnelTs words 
 should be taken down, and the Speaker of the 
 House sent for. These grave ceremonies having 
 been properly performed, the words were duly 
 reported to the Speaker. That functionary 
 "turned eagerly upon Mr. Parnell for an explana- 
 tion, but Mr. Parnell placidly looked on, and 
 made no sign of rising. After being more than 
 once invited to speak, the honorable member at 
 length rose, and soon all the previous excitement 
 was child's play to what ensued. In the most 
 determined manner he defended himself, and, 
 using language which greatly irritated the Minis- 
 terialists, he was called upon by the Speaker to 
 desist and withdraw." 
 
 When a member of the London Parliament is 
 about to be tried by his peers, the strange custom 
 
140 C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 of the place is to send him out and try him behind 
 his back. Mr. Parnell left the House proper, as 
 desired, and proceeded to one of the galleries, 
 where he quietly sat observing all that subse- 
 quently passed below. We take from a London 
 correspondent the following description of the 
 scene which ensued : — 
 
 u The moment Mr. Parnell had gone, the Chancellor 
 improved the opportunity by giving his version of the 
 occurrence, and ended by making a proposal — that 
 Mr. Parnell, having wilfully and persistently obstructed 
 public business, be suspended from the service of the 
 House until Friday next. In his hasty and feeble way 
 it was at once seen that the Chancellor had not hit the 
 mark at which he aimed, and a murmur of triumphant 
 satisfaction ran along the Irish ranks — now greatly 
 recruited when it was found that a deliberate onslaught 
 had been made on one of their number. Mr. Sullivan, 
 ever ready to fill the Irish gap, sprang to the rescue of 
 the member for Meath, adopted for himself the very 
 words which had disturbed the soul of Sir Stafford 
 Northcote, and challenged the Government to take his 
 words down. With exquisite perception of the truth, 
 Mr. Sullivan demonstrated to the House that which 
 was clear enough, indeed, to those who had watched 
 the entire tactics of the Government throughout the 
 clay — namely, that the Chancellor wished to punish 
 Mr. Parnell, not for what he had said that clay, but for 
 his conduct on previous occasions, and which was not 
 on record. Another heavy blow came upon the Gov- 
 ernment from a quarter they little suspected. Who 
 was it that dared from the front Opposition bench 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 141 
 
 directly facing Mr. Hardy, to cast in the teeth of that 
 very Hotspur of obstruction his famous avowal to 
 i thwart ' all the efforts of the late Ministry to cany 
 out its army reforms? Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen, ex- 
 Lord of the Treasury, and ex-Under Secretary for the 
 Home Department. It was in vain that the chairman 
 peered through his spectacles, or nervously wrung his 
 hands. It was in vain that, with the hot blood rushing 
 up to his face, Mr. Hardy impatiently shook his head 
 Mr. Hugessen dilated with great precision on the well- 
 remembered tactics, and not once or twice, but on 
 dozens of occasions, of members of the present Govern- 
 ment to obstruct the measures of the late Ministry. 
 The discussion then became general, an 1 it was soon 
 made apparent that the mine sprung by the Govern- 
 ment so far had been sprung in vain. The Chancellor 
 at last was compelled slowly to give ground, for the 
 Speaker announced that Mr. Parnell was entitled to 
 take his place in the House until Friday." 
 
 So the consideration of the Chancellor's penal 
 proposal against Mr. Parnell was postponed for 
 two days, when that most aggravating of Irish 
 members was at last to be brought to book, to 
 the great joy of the now triumphant majority. 
 
 "The battle is not always to the strong, " accord- 
 ing to the proverb ; and in the encounter between 
 Mr. Parnell and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 supported as the latter was by the mass of the 
 Commons, the wise paradox received ample justi- 
 fication. The Chancellor was worsted, and knew 
 that he was. So, too, knew every man in the 
 
142 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 House who still retained even a remnant of 
 reason. The member for Meath, calmly survey- 
 ing from the gallery overhead the remarkable 
 scene taking place on the floor beneath him, 
 heard the Speaker's decision that he was at liberty 
 to resume his place in the House. Thereupon he 
 left the gallery, and walked quietly towards the 
 bench usually occupied by him. Though aware 
 that he had won an undoubted victory, and that 
 he had had besides the gratification of opening 
 out his mind about the Ministerialists pretty freely 
 to them, he wore no air of triumph as he went up 
 the floor. Rather, indeed, his mien was that of 
 gentlemanly, if not studied, unostentation. 
 
 He did not, however, take his seat when he 
 went in. He had had possession of the floor 
 at the time of the Chancellor's interruption ; he 
 had not been allowed to conclude his speech ; 
 and now, after the lapse of an hour spent in dis- 
 cussing his words and conduct, he proceeded to 
 finish the remarks he had originally intended to 
 make. He went on, in truth, precisely as if there 
 had been no interruption whatever ; and he 
 amazed all, while amusing many, by taking up his 
 speech at the exact point where he had left off — 
 absolutely at the very w r ords where he had been 
 checked — "and," says a newspaper correspon- 
 dent of the time, "bore himself with all the 
 calmness of a judge amid the uproar." 
 
 The Marquis of Hartington, leader of the Whig 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 143 
 
 Opposition, and possible leader of the House in 
 the event of a change of Ministry, was naturally 
 as anxious to quell Mr. Parnell as Sir Stafford 
 Northcote himself could be; but he was just as 
 anxious that that should be done without at the 
 same time doing vital injury to the House of Com- 
 mons itself. Therefore, as Sir Stafford had placed 
 himself in a false position by his rashness of the 
 25th July, the Marquis obligingly came to his aid 
 at the sitting of Thursday, the 26th, by mildly 
 suggesting that the personal aspect of the obstruc- 
 tion question should be wholly dropped. A capi- 
 tal suggestion this was for the Chancellor, seeing 
 that he could have made nothing of his charge 
 against Mr. Parnell ; so Sir Stafford in the most 
 amiable manner adopted the idea of his right hon- 
 orable friend the noble marquis, and announced 
 that instead of proceeding against the honorable 
 member for Meath on the morrow he would bring 
 forward some resolutions dealing in a general way 
 with the facilitation of "the business of the 
 House." In all probability this little Parliament- 
 ary farce, which went off with great eclat , had 
 been arranged beforehand between the right 
 honorable baronet and the equally right honorable 
 marquis. 
 
 The morrow came, Friday, the 27th July, and 
 the resolutions of the Chancellor were duly put 
 before the House. One provided that if a mem- 
 ber were twice declared out of order by the 
 
144 O. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Speaker or the chairman of committees, it should 
 be in the power of the House to muzzle him by 
 suspending the debate and summarily silencing 
 him during the remainder of the sitting. The 
 other provided that it should not be in the power 
 of any member to move more than once that the 
 chairman do report progress, or that the chairman 
 do leave the chair. The first as well as the second 
 of these rules was meant to work practically only 
 while the House sat in committee, for then it was 
 that the new Irish scheme of Parliamentary tactics 
 could be best developed. 
 
 Hours on hours of discussion of these proposals 
 followed their introduction ; for the more thought- 
 ful among the British members were loath to part, 
 even for the remainder of the session, with val- 
 uable privileges of Avhich they themselves might 
 be anxious to avail themselves at any moment. 
 The one circumstance of the discussion which as- 
 tonished and disturbed the faithful Commons was, 
 that all the prominent "obstructives" rose to tell 
 the House that they had not the faintest idea of 
 offering opposition to the proposed rules. It had 
 naturally been expected that they would resist to 
 the utmost what was so transparently an effort to 
 make a net in which to catch them ; and when, 
 instead of resisting, they seemed rather to enjoy 
 the process of manufacture going on before their 
 eyes, an uneasy feeling began to prevail in the 
 bosom of many a British member that the Chan- 
 
C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 145 
 
 cellor's meshes would prove unequal to their pur- 
 pose. Nevertheless the Minister's blindly obecuetis 
 majority obeyed his will, and the Chancellors 
 proposals at length became formally "rules of the 
 House" for the rest of the session of 1877. Here 
 we may state, however, that the only one who 
 came under the operation of either of them was a 
 British member — poor Mr. Whalley, to wit — and 
 that in applying the first rule to him the Speaker 
 made a ludicrous blunder which put his own pro- 
 ceeding wholly out of order, and brought down 
 general ridicule on "the new rules." What effect 
 those rules had in restraining "the obstructives" 
 will presently be seen. 
 
 The sessions of the London Parliament usually 
 close before the middle of August, to allow of 
 noble lords and honorable and right honorable 
 gentlemen being on the moors in time for the 
 opening of the shooting season — an arrangement 
 which is obviously less for the convenience of 
 legislation than of the legislators. Lo ! August 
 was at hand, and the Government's pet project, 
 the South African Confederation Bill, had still to 
 go through most of its stages. Ministers felt that 
 "something must be done" in earnest at this con- 
 juncture. Monday, the 30th July, passed away, 
 and the South African Bill, had virtually made no 
 progress. The dreadful member for Dungarvan 
 and his small band of colleagues stood in the way. 
 Need it be said that Mr. Parnell was one of them? 
 
146 0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Tuesday, the 31st July, disclosed the notable 
 "something" which had been evolved. 
 
 Anything better calculated to render Parlia- 
 mentary institutions worthless, to bring them into 
 just contempt, and to make men inclined to turn 
 from them towards some form of intelligent des- 
 potism, can hardly be conceived than the plan put 
 in force on the 31st July. The Conservative 
 members were divided into batches, each batch 
 told off to appear in the House during certain 
 hours of the evening and night. Thus a system 
 of relays was constituted, whose duty it was to 
 relieve each other at stated periods, and so avoid 
 too much fatigue for any. It was perfectly un- 
 derstood from the first that their business was, 
 not to discuss the provisions of the South African 
 Bill, but to pass them. Many Whig members lent 
 themselves to this conspiracy, moved thereto by 
 the good old Sassenach intolerance of Irish liber- 
 ties. Some of the Home Rule party, with the 
 spaniel's instinct, did likewise. Every necessary 
 preparation had been made to keep up the strength 
 of the Government men. Meat and drink were 
 provided for them regardless of expense. Sup- 
 per for those who remained about the lobbies for 
 divisions in the night, and breakfast for those ex- 
 pected early in the morning, were ordered by the 
 Government whip. Such toothsome delicacies as 
 grilled bones, devilled kidneys, and spatchcocks 
 figured largely on the dining-room tables. Copi- 
 
C. S. PABNELL, M. P. 147 
 
 ous supplies of champagne were there to keep up 
 the fighting spirit of the Saxon host. No doubt 
 it had that effect as the hours flew by ; but it had 
 the effect also of making honorable members 
 more uproarious than they might otherwise have 
 been. 
 
 The struggle began at about five o'clock on 
 
 CO CT 
 
 Tuesday evening, Mr. O'Donnell, in right of his 
 scores of amendments, leading the assault. The 
 Irish, all told, numbered just seven. Mr. Butt 
 sided with the Government and the majority, and 
 bitterly assailed the colleagues who were too active 
 for his wishes. He publicly denied in the House 
 that they were members of the Irish party, and 
 declared that if he thought their conduct received 
 the sanction of their countrymen he would retire 
 from Irish politics as from "u vulgar brawl." 
 Yet he should not be judged too harshly. His 
 early conservative training could not but have 
 left some warp in his ideas. 
 
 All night long the contest went on. The chair- 
 man of committees was relieved by a deputy, who 
 in turn was relieved by another, who iu turn was 
 relieved by still another, who in turn was relieved 
 by the chairman in person. Every amendment 
 proposed was ignorantly defeated, when brought 
 to a division, by a swarm of British members who 
 had not heard a word of the reasons urged in favor 
 of the amendments, but who rushed into the 
 House with the sole and deliberate purpose of 
 
148 C. S. PARNELL, M. lr. 
 
 voting down any and every proposal that came 
 from the Irish seven. 
 
 As might be expected, Mr. Parnell took a con- 
 spicuous part in the fray. In the course of the 
 night, in language which the newspaper corres- 
 pondents characterized as of extraordinary bold- 
 ness, he taunted the Englishmen with their love 
 of boasting, sneered at ce English fair play," told 
 them it was best exemplified in their national 
 custom of kicking a man when down, and de- 
 scribed them as "big bullies," who, like all bullies, 
 shrank when they were met with determination. 
 It need hardly be added that such plain and 
 truthful speaking was not at all to the taste of 
 those who heard it ; but they had to swallow it as 
 best they could. 
 
 This was just the occasion on which to test the 
 value of the H new rules." Strange to say, how- 
 ever, the Irish members kept wonderfully within 
 the bounds of order, while such of their British 
 opponents as ventured to speak at all were con- 
 stantly tripping up, and one after another, amid 
 general mortification, bad to withdraw and to 
 apologize for his unparliamentary expressions. 
 As if to crgwii the absurdity of the anti-obstruc- 
 tion devices, and to put a climax of ridicule on 
 those doings of ? the assembled wisdom of the 
 country," the very chairman himself got out of 
 order, made a ruling antagonistic to the Irish 
 which was at once challenged, and was con- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 149 
 
 strained to withdraw it and to say, "I beg your 
 pardon," to the infinite grief of the wildly excited 
 but thoroughly humiliated mob of Britishers. To 
 Mr. Edmund Dwyer Gray, then in his best days 
 as an Irish politician, was due a result so provo- 
 cative of inextinguishable laughter. 
 
 The wear and tear of this most harassing ses- 
 sion had for some time been telling on Mr. Par- 
 nell. The London correspondent of the Newcastle 
 Chronicle, who is understood to be no other than 
 Mr. Joseph Co wen, M. P., for Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
 writing a little while before this famous scene at 
 Westminster, describes him as looking much worn, 
 and as having aged wonderfully in appearance 
 within a comparatively short time. Though his 
 strength was failing he held on resolutely all 
 through the night, saw the sun rise and the gas 
 turned off; and not till a quarter past eight in the 
 morning, after fifteen hours of incessant labor, 
 mental and vocal, protracted struggle, unending 
 uproar, and unbroken excitement, did he retire 
 from the arena to take a much needed rest. 
 Others had preceded him, and had returned to 
 their posts. But he did not remain long away. 
 Four hours later, at a quarter past twelve, he was 
 again by the side of his few colleagues ; and 
 thenceforward until the last division was taken, 
 after a sitting of the unprecedented duration of 
 twenty-six hours, he continued with them the 
 unequal fight. 
 
150 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 It should he noted here, as a very interesting 
 incident of this famous sitting of the British Par- 
 liament, that Miss Fanny Parnell, one of the high- 
 spirited sisters of the member for Meath, sat all 
 night long in the ladies' gallery of the Commons 
 chamber, a listener to and a spectator of what was 
 going forward below. The lady's strong Irish 
 sympathies and high-souled courage are very gen- 
 erally known by this time. 
 
 Another notable incident of the twenty-six 
 hours' sitting may be recalled. There is a chap- 
 lain attached to the House of Commons, whose 
 duty it is to prepare with prayer the business of 
 each sitting — an ironical proceeding some may 
 think. He came down to the House at twelve 
 o'clock on Wednesday, book in hand, to perform 
 his functions in the ordinary course at a day sit- 
 ting. His astonishment may be imagined when 
 he found the night sitting of Tuesday still in full 
 swing at noonday on Wednesday ; and he pre- 
 cipitately beat a retreat. 
 
 The Government had carried their point. They 
 had forced the South African Confederation Bill 
 through committee ; but they had done so at the 
 cost of depriving the House of Commons of all 
 character as a deliberative assembly. Very soon 
 they were made to know that. Every journal in 
 Great Britain and Ireland was ringing with the 
 twenty-six hours' fight; and though, of course, 
 the British writers at first and chiefly showered 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 151 
 
 blame on the heads of the Irish ff obs f motives, " 
 yet the conspirators against freedom of debate 
 came in. for the gravest censure. Englishmen are 
 as jealous of their hard-won national liberties 
 as they are impatient of the liberties of other 
 peoples ; and from all sides came down a very 
 hail of denunciation on the Government for dar- 
 ing to overturn, by the system of "relays," the 
 whole constitution of the House of Commons, and 
 causing it to violate its duty of deliberating on 
 legislative projects. Thus the latest weapon 
 fashioned for the crushing of the new Irish tactics 
 was discovered to be more fatal to British freedom 
 than to w obstruction ; " consequently it was never 
 more employed. 
 
 Again, the Irish, with their accustomed skill, 
 had selected for their operations a subject which 
 was certain to afford them ample justification 
 for the most strenuous opposition. The annexa- 
 tion of the Transvaal and the South African Con- 
 federation Act were between them responsible for 
 the Zulu war, with its bloody episodes and its 
 disgraceful disasters of Isandula and the Intombi 
 river, as well as for the heavy pecuniary costs 
 involved — costs which must come out of the 
 pockets chiefly of British taxpayers. Nor is it 
 by any means certain, at the time of this writing, 
 that all trouble for the British empire is at an end 
 in South Africa. It may be a long while ere the 
 Boers are content to remain in that South African 
 
152 C. S. FARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Confederation with which they were so violently 
 incorporated. 
 
 About the beginning of August London ed- 
 itors made a singular discovery. They had 
 previously been accustomed to refer to Mr. Par- 
 nell as a man wholly without capacity, who had 
 achieved a bad notoriety by a series of wanton 
 outrages against "the tone of the House." All 
 of a sudden, however, they found out that he was 
 a man of "undoubted ability," who showed great 
 skill in selecting the subjects he brought before 
 the House aforesaid, great clearness in present- 
 ing his views, and great adroitness in utilizing 
 the forms of Parliament. He was spoken of 
 kindly as a young man who had a splendid career 
 open to him if he would employ his undoubted 
 ability in less aggravating ways, and would not 
 set himself in violent opposition to the House. 
 Why, it was hinted, he might before long actually 
 be a Cabinet Minister of the British Empire. A 
 man with his gifts might aspire to almost any 
 post. In other words, if he would only throw 
 over Ireland, accept the Union, and settle down to 
 work as a British party-man, he would in the end 
 be duly rewarded with " a place." Charles Stewart 
 Parnell, nevertheless, heeded as little this British 
 soft sawder as he heeded the uproar to which 
 British members of Parliament nightly treated 
 him. He went on his own way without pause 
 or ^lJler, offering, with Mr. O'Donnell and others, 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 153 
 
 amendments to the Prisons Bill and the South Af- 
 rican Bill to the last, some of which were so ob- 
 viously valuable that the Government accepted 
 them. Nay, a few nights after the twenty-six 
 hours' fight he calmly "talked out—the Expiring 
 Laws Continuance Bill — a Government measure 
 of the very first importance — the feat evoking 
 only unutterable horror. It was too much. 
 Words — nay, even brayings — could not express 
 what was felt on the occasion. 
 
 The stron"" language in which Mr. Butt indulged 
 in the debate on the morning of the 1st of August 
 expressed his real feelings, and he soon made an 
 effort to procure the expulsion from the Irish Par- 
 liamentary party of those members who had the 
 temerity to defy English public opinion and to 
 show the most Utter disregard for " the tone of the 
 House." It should be remembered for him that 
 he was then fast failing both in mind and body, that 
 he was constitutionally averse from anything in the 
 nature of resolute fighting, and that, besides, the 
 training ot a life, most of which was passed in 
 flisi prius courts, inclined him to persuasion and 
 argument for the accomplishment of his ends. 
 If he were so wanting in sagacity as to regard the 
 British Parliament as though it were an enormous 
 jury sworn to do justice according to the evidence, 
 there was much excuse for him. His effort to 
 expel Mr. Parnell and his friends wholly failed at 
 the meeting of the Irish party called for that ex- 
 
154 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 press purpose. Even though Mr. Butt threatened 
 to resign his leadership, if his wishes were not 
 complied with, the meeting broke up without 
 doing anything or coming to any decision on the 
 question before them. 
 
 In Ireland the course pursued by Mr. Parnell 
 and his friends was not only understood but thor- 
 oughly approved of; and when it came to be 
 known that efforts were being made by Mr. Butt 
 to crush the fighting men of his own following, it 
 was deemed judicious to give him some unmistak- 
 able inkling of the popular judgment on the sub- 
 ject in dispute. Accordingly a public meeting in 
 honor of Messrs. Parnell and Biggar was pro- 
 jected in Dublin, to be held in the historic Round 
 Room of the Rot undo. The committee of man- 
 agement early foresaw that some mode of check- 
 ing the rush that would be made on the room the 
 night of the meeting was an absolute necessity. 
 Admission by ticket only was resorted to. The 
 demand for tickets was amazing. All classes, 
 rich and poor, high and low, made application ; 
 even numerous civil servants eagerly sought for 
 them that they might secure admission. 
 
 The most remarkable session of the British 
 Parliament for over a century came to an end on 
 the 13th of August, 1877. The Rotundo meeting 
 followed on the 21st of the same month. Even 
 under the ticket system every part of the vast 
 hall — platform, floor, and gallery — was over- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, If. P. 155 
 
 crowded. The scene when the two guests of the 
 evening came on the platform was such as was 
 never previously witnessed, there or elsewhere, 
 by the present generation. Such wild enthusi- 
 asm, such unbounded delight, such universal 
 cheering, prolonged for ten minutes, such waving 
 of hats in air by strong-armed men, such fluttering 
 of snowy handkerchiefs by bright-eyed women — 
 such a scene as this is seldom witnessed more than 
 once in a life-time. A forest of hats moved to 
 and fro over the densely packed mass on the 
 great platform ; and in front of that black moving 
 mass there stood, erect, unwavering, a tall slight 
 figure, presenting a pale quiet face with set 
 features, which might have caused an observer to 
 think that their owner was stirred by no emotion 
 whatever, either through the thrilling sight before 
 him or the yet more thrilling sounds of joy and 
 welcome which tore the air incessantly, but that 
 now and again a soft light came and went in the 
 bright brown eyes. And when the cheering 
 within the room had died away, lo ! more mighty 
 still in volume came the hurrahing of the many 
 thousands outside the building, who, unable to 
 effect an entrance, were yet eager to join their 
 voices with those of the more fortunate within, in 
 an overpowering demonstration of welcome to 
 Parnell and Biggar, the two exemplars of faithful 
 Irish representatives, Dublin had spoken on the 
 
156 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 issue raised by Mr. Butt, and her verdict was em- 
 phatically with Mr. Parnell. 
 
 The capital of a nation may not be in strict 
 accord, either politically or morally, with the rest 
 of the country. Provincial places usually move 
 more slowly than metropolitan ones ; provincial 
 jieople do not catch up new ideas in a hurry. 
 Dublin indeed had spoken ; but the voice of the 
 provinces had yet to be heard in judgment on the 
 new Parliamentary policy before any one could 
 assume that it had the approval of the country. 
 Yet so rapidly did this policy commend itself to 
 the national intelligence that within a few weeks 
 Mr. Parnell was invited to and honored at public 
 meetings and banquets by several provincial dis- 
 tricts, the old fortress-town of Kilmallock spir- 
 itedly leading the way. Wherever, in fact, the 
 people were given the opportunity of making a 
 pronouncement, it was emphatically on the side of 
 Parnell as against Butt. 
 
 That circumstance, however, did not prevent 
 Mr. Butt from retaining much influential support 
 for the " fair-and-easy " method he himself favored. 
 He had too often branded as "revolutionary" the 
 more active and persistent one not to have had a 
 following among the large number of people who, 
 in Ireland as elsewhere, shrink from a course 
 which they regard as violent. 
 
 Nevertheless Mr. Butt must have felt that the 
 sceptre was slipping from his grasp ; that his title 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 157 
 
 of leader was scarcely more than nominal ; that 
 his power over the Irish people, whether to spur 
 forward or restrain, was fast ebbing away. It 
 Was a mortifying position for the groat old man, 
 and its bitterness must have been aggravated by 
 the consciousness of failing health. His step was 
 even then growing slow and heavy ; his great 
 frame, massive as an oak-tree's trunk, had fallen 
 far forward at the shoulders ; the movement of 
 his big heart was feeble, and his pulses made less 
 uealthfnl music than of yore. Worse than all, 
 the splendid intellect, once so strong and so 
 versatile, and on which a great question seemed 
 to lie as lightly as a pebble in a giant's palm, wis 
 giving way, was wearing down, was losing both 
 power and elasticity. And the soul of the old 
 man was grieved exceedingly. 
 
 In the hope of still effecting good with the Irish 
 Parliamentary party, be consented, although re- 
 luctantly, to the holding of a national conference 
 for the purpose of settling the vexed question of 
 policy. While waiting for the assembling of this 
 conference the year 1877 passed away. 
 
 In January, 1878, the conference was duly 
 held. A majority of those present, as well as all 
 the weighty argument, was so plainly on the side 
 of the new tactics that the prominent supporters 
 of the old did not dare to take a division on the 
 question in dispute; and a compromise — sug- 
 gested by Mr. Parnell, who did not want to break 
 
158 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 up or divide the Parliamentary party, but only to 
 put some earnestness into it — was effected. Mr. 
 Butt could not but have felt that he had sustained 
 a defeat ; and the feeling was not calculated to 
 lighten his vexation at the course affairs were and 
 had been taking. In a little while he formally 
 resigned the leadership of the party, but resumed 
 it, at least nominally, on the request of the mem- 
 bers. When, later on, he resigned the post of 
 president of the Home Rule Confederation, driven 
 thereto by the repeated declarations of branches 
 of that body in favor of the new policy, and when 
 on the instant Mr. Parnell was unanimously 
 elected his successor, the cup of bitterness must 
 have been filled for him, and only a rancorous or 
 a dull cold heart could refuse him pity and sym- 
 pathy. He had made large sacrifices of time and 
 money for Ireland, doing the best for her accord- 
 ing to his lights; he had given stupendous labor 
 in the drawing up of Irish bills aud the like ; he 
 had devoted several of the best years of his life 
 with great earnestness and energy to the further- 
 ance of Irish popular interests in many ways ; 
 yet, on the one hand, he found that in spite of 
 his numerous appeals to them a majority of the 
 Irish Parliamentary party, while claiming to be 
 truly his followers, would not work steadily with 
 him, and in important crises were ever ready to 
 split up into tails of the two great British factions ; 
 and, on the other hand, because he was so unwise 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 159 
 
 as to identify himself completely with that worth- 
 less majority, who would neither be led nor driven 
 to do right, he found the masses of the Irish peo- 
 ple falling away from him and enthusiastically 
 enrolling themselves under the banners of the men 
 for whom his strongest denunciations had been 
 reserved. Who could envy him the feelings he 
 must have had on awakening to the consciousness 
 of desertion on both sides, while he himself fully 
 believed that the desertion on cither was wholly 
 undeserved? Justice to his memory! Even 
 though he employed the brief remainder of his 
 life and the remnant of his decaying powers rather 
 in a struggle to retain the leadership from which 
 the popular will had virtually deposed him, than 
 in serious effort for the interest of the country of 
 his birth and his love, we can still wish that the 
 clay may rest lightly on his breast, in that lone 
 humble grave in sea- washed Donegal, where he 
 chose that his body should mingle with Irish 
 earth. 
 
 When Mr. Parnell entered the London Parlia- 
 ment in 1878 his position was an infinitely stronger 
 one than it had theretofore been. He was no longer 
 an individual member struggling against an over- 
 bearing and intolerant majority. He had acquired 
 something of the character of a national representa- 
 tive. His previous action had been sufficiently 
 endorsed to give him much more than individual 
 influence. All through the session of 1878, there- 
 
160 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 fore, though he still worked in the grooves he had 
 previously made, extraordinary scenes were not 
 the ordinary result of his proceedings. On the 
 contrary, the Government were inclined to con- 
 ciliate him to a large extent, much to the disgust 
 of many of their stupid followers, who thought 
 that hanging would be too mild a fate for " that 
 Irish fellow." The British press still harped on 
 "obstruction," and Mr. Parnell was actually desig- 
 nated publicly "a curse to the kingdom" — the 
 kingdom referred to, we need hardly say, being 
 Great Britain. 
 
 At length, so intolerable to the British Parlia- 
 ment and Government had the situation grown, a 
 Parliamentary committee was appointed to con- 
 sider how best an end could be put to " obstruc- 
 tion." Mr. Parnell's firm position in the House 
 was recognized by the Government placing him 
 on this committee. While serving on it he com- 
 pletely baffled every effort made towards showing 
 that he and the few who acted with him had been 
 at all in the wrong. He also established the fu- 
 tility of striving to restrain him even a little in 
 the future, except by the adoption of some method 
 which must restrain British members also, and so 
 be hurtful to Parliament itself. In short, so skil- 
 ful were the questions he put to the various wit- 
 nesses, and so ably did he expose the fact that the 
 real drift of the inquiry was to repress only such 
 Irish members as stood up manfully for their 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 161 
 
 country, that the British press positively took to 
 complimenting him, praised him for his ability, 
 his wisdom, and his mastery of Parliamentary 
 procedure, and suggested to the Ministry that he 
 should be often appointed on committees of the 
 House, where he could do most useful work, and 
 at the same time be kept occupied in such a way 
 as to prevent him from delaying the ordinary 
 business of Parliament. 
 
 Undisturned, either by censure or flattery, he 
 continued his labors persistently, amazing all, not 
 only by the vast number of subjects he took up, 
 but by the fulness of his knowledge regarding 
 each. There was no stopping him, because he al- 
 ways spoke clearly and pointedly to the question 
 before the House. And at last, as the days of 
 the session were quickly running out, and Gov- 
 ernment business was wo fully behind, the Minis- 
 try hit on the sensible plan of buying off his op- 
 position for a couple of months. This was done 
 by the introduction of the Irish Intermediate Ed- 
 ucation Bill, which went far towards putting Irish 
 Catholics on an equality with Irish Protestants in 
 the matter of middle-class education, restored to 
 Ireland a million of pounds out of the many mil- 
 lions taken from her and transferred to the Impe- 
 rial Exchequer, and must prove of incalculable 
 benefit to the next generation of Irishmen. 
 
 The session of 1879 was a repetition of the 
 previous one in its leading features. Mr* Parnell 
 
162 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 devoted himself, among other labors, to a con- 
 tinued criticism of the Government Army Bill, 
 with the result that it left the committee a totally 
 different bill from what it was when it went in. 
 About thirty of his amendments were accepted by 
 Ministers, and in the course of the long struggle 
 ,he succeeded in changing the opinion of the House 
 on several points of army discipline. Meanwhile 
 Government business was again wofully delayed ; 
 and another bid for Mr. Parnell's inactivity was 
 made by the introduction of an Irish University 
 Bill — this, too, in face of a Ministerial state- 
 ment, made early in the session, that the adminis- 
 tration had no intention of dealing with the sub- 
 ject of Irish university education. 
 
 Out of this Ministerial concession arose a most 
 unpleasant episode. The bill notoriously did not 
 attempt to do full justice to the Catholic body. 
 Mr. Parnell firmly held the view that the same 
 method which had forced it into being could im- 
 prove it in constitution. Several of the Irish 
 Catholic members were of a like conviction, and 
 were anxious to keep up the pressure on Govern- 
 ment. But, alas ! a majority of the Irish Catholic 
 members would not agree to this courageous and 
 obviously right course. Sharp words are said to 
 have passed between the two sections at a private 
 meeting of the party ; and Mr. Edmund Dwyer 
 Gray, member for Tipperary County, and pro- 
 prietor of the Freeman's Journal, felt himself 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. I\ 163 
 
 especially aggrieved by Mr. Parnell through 
 something that took place on the occasion. He 
 revenged himself in the columns of his paper by 
 floating the storvthat Mr. Parnell had called those 
 who differed from him " a cowardly set of Papist 
 rats," and another story which charged him with 
 having used offensive epithets in regard to several 
 of his brother members. The first story was 
 promptly contradicted by five of the Catholic 
 members present at the meeting — all men of the 
 highest character, both personally and politically. 
 Three others, who politically cannot be said to 
 stand by any means so high, gave a kind of sup- 
 port to Mr. Gray's statement, but all three differed 
 materially in their versions of the words alleged 
 to have been used by Mr. Parnell. The secoud 
 story, when traced to its origin, was found to 
 have no foundation whatever. The whole country 
 rose almost as one man to sustain the member 
 for Meath under these unfair attacks, and both 
 Mr. Gray and his journal fell into deep discredit. 
 A reconciliation between the two gentlemen was 
 effected through the intervention of his Grace 
 the Archbishop of Cashel, Mr. Parnell behaving 
 with the utmost magnanimity in the affair. 
 
 The Irish University Act — which, though it did 
 not confer complete equality on the Catholics, was 
 yet a very useful measure — was the trophy Mr. 
 Parnell had to show for his Parliamentary war- 
 fare of 1879. It is needles to recall that by this 
 
164 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 time he had all Ireland at his back, except the 
 political tricksters and the British party-men. A 
 striking proof of the fact was afforded by the 
 Ennis election in the Summer of 1879. In that 
 spirited town, so celebrated for its connection 
 with Catholic Emancipation just half a century 
 before, Mr. Parnell was able to carry a candidate 
 pledged to the active policy in Parliament, not- 
 withstanding the opposition of the bishop of the 
 diocese and the local clergy. It need hardly be 
 observed that the population of Eunis are among 
 the most devotedly Catholic in the world, and that 
 nowhere is the advice of appointed spiritual 
 guides received with more unqualified respect, and 
 ordinarily with more unqualified acceptance, even 
 in temporal concerns. 
 
 Mr. Parnell had long seen how destructive to 
 Irish prosperity was the system of Irish landlord- 
 ism. Scarcely had the agitation for a reduction 
 of rents begun than he reduced the rents of his 
 own tenants, although, as may well be supposed, 
 they were not rack-rents. From the outset he 
 flung himself into the land agitation started by 
 Mr. Davitt, coming over from the London Parlia- 
 ment to speak at one of the earliest Mayo meetings 
 in the beginning of the Spring of 1879. When 
 his harassing Parliamentary labors were closed for 
 the session, instead of taking required rest, as 
 others would have done, he went into the land 
 agitation heart and soul, attending meetings in 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 165 
 
 all parts of the country. One very appreciable 
 effect of the agitation was a widespread reduction 
 of rents which retained millions of pounds in the 
 impoverished tenants' pockets. More valuable 
 still were the lessons impressed by Mr. Parnell on 
 the awakening tillers of the soil. Among others 
 he taught them that it was wrong to let themselves 
 and their families starve in order to pay rack-rents 
 to landlords ; he taught them to organize and 
 combine for mutual protection ; he taught them to 
 regard the establishment of a peasant proprietary 
 as the one permanent settlement of the Irish land 
 question ; and he struck out a practicable plan 
 which, while compensating the landlords for the 
 relinquishment of their proprietorial privileges, 
 would inevitably transfer to the tillers the owner- 
 ship of the soil. 
 
 Finally, seeing that the British Government did 
 not mean to come to the relief of the unfortunate 
 people trembling on the verge of starvation, and 
 that it did mean to uphold the rapacious system of 
 landlordism which had driven them there, he de- 
 termined to appeal to the people of the United 
 States. They were free ; they were generous ; 
 they were powerful ; the moral influence of their 
 public opinion would be a tremendous force if ar- 
 rayed on the side of a plundered people. To 
 them he would speak with the living voice ; before 
 them he would plainly put the case of his clients. 
 
166 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 He was commissioned by the Irish National Land 
 League and Tenants' Defence Association. 
 
 The time of his departure was postponed con- 
 siderably by a rumor, which seems to have been 
 skilfully set afloat by some one from the neighbor- 
 hood of Dublin Castle, that the Government in- 
 tended to arrest him on a charge of sedition, just 
 as it had arrested Messrs. Davitt, Daly, Brennan, 
 and Killen for words spoken at land meetings. 
 Mr. Parnell boldly stayed to meet the arrest. 
 
 Finding that it came not, he, in conjunction 
 with Mr. John Dillon, dared the Winter's storms 
 and gave up the social pleasures of the festive 
 Christmas season in the execution of their mis- 
 sion. Christmas Day he spent in the middle of 
 the Atlantic; and as for storms, his voyage was 
 one of the most tempestuous known. One of the 
 finest of ocean steamers, which bore him and his 
 patriotic colleague, was, by stress of weather, de- 
 layed between three and four days longer than 
 the ordinary voyage. The excitement throughout 
 Ireland was painful in its intensity as morning 
 after morning went by after the eleventh day, and 
 the telegraph had not flashed back the news of the 
 vessel's safe arrival ki New York harbor. When 
 that welcome news did come however, and all fear 
 for Mr. ParnelPs safety was at an end, there was 
 a general and grateful sense of relief. 
 
 Landlordism dies hard. Scarcely had he set 
 foot on the American shore than he found himself 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 167 
 
 confronted by a host of hostile influences for which 
 he could scarcely have been prepared. The cables 
 had been busily employed against him in advance ; 
 a section of the press had been " nobbled " ; so too 
 had a section of prominent and once popular Irish- 
 Americans. But the member for Meath was not a 
 man to be easily dismayed. He fronted every foe 
 in turn, and battled as stoutly and steadily in the 
 new arena as in the old. In spite of all opposi- 
 tion, covert as well as open, his mission must be 
 accounted a great success. 
 
 It is not necessary to follow him through his 
 American tour. Suffice it to say that his progress 
 was like that of some beloved monarch through 
 crowds of rejoicing subjects. Cities contended 
 for his presence ; invitations rained on him ; 
 deputations waited on him from far oft' places ; 
 governors of States, mayors of towns, and other 
 public dignitaries, thronged around him ; the 
 thunder of cannon saluted him in many places on 
 his arrival ; the citizen soldiery of a free people 
 frequently lined his route or surrounded his car- 
 riage as guards of honor; great processions were 
 organized for his reception ; darkness was oftcu 
 banished for him by the glare of innumerable 
 lighted torches ; presentations of divers sorts 
 flowed in on him — addresses of welcome, odes 
 and poems, floral wreaths and bouquets ; f6tes 
 and banquets were prepared for him in profusion ; 
 at wayside railway stations he was called on to, 
 
168 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 speak from his car ; the largest halls were every- 
 where secured for his lectures, and these were 
 always crammed ; nay, in Chicago, which has one 
 of the vastest and finest opera-houses in the world, 
 that building was deemed far too small for the 
 accommodation of the many thousands who were 
 eager to see and hear him, so the immense Expo- 
 sition Building of the city was specially prepared 
 for the delivery of his address, and twenty thou- 
 sand persons, paying each either two or four shil- 
 lings for the privilege of admission, gathered into 
 the enormous hall on the night he spoke there. 
 The admission fees to his lectures were invariably 
 as high as at Chicago, and the various halls were 
 as invariably packed. Not alone through those 
 fees, but by direct subscription also, he received 
 large sums of money, which he promptly trans- 
 mitted to Ireland for relief purposes ; to say noth- 
 ing of the fact that by his presence and proceedings 
 he briskly stimulated sources from which otherwise 
 but little was to be expected, as in the case of the 
 New York Herald fund. In short, the man who 
 went to the United States to plead in behalf of a 
 starving people, and denounce the most vicious 
 system of land tenure in the world, had greater 
 than a conqueror's triumphs in his marvellous 
 progress. To crown all, he received from the 
 legislature of the United States, as well as from 
 several of the State legislatures, the highest honor 
 it was in their power to pay, in the granting to 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 169 
 
 him of the privilege of addressing them from the 
 floor of the chamber precisely as if he were a 
 member. The scene in the Washington House of 
 Representatives was specially remarkable. The 
 galleries of the House were packed immediately 
 upon the opening of the doors, and the floor was 
 filled with members and their wives and daughters 
 to testify their recognition of the services rendered 
 by Mr. Parnell to Ireland. The Speaker of the 
 House introduced the distinguished guest in the 
 following words : — 
 
 " The House will be in order. The session of 
 this evening is in consequence of a resolution 
 adopted by the House of Representatives, which 
 the Chair will now cause to be read by the Clerk." 
 
 Following the reading of the resolution, the 
 Speaker said : — 
 
 "In conformity with the terms of this resolution 
 I have the honor and pleasure to introduce to you 
 Charles Stewart Parnell, of Ireland, who comes 
 among us to speak of the distresses of his country. " 
 
 When the applause in the densely packed gal- 
 leries had subsided, Mr. Parnell addressed the 
 House, and was listened to with the closest atten- 
 tion. His address occupied about half an hour in 
 its delivery, and was, says a listener, a "calm and 
 able presentation of the evils under which Ireland 
 suffers." 
 
 After the House, on the motion of Mr. O'Con- 
 nor, of South Carolina, had adjourned, a large 
 
170 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 number breasted the severe snow-storm raging to 
 attend the serenade to Mr. Parnell at Willard's 
 Hotel, tendered him by Professor Joyce's band. 
 A collation had been prepared by the Con- 
 gressional Reception Committee for their distin- 
 guished guests. Mr. Young, Governor of Ohio, 
 presided ; Mr. O'Connor acting as vice-president. 
 Speaker Randall was also present; and, in truth, 
 the whole company was a distinguished one. 
 
 The remarkable honor conferred on Mr. Parnell 
 by the Washington House of Representatives had 
 but three precedents — namely, in the cases of 
 Lafayette, the hero of two continents ; the cele- 
 brated Bishop England, of Charleston ; and Kos- 
 suth, the noted Hungarian patriot, when in 
 enforced exile. It should be noted also that the 
 President, surrounded by his Cabinet, gave an 
 audience to Mr. Parnell, as if he were the duly 
 accredited envoy of some organized and inde- 
 pendent foreign State. Such honors well mark 
 the effect of the Irish ambassador's mission. 
 
PART II. 
 
 The news of the dissolution of Parliament, 
 which reached him while lecturing in Canada, 
 compelled him to bring his American tour to an 
 end, but not before he had succeeded in collecting 
 an enormous sum of money for the relief of the 
 suffering poor of Ireland and for the support and 
 encouragement of the Irish cause. Upon the 
 receipt of the message, he hastened to New York, 
 and, taking the next steamer for Ireland, landed 
 at Queenstown on March 21, 1880, amid the 
 welcoming cheers of the thousands who had as- 
 sembled to do him honor. The nation regarded 
 him as its savior ; and everywhere that he went 
 towns and cities strove to excel each other in giv- 
 ing expression to their appreciation of his services 
 to Ireland. 
 
 But, gratifying as such evidences of the public 
 esteem must have been to him, Mr. Parnell could 
 give but little of his time to them. The elections 
 would be upon him shortly, and no one knew 
 better than he the magnitude of the task before 
 him. It would require all his time and all his 
 171 
 
172 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 energies, and he gave of both unstintedly. For 
 five weeks he travelled incessantly from town to 
 town all over Ireland, arousing the people, per- 
 fecting organization, and selecting and setting up 
 candidates for the next Parliament. He worked 
 with a marvellous energy, and gave himself hardly 
 any rest ; but he bad neither time enough at his 
 disposal nor sufficient funds at his command to 
 enable him to contest all the constituencies. At 
 the ensuing elections, therefore, a number of them 
 had to be let go by default. Still, the result was 
 regarded as a great Parnellite victory ; for wher- 
 ever Mr. Parnell had been able to lay his policy 
 before the people, it had received the sanction of 
 their votes. Mr. ParnelPs own popularity may 
 be judged from the fact that he was returned to rep- 
 resent three constituencies, viz., Cork City, Mayo 
 County, and Meath County. The returns showed 
 that thirty-seven National Home Rulers had been 
 elected, while the full Home Eule strength was 
 sixty-two. Many of the members returned as 
 Home Rulers, however, were known to be luke- 
 warm in the popular cause, and several were out- 
 spoken in their opposition to Mr. Parnell and his 
 policy. 
 
 The first duty of the new party was to choose a 
 leader ; and for this position there were two can- 
 didates, namely, Mr. Parnell and Mr. William 
 Shaw, Member for Cork County. The latter had 
 been one of Mr. Butt's right-hand men, who, after 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 173 
 
 the decease of that leader, had been tacitly allowed 
 to direct the party, and he had the support of all 
 the conservative and aristocratic influences in the 
 organization. Most of the men of brains and the 
 men of energy, however, were heartily in favor of 
 the younger candidate. To decide the question, 
 a meeting was called in the City Hall, Dublin, for 
 May 17, 1880, and the balloting resulted in the 
 election of Mr. Parnell by a vote of twenty-three, 
 to eighteen for Mr. Shaw. 
 
 This result was hailed with joy by the young men 
 of the party, and by the Irish people generally. 
 They regarded it as the guaranty of a change 
 from the do-nothing to the progressive — nay, to 
 the aggressive — policy; but there were many ex- 
 pressions of distrust, also, and forebodings of fail- 
 ure to the Home Rule cause. Mr. Shaw's followers 
 — for he still retained a considerable following 
 among the older members — were very sore over 
 the defeat of their chief, and early exhibited a 
 tendency to disloyalty to the new leader, which 
 the croakers said presaged the wrecking of the 
 Home Rule party. 
 
 The first break occurred when the new Parlia- 
 ment assembled, on May 20, 1880. On this occa- 
 sion, Mr. Parnell and his supporters took seats in 
 the Opposition, below the gangway ; while Mr, 
 Shaw and his followers ranged themselves among 
 the Radicals, on the Government side of the 
 House. That the secession was to be a permanent 
 
174 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 one soon became evident ; for the Shawites gradu- 
 ally ceased to attend the private meetings of the 
 Irish party, and after a time gave up all pretence 
 even of belonging to that body. 
 
 This sundering of its ranks was a serious blow 
 to the Home Rule party ; but those who predicted 
 that it would collapse in consequence, underrated 
 the genius of Mr. Parnell. He regretted the 
 division keenly, for his own sake and for that of 
 Ireland; but, instead of disheartening him, the 
 loss of twenty-odd members only spurred him on 
 to greater efforts. In the new Parliament, stern 
 duties awaited him ; for the Gladstone Government 
 gave no sign of any intention to deal with the 
 Irish land question — and the land question, in the 
 opinion of Mr. Parnell, could not be neglected 
 except at the risk of great national calamity. By 
 the introduction of a Suspension of Ejectments 
 Bill, and by a series of moves wdiich plainly indi- 
 cated hostile intentions, he succeeded in forcing 
 the hands of the ministry, and the famous Dis- 
 turbance Bill w 7 as the result. It was during the 
 debate on this bill that Mr. Gladstone gave utter- 
 ance' to his memorable declaration that w in the 
 circumstances of distress in which Ireland then was, 
 a sentence of eviction was equivalent to a sentence 
 of death." The Disturbance Bill was successfully 
 carried through the Commons, but it was summa- 
 rily rejected by the House of Lords ; and the Irish 
 leader was once more thrown upon his own re- 
 sources. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 175 
 
 During this session it was conceded on every 
 hand that Mr. Parnell had proved his capacity for 
 leadership, beyond all question, and the judgment 
 of those who had elected him was amply vindi- 
 cated. After the close of Parliament, he applied 
 himself energetically to the propagation of the 
 principles of the Land League in Ireland, and his 
 labors were crowned with the most satisfactory 
 results. Monster meetings, rivalling those of 
 O'ConnelFs time, were held all over Ireland, and 
 were addressed by either himself or his lieu- 
 tenants. The movement increased in strength 
 with marvellous rapidity, and soon developed into 
 the most wide-reaching and most powerful of Irish 
 organizations. Indeed, so rapid was its growth, 
 and the power it developed, that the Government 
 determined to strike a blow. In a speech at 
 Ennis, Mr. Parnell had told the farmers that they 
 were to trust their own determination and their 
 own combination, and to place no faith in the 
 promises of ministers. For this and other 
 speeches, equally revolutionary from a Government 
 point of view, Mr. Parnell, with fourteen of his 
 colleagues in the land agitation, was subjected to 
 a prosecution for "conspiracy to impoverish land- 
 lords." The purpose of this prosecution, it was 
 plain to everybody, was to weaken the Land 
 League and intimidate its leaders, but in this it 
 failed utterly and miserably. The Irish people 
 rallied loyally to the support of their leaders, and 
 
176 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 the latter boldly defied the government to prove 
 them guilty of any illegal action. A popular 
 fund was subscribed, and the most eminent counsel 
 were retained to defend the traversers. The trial 
 in Dublin followed, and dragged on wearily for 
 many days, but from the first it was evident that 
 
 MICHAEL DAVITT. 
 
 no conviction could be arrived at, and all interest 
 in the case had flagged long before the end came 
 — the jury standing ten for acquittal and two for 
 conviction. Before this result was reached, the 
 year 1880 had expired. 
 
 The year 1881 is memorable in the history of 
 the Parneliite party because of the great fight 
 against Coercion, the passage of Mr. Gladstone's 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 177 
 
 Land Act, the arrest of Mr. Parnell, Mr. Davitt, 
 John Dillon, and other leaders, the proclamation 
 of the Land League, and the issue of the No Rent 
 manifesto. Parliament met on January 6, 1881, 
 and the government announced its intention to 
 pass a Coercion Bill for Ireland. Mr. Parnell was 
 determined to prevent this, if possible, and on the 
 very first night of the session he began the ob- 
 struction by moving an amendment to the address 
 in reply to the Queen's speech, affirming " that 
 peace and tranquillity cannot be promoted in 
 Ireland by suspending any of the constitutional 
 rights of the people." This amendment was de- 
 bated at length by nearly every one of the Par- 
 nellite members, and when it at last reached a 
 division and was defeated, other amendments 
 were brought forward and debated in the same 
 manner, and in this way the passage of the ad- 
 dress was delayed for two weeks, despite all the 
 efforts of the Government. But it was not until 
 January 24 that the great fight began in earnest. 
 On that date Mr. Forster asked leave to introduce 
 his M Coercion Bill," and Mr. Gladstone moved 
 that the two coercion bills should have precedence 
 of all other business. The Irish members re- 
 sponded to Mr. Gladstone's motion with defiant 
 jeers, followed by motion after motion of an ob- 
 structive character, each motion being discussed 
 at length. During the evening, Mr. Bigirar was 
 
 O D o ' CO 
 
 "named" by the speaker, and was compelled to 
 
178 C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 
 
 withdraw to the gallery ; but his fellow-members 
 kept up the battle until ten o'clock on the follow- 
 ing morning, when Mr. Gladstone's motion was 
 finally carried, by a vote of two hundred and fifty- 
 one to thirty-three. But on the question of giving 
 Mr. Forster leave to introduce his bill the Par- 
 nellites yet had fighting-ground, and on that they 
 kept the House going from the 27th to the 31st of 
 January. 
 
 By that time the Government and most of the 
 English members, it may well be imagined, were 
 furiously angry at the handful of Irishmen who 
 thus brought the traditional dignity of the time- 
 honored Parliament of England into contempt. 
 The English press and the English pulpit hurled 
 the most virulent denunciations upon the devoted 
 head of Mr. Parnell, and the high-toned British 
 journals were made mediums for pouring all sorts 
 of abuse upon, and even of conveying threats of 
 personal violence to, the Irish leader and his fol- 
 lowers. But Mr. Parnell and his colleagues held 
 to their course unflinchingly through it all, and the 
 battle went on. 
 
 On the 31st of January the Government adopted 
 new tactics, by resorting to the system of relays, 
 relying upon their overwhelming numbers. But 
 the Parnellites were not to be beaten so. They 
 were fortunately possessed of many good speak- 
 ers, and they divided their little party so as to 
 meet the attack in its new form. All through 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. t\ 179 
 
 that night the struggle raged ; then all the follow- 
 ing day and the next night, and the motion to give 
 Mr. Forster leave was only carried at last on the 
 morning of the 2d of February, by the arbitrary 
 action of the Speaker, who himself violated the 
 rules of the House in refusing to " see " the Irish 
 members. 
 
 To expedite the passage of the bill itself, and 
 to thwart all further practice of obstruction by the 
 Parnellites, Mr. Gladstone now introduced his 
 new "Urgency Rules," giving the Government 
 extraordinary powers to curtail debate, and ruth- 
 lessly abridging many of the cherished privileges 
 of members of Parliament. It was for refusing 
 to take part in the division on these rules that the 
 Parnellites were expelled temporarily from the 
 House. After the adoption of these rules, prog- 
 ress on the -"Coercion Bill" became more rapid, 
 and it finally passed the Commons on the 11th of 
 March. 
 
 On the 7th of April, 1881, Mr. Gladstone 
 brought forward his famous " Land Act." This 
 bill was a distinct concession to Irish sentiment, 
 and, although far from being perfect, was valuable 
 as a progressive measure. By its provisions, the 
 Irish tenant-farmer was given four things for which 
 he had long contended, viz., peasant proprietor- 
 ship, fair rents, free sale, and fixity of tenure. 
 Under it, his ancient tenant-right was re-estab- 
 lished, and if he desired to change from the condi- 
 
180 C. 8. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 tion of a secure tenant to that of a proprietor, and 
 could find an owner willing to sell, he might obtain 
 from the State an advance of three-fourths of the 
 purchase-money ; or, if no such opportunity 
 offered, he could yet obtain advantages such as 
 accrue from ownership, by becoming a fee farmer, 
 and this the State would enable him to do by 
 coming to his aid with one-half the sum required. 
 In the consideration of this measure, Mr. Par* 
 nell and his party determined, after much delib- 
 eration, to take a neutral position. They were 
 compelled to this course, because the bill was not 
 so complete a one as they had labored to obtain. 
 They knew that it would not satisfy the Irish peo- 
 ple, even though it would result materially to their 
 benefit ; and Mr. Parnell could not, therefore, 
 accept it as a final solution of the Irish land ques- 
 tion. Still, he recognized the fact that in com- 
 pelling the Government to give its attention to the 
 Irish land question, even though it was done half- 
 heartedly, the Irish cause had scored a victory, 
 and for that reason he would not place any obsta- 
 cles in the way of the passage of the measure. 
 Indeed, at least one Irish member, Mr. T. M. 
 Healy, openly disobeyed the party injunction, and 
 took an active part in helping the bill through. 
 One result of this disobedience was the "Healy 
 Clause," the most radical clause in the bill, which 
 provided that " no rent should be made payable 
 in any proceedings under the act upon any im- 
 
C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 181 
 
 provements effected by the tenant or his predeces- 
 sor in title" ; but this clause was modified in the 
 House of Lords by an addition which read, " unless 
 the tenant has been paid or otherwise compensated 
 for these improvements " and the addition practi- 
 cally nullified the clause, for, by a quibbling 
 decision of the courts, it was afterwards held that 
 enjoyment of the use of the improvements consti- 
 tuted compensation within the meaning of the act, 
 which was as much as to say that by enjoying the use 
 of his own property a man invalidates his title in it. 
 
 Mr. Parnell was severely criticised at the time 
 for the position which he took with respect to this 
 bill ; but time and circumstances have successfully 
 vindicated his judgment. He had forced the Gov- 
 ernment to make an effort to redress crying Irish 
 grievances ; but, as the measure which they pro- 
 posed was not, as he then believed — and every- 
 body now concedes — an adequate one, he would 
 not accept it as being perfect. He was, however, 
 desirous that, as a progressive measure, the bill 
 should pass ; and on two occasions when the bill 
 was in peril he went promptly to its aid, and by 
 the votes of the Irish party saved it from defeat. 
 The K Land Act " finally passed the House of Com- 
 mons on July 28 ; a few days later it passed the 
 Lords, and early in August it received the Royal 
 signature and became a law. 
 
 Mr. Parnell now turned his attention to enabling 
 the tenant-farmers to avail themselves of the 
 
182 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 beneficial provisions of the act, and in the way of 
 this there were many serious obstacles. The ex- 
 pense of application to the courts was large ; the 
 landlords were disposed to resist every reduction 
 in rents ; and, on the whole, it was doubtful if the 
 expense of litigation would not more than offset 
 any reductions that might eventually result. Un- 
 der these circumstances, Mr. Parnell considered 
 that it was the duty of the Land League to back 
 up the tenants, particularly as the landlords had 
 organized a Defence Association to protect their 
 interests ; and he at once began preparing a num- 
 ber of test cases to submit to the courts at the 
 expense of the League, his idea being that when 
 these were decided they would form a basis upon 
 which all other reductions could be made. 
 
 The Land League in Ireland was now enjoying 
 the height of its power, and its ramifications ex- 
 tended to the remotest portions of the land. It 
 had become, perhaps, the most potent organization 
 in Irish history. Its meetings equalled in magni- 
 tude the famous assemblies of the Repeal agitation, 
 and they were much more frequently held. It had 
 assumed the form of a system of government, 
 eclipsing the recognized government of Ireland ; 
 its edicts were regarded as the highest law by the 
 great majority of the people, and its constituted 
 courts were more largely resorted to than those of 
 the realm. 
 
 It was this powerful engine which Mr. Parnell 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 183 
 
 now proposed to bring to the aid of the tenants in 
 securing an impartial administration of the new 
 Land Act, and upon the assembling of the League 
 convention in Dublin, after the close of Parlia- 
 ment, he laid the subject before the one thousand 
 delegates, for their consideration, and submitted 
 his plan of action, which was unanimously ap- 
 proved of. The resolutions passed by the con- 
 vention respecting the test cases, and Mr. ParnelPs 
 speech in their support, attracted great attention 
 in England and Ireland, and were bitterly com- 
 mented upon by the Government organs. Mr. 
 Gladstone, in particular, was very wroth at the 
 Irish leader, and in a speech which he made at 
 Leeds, Eng., in defence of his Land Bill, he pub- 
 licly accused Mr. Parnell of being the instigator 
 of outrages in Ireland. He charged the Irish 
 leader with preaching public plunder also, and 
 heaped up reproaches upon him because he did 
 not publicly repudiate the acts of the dynamiters 
 in England. 
 
 The speech was, in fact, a severe and measured 
 arraignment of Mr. ParnelPs political life and 
 purposes, and it must be said that the Prime Min- 
 ister displayed but little regard for the proprieties, 
 or even for truth, in its delivery. Mr. Parnell 
 had always discountenanced outrages in Ireland, 
 and did all in his power to prevent them. M Give 
 no excuse for violence on the part of the Govern- 
 ment," he time and again told the people, "and 
 
184 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 our great cause is won." Nor could the slightest 
 proof be brought forward to connect him with 
 the dynamiters either in act or sympathy. Mr. 
 Gladstone was at the time, however, apprehensive 
 of the success of his bill, and this may be pleaded, 
 perhaps, in extenuation of his virulence. He as- 
 sumed — and quite gratuitously, too — that Mr. 
 Parnell was opposed to the purposes of the Land 
 Act, and that he was going to render it inoperative 
 simply by getting the farmers not to make appli- 
 cations under it; whereas, in truth, Mr. Parnell 
 was acting all the while in the greatest good faith. 
 He was not satisfied with the measure, it is true, 
 but he frankly acknowledged that it had good 
 points in it, and, if fairly administered, would con- 
 duce considerably to the benefit of the Irish ten- 
 ant-farmers. And it was that this benefit might 
 be secured without loss and without curtailment, 
 that he proposed that the bill should be taken 
 advantage of in a systematic manner. Those best 
 qualified to judge of the subject, including the 
 Land Commissioners themselves, have since con- 
 fessed that Mr. Parnell's plan was comprehensive, 
 feasible, and decisive, and one calculated to secure 
 uniformity of judgment, and, as a consequence, 
 a decrease of litigation, which would result in a 
 saving to landlords and tenants alike. His action 
 and advice were, moreover, entirely constitutional. 
 He simply proposed that the tenants act in combi- 
 nation, instead of individually, the end in view 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 185 
 
 being to obtain the greatest amount of benefit at 
 the smallest possible cost. The landlords had a 
 Property Defence Fund Association, representing 
 at the time five million pounds, and the object of 
 it was to weaken, or even to defeat, the purposes 
 of the act — an illegal object, while Mr. ParnelPs 
 was a lawful one ; yet Mr. Gladstone and English- 
 men generally had never breathed a word of 
 remonstrance against the one, while they unspar- 
 ingly denounced the Other. 
 
 But Mr. Parnell is not a man who will tamely 
 submit to calumny from any quarter, high or low, 
 and, in this instances he did not allow the Prime 
 Minister to go unrebuked. Two days later he ad- 
 dressed upwards of ten thousand people at Wex- 
 ford, and in the course of his speech answered 
 Mr. Gladstone in kind. His utterances were sin- 
 gularly open and defiant. He told the people 
 that they had gained something during the Land 
 League movement, but that what they had gained 
 was only a fraction of what they were entitled to. 
 w The Irishman," he said, w who thinks that he can 
 throw away his arms now, just as Grattan dis- 
 banded the Volunteers, in 1782, will find, to his 
 sorrow and destruction, when too late that he has 
 placed himself in the power of a perfidious, cruel, 
 unrelenting English enemy. " Again, in referring 
 to Mr. Gladstone's charge that he (Mr. Parnell) 
 was afraid, now that the Land Act was passed, 
 lest the people of England, by their long-sus- 
 
186 C. S. PAHNELL, M. P. 
 
 tained efforts, should win the hearts of the whole 
 Irish nation, Mr. Parnell said, "Long-sustained 
 efforts in what? Was it in evicting two thousand 
 tenants, who have been evicted since the first of 
 last January? Was it in putting the two hundred 
 honorable and brave men in Kilmainham and the 
 other jails of the country? Was it in issuing a 
 police circular of a more infamous character than 
 any which has ever been devised by any foreign 
 despot? Was it in the sending of hundreds of 
 thousands of rounds of ball-cartridges to his Bashi- 
 Bazouks throughout the country? Was it in 
 sharpening the bayonets of the latest issue to the 
 royal Irish constabulary ? And if it was not all 
 these sustained efforts, which Mr. Gladstone has 
 taken up nobly and well from his predecessors in 
 the title, of misgoverning Ireland, I should like 
 to know what were the efforts of w r hich William 
 Ewart Gladstone talks. He charges us with hav- 
 ing refused to vote for the second reading of his 
 Land Act ; he charges us with having used every 
 effort to disparage, to discredit, and, if we could, 
 to destroy his Land Bill ; he points to our refusal 
 to compromise our position, by voting on the 
 second reading, as his proof; and then he goes 
 on to say that on every subsequent occasion, on 
 the two subsequent occasions when that bill w^as 
 really in danger, I and the Irish party rescued 
 Gladstone and his cabinet by our thirty-six votes 
 from destruction and defeat. And then in the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 187 
 
 close of his speech he admits our whole position 
 and contention. In one last despairing wail, he 
 says that when the Government is expected to 
 preserve the peace it has no moral force behind 
 it. The Government has no moral force behind 
 it in Ireland. The whole Irish people are against 
 them. They have to depend for their support on 
 the self-interest of a very small minority of the 
 people of this country, and, therefore, they have 
 no moral force behind them. Mr. Gladstone, in 
 those few short words, admits that the English 
 Government has failed in Ireland ; he admits the 
 contention that Grattan and the volunteers of '82 
 fought for ; he admits the contention that the men 
 of '98 lost their lives for ; he admits the conten- 
 tion that O'Connell argued for; he admits the 
 contention that the men of '48 staked their all 
 for ; he admits the contention that the men of '65, 
 after a long period of depression and of apparent 
 death of all national life in Ireland, cheerfully 
 faced the dungeon and the horrors of penal servi- 
 tude for, and admits the contention that to-day 
 you, in your overpowering multitudes, have re- 
 established, and, please God, will bring to a suc- 
 cessful and final issue ; namely, that England's 
 mission in Ireland has been a failure, and that 
 Irishmen have established their right to govern 
 Ireland by laws made by themselves for them- 
 selves on Irish soil. And he winds up with a 
 threat. This man — who has no moral force 
 
188 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 behind him — he winds up with a threat. ? No 
 fear of force and no fear of ruin through force 
 shall, so far as we are concerned, and it is in our 
 power to decide the question, prevent the Irish 
 people from having the full and free benefit of 
 the Land Act.' I say it is not in his power to 
 trample on the aspirations and the rights of the 
 Irish people, with no moral force behind him. 
 These are very brave words that he uses, but it 
 strikes me that they have a ring about them like 
 the whistle of a schoolboy on his way through 
 a churchyard at night' to keep up his courage. 
 He would have you to believe that he is not 
 afraid of you, because he has disarmed you, be- 
 cause he has attempted to disorganize you, be- 
 cause he knows that the Irish nation is to-day 
 disarmed, so far as physical weapons go. But 
 he does not hold this kind of language with the 
 Boers. What did he do at the commencement of 
 the session? He said something of this kind. 
 He said he was going to put them down ; but, as 
 soon as he had discovered that they were able to 
 shoot straighter than his own soldiers, he allowed 
 these few men to put himself and his government 
 down, and, though he has attempted to regain 
 some of his lost position in the Transvaal by the 
 subsequent chicanery of diplomatic negotiations, 
 yet that sturdy and small people in the distant 
 Transvaal have seen through Mr. William Ewart 
 Gladstone, and they have told him again, for a 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 189 
 
 second time, that they will not have their liberties 
 filched from them ; and, as the result, I believe 
 we shall see that Mr. Gladstone will again yield 
 to the people of the Transvaal. And I trust we 
 shall see, as the result of this great movement, 
 that, just as Mr. Gladstone, by the act of 1881, 
 has eaten all his bold words, has departed from 
 all his former declared principles, so we shall see 
 that these brave words of this English Prime Min- 
 ister will be scattered as chaff before the united 
 and advancing determination of the Irish people 
 to regain for themselves their lost land and their 
 lost legislative independence. " 
 
 A few days afterwards, on October 13, Mr. 
 Parneli was himself arrested and cast into Kil- 
 mainham jail, but whether it was for this speech, 
 or for having promulgated during the Tyrone cam- 
 paign the famous "prairie rent" doctrine as the 
 logic of the Healy Clause, or for insisting on the 
 test cases, or for all of these reasons, that he was 
 thus honored, will never, perhaps, be known. 
 Then as a retaliatory measure came the No-Kent 
 manifesto, in which the tenants were advised r ' to 
 pay no rents under any circumstances to their 
 landlords until the government relinquishes the 
 existing system of terrorism and restores the 
 constitutional rights of the people." The policy 
 of the No-Rent declaration is rarely questioned 
 now. Even at that time Nationalists were by no 
 means hearty or unanimous in support of it, and 
 
190 C. S. PAftftELL, Iff. P. 
 
 as a policy it was foredoomed to defeat. It might 
 <— and it did — succeed in bringing some of the 
 landlords to a condition of destitution, but it 
 will be now generally admitted that it could not 
 achieve any permanent benefit for Ireland. It 
 might starve a few landlords, but it could not 
 wrest the ownership of the land away from them, 
 nor could it vest that ownership in the tenants. 
 Even if such sort of resistance was feasible, — and 
 if a movement of the kind ever could have suc- 
 ceeded no time was surely so propitious as that at 
 which the manifesto was issued, — the differences 
 among Nationalists with regard to its advisability 
 would alone be Mai to its success. The Catholic 
 clergy were opposed to it almost to a man, and 
 Archbishop Croke wrote an open, letter to the 
 Dublin Freeman protesting against the doctrine 
 enunciated in it. The Nationalist press, too, was 
 divided on the question, and many journals, nota- 
 bly the Freeman, opposed it. The settlements 
 effected in the land courts, too, were attracting 
 people to them, and many landlords came forward 
 and voluntarily made large reductions to their 
 tenants, and these following each other day by 
 day had the effect of materially weakening the 
 No-Rent movement. There can be no doubt, 
 however, but what the advice given in the mani- 
 festo was very generally followed, and as a conse- 
 quence many landlords were reduced to a condition 
 bordering on poverty. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 191 
 
 The question now was whether Mr. Parnell or 
 the Queen was to be the paramount power in Ire- 
 land, and the government took up the issue with 
 a vengeance. The Land League was now declared 
 to be an illegal organization ; the local branches 
 were dissolved by proclamation ; the leaders of 
 the people were summarily arrested, and cast into 
 prison without being accorded even the grace of a 
 trial ; the Nationalist press was muzzled ; the 
 boasted privileges of the British constitution were 
 practically cancelled, so far, at least, as Ireland was 
 concerned, and liberty of speech or meeting ex- 
 isted no longer. In this emergency the women of 
 Ireland formed the Ladies' Land League and took 
 the place of the men in looking after the evicted 
 and the families of those who were in prison. 
 Mr. ParneH's sister, Anna, took a prominent and 
 active part in this movement and performed many 
 brave deeds. But the Government soon pro- 
 claimed this organization also, and many of the 
 ladies were arrested and thrown into jail. 
 
 A reign of terror, absolute, terrible, existed in 
 Ireland, and no man if free to-day could be sure 
 that he would not be in jail on the morrow. The 
 constabulary used their ff brief authority " as inex- 
 orably as any soldiers of tyrants ever had, and 
 they were as sanguinary, too, for they shot men 
 down daily if they but dared to assemble in 
 groups, or did not instantly betake themselves 
 from the streets or roads when ordered. Even 
 
192 C. S. PARNELL, M. P* 
 
 the helplessness of womanhood or the innocence 
 of childhood was no protection from the ferocity 
 of these warriors, for they fired upon women and 
 children with as little compunction as upon men. 
 And during this dreadful period a vast horde of 
 agents and bailiffs and military were constantly 
 employed in the work of evicting, and the number 
 of ejectments, which in 1879 was but 1348, rose 
 in 1880 to 10,457, and in 1881 to upwards of 
 sixteen thousand. In the first quarter of 1882, 
 there were more than seven thousand evictions, 
 and the Dublin Freeman computed that the num- 
 ber would reach fifty thousand before the year 
 expired. 
 
 Many of these evictions took place under cir- 
 cumstances of the most barbarous inhumanity. 
 Sick men and sick women were seized upon in the 
 very height of their maladies, and mercilessly 
 flung out of their homes on to the roadway, to 
 starve or perish ; and more than one instance is 
 on record of cases where people have died while 
 the bailiffs were in the very act of ejecting them. 
 Even the London Times was constrained to admit 
 at this time that it was "an irksome, not to say an 
 odious, task to enforce wholesale evictions and to 
 compel the payment of rent by military or quasi- 
 military force," and it recognized the obligation 
 " not less stringent on the landlord's part to ab- 
 stain from oppressive and unreasonable demands 
 on tenants whose inability to pay in full is clearly 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 193 
 
 demonstrated. It cannot be reasonably doubted," 
 it continued to say, * that there are such cases, 
 and, whether they be few or many, their exist- 
 ence, and the bitter resentments they engender, 
 are the festering source of the discontents which 
 make Ireland so turbulent and irreconcilable." 
 
 It is not strange that amid such a condition of 
 things the bullet and the dagger were coming into 
 prominence. The voice of the agitator was heard 
 no more from the platform, but agrarian crimes 
 were increasing with alarming rapidity, and by the 
 spring of 1882 the Government was ready to admit 
 that coercion was not progressing very fast in 
 restoring peace to Ireland. The state of things 
 in that country had never been so bad ; and, 
 despairing at last of his own Remedies, Mr, 
 Gladstone opened up communications with the 
 imprisoned leader of the Irish people. The Kil- 
 mainham Treaty followed his advances, and on 
 May 2 Mr. Parnell and others of the suspects 
 were once more in the enjoyment of their liberty. 
 This treaty was a notable triumph for Mr. Parnell, 
 and redounded greatly to the credit of his diplo- 
 matic abilities. By its terms, Earl Cowper, the 
 Lord-Lieutenant, and W< E. Forster, the Chief 
 Secretary, were to be recalled forthwith ; the 
 coercion policy was to be abandoned ; an arrears 
 bill, drafted by Mr. Parnell in his cell, was to be 
 adopted, and pledges made to radically amend the 
 Land Act. On Mr. Parnell's part it is not clear 
 
194 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 that any consideration was given other than the 
 withdrawal of the No-Kent manifesto and the 
 acceptation of his own freedom and that of his 
 fellow-suspects. 
 
 Leaders and people were alike jubilant at this 
 happy termination of the great struggle ; and the 
 bonfires blazing from hundreds of hilltops attested 
 the exultation of the nation at the great victory. 
 An unarmed people had successfully resisted and 
 overcome all the mighty forces of the Empire, and 
 now the minister who had instigated and defended 
 coercion was to be thrown over at their demand ; 
 the lord-lieutenant who had enforced it so vi^or- 
 ously was to be asked to resign ; the entire policy 
 of repression was to be abandoned; and every 
 amendment to the Land Act which the League 
 had advocated was practically conceded in prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 But the Phoenix Park assassinations of the 6th 
 of May, 1882, destroyed all this fair prospect, and 
 crushed back again the rising hopes of the Irish 
 nation. Repression became the order of the day 
 in Ireland, and Mr. Parnell found himself once 
 more the leader of a desperate and unequal fight 
 against a new^ coercion bill, more rigorously severe 
 than any that had preceded it. For a few brief 
 days he had sailed on the highest crest of the 
 wave ; but the shocking deed of Carey and his 
 dupes had thrown him back, with his party, into 
 the deepest trough of the sea. But Mr. Parnell 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 195 
 
 is not the man to let misfortune or reverses cool 
 his ardor or damp his courage, and the fight which 
 he made against the Crimes Bill was as bold as, 
 and even more skilful than, the famous battle 
 of the previous year; but, though its progress 
 was exceedingly slow, the bill passed at last, 
 and on July 12 it received the Royal assent and 
 became a law. 
 
 The measures carried at this session were not, 
 however, all coercive. One, at any rate, was 
 remedial, the Arrears of Rent Act, which Mr. 
 Parnell had induced the government to adopt. 
 This bill was introduced on May 15, and was 
 really a very important concession to Ireland, 
 liquidating by a stroke of the pen millions of 
 pounds of the tenants' indebtedness. Of the out- 
 standing claims of Irish landlords Etgafast their 
 tenants, — computed by some as high as seventeen 
 million pounds, and never placed below ten mil- 
 lion pounds, — this bill disallowed all but four 
 million pounds, and of this latter sum the Gov- 
 ernment was to pay one-half from the Irish Church 
 Surplus Fund. 
 
 During the recess of Parliament this year, Mr. 
 Parnell undertook the task of taking up once more 
 the broken threads of organization, and at a con- 
 ference held in the Ancient Concert Rooms, in 
 Dublin, in October, 1882, the Irish National 
 League was inaugurated. The conference was 
 one of the largest ever held in Dublin, and its 
 
196 C. S. PARNELL, M» P. 
 
 deliberations were marked by an ardor and ear- 
 nestness that augured well for the success of the 
 new movement. Mr. Parnell presided, and in a 
 temperate and statesmanlike speech reviewed the 
 work of the Land League, and explained the plan 
 of the new organization, whose constitution, as 
 proposed, contained five leading features, viz., 
 national self-government, land-law reform, local 
 self-government, the extension of the parliamen- 
 tary and municipal franchises, and the devel- 
 opment and encouragement of the labor and 
 industrial interests of Ireland. Mr. Parnell 
 was unanimously chosen president of the new 
 organization, and at the close of the confer- 
 ence he be£>\an the work of onnmizinsr with such 
 
 © © © 
 
 vigor that before the new year opened branches 
 
 of the League were flourishing all over the 
 
 © © 
 
 island. 
 
 Shortly before the assembling of Parliament for 
 the session of 1883 came the revelations of James 
 Carey, one of the men arrested for the Phoenix 
 Park murder, who had turned informer. By his 
 own confession this man was a very monster in 
 crime. He admitted that he was a leader in the 
 Invincibles, and that the killing of Lord Caven- 
 dish and Under-Secretary Burke was done under 
 his direction. There is no need to go over the 
 details of the trial here. Suffice it to say that 
 Carey's evidence was accepted by the jury as con- 
 clusive, and that iive of the men whom his testi- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 197 
 
 mony incriminated suffered the extreme penalty of 
 the law, while the others were given long terms 
 of imprisonment. Carey himself, although the 
 greatest criminal of all, was given his liberty, in 
 consideration of his services as informer, and the 
 Government furnished him with funds with which 
 to leave the country. He went first to England, 
 under police protection, and from thence he took 
 passage for South Africa under an assumed name ; 
 but the doom of the informer sought him out, 
 and he was recognized and shot down, just as he 
 reached port, by a fellow-passenger, named Patrick 
 O'Donnell. Such was the miserable end of the 
 wretch who planned and directed the Phoenix Park 
 murders, and who thought to save his own life by 
 informing on his unfortunate associates in crime. 
 O'Donnell was brought back to England, and in 
 the course of a few months he was tried, con- 
 victed, and executed for his act, and went to his 
 end fearlessly. A monument has since been 
 erected in Dublin to his memory. 
 
 The evidence given by Carey at the Phoenix 
 Park trials in Dublin was made the most unscru- 
 pulous use of by the politicians and journalists of 
 England, and by these it was broadly insinuated 
 that Mr. Parnell was the inspirer, if not the asso- 
 ciate, of the assassins. Ex-Chief Secretary Fors- 
 ter seized upon the revelations with avidity, and 
 used them vindictively in the effort to overthrow 
 his great antagonist. On February 22, 1883, he 
 
198 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 made a cruel, deliberate, and wicked speech in the 
 House of Commons, in the course of which he 
 charged Mr. Parnell with connivance at assassina- 
 tion and the perpetration of outrages. The attack 
 made a tremendous sensation at the time ; but its 
 effect was entirely counteracted by Mr. ParnelFs 
 reply on the following evening. In his speech, 
 the Irish leader was dignified and disdainful to a 
 degree that delighted his countrymen and as- 
 tounded his enemies. His opening was character- 
 istic : "I assure the House, — and though it is not, 
 perhaps, a very respectful assurance, I make it 
 with the greatest respect, — I assure the House 
 that I do not expect that anything I can say will 
 have the slightest effect upon the public opinion of 
 England. The utmost that I desire to do is to 
 make my position clear to the Irish people at home 
 and abroad." 
 
 It was in Irish public opinion that Mr. Parnell 
 was solicitous of standing well ; as to what Eng- 
 lishmen might think of him, to that he was indif- 
 ferent. And the Irish people were not backward 
 in showing their appreciation of his attitude. A 
 few days before the Forster incident, the Avoca 
 branch of the Irish National League had initiated 
 a subscription in Wicklow to save from the ham- 
 mer the ancient patrimony of the Parnells, and, 
 quickened by a sense of shame that their leader 
 should, unrequited, have impoverished himself in 
 their cause, the people of Ireland now proposed to 
 
C. S. TAHNELL, M. P. 199 
 
 make the testimonial a national one, as an effective 
 protest against the attack of the Irish ex-secretary. 
 A letter from Archbishop Croke to the Freeman, 
 accompanied by a subscription of fifty pounds, 
 gave a start to the movement, and contributions 
 began to pour in from all parts of the country, 
 from the United States, and from Canada and 
 Australia. In the course of a few months, the 
 nation's tribute assumed the magnificent dimen- 
 sions of nearly forty thousand pounds, and was 
 then presented to Mr. Parnell at a banquet given 
 in his honor in Dublin. 
 
 The parliamentary achievements of Mr. Parneli 
 and his party in 1883 were not, perhaps, so bril- 
 liant as those of former years, but they were still 
 substantial. At the beginning of the session, the 
 government had announced that it was to be de- 
 voted to the consideration of English and Scotch 
 measures, and that no Irish reform legislation might 
 be expected ; but the Irish leader was determined 
 not to allow the year to pass without gaining some 
 concessions for Ireland, and, as a result of his 
 efforts, the Laborers' Bill, the Fisheries Bill, and 
 the Migration Bill — all important Irish measures 
 — were successfully carried through. 
 
 In Ireland the record of the National movement 
 was in the main eminently satisfactory. During 
 the year, a splendid testimonial had been sub- 
 scribed to Mr. Parnell ; the by-elections in Mal- 
 low, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford Borough, 
 
200 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Wexford County, Monaghan, Sligo, and Limerick 
 had been an unbroken series of Nationalist tri- 
 umphs, and, in the local elections, Nationalist 
 mayors, sheriffs, aldermen, councillors, and guar- 
 dians had been elected in nearly every city and 
 town in Ireland. Thus the movement was 
 everywhere asserting its growing power. 
 
 But all was not sunshine for the Nationalists, 
 nevertheless. Arrests and prosecutions under the 
 Crimes Act were again being made by wholesale ; 
 and some of the most prominent men in the coun- 
 try were among the victims. The Orangemen, 
 too, were causing much trouble. They attacked 
 peaceable Nationalist meetings almost daily, and 
 many fatalities resulted; and while the strong 
 hand of the law was promptly invoked to disperse 
 Nationalist assemblies, the disorderly proceedings 
 of Orange bands w T ere encouraged and connived 
 at. Mr. Parnell exposed the Government's partial- 
 ity time and again in Parliament ; and under pres- 
 sure of his vigorous remonstrances Earl Spencer 
 was compelled at length to impose a certain meas- 
 ure of restraint upon Orange lawlessness, but his 
 efforts in this direction only went far enough to 
 estrange the Orange leaders, without satisfying the 
 Nationalists. 
 
 The session of 1884 was notable only for the 
 passage of Mr. Gladstone's Franchise Bill, which 
 increased the voting power of the United Kingdom 
 by about 2,000,000,-1,300,000 being for Eng- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 201 
 
 land, 400,000 for Ireland, and 200,000 for Scot- 
 land. The purpose of this act was to assimilate 
 the county to the borough franchise, and under its 
 provisions, persons rated to the relief of the poor, 
 persons occupying land or tenements of the clear 
 annual value of ten pounds, lodgers who paid not 
 less than ten pounds per annum for rent, and 
 persons occupying, by reason of any service, 
 premises in respect of which an owner or tenant 
 would be entitled to vote, provided that such 
 owner or tenant did not occupy said premises, 
 were entitled to he registered as voters in counties 
 and boroughs. The hill did not, however, abolish 
 the old property qualifications in counties. Per- 
 sons possessed of freehold property of the value 
 of forty shillings, or of copyhold or leasehold 
 property of the clear annual value of live pounds, 
 were still entitled to be registered in the counties. 
 With these few exceptions the parliamentary fran- 
 chise may be described as household suffrage. 
 
 When this bill was first introduced, the Orange- 
 men and the Tories fouirht hard against admitting 
 © © © 
 
 Ireland to its benefits, and it was even proposed 
 by many Liberals to confine its provisions to 
 England and Scotland, and to treat with Ireland 
 later in a separate bill ; but Mr. Parnell promptly 
 put his veto upon this scheme. He knew that if 
 once the English and Scotch got all they wanted, 
 they would leave the Irish to shift for themselves ; 
 so he gave Mr. Gladstone to understand that Ire- 
 
202 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 land must be made a sharer in the benefits con- 
 ferred by his measure, and in the same bill, or he 
 would do his utmost to defeat it. And he could 
 defeat it, too ; for, in addition to the votes of his 
 own party, he had pledges of support from a 
 large number of Radicals. Under these circum- 
 stances, Mr. Gladstone had no alternative but to 
 include Ireland in his bill, and he did so accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 But in pushing the bill through, the Govern- 
 ment had to contend against the strongest opposi- 
 tion from the illiberal elements in the Commons, 
 and when it was passed at last, the House of 
 Lords shelved it by adopting an amendment, post- 
 poning action on the subject until a Redistribution 
 of Seats Bill could be introduced. The Govern- 
 ment had, however, committed itself to the meas- 
 ure, and Mr. Gladstone now made use of all the 
 resources at his command to force the upper 
 chamber into acquiescence with the views of the 
 ministry. During the recess of Parliament, a 
 fierce agitation was begun all over England in 
 favor of the bill, and its popularity with the 
 masses was unmistakably demonstrated. The re- 
 sult was that when the bill was brought forward 
 again at the autumn session, the Lords gave way, 
 and on December 6 the measure received the 
 Queen's signature and became a law. 
 
 In Ireland, the Nationalists signalized the year 
 by a determined onslaught upon the iniquities of 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 203 
 
 Dublin Castle. Mr. William O'Brien, member of 
 Parliament for Mallow, and editor of United Ire- 
 land, the League organ, had become aware of the 
 bestial practices of certain officials high in favor 
 with the authorities, and he set on foot an investi- 
 gation, which resulted in the exposure of James 
 
 WILLIAM O'BKIEN. 
 
 Ellis French, the head of the detective depart- 
 ment, and Secretary Cornwall, of the Dublin 
 Post-office. Mr. O'Brien's charges made a great 
 sensation at the time, and though the Government 
 tried to discredit them, the State was finally 
 compelled, in self-defence, to bring an action for 
 felony against Cornwall, French, and their accom- 
 plices, in the course of which Mr. O'Brien's 
 
204 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 charges were proved to the satisfaction of every- 
 body except the wretched prisoners. The result 
 of these trials was very gratifying to the Nation- 
 alists, for two reasons : It tended greatly to weaken 
 the system of misgovernment against which they 
 were contending, and it caused the resignation of 
 Chief Secretary Trevelyan, though that gentle- 
 man's ostensible reason for giving up his position 
 was to accept of a sinecure. 
 
 And while the Government was struggling to 
 uphold itself in Ireland, the arms of England 
 were tarnished by defeats in distant lands. Mr. 
 Gladstone's Government, in the interest of the 
 Khedive of Egypt, had undertaken to suppress 
 the revolt of El Mahdi in the Soudan, but the 
 contract proved more difficult to fulfil than had 
 been anticipated. Instead of summarily putting 
 down the rebellion, the Anglo-Egyptian army in 
 Central Africa itself met with many calamitous 
 reverses, and the dashing Bedouins of the False 
 Prophet, more than a score of times, fleshed their 
 spears upon a retreating foe. These defeats caused 
 great consternation in England, and added greatly 
 to the troubles of the Gladstone ministry, which 
 was, of course, held to be responsible for the dis- 
 astrous course of events in the land of the Sphinx. 
 When it became known that Khartoum had fallen, 
 and that General Goixlon and his companions of 
 the garrison were all massacred, the excitement 
 arose to a wild pitch, and it was thought that the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. t\ 205 
 
 ministers would have to succumb before the storm. 
 But Mr, Gladstone's great parliamentary skill 
 brought them safely through. On February 27, 
 1885, Sir Stafford Northcote proposed a vote of 
 censure against the cabinet, but the motion was 
 defeated, although it received the united support 
 of the Tories and Parnellitcs. The vote was a 
 very close one, however, and the ministers were 
 inclined to regard it as equivalent to a defeat, 
 being actually divided upon the question of con- 
 tinuing in office, but it was finally decided not to 
 resign. 
 
 To still farther add to the burdens of the min- 
 istry, the Government now became involved in a 
 controversy with Russia over the Afghan bound- 
 ary question, and a war between the two Empires 
 was only averted after much diplomatic negotia- 
 tion and mutual concessions by the parties to the 
 issue. 
 
 In April of this year the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales, with their eldest son, and a royal train of 
 attendants, made a tour of Ireland, and visited 
 nearly all the large cities and towns. The Govern- 
 ment remembered the saying of Swift, that 
 "loyalty is the foible of the Irish," and it was 
 probably hoped that the presence of royalty in 
 the country would have a salutary effect in toning 
 down the hostility of, or in winning over, the 
 people from the influence of Parnell. But if such 
 hopes were entertained, they were certainly not 
 
206 C. S. FAttNELL, M. P. 
 
 realized. In Dublin and Belfast, it is true, the 
 welcome accorded the royal party was somewhat 
 extravagant, but in these cases the demonstrations 
 were gotten up under the direction of tjie Castle, 
 and the audiences to which the Prince was intro- 
 duced were carefully selected from the loyalist 
 class. Wherever the people got a chance to give 
 expression to their feelings, however, his recep- 
 tion was far from cordial, and in Cork and Water- 
 ford especially the Prince and his party were 
 roundly hissed as they made their way through 
 the streets, while the tones of the national anthem, 
 " God save Ireland," and lusty cheers for Parnell, 
 ascending from thousands of throats, fairly 
 drowned the music of the military bands. At 
 Kilmacthemas, in Waterford, the board of guard- 
 ians had a black flag flying from the poorhouse, as 
 the only mark of greeting to the Prince upon his 
 arrival, and at another station in the same county 
 a flag was flying which bore the motto " We'll 
 hae na Prince but Charlie. V In the West the 
 reception was hardly more comforting, and even in 
 Ulster, the home of the Orangemen, the welcome 
 was rather a cold one. The attitude of the public 
 corporations, too, was distinctly uncordial, many 
 of the chief representative bodies in Ireland, 
 including those of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Drogh- 
 eda, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford, delib- 
 erately refusing to extend addresses of welcome. 
 On the whole, the result of the two weeks' visit 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P- 207 
 
 was not such as to justify gratification either in the 
 Prince or in the Government. 
 
 Circumstances were all now working favorably 
 for Mr. tParnell's plans. The Crimes Act was 
 about to expire by limitation, and the cabinet was 
 seriously divided on the question of its renewal. 
 Mr. Gladstone and a section of his cabinet were 
 said to be in favor of letting the act drop, and 
 depending upon the ordinary laws for the preser- 
 vation of order in Ireland, but another and a 
 stronger section of the cabinet strenuously insisted 
 on the re-enactment of the measure, and these 
 threatened to resign if their wishes were not 
 respected. To add to the perplexities of the situ- 
 ation, Mr. Pamel] wa> working very hard to or- 
 ganize an effective opposition to the measure, 
 should it be brought forward, and it was said that 
 he had as many as thirty Tories and fifty Radicals 
 pledged to aid him in defeating it. It began to 
 look as though the cabinet would go to pieces on 
 the Crimes Act anyway, but Mr. Gladstone finally 
 patched up a truce between the members by 
 agreeing to re-enact the Crimes Bill in a modified 
 form, and at the same time introduce :i local self- 
 government !>ill Tor Ireland* 
 
 But if this compromise was successful in unit- 
 ing the members of the cabinet, it by no means 
 satisfied Mr. Parnell. He was opposed to the 
 Crimes Bill, no matter in what form it might be 
 presented, and the sugar-coating of a local gov- 
 
208 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 ernment bill did not hide its unpalatableness. He 
 was determined to prevent the re-enactment of the 
 bill,. or, if possible, to overthrow the Government 
 before it had a chance to introduce the measure, 
 and an opportunity to do this latter offered in the 
 Government's Budget Bill. By this bill Mr. Glad- 
 stone proposed to increase the tax on beer and 
 spirits, in order to make up the deficit caused by 
 the Soudan campaign and the preparations for war 
 with Russia, and the proposition was received with 
 marked signs of popular disapproval. Great de- 
 monstrations were held in London and other 
 places to protest against the tax, and a powerful 
 party was organized in Parliament to oppose it. 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach had proposed an amend- 
 ment to the motion for a second reading of the 
 Budget, censuring the ministry, and Mr. Parnell 
 was quick to foresee that this amendment was des- 
 tined to be the death-blow of the Government. 
 He sent out urgent whips to the absent members 
 of his party requesting them to be present for 
 the division, at all hazards, and when the vote 
 was taken, on June 8, — the very day that the 
 cabinet finally agreed to re-enact the Crimes 
 Act, — the Government was beaten by a vote of 
 two hundred and sixty-four to two hundred 
 and fifty-two, thirty-nine Irish members voting 
 with the majority. On the next day Mr. 
 Gladstone announced that the ministers had 
 decided to resign, and requested an adjourn- 
 
C. S. TARNELL, M. ?. 209 
 
 ment in order that the Queen might be commu- 
 nicated with. 
 
 Thus fell the strongest ministry of the century, 
 and Mr. Parnell had cause for elation in the 
 knowledge that with it fell coercion for Ireland 
 forever. The defeat was due to his action, and 
 that of his party, in refusing to uphold a ministry 
 from which they had received nothing but broken 
 promises, and from which Ireland could expect 
 nothing but injustice, as was foreshadowed in 
 the proposed attempt to again saddle upon her 
 the iniquitous provisions of the Crimes Act. The 
 pleasure and advantage of the defeat to the Par- 
 nellites was increased by the fact that by it 
 almost the only remaining Irish industry was 
 saved from a burden of five hundred thousand 
 pounds a year. 
 
 But the action of the party was not dictated by 
 motives of the moment, but was inspired by a 
 policy which the Parnellites had followed for 
 years, that of turning out the Government at any 
 cost, as a lesson for all future governments with 
 regard to the determination of the Irish people 
 not to submit to unconstitutional government. 
 They had for years followed out this policy in the 
 most determined fashion, had pushed the ministers 
 closely upon many previous divisions, and had 
 beaten them more than once, though, unhappily, 
 not on occasions when they were obliged to re- 
 
210 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 The Tories, at the desire of the Queen, now 
 formed a government, of which Lord Salisbury 
 was the head and Lord Churchill the dominant 
 spirit, and the new government, under the advice 
 of Churchill, determined to let the Crimes Act 
 lapse. The forty votes which Mr. Parnell con- 
 trolled were indispensable to the Tory govern- 
 ment, and a strong effort was made to conciliate 
 him. Earl Spencer was recalled from Ireland and 
 was succeeded as Lord-Lieutenant by the Earl of 
 Carnarvon, and Mr. Campbell-Bannerman was re- 
 placed as Chief Secretary by Sir William Hart 
 Dyke, who announced a determination to rule Ire- 
 land without oppressing the people. But the 
 most unequivocal evidence of Mr. ParnelPs power 
 under the new order of things was given in the 
 Government's promise to make an inquiry into the 
 circumstances of the celebrated Maamtrasna mur- 
 der case, and to redress, as far as possible, any 
 injustice that might be brought to light. The 
 Irish members had often tried before to obtain an 
 investigation of this case, being convinced that 
 some of the men convicted by the aid of packed 
 juries and suborned witnesses had suffered un- 
 justly, but their efforts had been invariably unsuc- 
 cessful. In this instance, their success was the 
 more noteworthy because it was considered to be 
 contrary to all precedent to allow the acts of a 
 former government to be inquired into, and the 
 concession went to show that Lord Salisbury's 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 211 
 
 government considered the support of Mr. Par- 
 nell as necessary in order to maintain itself in 
 power. The existence of this feeling of depend- 
 ence and spirit of conciliation in the mind of the 
 Government, was further shown in the introduction 
 and passage of the Land Purchase Bill. With the 
 passage of this measure, the Parliament of 1885 
 practically closed, it being prorogued on August 
 14, the Queen, in her speech, giving notice of her 
 purpose before long to seek the counsel of her 
 people by a dissolution. 
 
 The principal measures affecting Ireland in the 
 legislation of this year were the Redistribution of 
 Seats Bill, the amendment of the Irish Registra- 
 tion laws, and the Land Purchase Bill. The first 
 and second of these bills were brought forward 
 and passed by the Gladstone government, while 
 the Land Purchase Bill was a Tory measure. The 
 Redistribution Bill reapportioned the Parliamen- 
 tary representation in the United Kingdom as 
 nearly as possible on the basis of one member of 
 Parliament for every fifty-four thousand two hun- 
 dred persons. The net results of the measure 
 are thus summarized : ninety-six English, two 
 Scotch, and twenty Irish constituencies were abol- 
 ished ; thirty-eight English boroughs that had two 
 members each were only to have one in future, 
 and three Irish boroughs suffered a like loss. On 
 the other hand, twenty-four English counties, 
 whose representatives numbered one hundred and 
 
212 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 eleven, would in future have one hundred and 
 seventy-nine, and four Scotch counties, repre- 
 sented by five members, were given twelve ; ten 
 Irish counties, which had only twenty members, 
 were, by the new apportionment, given forty- 
 two ; fifteen English boroughs, of thirty-three 
 members, were given sixty-six, and two Irish 
 boroughs, of four members, — Dublin and Belfast, 
 — were given eight. 
 
 The amendment to the Irish Registration law 
 was made at the instance of Mr. Parnell, who 
 pressed it earnestly upon the Government until it 
 was finally adopted. By this amendment the 
 Irish law was assimilated in all beneficial respects 
 to that of England, and it was even better than 
 the English law in that it did not disqualify per- 
 sons who had received medical relief. 
 
 The Land Purchase Bill was an attempt at fur- 
 ther legislation in the direction of Mr. Gladstone's 
 Land Act of 1881, and was designed to promote 
 the establishment of a peasant proprietary class 
 in Ireland, the Government offering under it to 
 advance three-fourths, or even the whole, of the 
 purchase money, to intending purchasers of small 
 holdings, at four per cent interest for forty-nine 
 years, the money for the purpose to be taken from 
 the Irish Church Surplus Fund. The bill also pro- 
 vided a cheap and simple form for the conveyance 
 of land, and it was to be administered by the 
 existing land commission, re-enforced by two 
 Commissioners. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 213 
 
 Immediately upon the prorogation of Parlia- 
 ment, Mr. Parnell began the work of preparing 
 for the general elections, and prosecuted it with 
 great vigor. He had no doubts of the patriotism 
 or the strength of the people in the impending 
 contest, but he was solicitous that only such men 
 should be put up for election as would be loyal 
 to the principles of the National party and the 
 National cause through thick and thin. The ques- 
 tion with him then was how to prevent traitors in 
 the ranks, and to consider this he called a meeting 
 of his followers in Dublin on August 25, at which 
 it was resolved to advise all Nationalist constituen- 
 cies to select no candidate without first consulting 
 with Mr. Parnell, and to vote for none who would 
 not subscribe to the following pledge : — 
 
 I pledge myself that, in the event of my election 
 to Parliament, I will sit, act, and vote with the Irish 
 parliamentary party; and if at a meeting of the party, 
 convened upon due notice specially to consider the 
 question, it be determined by a resolution, supported 
 by a majority of the entire parliamentary party, that I 
 have not fulfilled the above pledge, 1 hereby under- 
 take forthwith to resign my seat. 
 
 At this meeting, too, it was laid down as a prin- 
 ciple by Mr. Parnell, and unanimously assented to 
 by his colleagues, that the Irish party should, in 
 future, have a programme with only one plank in 
 it, and that that one should be the national 
 
214 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 independence of Ireland. Addressing a public 
 meeting in Dublin on the same day, Mr. Parnell 
 asserted that the triumph of the Irish cause was 
 assured whether the Liberals or the Tories won 
 in the elections. w If we use judgment and mod- 
 eration," he asserted, n we shall see the English 
 parties competing to settle the Irish question, and 
 there is something solemn and dazzling in the 
 thought that we belong to a generation about to 
 witness the finish of a struggle of seven hundred 
 years opposed by such tremendous obstacles and 
 odds. Only the Irish can defeat themselves. The 
 English Parliament cannot defeat us. We have 
 met and beaten the worst that England can do." 
 
 In thus boldly coming out for Home Rule pure 
 and simple, the Irish leader called down upon his 
 head the most bitter and denunciatory criticisms 
 from the anti-Nationalist press of Ireland and 
 England. Until then English politicians had been 
 buried in contemplation of the great problem of 
 how the cat would jump. The leaders had main- 
 tained an unbroken silence on the future conduct 
 of affairs in Ireland, and now into this void the 
 clear notes of Mr. Parnell penetrated with exult- 
 ant tone and shocked them into an awakening as 
 from a lethargic sleep. The great English news- 
 papers all discussed the speech and the resolutions 
 in lengthy editorials, and all were emphatic in 
 agreeing that Home Rule for Ireland was ndt to 
 be thought of. The Times held that Mr. Par- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 215 
 
 nell's declaration amounted to separation from 
 England, and such a proposition, it asserted, 
 would never be assented to. The principals 
 among the politicians, or those of them who gave 
 expression to their opinions, seemed to hold the 
 same views, and Lord Hartington, in opening the 
 campaign for the Liberals at Rosendale, declared 
 that w the demand for national independence for 
 Ireland could only be answered by the word ' im- 
 possible.' " To these vaporings Mr. Parnell's 
 reply was prompt, and scornfully defiant in tone. 
 
 In a speech made at the Mansion House in 
 Dublin on Sept. 1, he told his English critics 
 bluntly that w If it be sought to make it impossible 
 for one country to obtain the right of administering 
 its own affairs, we will make all other things im- 
 possible for those who said so." 
 
 The general elections were to be held in Novem- 
 ber ; and it behooved the Nationalists to set about 
 the selection of candidates at once, and they lost no 
 time in doing so. Mr. Parnell had a plan for the 
 payment of the Nationalist members from a fund to 
 be subscribed for the purpose by the Irish people 
 all over the world, and that the scheme would be 
 successful was even at this time assured by the 
 contributions from America alone. Under this 
 prospect there was no scarcity of candidates and the 
 difficulty which presented itself was the selection 
 of the most suitable men. Most of the constituen- 
 cies had their local favorites to put forward, and 
 
216 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 supported their claims to the nominations with such 
 warmth that it was feared that the plans of the 
 Irish leader w r ould miscarry. This was the crucial 
 period in the movement, and that it passed through 
 it safely is the best test of its coherence and 
 strength. Mr. Parnell rose triumphantly superior 
 to every obstacle. The local conventions nomi- 
 nated the candidates of his choice in every instance, 
 and before the dissolution was announced the men 
 who were to bear the colors in the contest were 
 all selected and the people were ready and eager 
 for the fray. 
 
 In bringing about this happy result, Mr. Parnell 
 was greatly aided by Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, who 
 had a short time before succeeded to the Arch- 
 bishopric of Dublin, in the face of the most des- 
 perate anti-Nationalist opposition ; by Most Rev. 
 Dr. Croke, the patriotic Archbishop of Cashel, and 
 by the bishops and priests of Ireland generally, 
 whose influence in promoting harmony, especially 
 in the conventions, it is impossible to over- 
 estimate. 
 
 It is not necessary to follow the elections, or to 
 describe the scenes attending them, in detail here. 
 I will, therefore, only advert briefly to results. 
 On Nov. 18, the Parliament was dissolved by 
 proclamation, and almost immediately writs began 
 to issue for elections to a new Parliament. In 
 England and Scotland the Liberals had a decided 
 advantage in, and they based sanguine hopes upon, 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 217 
 
 the fact that the million and a half new voters were 
 indebted to the Liberal party for the blessings of 
 the franchise. It was confidently believed that 
 the great majority of these new voters would 
 support the Liberal candidates at the polls, and 
 if they did so and Mr. Gladstone held anything 
 like his former strength among the old voters, 
 
 CO 7 
 
 the Liberal party would have a majority over 
 the Tories and the Parnellites combined. But 
 these hopes, although reasonable, and, indeed, well 
 founded, were never realized. By an adroit flank 
 movement, Mr. Parnell effectually counteracted 
 any Liberal tendency on the part of the new 
 voters by directing the Nationalists of Great 
 Britain — a splendidly organized body — to vote 
 solidly for the Tory candidates in all the con- 
 stituencies, and as a result of this advice the 
 Liberals lost and the Tories gained at least thirty 
 seats, making it possible for the Irish members to 
 wield the balance of power. 
 
 In Ireland the elections were a very one-sided 
 affair, the Nationalists being victorious in nearly 
 every contest into which they entered, and polling 
 fully five-sixths of the total vote of the country. 
 In many places their majorities comprised literally 
 the whole voting list. Out of the 103 seats 
 in Ireland the Nationalists won 85, and T. P. 
 O'Connor was returned from Liverpool, Eng., as 
 a Nationalist, so that the full strength of the party 
 would be 86. The Tories only won 18 seats in 
 
218 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 all Ireland, and the Liberals did not even return a 
 man. 
 
 In short the elections made Mr. Parnell the 
 master of the situation. They placed him in the 
 position of a supreme arbiter between the two 
 great English parties, and enabled him to turn the 
 balance of factions and decide the fate of ministries 
 
 JUSTIN M'CAKTHY. 
 
 at his pleasure. The entire English body politic 
 was in a complete quandary, and .neither the 
 Liberals nor the Tories could see any way out of 
 it except that which the Irish leader pointed out, 
 — to give Ireland Home Rule, — but that they 
 were not yet prepared to make use of. The 
 leaders of both the great English parties were at 
 their wits' ends. The leader of the Irish people 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 219 
 
 was at his ease and confident. The English news- 
 papers, while bemoaning the fact, conceded his 
 great and dominating power. 
 
 The London Times said : " We make no doubt 
 that the whole Irish question is engaging the anx- 
 ious attention of the leaders of both parties. Mr. 
 Parnell must perceive, however, that there are 
 still a good many formidable obstacles to the satis- 
 faction of his extreme demands. In the first 
 place, there is the uncertainty of his own position, 
 which is by no means so strong as it looks. In 
 the next place, there is the patriotism of Mr. 
 Gladstone and the steadfastness of the Liberal 
 party. And in the last resort, there are the con- 
 stituencies of Great Britain, which love their 
 country more than party, which vote freely and 
 independently, and which do not yield to the dic- 
 tation of conventions and priests." 
 
 The Standard argued that " if to acquiesce in 
 Mr. Pamell's proposals would be suicide, to aim 
 at a compromise would be folly. There is no 
 middle way to choose between that of those who 
 wish to maintain the Union and those who are 
 intent on destroying it. The last generation of 
 statesmen were not afraid to grapple with O'Connell 
 and the repeal movement. It will be a lasting 
 disgrace if the present generation are unequal to 
 the task of facing Parnell." 
 
 The Daily Telegraph said: "We are face to 
 face with this difficulty, that to give to Ireland 
 
220 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 complete right of legislation and police is to aban- 
 don to the peasantry one million and a half of 
 Irishmen who are not Parnellites ; while, on the 
 other hand, nothing but the uncontrolled right to 
 make and execute the laws will satisfy Irish aspira- 
 tions, or conciliate Parnell. The situation is very 
 serious. It is one of the gravest ever presented 
 to an English Parliament. It is more momentous 
 than many wars, because it is a Gordian knot that 
 cannot be cut by the sword. The competition of 
 the two great parties for power has brought the 
 Empire to this dilemma, and their union alone can 
 save it from disintegration." 
 
 The Daily JVews concluded a long editorial as 
 follows : " Mr. Parnell is a maker and unmaker of 
 ministries. Our parliamentary system is at stake. 
 It is overborne by what is practically a foreign 
 dictation. Eighty-five members of Parliament 
 control more than the remaining five hundred and 
 eighty. Parnell is an arbiter between Gladstone 
 and Salisbury. Gladstone's excess over the Con- 
 servative vote nearly equals the whole number of 
 ParnelPs supporters in the House of Commons. 
 Mr. Gladstone is as much the representative of 
 Great Britain as Mr. Parnell is of Ireland, and it 
 is he who is entitled to speak in the name of Par- 
 liament and the country." 
 
 It was now everywhere conceded that the Irish 
 question would have to be taken up and settled by 
 the new Parliament before anything else could be 
 
C. S. PARNELL, St. F. 221 
 
 done. On this Mr. Parnell was determined. 
 M We shall demand," he said, a short time before 
 Parliament opened, w and we will be satisfied with 
 nothing less than the erection of an Irish Parlia- 
 ment fully empowered to legislate for all of Ire- 
 land's affairs and interests." And that it was the 
 
 T. M. HEALY. 
 
 original intention of Lord Salisbury's government 
 to bring in a measure of Home Rule, substantially 
 in accord with Mr. ParnelPs wishes, there can be 
 no doubt. Communications discussing the provis- 
 ions of such a bill had actually passed between 
 members of the ministry and the Irish leader. 
 But the Tory government was driven to abandon 
 this purpose by the conviction that they could not 
 
222 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 succeed in carrying the measure against the Liberal 
 opposition and the hostility of the Irish Tories, 
 who threatened to join the opposition in the event 
 of such a bill being introduced. Deterred thus 
 from offering concessions, the Government decided 
 to resort to coercion ; and, having once come to 
 this decision, they did not leave the country long 
 in suspense. When Parliament opened, early in 
 January, 1886, the Queen in her speech made the 
 following reference to Ireland : — 
 
 I have seen with deep sorrow the renewal, since I 
 last addressed you, of the attempt to excite the people 
 of Ireland to hostility against the legislative union 
 between that country and Great Britain. 1 am reso- 
 lutely opposed to any disturbance of that fundamen- 
 tal law, and in resisting it I am convinced that I 
 shall be heartily supported by my Parliament and my 
 people. 
 
 The social, no less than the material, condition of 
 that country engages my anxious attention. Although 
 there has been during the last year no marked increase 
 of serious crime, there is in many places a concerted 
 resistance to the enforcement of legal obligations, and 
 I regret that the practice of organized intimidation 
 continues to exist. I have caused every exertion to be 
 used for the detection and punishment of these crimes, 
 and no effort will be spared on the part of my Govern- 
 ment to protect my Irish subjects in the exercise of 
 their legal rights and in the enjoyment of individual 
 liberty. If, as my information leads me to apprehend, 
 the existing provisions of the law should prove to be 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 223 
 
 inadequate to cope with these growing evils, I shall 
 look with confidence to your willingness to invest my 
 Government with all the necessary powers. 
 
 The Queen was present in person during the 
 reading of her speech, at the conclusion of which 
 she withdrew, and K her faithful Lords and Com- 
 mons began to talk it over." In the House of 
 Lords, the Duke of Abercom, an Irish landlord, 
 alluded to the grave responsibilities of those who 
 directed the affairs of the government, and said 
 that the one cloud over the Empire was the state 
 of Ireland. Among the duties which the Govern- 
 ment must perform, he said, were the maintenance 
 of the Union, the suppression of persecutions of 
 which the National League had been guilty, and 
 the defence of the loyal Irish minority. 
 
 In the House of Commons, Mr. Gladstone's 
 speech on the Address gave great encouragement 
 to the Irish party. He had previously made 
 overtures to Mr. Parnell on the subject of Home 
 Rule, and on this occasion he showed that he had 
 fully made up his mind to secure the support of 
 the Parnellites, and to pay the price. He said he 
 wished the Queen's speech had been more ex- 
 plicit. He was convinced that only a gentle and 
 conciliatory handling of the Irish question would 
 be effectual. He had always striven to eliminate 
 the elements of wrath and passion in discussing 
 Ireland. w The exercise of candor and justice could 
 
224 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 alone afford the smallest hope of solving the diffi- 
 culty. Whatever it may be necessary to do for 
 Ireland should be done promptly. In the name of 
 Heaven, let us maintain the Union. We have 
 been maintaining it for eighty-five — yes, six 
 hundred years. Let us not deviate from the 
 
 THE O'GORMAN MAHON. 
 
 path of good temper and self-command ; but, for- 
 getful of every prejudice, let us strive to do jus- 
 tice to the great, the gigantic interests committed 
 to our charge." Mr. Gladstone continued that in 
 seeking a re-election he was mainly guided by a 
 wish to proceed with proposals in regard to both 
 the legislative and the social position of Ireland. 
 Only the Government, however, was able to act in 
 
C, S. PARNELL, M. P. 225 
 
 such a matter. He, believing it would be mis- 
 chievous to do so, did not intend to introduce 
 proposals of his own, but he would reserve his 
 opinion. He would also reserve his decision 
 whether to alter or to add to the proposals embod- 
 ied in his election manifesto. He pleaded for a 
 patient hearing of the opinions of the Irish Nation- 
 alists. # 
 
 Mr. Parnell followed Mr. Gladstone in a speech 
 that was everywhere praised for its firmness and 
 its moderation ; and when he had concluded, Lord 
 Randolph Churchill burned the bridges behind the 
 Government, by announcing that he M wished the 
 House to clearly understand that it would be im- 
 possible for the present Government ever to sanc- 
 tion an Irish Parliament." 
 
 This speech of Lord Churchill and that of the 
 Queen destroyed all hopes of getting an Irish 
 Home Rule Bill from the Tory government, but 
 they also sealed the fate of the Salisbury ministry, 
 for they threw the hopes of the Irish back upon 
 Gladstone, and the Gladstonites and Parncllites 
 had it in their power to defeat the Government at 
 any time. The Tory leaders now "rode for a 
 fall." They invited defeat upon a question which 
 would allow them to appeal to the people on w the 
 integrity of the Empire" cry. But they were 
 playing against masters of all the parliamentary 
 arts, in Gladstone and Parnell, and the sequel 
 proved them vastly overmatched. On January 
 
226 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 26, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Tory leader in 
 the House, gave notice that the Government would, 
 on the 28th, introduce "a bill to suppress the 
 Irish National League and other dangerous socie- 
 ties, to prevent intimidation, to protect life and 
 property, and to maintain public order in Ireland." 
 He said he would ask the House to give the bill 
 precedence, and added that this measure would be 
 followed by a bill dealing with the Irish land 
 question, on the lines indicated in the Land Pur- 
 chase Act of the last session. The Government 
 expected that the Parnellites would make a strong 
 fight against this bill, and that they would be aided 
 by the Liberals, and the ministry was prepared to 
 welcome defeat upon it. But Mr. Parnell was 
 too able a tactician to walk into the snare. He 
 hurled the Government from power, however, that 
 very night, and it was not on an Irish question, 
 either. Mr. Jesse Collings had moved an amend- 
 ment to the address which expressed regret that 
 no measures were announced in the Queen's speech 
 for the relief of the sufferers by the depression in 
 trade and agriculture, particularly in regard to 
 affording facilities to farm-laborers, etc., for ob- 
 taining allotments of small holdings on equitable 
 terms as to rent and security of tenure, and when 
 the question came up, on the same evening that 
 Hicks-Beach announced the Coercion policy of 
 Government, Mr. Parnell and Mr. Gladstone 
 joined forces in its support and carried the 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 227 
 
 amendment by a vote of 329 to 250. And, al- 
 though the defeat came on an English, not on an 
 Irish question, it was the Irish vote that turned 
 the Government out, as in 1885. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone now took up the reins of gov- 
 ernment once more, and at the outset avowed his 
 intention to conciliate the Irish. He sent the 
 
 CHAKLK.s DA.W809r, WL r. 
 
 Earl of Aberdeen to Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant 
 
 and John Morley as Chief Secretary, both ap- 
 pointments being acceptable to the Parnellites, 
 but the latter especially so, as Mr. Morley was a 
 pronounced Home Ruler. Not to do things by 
 halves, Mr. Gladstone followed up these conces- 
 sions to National sentiment by declaring his pur- 
 pose of introducing at an early day a bill which 
 
228 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 would do substantial justice to Ireland. This an- 
 nouncement aroused a fierce protest from nearly 
 every one of the great English papers and caused 
 the withdrawal from the cabinet of Joseph Cham- 
 berlain and Mr. Trevelyan, but Mr. Gladstone soon 
 filled the vacancies and persevered in the prepara- 
 tion of his bill. 
 
 The day set for the introduction of the measure 
 was April 8, and it w r as awaited with an anxiety 
 never before paralleled in the history of British 
 legislation. For weeks before the eventful day 
 the most intense interest was manifested, not only 
 in Ireland and in Great Britain, but in America 
 and Australia. When the day at length arrived, 
 the excitement was at fever-heat, and, long before 
 the hour for opening Parliament, every available 
 seat in the Commons was bespoken in behalf of 
 princes, princesses, dukes, duchesses, ambassadors, 
 distinguished strangers, and friends of the members, 
 while dense crowds thronged the streets in the vi- 
 cinity, unmindful of a pouring rain-storm. When 
 prayer-time came, the House was crowded in every 
 part, and for the first time strangers were permitted 
 to hear prayers read, a decided innovation, as the 
 chamber is supposed to be closed to all but mem- 
 bers until that ceremony is over. Within five 
 minutes after prayer, Mr. Gladstone arose, amid 
 the cheers of the Liberals and Parnellites, and 
 began his great speech, one of the finest and most 
 eloquent efforts that he ever made. His voice fell 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 229 
 
 upon a breathless audience, now like a zephyr 
 which lulls to confidence and now like a tornado 
 which rouses to revolution. He was at his best 
 physically, and with that masterly command of 
 language for which he is justly celebrated, he 
 wrung an unwilling tribute of admiration from the 
 bitterest foes of his reform. 
 
 The scene in the House was at times intensely 
 dramatic. Mr. Gladstone began in his usual calm 
 and hesitating manner, and with a husky voice. 
 His audience, however, could scent the battle from 
 afar as he declared that " we should no longer 
 fence or skirmish with this question. We should 
 come to close quarters with it." lie followed 
 his own advice when, after referring to the 
 colonial legislatures which have never imperilled 
 the integrity of the Empire, he was silent for a 
 moment, and then added slowly that his proposal 
 was "to set up a Parliament in Dublin. " The 
 reasons for this course were given in a few words : 
 " England made her own laws ; Scotland had been 
 encouraged to make her own laws. The conse- 
 quence was that the mainspring of the law* in 
 England and Scotland was felt to be English or 
 Scotch. The mainspring of the law in Ireland 
 was not felt by the people to be Irish." The 
 problem, therefore, which Parliament was called 
 upon to solve was, he said, ff How to reconcile 
 imperial unity with diversity of legislatures." 
 
 In developing the details of his plan, Mr. Glad- 
 
230 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 stone declared that the Irish Parliament which he 
 proposed would concern itself exclusively with 
 Irish affairs ; that in due course it would have 
 control of the constabulary ; that it would have to 
 pay its proportional share of the imperial burdens ; 
 that it would not control the customs nor the 
 excise ; that it would manage its own post-office ; 
 that it Avould have absolute control over all purely 
 local taxes ; that it would be forbidden all inter- 
 ference with foreign and colonial relations ; that 
 the power would be withheld from it of passing a 
 law for the establishment or endowment of any 
 religion ; that it would have to resign everything 
 relating to the prerogatives of the Crown, or the 
 succession, to a permanent Viceroy, who might be 
 a Catholic ; that it would have no concern with 
 the defence — with the army, navy, or entire 
 organization of armed force ; that the Irish rep' 
 resentatives were to no longer have seats in 
 Westminster ; and that the Irish Parliament would 
 consist of two orders, one possessing property 
 qualifications, the other elected on a popular basis. 
 In presenting his plan, Mr. Gladstone spoke for 
 three hours and twenty minutes, with all the fire 
 and force and eloquence of his more youthful days. 
 He concluded his speech in these words : — 
 
 I have no right to say that Ireland, through 
 her constitutionally elected members, will accept the 
 measure I propose. I hope they will, but I have no 
 right to assume it, nor have I any power to enforce it 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 231 
 
 upon the people of England and Scotland; but I 
 rely on the patriotism and the sagacity of this House, 
 on a free and full discussion, and, more than all, upon 
 the just and generous sentiments of the two British 
 nations ; and, looking forward, I ask the House, 
 believing that no trivial motive could have driven us 
 to assist in the work we have undertaken — work 
 which we believe will restore Parliament to its free 
 and unimpeded course — I ask them to stay the waste 
 of the public treasure under the present system of 
 government and administration in Ireland, which is 
 not waste only, but waste which demoralizes while it 
 exhausts. I ask them to show to Europe and America 
 that we, too, can face the political problems which 
 America had to face twenty years ago, and which 
 many countries in Europe have been called on to face 
 and have not feared to deal with. I ask that we 
 shall practise as we have very often preached, and that 
 in our own case we should be firm and fearless in 
 applying the doctrine we have often inculcated on 
 others — that the concession of local self-government 
 is not the way to sap and impair, but to strengthen 
 and consolidate our unity. I ask that we should learn 
 to rely less on mere written stipulations and more on 
 those better stipulations written on the heart and mind 
 of man. I ask that we should apply to Ireland the 
 happy experience we have gained in England and 
 Scotland, where a course of generations has now 
 taught us, not as a dream or a theory, but as a matter 
 of practice and of life, that the best and surest foun- 
 dation we can find to build on is the foundation 
 afforded by the affections and convictions and will of 
 man, and that it is thus, by the decree of the 
 
232 
 
 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Almighty, that far more than by any other method 
 we may be able to secure at once the social happiness, 
 the power, and the permanence of the Empire. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone resumed his seat amid bursts of 
 enthusiastic cheers, which were sustained for sev- 
 
 JOHN DILLON. 
 
 eral minutes. After the din had in a measure 
 subsided, Mr. Trevelyan arose to explain his reason 
 for resigning from the cabinet, which he said was 
 because he could never consent to such a scheme 
 as the Prime Minister had just proposed. 
 
 When Mr. Trevelyan had finished, Mr. Parnell 
 arose and was received with enthusiastic cheers 
 from the Irish and Liberal benches. The Irish 
 leader was as cold and measured as usual. He 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 233 
 
 first referred to Mr. Trevelyan's speech, and dis- 
 posed of it in a few brief and cutting sentences ; 
 then referring to the bill before the House, he 
 said he would reserve his full expression of 
 opinion upon it until he had seen the bill. He, 
 however, congratulated the House on the fact that 
 there was still living an English statesman who 
 could devote his attention to this important mat- 
 ter, and begged to thank Mr. Gladstone for what 
 would not only prove a beneficial measure from 
 the Irish point of view, but which he (Parnell) 
 believed would be found to be of equal benefit to 
 England. The bill, nevertheless, contained blots 
 which the Irish representatives would do their 
 best to remove. One of these was to be found in 
 the financial proposals of the bill, which he re- 
 garded as very unfavorable to Ireland, especially 
 in regard to the Irish tribute to the imperial ex- 
 chequer. He also complained of the proposition 
 relative to the two orders intended to constitute 
 the Irish Parliament, on the ground that the first 
 order, consisting of peers not subject to the influ- 
 ence of the popular vote, would have the power 
 of hanging up measures demanded by the people 
 and their representatives for two or three years. 
 On the whole, however, apart from these defects, 
 he believed the measure would be cheerfully ac- 
 cepted by the Irish people and their representa- 
 tives as a satisfactory solution of the long-standing 
 dispute between the two countries, and as tending 
 
234 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 to prosperity and peace in Ireland and to satisfac- 
 tion in England. [Cheers.] 
 
 This was the spirit in which the Irish people 
 everywhere received the Bill to Amend the Pro- 
 visions for the Future Government of Ireland. 
 They were not blind to its many imperfections, 
 but they saw in it the recognition of the right of 
 Irishmen to govern themselves in their own land, 
 and they were profoundly grateful to the English 
 Prime Minister who had the courage to attempt to 
 do them justice. 
 
 But only the first act of the drama had as yet 
 been performed. The climax was still to be en- 
 acted. The second reading of the measure was 
 to be the battle-ground, and those who favored 
 the bill and those who opposed it alike displayed 
 extraordinary energy in preparing for the contest. 
 The anti-Home Rule Whigs, led by Lord Hart- 
 ington, and the anti-Home Eule Radicals, led by 
 Mr. Chamberlain, made overtures to the Tories to 
 join them in a combined opposition to Gladstone 
 and Parnell, and the anti-Nationalist elements in 
 England, Ireland, and Scotland, strained every 
 nerve to organize an effective opposition. 
 
 The debate on the measure was protracted for 
 nearly two months, and Avas marked by many bril- 
 liant oratorical efforts on both sides. The Irish 
 members, especially, distinguished themselves by 
 their eloquence, good sense, and moderation. 
 Mr. Sexton's speech in the opening of the debate 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 235 
 
 won the encomiums of friends and foes alike, and 
 added much to the already splendid reputation of 
 the brilliant member for Sligo. Other notable 
 vspeeches were made by T. M. Healy, the member 
 for South Deny ; Justin McCarthy, the member 
 for North Longford; William O'Brien, editor of 
 
 T. P. O'CONNOR. 
 
 United Ireland, and member for Tyrone ; T. P. 
 O'Connor, President of the Irish National League 
 of Great Britain, and Nationalist member from 
 Liverpool ; Joseph G. Biggar, the sturdy repre- 
 sentative for Cavan ; John Dillon, the member for 
 East Mayo ; Edmund Dwyer Gray, editor of the 
 Freeman's Journal, and member for St. Stephen's 
 division, Dublin ; T. D. Sullivan, editor of the 
 
236 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 Nation, member for the College Green division, 
 and Lord Mayor of Dublin ; John E. Redmond, 
 member for Wexford, and others of the Irish 
 party. In the parliamentary history of England, 
 no measure was ever more fully discussed or more 
 ably advocated, and if eloquence could persuade 
 or reason convince, the passage of the bill would 
 have been assured. But it was prejudice of the 
 most unreasoning kind and passion of the most 
 malignant character that the supporters of the 
 bill had to contend with — not definite differences 
 of opinion or honest ignorance of the merits of 
 the measure. The vindictive character of the 
 opposition and the insincerity of the motives of 
 many of those who took part in it are best illus- 
 trated in the case of Mr. Chamberlain. He had 
 always asserted previously that he was in sympa- 
 thy with the principle of Home Rule for Ireland, 
 his only differences with Mr. Gladstone being in 
 regard to matters of detail. But when the Prime 
 Minister announced his readiness to make such 
 concessions in this case as would cut away all 
 foundation for Mr. Chamberlain's criticisms, Mr. 
 Chamberlain not only persevered in his desertion 
 of his party, but he redoubled his efforts to render 
 the opposition effective. 
 
 The motion to read the bill a second time was 
 finally reached on June 7, amid scenes every whit 
 as exciting as those which marked its introduction. 
 The House was crowded in every part. The 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 237 
 
 closing speeches before the division were made 
 by Mr. Goschen and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, 
 against the bill, and Mr. Parnell and Mr. Glad- 
 stone, in favor of it, and were among the most 
 brilliant of the whole debate. Mr. Parnell, in 
 particular, stood forth pre-eminent among the 
 
 THOMAS SEXTON. 
 
 eminent. Even the bitterest enemies of the Irish 
 leader were compelled to accord his speech the 
 tribute of their admiration. Mr. Gladstone char- 
 acterized it as "a masterly exposition," and such 
 it was, indeed, not only of the measure under dis- 
 cussion, but of the whole Irish case. It was said 
 of this speech that had it been made earlier it 
 would have saved the bill, and that, even as it 
 
238 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 was, many well-meaning Liberals who had prom- 
 ised to vote against the Government were so moved 
 by its power that they implored Mr. Chamberlain 
 to release them from their pledges, but, of course, 
 they implored in vain. 
 
 The debate of this evening marked an important 
 epoch in the history of the Irish Nationalist strug- 
 gle. It was opened by Mr. George J. Goschen, 
 one of the ablest of the Liberal dissidents, who 
 made a vigorous attack upon the bill. In the 
 course of his speech, he said : — 
 
 During the recess, I heard one, now a minister of 
 the Crown, say he was certain that Mr. Parnell would 
 be dictator in the coming session. I think, however, 
 that Mr. Parnell's followers will now acknowledge 
 that there are limits whereat they see many who are 
 prepared to grant some legislative autonomy to Ireland 
 would draw the line. The House will remember the 
 first reading of this bill, and will recall the Right 
 Hon. Chief Secretary for Ireland's repeated allusions 
 to certain dark subterranean forces. We do not hear 
 so much thereof now. They have withdrawn to a great 
 extent, though not entirely, from the light. The cur- 
 tain has been dropped over those terrible times and 
 tragedies which have scarcely faded from our memor- 
 ies. The alarmed Home Secretary of the Premier's 
 last government is now able to re-appear as chancellor 
 of the exchequer, with great jocularity and light-heart? 
 edness to make merry over what he calls the melo- 
 dramatic terrors. I wonder whether this began on the 
 day when he first pinned on his arm, over his ministerial 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 239 
 
 uniform, the Home Rule badge of the Pamellites to 
 wear. [Loud opposition cheers.] We know that a 
 truce has been proclaimed, and that a part of the dark 
 subterranean forces have been told off to terrify British 
 public opinion. They are simply holding their hands, 
 though. The devil is still working in some parts of 
 Ireland. [Cheers.] The British democracy are asked 
 to do justice [Parnellite cheers], but they will require 
 to see justice done, and I should have thought that 
 the Parnellites would have used their great influence 
 and vast organization to help discover the perpetrators 
 of these vile outrages. [Opposition cheers.] I don't 
 say they can do it. The matter may have passed be- 
 yond their power. We have a right, however, to 
 pause when we are asked to place the protection of 
 life in Ireland in the hands of a new and untutored 
 executive and at the same time relinquish the control 
 of the police. [Parnellite cries of "No! No!"] 
 
 The presence of Irish members at Westminster is 
 incompatible with a separate Irish Parliament. It will 
 be impossible to include Ulster in a Dublin Parliament. 
 [Parnellite cries of " No ! No ! "] The clauses relating 
 to taxation and finance are also inherent defects in the 
 bill. 
 
 If the bill passed, a tremendous struggle would be 
 inaugurated by the Catholic clergy of Ireland for the 
 control of education in that country. It now required 
 the imperial Parliament's moderating influence to 
 deter Protestants and Catholics from making extreme 
 demands. They were unable to ignore the differences 
 of creed, class, and race. A neutral hand was neces- 
 sary to deal with the rival sections, as in the case of 
 the recent difficulty in Belfast. The bill contains the 
 
240 C. S. PARNELL, M. r. 
 
 elements of commercial, financial, and legislative fric- 
 tion. The establishment of a separate executive will 
 lead to friction and separation. Difficulties will arise 
 under the Foreign Enlistment Act, and in cases like 
 that of the Alabama, the imperial Parliament would 
 be responsible for the acts of the Irish executive and 
 yet be powerless to control the executive. The Can- 
 adian executive was now in trouble with America. 
 England was responsible for Canada and had to settle 
 the difficulty. The Premier's friends have not conde- 
 scended to reply to that argument. Suppose discontent 
 arose, culminating in agitation and ultimate separation. 
 Members must not forget Mr. Morley's warning that 
 if discontent arose in Ireland the Irish-Americans 
 would place material resources at Ireland's command. 
 If Parliament parted with the executive power in 
 Ireland, and alienated its friends and made them 
 bitter foes, and placed the executive power in new and 
 untried hands, how would they meet this difficulty? 
 Suppression by force was held up as a remedy. Sir 
 William Harcourt pointed out that Grattan's Parlia- 
 ment was more independent than the one now proposed. 
 Was the Irish executive at the time of Grattan's 
 Parliament so independent that it was by the execu- 
 tive that the two countries were held together? 
 ["Hear! Hear!" from Mr. 'Gladstone, and cheers.] 
 Opponents of the bill wanted the two countries to be 
 held together. The Premier would not admit that it 
 was their duty to keep the two countries together. 
 [Here Mr. Gladstone expressed dissent.] There was 
 no security that the unity which could be maintained 
 in Grattan's time with an independent Parliament, but 
 dependent executive, could be maintained now, with a 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 241 
 
 Parliament and executive independent in Ireland. If 
 the storms which alone prevented a French invasion 
 of Ireland in 1796, had not occurred, Sir William Har- 
 court might not have been able to appeal with such 
 triumphant emphasis to the unity of the two conn- 
 tries. 
 
 When Mr. Goschen had concluded, Mr. Parnell 
 arose to reply, amid the enthusiastic cheers of 
 the Irish members. His speech is subjoined in 
 full : — 
 
 I should ordinarily have lacked confidence in follow- 
 ing so able and eloquent a speaker in this contest of 
 giants; but I think "thrice i> he armed who hath his 
 quarrel just." [Cheers.] And unequal in fervor as I 
 am at many points, I hope I shall not be so far behind 
 as usual. ["Hear, bear.*] Without Intending to 
 offer any disrespect, I could not help thinking, while 
 listening to his speech, that, in all the lost can- 
 wherewith I h.i\ liiin connected during many 
 
 years past, he was never so little effective as when 
 contending against the bill we hope to read a second 
 time to-night. [Cheers.] Mr. Goschen sought, I think 
 very unfairly, to cast a lurid light on the situation by 
 his allusion to those unhappy outrages in Fferry. T 
 join in the expression of contempt for those cowardly, 
 disgraceful practices. I join him to the fullest extent. 
 [« Hear, hear."] But neither do I say that, because 
 evictions have been more numerous in Kerry than in 
 all the rest of Minister put together during months 
 past, they constitute an excuse for these outrages, or 
 any excuse for outrage, though it may supply us with 
 the cause of them. But w hen I denounce outrages, I 
 
242 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 denounce them in every part of Ireland, whether in 
 Ulster or in Kerry. [" Hear, hear."] Mr. Goschen is 
 certainly. free from reproach. He has not joined Lord 
 Randolph Churchill and Mr. Chamberlain in the use of 
 reckless language with reference to the affairs of a 
 country which is not their country [cheers] ; an inter- 
 ference for which they have not the paltry excuse that 
 it is any business of theirs, or that they had any inter- 
 est there. My colleagues have, in times past, been 
 reproached because they have not been careful in look- 
 ing at the effect of their language, and the doctrine of 
 indirect responsibility has been employed against them 
 to the extent of imprisonment. If that doctrine of 
 indirect responsibility were employed against Lord 
 Randolph Churchill or Mr. Chamberlain, Lord Ran- 
 dolph Churchill ought to plead the excuse that he 
 believes in nothing and nobody but himself, so that he 
 could not expect any great importance to be attached 
 to his declarations [cheers and laughter] ; while Mr. 
 Chamberlain might have said, and said very truly, that 
 he was absolutely ignorant of all the circumstances of 
 Ireland. His celebrated projected visit there last 
 autumn not having come off, he really could not know 
 what would be the effect of his language. [Cheers.] 
 However, we have the result now in one murder 
 already committed in Belfast ; and I trust that all the 
 future members will remember the importance and 
 gravity of occurrences which may follow in Ulster. 
 Those occurrences cannot go further, at the outside, 
 than outrage and assassination ; but they will depend 
 very much upon what is said on this subject, and the 
 amount of importance given to the doings of Ulster 
 men. We do say and admit that these occurrences are 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 243 
 
 to be condemned, and should be stopped. But while 
 Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr. Goschen say they 
 must be put an end to by resorting to the coercion 
 which he and his friends have been using for the last 
 eighty-six years, we would say, with Mr. Gladstone, 
 try the effect of self-government [cheers] ; then if 
 Kerry men resort to outrage, they will very soon find 
 that the rest of Ireland will put a stop to it. [Re- 
 newed cheers.] Mr. Goschen referred to recent events 
 in Belfast; but, before I deal with that terrible mat- 
 ter, I wish to give an explanation, because, as usual, 
 one of the English newspapers has perverted for its 
 own purposes what I believe actually took place. 
 [Irish cheers.] I am pained to see that the struggle is 
 alleged to have arisen out of an expression used by 
 a Catholic to a fellow-workman, who was a Protestant, 
 to the effect tiiat in a short time none of his persuasion 
 would be allowed to earn a crust of bread in Ireland. 
 That, however, does not accurately represent all the 
 facts, as reported in the local newspapers. [Cheers 
 and count er-checrs.] According to them, what took 
 place was this : The overseer of the works found fault 
 with the way in which an Orange, or, at all events, a 
 Protestant, workman was digging a drain. The over- 
 seer said, "That is a nice way to do the work!" 
 Whereupon the Orangeman replied to the overseer, 
 who happened to be a Catholic, " What does a Papist 
 know about digging drains?" [Laughter.] The over- 
 seer, irritated, — I do not say justly irritated, because 
 it was absurd for him to have been irritated by such a 
 remark, — said to the Orangeman, "You will never 
 earn a crust on these works again," meaning that he 
 was dismissed. Thereupon the Orangeman took his 
 
244 C. S. PAttNELL, M. P. 
 
 shovel and left his work. I believe that as he was 
 going out he was assaulted by one or more of the 
 workmen. [Derisive laughter.] It is very difficult to 
 know what actually took place ; but it is of great im- 
 portance that the House understand the remark in 
 question had not a general application, but only an 
 individual one. [Parnellite cheers.] I do not attempt 
 to justify the occurrence, because it was a very sad 
 one. Mr. Goschen spoke about the sovereignty of 
 Parliament. Upon this point I agree with the defini- 
 tion given by Mr. Bryce. [Cheers*] We know per- 
 fectly well — we have always known since this bill was 
 introduced — the difference between a co-ordinate and 
 a subordinate Parliament. [Cheers.] We know that 
 the legislature which the Premier wishes to constitute 
 is a subordinate Parliament, not like Grattan's, which 
 was co-equal [Mr. Gladstone — "Hear, hear"], arising 
 out of the same constitution and in the same manner 
 as this Parliament, given by the sovereign. [Ministe- 
 rial cheers.] We understand this perfectly well ; and 
 we should undoubtedly have preferred — as I stated on 
 the introduction of the bill, as showing that I could 
 not accept this as a final settlement of the question — 
 we should have preferred the restitution of the Grattan 
 Parliament. [Parnellite cheers.] It would have been 
 more in accord with the sentiments of the Irish people, 
 and sentiment goes a long way with a people like the 
 Irish. [Cheers.] At the same time, I am bound to 
 say that if I preferred the Grattan Parliament, there 
 are practical advantages in the proposals before us 
 which limit and subordinate this Parliament to that in 
 which we now sit. It may be of even greater advan- 
 tage to the Irish people than a Parliament like 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 245 
 
 Grattan's, and much more likely to be a final settle- 
 ment of the question. [Cheers.] Grattan's Parliament 
 had many disadvantages. First, it had a House of 
 Lords. ["Hear, hear," and laughter.] We get rid 
 of the House of Lords under Mr. Gladstone's consti- 
 tution. [Cheers.] True, there is to be in its place 
 the first order — a very salutary provision. I do not 
 pledge myself to all the details and qualifications, but 
 I say generally that the first order is a very salutary 
 provision, which will tend to prevent rash legislation 
 and immoderate action. [Cheers.] I would rather 
 see the bill hung up ten years by a body like the 
 first order in Ireland than see it hung up for a 
 single twenty-four hours by this imperial Parliament. 
 [Cheers.] I venture to express the opinion that the 
 existent action of the imperial Parliament, the constant 
 means of overseeing, as is suggested by Mr. Chamber- 
 lain, would not have the same success, and would not 
 be so acceptable to the Irish people, as the measure 
 now proposed. [Cheers.] Indeed, Mr* Chamberlain's 
 proposals would, I believe, be mischievous and danger- 
 ous, and would prevent any settlement being arrived 
 at which would be satisfactory to the Irish people. 
 [Parnellite cheers.] On the other hand, when we have 
 assembled in our own chamber in Ireland, all the dif- 
 ferent sections of the Irish people, those causes and 
 effects which always arise will come into operation 
 again, and will lead to satisfactory results. The result 
 of the two orders working together in the same cham- 
 ber will enable great questions to be settled on a basis 
 of compromise more or less satisfactory to all parties. 
 [Cheers.] We understand perfectly well that the 
 imperial Parliament has ultimate supremacy and ulti- 
 
246 C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 
 
 mate sovereignty. I quite agree with Mr. Gladstone, 
 and think it one of the most valuable parts of the bill. 
 I quite agree that that which Mr. Gladstone offers — 
 namely, the responsibility of maintaining order in Ire- 
 land by an Irish Parliament — is a correct provision, 
 which no state could exist without. [Irish cheers.] 
 The supremacy of the imperial Parliament, however, 
 will not be affected by this if the Irish party executes 
 the powers given to it, while in some cases it may be 
 rendered more effective than ever. [Cheers.] In ac- 
 cepting the bill, we accept honorable obligations, and 
 we pledge ourselves for the Irish people, as far as we 
 can pledge ourselves [derisive cheering and laughter], 
 that the powers given shall not be abused [Parnellite 
 cheers] ; to devote all the energy, ability, and influence 
 we may have with our people to prevent them from 
 abusing the powers intrusted to them [cheers] ; that, 
 if abuses take place, the imperial Parliament may 
 intervene in cases of grave emergency. You have the 
 power, the authority, and the force, and if abuses are 
 perpetrated, you have the remedy in your own hands. 
 In a case of this kind, you would have just the same 
 authority you would have whether this bill had been 
 brought forward or not; and this we recognize. I 
 said this on the introduction of the bill. I said we 
 would accept it as a final settlement, and that I be- 
 lieved the Irish people would do so. I will say no 
 more upon this point ; but my words have been singu- 
 larly justified. [Parnellite cheers.] We have had 
 this measure accepted by all leaders of every section 
 of the national feeling in Ireland, also outside of Ire- 
 land, in America, and in every country where Irish 
 people are found, [Cheers,] We have not heard a 
 
C. S. PARNELL, Iff. P. 247 
 
 single voice raised against the bill by an Irishman. 
 [Cheers and cries of "Oh."] Certainly not by any 
 Irishmen of Nationalist opinion. Of course, there is 
 a section among the Irish Nationalists, just as there 
 are sections of the great Conservative party. In 
 fact, as far as it is possible for a nation to accept a 
 measure cheerfully, freely, thankfully, and without 
 reserve, I say the Irish people have shown that they 
 have so accepted this measure. [Cheers.] Even the 
 terrible Irish World, a newspaper which has not been 
 on my side for the last fi\Q or six years, says that the 
 Irish race at home and abroad has signified its willing- 
 ness to accept the terms of peace offered by Mr. Glad- 
 stone. [Cheers.] I can say that as far as the Irish 
 can accept this bill, they have accepted it without 
 any reserve as a measure which may be considered the 
 final settlement of this great question. 
 
 I leave the question of the sovereignty of Parlia- 
 ment, to go to another point which Mr. Goschen 
 touched upon. lie very fairly told us his fears as to 
 the abuse of power by the Irish priesthood regarding 
 education. He has not followed the example of other 
 illustrious speakers by indulging in extravagant lan- 
 guage regarding this Catholic-Protestant question. I 
 may say I am quite sure his appreciation is genuine so 
 far as it goes, and that he does not desire to see any- 
 thing in the shape of religious discord incited. In- 
 deed, I will not say that, as a Protestant myself, if I 
 had not had abundant experience of the feeling in Ire- 
 land, I might, perhaps, be inclined to share his fears. 
 But, as it is, I certainly have not such fear. It is 
 rather remarkable, in regard to this question of educa- 
 tion, that Mr. Chamberlain proposed to give the cen- 
 
248 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 tral council in Dublin executive control over education 
 in Ireland without any reserve whatever in regard to 
 Protestants or Catholics. [Cheers.] It is, however, 
 very hard to please everybody. And if we were to 
 please Mr. Chamberlain by agreeing to give education 
 to the control of the body which Mr. Gladstone pro- 
 poses to establish, we would be unfortunate in running 
 foul of Mr. Goschen, but I think I can assure him that 
 we shall be able to settle this question of education 
 very well among ourselves. [Cheers.] There are 
 many Liberal Nationalists. I call them Liberal 
 Nationalists, because I think it the right phrase in 
 reference to its application to education, as to which 
 they are liberal. They do not share the views of the 
 Roman Catholic Church on the question of education. 
 There are many Liberal Nationalists in Ireland, who 
 very much desire to see the people of Ulster sharing 
 the responsibilities and feelings they have regarding 
 education. I can assure the House that, with Ulster 
 in the Irish Legislature, with such representatives as 
 we see coming from Ulster to this House, there would 
 not be the slightest risk, even if there w r ere any idea 
 on the part of the Catholic hierarchy of using their 
 power unfairly against the Protestants, that such a 
 thing could ever take place. [Cheers.] We should 
 be able to settle this question, to the satisfaction of 
 everybody concerned, among ourselves. [Cheers.] I 
 will remind the House that denominational education 
 will undoubtedly be established in Ireland. [Cheers.] 
 This subject has been already considered. Mr. Cham- 
 berlain thinks that denominational education would 
 be the right thing for Ireland. We may say if Parlia- 
 ment remains as it is, and Ireland as she is, we should 
 
C. S. TARNELL, M. P. 249 
 
 find denominational education Without effective con- 
 trol impossible on the part of the Ulster Protestants. 
 Mr. Goschen mentioned the linen trade. I have not 
 had the advantage of reading the correspondence to 
 which he referred, but it appeared to tend to^prove 
 that the linen trade had been a curse to [lister, not 
 directly, but indirectly, because it induced the peas- 
 antry to pay rack rents which the landlords would not 
 otherwise have insisted on. I think Mr, Goschen is not 
 quite lair regarding this question. I observed a simi- 
 lar reticence when he dealt with the financial question, 
 on which he made such a point on the first reading in 
 his speech, which undoubtedly produced a great sen- 
 sation throughout the country. I and others who 
 listened to the speech understood him to argue that, as 
 Ulster was Wealthier than any of the three other 
 provinces, SO heavy a share of the burden would fall 
 on Ulster that it would be impossiWe to carry on a 
 government in Ireland. Mr. Goschen's comparison of 
 the great wealth of Ulster with that of the other 
 provinces was taken up by the Loyal Patriotic Unions 
 throughout the country as a sort of war-cry. Mr. 
 Goschen chose as his standard of comparison sched- 
 ule I), of the income-tax list, referring to trades and 
 professions. But surely the plain standards of rela- 
 tive wealth are assessments under all schedules, as well 
 as the value of ratable property. If he had taken 
 these he would have shown that, so far from Ulster 
 being the wealthiest of the four provinces, she comes 
 third, after Leinster and Minister, being only superior 
 to the impoverished Connaught. These standards of 
 the income tax show for Leinster £10 65. 9d. per head ; 
 for Munster, £6 0$. Id. \ for Ulster, £5 14s. bd. ; Con- 
 
250 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 naught, £3 135. 7cl, the relative proportions in wealth 
 in decimals being: 9.92, Leinster; 5.78, Munster; 5.48, 
 Ulster, and little more than half the wealth of Lein- 
 ster, 3.53, for Coimaught. [Cheers.] If you make 
 any other fair test, the result will be the same. But 
 Mr. Goschen has argued that there was great disparity 
 between the Protestant, or northeastern counties, and 
 the Catholic counties. In regard to Ulster, he had 
 represented the disparity to be a great deal larger than 
 it really is, through the system of comparison he had 
 chosen, a system that was not fair, but one that would 
 show best for his argument. Undoubtedly there is a 
 disparity between the relative wealth oi the north- 
 eastern counties and the other counties, but the same 
 disproportion runs through the whole of Ireland. If 
 you draw a meridian line through Ireland, the county 
 to the east is comparatively prosperous, and that to 
 the west comparatively poor. The reason is obvi- 
 ous : a country's wealth goes towards its trading 
 coast. The trade of Ireland, its ports of shipping, 
 and its main distributing centres, where business men 
 and men of wealth congregate, are found in the east. 
 As is only natural, east Ulster, Munster and Leinster 
 are wealthier than the rest of those provinces. 
 
 We come now to the question of the protection of 
 the loyal minority. It is a question upon which great 
 attention has been bestowed. One would think that 
 Protestant Ireland was going to be handed over to 
 the tender mercies of thugs and bandits. Major 
 Saunderson [cries of "Hear, hear," and cheers] — I only 
 wish I was as safe in the north of Ireland, when I go 
 there, as Major Saunderson would be in the south. 
 [Home Rule cheers.] What do these gentlemen mean 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 251 
 
 by protection of the loyal minority? In the first 
 place, I would ask what they mean by " loyal minor- 
 ity." Mr. Goschen does not seem to have made up 
 his mind, even at this late stage of the debate, what 
 the loyal minority is. When asked, he said he meant 
 the same loyal minority as the one Mr. Gladstone 
 referred to, but he would not commit himself by 
 telling us what significance he attributed to Mr. 
 Gladstone's statement. I have examined Mr. Glad- 
 stone's references since then, and find that Mr. Glad- 
 stone referred to the whole province of Ulster. He 
 did not select a little bit of the province, because the 
 opposition had not discovered the point at the time. 
 Consequently, I suppose I may assume that Mr. 
 Goschen also refers to the whole province of Ulster, 
 when he asks that special protection should be given. 
 He has not told us how he would specially protect it, 
 but we may take it from the plans of his colleagues. 
 Mr. Chamberlain has supplied a plan. lie has 
 claimed for Ulster — and I suppose Mr. Goschen, 
 when the proper time comes, will support him in that 
 claim — he has claimed a separate Legislature for 
 Ulster. You would not protect the loyal minority of 
 Ireland, even supposing you gave Ulster a separate 
 Legislature, because there are outside of that province 
 over four hundred thousand Protestants who would 
 still be without any protection, so far as what you 
 propose would give it to them. You would make 
 the position of these four hundred thousand Protes- 
 tants, by taking away Ulster from them, infinitely less 
 secure. [Cheers.] You would not even protect the 
 Protestants of Ulster, because the Protestants, accord- 
 ing to their last census, were in the proportion of 
 
252 C. S. PA11NELL, M. P. 
 
 fifty-two to forty-eight, and we have every reason to 
 believe that the Protestants and Catholics of Ulster 
 are about equal in number. However it may be, the 
 Nationalists have succeeded in returning the majority 
 of the Ulster members. [ Home Rule cheers. ] The 
 main reason that we have a majority of the Ulster 
 members is that a large proportion of Protestants and 
 Nationalists voted in closely divided constituencies 
 throughout Ulster in favor of the Nationalist candi- 
 date. So you would still have the Nationalist will to 
 deal with in Ulster. Even supposing that you had a 
 separate Legislature there, the first thing the Ulster 
 Legislature would do would be to unite itself with the 
 Dublin Parliament. Driven away from the fiction of 
 Protestant Ulster, the opponents of the bill upon this 
 point seek refuge in the northeast corner of Ulster, 
 consisting of three counties. Then there comes in the 
 differences that, instead of protecting the majority of 
 the Irish Protestants by constituting a Legislature for 
 the northeast corner of Ulster, you abandon the 
 Protestant majority to their fate under a Dublin 
 Parliament. Seven-twelfths of the Protestants in Ire- 
 land live outside of the three counties in the northeast 
 corner of Ulster. Five-twelfths of the Protestants 
 live in those counties. So, whatever way you put it, 
 you must abandon the idea of protecting the Protes- 
 tants in Ireland by the establishment of a separate 
 Legislature either in Ulster or in any portion of 
 Ulster. We cannot give up a single Irishman. 
 [ Cheers.] We want the energy, patriotism, talent, 
 and work of our Irishmen [cheers] to insure that this 
 great experiment shall be a success. The best system 
 of government for a country I believe to be one that 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. I\ 253 
 
 requires that the government should be the result of 
 all of the forces of the country* We cannot give away 
 to a separate Legislature any portion of the talent and 
 influence of the Irish Protestants. This class will 
 form a most valuable element in the Irish Legislature, 
 constituting as they will a strong minority, and 
 exercising, through the first order, a moderate in- 
 fluence on the making of laws. We have heard of the 
 danger which will beset that first trial by an un- 
 trained 'prentice Legislature. I regard their presence 
 as vitally necessary in the Irish Parliament. We 
 Want all creeds and classes in our Parliament. ["Hear, 
 hear."] We cannot consenl to look upon a single- 
 Irishman as not belonging to us, however much we 
 recognize their great ability. We admit the ability of 
 Irish Protestants and their influence. We cannot 
 admit that there is a single one of them too good to 
 take part in the work. We admit that, a small 
 
 proportion fear the treatment they will receive at the 
 
 hands of the Irish Parliament. We should do our 
 best, as we have been doing, to allay the fears of this 
 small section. When the bill becomes an act, we 
 shall not cease from the WOrV of conciliating the fears 
 of this section of the Irish people. The Irish bear not 
 the shame and disgrace of those fears. The shame and 
 
 disgrace belong to the gentlemen and l^nU belonging 
 
 to English political parties, who, for the selfish 
 
 interests of these English political parties, seek to 
 
 rekindle the almost expiring embers of political and 
 
 religious rancor. [Home Pule cheers.] Ireland has 
 never injured Mr. Chamberlain. I do not know why 
 he has added the strength of his powerful arm, and 
 why- he should have thrown his sword into the scale 
 
254 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 against us. He and his kind seek to dash this cup 
 from the lips of the Irish people — the first cup of 
 cold water that has been offered to our nation since 
 the recall of Lord Fitewilliam, This settlement, I 
 believe, will be a final settlement. [Cheers,] The 
 question of the retention of Irish members at West- 
 minster is one which I shall touch upon very slightly. 
 With regard to this matter, I have always desired to 
 keep my mind thoroughly open and not to make a 
 vital question. I have seen the great difficulties 
 rather from your point of view than from ours. I 
 think, when we come to consider the question in 
 committee, these difficulties will grow, but I do not 
 desire, in any sense, to prejudice the question. I admit 
 the existence of a strong sentiment on the part of 
 Liberal members — I will not say it is a very reason- 
 able sentiment — when I consider how many times my 
 colleagues and I have been forcibly ejected, and how, 
 even the necessity of suspending, if not entirely 
 abrogating the representation of Ireland in this 
 House has been eagerly canvassed by the London 
 press as the only solution of the Irish question. This 
 difficult question requires very serious consideration. 
 When Mr. Gladstone has produced his plan, we shall, 
 without binding ourselves beforehand, examine it 
 candidly, with a desire to see in it elements which 
 will not injure the permanency of the settlement. 
 We have gone through it all before, and know the 
 sort of coercion there has been during the last five 
 years. You will require even a severer and more 
 drastic measure of coercion than you have now. 
 You will require everything you have had during the 
 last five years, and more besides. [Home Rule cheers.] 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 255 
 
 And of what sort has the coercion been ? [Renewed 
 Home Rule cheers.] I don't say this to influence 
 passions or embitter animosity, but you have had, 
 during these live years, suspension of habeas corpus 
 in Ireland. A thousand of your fellow-subjects have 
 been imprisoned without specific charges ; many for 
 long periods — twenty months — without trial — 
 without any intention to try them. [Cheers.] You 
 have had the right of domicile infringed. At any 
 hour of day or night you have fined the innocent for 
 the guilty; you have taken the power to expel aliens 
 from this country; you have renewed the curfew law 
 and blood money of your Norman conquerors. You 
 have gagged the press, seized and suppressed news- 
 papers, manufactured new crimes and offences, applied 
 fresh penalties unknown to your law — all this, and 
 much more, you have done in the last live years. 
 [Hume Rule cheers.] All this, and much more, you 
 will do again. [Loud opposition eh< The 
 
 provision of the bill terminating Irish representa- 
 tion here has been vehemently attacked. Mr. Travel- 
 yan said there was no half-way house between 
 separation and executive autonomy for the Irish 
 people. 
 
 I say there is no half-way house between granting 
 legislative autonomy to Ireland and the disenfranchise- 
 ment and disseverance of that country. But I refuse 
 to believe that those evils will come. I am convinced 
 that there are a sufficient number of members who 
 will disregard the appeal which has been made to their 
 passions, and that when the numbers of the division 
 have been told to-night, it will be known that this 
 Parliament in the nineteenth century was wise, brave, 
 
256 C. S. FAIlNELL, M. P. 
 
 and generous enough to agree to give peace and 
 happiness to suffering Ireland. [ Loud cheers.] 
 
 In all his parliamentary career, Mr. Parnell 
 never showed to better advantage than upon this 
 occasion, or gave more convincing proof of the 
 possession of those broad and commanding powers 
 necessary to a great leader. His appearance dur- 
 ing the delivery of his speech is thus described by 
 an eye-witness : — "He was unusually pale. He 
 commenced his speech nervously. He afterward 
 followed the lines of his manuscript, which had 
 previously been submitted to and approved by 
 Mr. Sexton. The speech forthwith assumed a 
 higher level, and the orator became very impres- 
 sive. Every sentence was formed with the great- 
 est accuracy to express certain shades of meaning. 
 Mr. ParnelPs face flushed with affection and pride 
 when he exclaimed : ? We cannot surrender a sin- 
 gle Irishman ! ' The concluding appeal for the 
 peace and prosperity of suffering Ireland was 
 delivered in a chord of tender and genuine kind- 
 ness, different from the Irish leader's usually cold 
 and dispassionate tone." 
 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach followed Mr. Parnell. 
 He claimed that the bill failed to represent the 
 views of the Liberal party. It w r as the produc- 
 tion of one man — a man who was the highest in 
 this kingdom, but still practically alone, the re- 
 mainder of the Liberal leaders intending to vote 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 257 
 
 against the bill. If Mr. Parnell really thought 
 he could obtain from the Conservatives a bill more 
 agreeable to his party than this, why not oppose 
 this? [Laughter.] He denied utterly and cate- 
 gorically that the late Conservative government had 
 any such intention as Mr. Parnell attributed to it. 
 
 KDMUUD DWYEK GKAY. 
 
 Mr. Parnell (rising) — Does the gentleman 
 deny that an intention to grant a Parliament and 
 to protect Irish industries was communicated to 
 me by one of his own colleagues, a Minister of 
 the Crown? [Loud Parnellite and Liberal cheers.] 
 
 Sir Michael — Yes, I do deny that [cries of 
 "Name!" and "Order!"], to the best of my 
 knowledge and belief. [Ironical cheers.] If such 
 
258 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 a statement was communicated, it was without 
 authority from my colleagues. [Laughter and 
 shouts of " Name ! " from the Government 
 benches.] Will the gentleman give the name? 
 
 Mr. Parnell — The gentleman has asked a ques- 
 tion which he knows is a very safe one to ask. 
 [Cries of " Order ! "] I shall be glad to name 
 the gentleman when I receive permission from 
 him. [Loud cheers and counter-cheers.] 
 
 Sir Michael was unable to proceed, owing to 
 continual shouts of " Name ! " w Name ! " until the 
 Speaker intervened, when he continued. He said 
 that by the code of honor the gentleman below 
 the gangway stopped at a point where proof was 
 necessary. However, the question before the 
 House was not what the late Conservative gov- 
 ernment did or what it would have done [cries of 
 "Oh," and laughter], but what the present gov- 
 ernment had actually done. The bill had been 
 delayed to give wire-pullers time to employ per- 
 suasion, intimidation, and abuse, and now the 
 issue was confused. The vote members were 
 asked to give would either be a mischievous farce, 
 or would cast discredit upon the present system 
 of legislation for Ireland. Without expressing an 
 opinion, he asked what should replace it. He 
 hoped the House would not agree to such a dan- 
 gerous policy. Mr. ParnelPs suggestion that the 
 loyal minority might be contented with the two- 
 order system was an extraordinary statement from 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 259 
 
 one who strongly objected to ex-officio guardians 
 in poor law unions. The minority was practically 
 unanimous in fearing not so much bad legislation 
 resulting from the bill as bad administration. 
 Control could not be given to the majority in 
 Ireland without the risk of injustice to the minor- 
 
 T. D. bLLLlYA.N. 
 
 ity far greater than anything possible under any 
 Coercion Act passed by the imperial Parliament. 
 Whatever might J>e the result of the division, it 
 was certain that the majority of the representa- 
 tives of Great Britain would oppose the bill. The 
 House had no right to modify the union without 
 the previous consent of the people of Great 
 Britain, who had not yet been consulted. Their 
 
260 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 verdict alone could settle the question. He be- 
 lieved their verdict would be a decisive condem- 
 nation. There might be dangers in rejecting the 
 bill, but the dangers would vanish with a bold 
 determination to meet their responsibility to main- 
 tain the union before the nations of the world. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, who was the next speaker, 
 wound up the debate. He expressed his pleasure 
 at having listened to the masterly exposition by 
 Mr. Parnell, and said : — 
 
 I cannot call it less of the member from Cork. 
 [Loud cheers and opposition laughter.] I feel a strong 
 conviction that speeches couched in a tone marked 
 alike by sound statesmanship and far-seeing modern 
 tion will never fail to produce a lasting effect upon the 
 minds and convictions of the people of England and 
 Scotland. With respect to the personal question that 
 has arisen between Mr. Parnell and Sir Michael Hicks- 
 Beach, I think it no part of my duty to interfere. 
 [Lord Randolph Churchill — " Hear, Hear ! "] I shall 
 avoid, in the discussion of this question, as far as I 
 can, all matters of a purely polemical character be- 
 tween party and party. I presume the subject will be 
 carried further. [Parnellite cheers.] I understand a 
 distinct allegation to be made by Mr. Parnell in regard 
 to some person, whose name he has not given, one of a 
 limited body in that limited body. I conclude it will 
 not be difficult to procure if it can be given a denial. 
 I presume a distinct allegation has been made in regard 
 to some person, whose name he does not give. This 
 will open out a matter of public interest; and the gen- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 261 
 
 tlemen opposite will do me the justice to admit that 
 I have not sought before taking office to make an 
 attack on the conduct they pursue. If they do not 
 like to do me justice, I shall not ask it. Mr. Beach 
 began by stating in series what he succinctly described 
 as simple facts. I will not say that his simple facts 
 are pure fiction. But Mr. Beach declares, though I do 
 not see that it has much to do with the matter, that 
 this is the bill of one man. Well, I am amazed to 
 hear my opponents speak as if they had been at my 
 elbow all day every day throughout the winter. 
 [Cheers.] Mr. Chamberlain could only speak within 
 the compass of his knowledge, and if he said it was a 
 bill of one man, he would know no more about it than 
 a member opposite. But, sir, long before that time 
 the leading details of the bill had been a matter of 
 anxious consideration between Die and my nearest 
 political friends. The noble lord's arithmetic is still 
 more defective. A party of three hundred and twen- 
 ty-five is, I apprehend, by eighty-five votes larger than 
 a party of two hundred and fifty. [Renewed laugh- 
 ter.] Then the right honorable gentleman says that, 
 excepting one point, the customs and excise duties, 
 no change was made in the bill after it was first sub- 
 mitted to the cabinet. He has no means of knowing 
 that, if it were true, and it happens to be entirely un- 
 true. [Loud laughter.] This is a matter of great 
 importance, though it is one that has never been seen 
 by Mr. Chamberlain. Mr. Chamberlain took exception 
 to certain provisions of the bill, without being ac- 
 quainted with the whole case. That is a fact. Mr. Beach 
 is entirely wrong also in this one of his simple facts. 
 Then, Mr. Beach says that I announced to the House 
 
262 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 that the bill was not to be reconstructed. I said noth- 
 ing of the kind. [Cries of " Oh, oh," and cheers.] I 
 announced that I had not promised that it should be 
 reconstructed, and there are gentlemen opposite who 
 think it a matter of laughter [cries of " Oh, Oh "], 
 who see no distinction between promising that the bill 
 shall not be reconstructed and not having promised 
 that it shall be reconstructed. [Laughter.] A person 
 who has promised that a bill shall be reconstructed is 
 bound to reconstruct it [cheers] ; and is that true ? 
 [Liberal cheers.] A person who has not promised is 
 free to reconstruct it without promising. [Cheers.] 
 I am glad to see that the laughter of the opposition 
 has now ceased. [Cheers and laughter.] Well, sir, I 
 cannot help observing that I was struck with an obser- 
 vation of Mr. Beach. He says the bill will be rejected, 
 whatever else happens, by the votes of a majority of 
 the English and Scotch members. [Opposition cheers.] 
 Well, Sir Michael talks about dissolution, and I am 
 glad to find that upon that point he and I are more 
 nearly associated than upon almost any other point of 
 this controversy. [Loud ministerial cheers.] After 
 what Mr. Beach has said, and the acquaintance he has 
 shown with the history of the bill, and after all that 
 was said by Mr. Goschen, I must again refer to the 
 exact position in which some of the members stand 
 with regard to the bill. In the first place, I take 
 it to be absolutely beyond dispute, upon broad, high 
 parliamentary grounds, that that which is to be voted 
 upon to-night is the principle of the bill as distinct 
 from the particulars of the bill. [Cheers.] What 
 may be the principle of the bill I grant that I have 
 no authority to determine; but it is our duty to 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 263 
 
 give our own construction of the principle of the 
 bill. I think I drew a confirmation of construction 
 from the speech of Mr. Beach, because he himself 
 said that this was a bill for the purpose of estab- 
 lishing a legislative body in Ireland for the man- 
 agement of Irish affairs. I apprehend it to be beyond 
 all question that the members voting for the principle 
 of the bill are entirely and absolutely free [cheers] ; 
 and that if they think there is any set of provisions by 
 means of which a better and fuller effect may be given 
 to the principle of the bill, they are at liberty to dis- 
 place all the details. [Cheers.] That doesn't admit 
 of doubt. Well, the Government have taken certain 
 engagements. They have taken an engagement as to 
 taxation for the intervention of the Irish members, to 
 the terms of which I need not now refer. They have 
 also broken an engagement on the claim of Ireland to 
 continued concern through her members in t lie treat- 
 ment of imperial subjects generally; and that has 
 entailed a positive pledge to reconstruct, if we do not 
 entirely remove, the twenty-fourth clause, and adopt 
 other consequential amendments connected with it. 
 One more question has been raised with respect to 
 other amendments to the bill. Of course, as to the 
 freedom of members to suggest other amendments, I 
 say nothing ; but in reference to our duty there can be 
 no question at all that our duty, if an interval is 
 granted us, if the circumstances of the present session 
 require the withdrawal of the bill, if it is to be re- 
 introduced with amendments at an early date in the 
 autumn, of course it is our duty to amend our bill with 
 every real amendment, every real improvement, with 
 whatever is calculated to make it more effective and 
 
264 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 acceptable. [Cheers.] For the attainment of its end 
 we are perfectly free to deal with them ; but it would 
 be the meanest, basest act on the part of the Govern- 
 ment to pretend that they have a plan of reconstruc- 
 tion ready beforehand, cut and dried in their minds, 
 at a time when, from the very nature of the cause, it 
 must be obvious that it is perfectly clear there can be 
 no such thing, sir. [Cheers.] So much, then, for the 
 system and freedom of the members opposed to the 
 bill. It is the duty of the Government to consider 
 their amendments and do everything they can with a 
 view to a fuller and better application of the bill, and 
 to add to those fine grounds which have on a former 
 occasion been so clearly explained, and from which 
 there is no intention in any sense to recede. Mr. 
 Beach has said that the question of Ulster is a question 
 of principle. But I must say that, with regard to the 
 sentiments we have heard expressed on the subject, I 
 cannot say that any plan for the treatment of Ulster 
 has made any serious or practical effect upon Major 
 Saunderson, who is supposed to favor the separation 
 of Ulster from the rest of Ireland. [Cheers.] I must 
 say that Mr. Parnell has entered into a careful and 
 elaborate argument on the subject of " Ulster land," 
 dealing with her as a separate part of Ireland in the 
 course of this evening's debate, and I must say that 
 that was a statement which requires an answer. 
 [Cheers.] 
 
 Now, sir, I want to say one word on the subject of 
 Irish loyalists, and in debates of this kind we have at 
 times to use words and expressions that it is well 
 should be a little better understood than they are. 
 When I hear a speech from Mr. Johnston, and some 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 265 
 
 others, it always appears to me that he is under the 
 pious conviction that loyalty is innate in Irish Protes- 
 tants, and disloyalty innate in some other persons. 
 [Laughter.] I do believe that Mr. Johnston is under 
 the impression that in all times in long generations of 
 Irish history there has been this difference between 
 persons who are Protestants and those who are not 
 Protestants. [Cheers.] No ; well, it is a charge which 
 has been made, and ought to be met. Has Mr. John- 
 ston inquired what was the state of loyalty in Ireland 
 at the close of the eighteenth century? As regards 
 Roman Catholics, they had then hardly been born into 
 political life. In his time, Dean Swift spoke of their 
 incapacity for politics, and it would be absurd to speak 
 of them then as being cither loyal or disloyal. But as 
 to the condition of Catholics at the close of the last 
 century, I will read what Burke has said on the sub- 
 ject. The date of it is 1796. It is taken from a letter 
 to Wyndham. He speaks on the subject of disaffec- 
 tion, and writes thus: "Disaffection has cast deep 
 roots in the principles and habits of the majority of the 
 lower and middle classes of the whole Protestant part 
 of Ireland. [Parnellite laughter.] The Catholics who 
 are intermingled with them are more or less tainted." 
 What has happened since the Protestants, not having 
 grievances to complain of, became loyal, provoked, as 
 all men easily may be, out of their principles. These 
 are words and ideas which show what is the way in 
 which we are to promote loyalty, and what is the way 
 in which we can destroy it. 
 
 Another subject upon which I will only dwell for a 
 moment is that of federation. Many gentlemen in 
 the House are greatly enamored of this idea, and the 
 
266 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 object they have in view is a noble one. I will not 
 admit to Mr. Beach the justice of the disparagement 
 he casts upon the British empire. I do not consider 
 that she is a loosely compacted empire ; but I admit 
 that if means can be devised for establishing a more 
 active connection with our distant possessions, that is 
 an object well worthy of every noble, enlightened 
 man. It is a popular idea. I gave no opinion upon 
 it. I suspect it is beset with more difficulties than 
 have yet been examined and brought to light. But 
 what I wish to observe, as far as this bill is concerned, 
 is that this bill, whatever its rights or wrongs in other 
 respects, is unquestionably a step, and an important 
 step, in the direction of federation. [Cheers.] The 
 balance of authority seems to have established clearly 
 the elementary proposition that whether this Parlia- 
 ment be the imperial Parliament or not the imperial 
 Parliament, it is possessed, now as before the union 
 and before the time of Grattan's Parliament, of a 
 supremacy which is absolute, and, in the nature of 
 things, inalienable. It could not part with it if it 
 would, and it would not if it could. [Cheers.] It is 
 quite true that in constituting a Legislature in Ireland 
 we do as we did when we constituted a Legislature in 
 Canada and Australia, namely, devolve an important 
 portion of power. We devolved it with the view in 
 Canada, and I hope we shall do it in Ireland, not to 
 establish a partial and a nominal, but a real and prac- 
 tical independent management of her own affairs. 
 [Cheers.] That is the right which our opponents ob- 
 ject to, and that is the thing we desire, and hope, and 
 mean to do. It is obvious that the question may be 
 raised, How do you propose to deal with questions that 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 267 
 
 may arise, when the Imperial Government, notwith- 
 standing this general division of affairs, may be by the 
 obligations of imperial rulers compelled to intervene ? 
 Well, my answer is that this question has received a 
 far better solution from practical politics, from the 
 experience of the last forty or fifty years, than would 
 ever have been given to it by the definitions of a 
 lawyer, however eminent. When the Canadian Legis- 
 lature was founded, this difficulty arose. The question 
 arose regarding the Canadian rebellion, and I myself 
 and Lord Brougham were of the opinion, I know not 
 whether we were right or wrong, that the honor of 
 the Crown had been invaded by a proposition to grant 
 in Canada a vote for losses in the rebellion, to those 
 who had been rebels and had incurred these losses as 
 rebels. Lord Brougham made a motion in the House 
 of Lords in 1849, and I made a motion in the House 
 of Commons on the same subject. The important 
 part of the debate consisted in the declarations drawn 
 from the ministers of the Crown, and Lord John Rus- 
 sell then laid down what I conceive to be a live and 
 sound doctrine, in terms which I believe may be fairly 
 described as authoritative, on the manner of dealing 
 with this question. You will, however, allow me to 
 read the passage, which is not a long one. Speaking 
 in this House on the 14th of June, 1849, Lord Russell 
 said, " I entirely agree with the right honorable gen- 
 tleman. It is, indeed, in conformity with the senti- 
 ments I expressed in a despatch I wrote a few years 
 ago, that there are cases which must be left to the 
 decision of the responsible ministers of the Crown. 
 There are cases where the honor of the Crown and the 
 safety of the country are concerned, and in such cases 
 
268 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 it requires the utmost temper in the colonies, and the 
 utmost temper and firmness in this country. I fully 
 admit that there are such cases. When the right 
 honorable gentleman goes on to say that Earl Elgin 
 has received some instructions from the Government 
 of this country, by which he is debarred from asking 
 the advice and direction of the Crown on questions 
 that affect the imperial policy and national honor, he 
 is entirely mistaken in that assumption." That justly 
 and practically sets forth the practical mode in which 
 this question, difficult in the abstract, will be settled 
 as it has been settled. We have found it easy to rec- 
 oncile the rights of Canada with the rights of the 
 Imperial Parliament. It will be found not more diffi- 
 cult to reconcile the rights of Ireland with those of 
 the Imperial Government. Constantly I hear the 
 words " unionists " and " separatists," but what I want 
 to know is, who are the unionists? [Cheers.] And 
 who are the separatists ? I see this bill in newspapers 
 of great circulation, and elsewhere, described as the 
 "separation bill." [Cheers.] Members of the oppo- 
 sition adopt that style and make the description their 
 own. I take no notice of these cheers. I speak of 
 other quarters out of doors. Speaking of this descrip- 
 tion alone, I say it is the merest slang of vulgar con- 
 troversy. [Cheers.] You think this bill tends to 
 separation, ^our argument and even your prejudices 
 are worthy of all consideration and respect. But is it 
 a fair, rational mode of conducting a controversy to 
 attach these hard names to measures on which we 
 differ, on which we argue, and desire to convince by 
 argument. I will illustrate what I mean. I will go 
 back to the time of Lord Grey's Reform Act. When 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 269 
 
 that bill was introduced, it was honestly believed by 
 the great masses of intelligent men that the bill abso- 
 lutely involved the destruction of the monarchy. The 
 Duke of Wellington propounded a doctrine very much 
 to that effect, but I doubt if any one of these gentlemen 
 or the newspapers that supported them, ever descended 
 so low in the weapon of their warfare as to brand it 
 " the monarchy destruction bill." [Cheers.] This is 
 begging the question. I might make a very large de- 
 mand on your patience and indulgence, for we con- 
 sciously think there are unionists and disunionists, but 
 we conscientiously think our conduct tends to union. 
 [Cheers and laughter.] This involves a very large 
 and deep historical question. Let us try for a few 
 minutes to look at it historically. The arguments 
 made from the other side appear to me to rest in their 
 principle, in the main, upon two suppositions, one the 
 idea of the profound original depravity or incompe- 
 tence of the Irish people. But there is another; it is 
 the conscientious conviction of the gentlemen opposite, 
 that when two countries, associated but not incorpor- 
 ated with each other, are in disturbed relations with 
 each other, the remedy is to create an absolute legisla- 
 tive incorporation. That, I believe, is the doctrine on 
 their side of the House, and they believe the dissolu- 
 tion of such incorporations is clearly the move to 
 bring about a dissolution of the political relations be- 
 tween these two countries. [Opposition cheers.] I 
 do not deny that where there is a legislative incorpor- 
 ation under the same crown, where that crown is 
 absolute, such a dissolution may be the means of con- 
 stituting a great country, as it was in the case of 
 France. But what I say is that the true belief, as 
 
270 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 proved by history, is this, that when there are dis- 
 turbed relations between countries that are politically 
 associated, but not incorporated, the real remedy is to 
 make provision for civil independence subject to im- 
 perial unity. [Cheers.] Gentlemen spoke of tighten- 
 ing the tie between this country and Ireland, but 
 tightening is not always the way to make it binding ; 
 relaxing it is often the way to make it stronger and 
 make it stand a stronger strain. [Cheers.] It is true, 
 as was said by Mr. Cowen, that the severance of legis- 
 latures has often been the union of countries, and the 
 union of legislatures the severance of countries. 
 [Cheers.] Can you give me a single instance, from all 
 your historical inquiries — and I wish they had been 
 wider — where an acknowledgment of local self-gov- 
 ernment has been followed by the severance of coun- 
 tries? [A voice — "Turkey."] I was just going to 
 refer to Servia, and admit that where a third power has 
 intervened, and given liberty to the subordinate state 
 in defiance of the superior power, I make no claim ; and 
 if you are to wait till a third power intervenes in the 
 case of Ireland [government and Parnellite cheers] 
 as they intervened in the case of America, — 
 
 Mr. Ashmead Bartlett — We are not afraid. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone — I never asked the member whether 
 he was afraid. [Laughter.] It does not matter very 
 much whether he is or not. [Renewed laughter.] I 
 should like him, however, to cultivate a little of that 
 early and provident fear which, in the language of 
 Burke, is the " mother of safety." I admit that, in 
 cases such as when France and Spain interfered in the 
 case of America, you can expect nothing but severance, 
 and severance with hostile feelings on both sides. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 271 
 
 [" Hear, Hear."] But that is not the case before us. 
 I ask, for instance, where, apart from the intervention 
 by force of a third power, the acknowledgment of 
 local independence has been followed by severance ? 
 [Cheers.] I am in the recollection of every one, and 
 I will show where severance did follow. In the case 
 of Belgium and Holland, the attempts to make the 
 Belgians conform to the ways, conditions, and institu- 
 tions of Holland led to the severance. In the case of 
 Denmark and the duchies, attempts to do what the 
 gentlemen opposite wish to do in Ireland, namely, to. 
 force Danish institutions and ideas upon the duchies, 
 together with an insufficient acknowledgment of 
 their ancient institutions, ended in the total loss of 
 the duchies to Denmark. They are now severed, and 
 incorporated in another political connection. But let 
 us not look simply at the negative side. Where local 
 independence has been acknowledged and legislative 
 severance given, in a number of cases it has been 
 made practicable to hold countries together which 
 would not have been so held. The honorable mem- 
 ber opposite has imprudently interrupted me by call- 
 ing out " Turkey." I will tell him that in the < 
 of Turkey, with its imperfect organization, where 
 
 there has not been a violent interference and the 
 matter has not been driven to the point of foreign 
 interference, local autonomy has been tried, with the 
 best effects. In the case of Crete, which nearly twenty 
 years appeared lost to Turkey, the lessening of the 
 ties at Constantinople has immensely improved the re- 
 lations between the two. There is no renewal of 
 rebellion. 
 
 Churchill — There is a chronic revolution. 
 
272 C. S. PARXELL, M. P. 
 
 Gladstone — Chronic revolution ! Give me a test 
 of chronic revolution. Has Crete paid its tribute? 
 Has it called for the armed forces of Turkey to put 
 down revolution ? [Cries of " Yes " and " Order."] 
 I will take another case. Take Lebanon. About 
 twenty-three or twenty-four years ago, Lebanon was 
 in a state of chronic revolution under the absolute 
 sway of Constantinople. It was then placed under a 
 system of practically local independence, and from 
 that day to this it has never resumed its former con- 
 dition. Still more remarkable is the case of the island 
 of Samos. It has enjoyed for a long time complete 
 autonomy and is now in a state of attachment to the 
 Turkish Empire, while contentment with any politi- 
 cal ties subsists and holds that country in tranquillity 
 [cheers], so that even Turkey bears testimony to the 
 principle of which I speak. There are numbers of 
 other instances. There are Norway and Sweden. 
 This is most remarkable because those are two countries 
 which are completely separated, and yet a connection 
 or union has been found practicable only by means of 
 the largest autonomy and independence. The case of 
 Denmark and Iceland [Opposition laughter] — Laugh- 
 ter is a very common weapon, and it is very difficult 
 for me to contend with it. If it had been twenty or 
 thirty or forty years ago, I could have contended with 
 this interruption more easily. [Loud cheers.] If, as 
 has been said, the Parliament of Iceland has been dis- 
 solved, it has been dissolved because there have been 
 difficulties in Iceland. There have been difficulties 
 between the Parliament of Iceland and the Crown of 
 Denmark, but the Crown of Denmark is, unhappily, in 
 difficulties with the legislative body of Denmark. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 273 
 
 But between the Legislature of Denmark and the 
 Legislature of Iceland there has been no difficulty 
 whatever. But when a speaker quoted Iceland, the 
 gentlemen on the opposite side, with their usual mode 
 of rebuke, laughed, and some one, I think, endeavoring 
 to dignify the laughter with an idea, called out ; " Ice- 
 land is so distant." If Iceland is so distant, I appre- 
 hend that makes it a great deal more difficult for 
 Denmark to hold her down by force, and consequently 
 much more necessary for Demark to choose the method 
 best in itself for securing order. But if you object 
 on account of distance, what do you say of the case 
 of Finland? Is Finland distant from Russia? Are 
 you aware that the social and political difficulties 
 which have so often threatened the peace of Russia, 
 and been fatal to the life, not many years ago, of one 
 of the worthiest and best of sovereigns, had no pi 
 in Finland. And why? Because Finland lias a per- 
 fect autonomy — the management of its own affairs, 
 the preservation of its own institutions, which has 
 given a contentment to Finland which might be 
 envied in many better nations and most famous parts 
 of the world. I must say a word regarding the case 
 of Canada, because it is so remarkable; because, not- 
 withstanding a multitude of circumstantial differences 
 between Canada and Great Britain, yet still the resem- 
 blances in principle are so profound, so significant. 
 
 The House then proceeded to a division, and 
 the motion for a second reading was rejected by a 
 vote of 341 against 311. The scene, says Mr. 
 T. P. O'Connor, was one of the most intense 
 excitement, such as the oldest members could not 
 
274 C. S. PATtNELL, M. P. 
 
 remember to have witnessed before. The Tory- 
 Whig-Radical coalition frantically waved their 
 hats and handkerchiefs and jumped upon the 
 benches, shouting and gesticulating wildly. The 
 Nationalists, after a pause, followed their example 
 and gave three rousing cheers for " the Grand Old 
 Man," and a succession of unearthly groans and 
 shouts of "Judas" for Chamberlain, which were 
 taken up and repeated as the news spread like 
 wildfire through the lobbies and halls to the out- 
 side, where an immense multitude had gathered, 
 awaiting the announcement of the vote. Among 
 the crowds were great numbers of Irish from all 
 parts of the country in a condition of irrepressible 
 excitement. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Parnell sat 
 quiet and composed through all the clamor, as 
 though they had fully expected the defeat as the 
 first step in a long and arduous struggle, and were 
 perfectly prepared for the renewal of the contest 
 at the proper moment. When the noise had sub- 
 sided somewhat, Mr. Gladstone arose and moved 
 an adjournment of the House until the 10th, to 
 enable the ministers to decide upon their future 
 action. So ended the first real, honest effort ever 
 made by an English statesman for a comprehensive 
 redress of Ireland's grievances. 
 
 To the Parnellites and to Irishmen generally 
 the vote of the 7th of June, 1886, will ever 
 be memorable, for, although adverse, it was still 
 fraught with the brightest auguries for future 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 275 
 
 success. Indeed, they regarded the large vote for 
 the bill as a triumphant vindication of the moral 
 question raised by Mr. Gladstone, and they saw 
 good cause for elation in the fact that two hundred 
 and twenty-five representatives of the brain and 
 conscience of Great Britain had declared them- 
 selves in favor of the restoration to the Irish 
 nation of the native Parliament of which it had 
 been despoiled by the Act of Union. They had 
 lost the victory of the moment, it is true, but the 
 victory of the future, broader and grander, had 
 been assured to them by the defeat. 
 
 The result of the division may be briefly 
 resolved into this : It delayed the concession, but 
 re-established the principle of Irish nationality — 
 it defeated Mr. Gladstone's measure, but made 
 Home Rule for Ireland inevitable. 
 
 During the short recess of the House an inter- 
 esting controversy occurred between Mr. Parnell 
 and Lord Carnarvon. In his great speech Mr. 
 Parnell had stated that overtures had been made 
 to him by a member of the late Tory govern- 
 ment relating to the establishment of a Parlia- 
 ment in Dublin, invested with power to protect 
 Irish industries. It will be remembered that Sir 
 Michael Hicks-Beach denied the truth of this 
 statement and demanded the name of the minister, 
 which demand elicited from Mr. Parnell the reply 
 that he would be glad to name the gentleman 
 when he received permission from him to do so. 
 
276 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 It seems that Lord Carnarvon was the minister in 
 question, and he took occasion to absolve the 
 Irish leader from the obligations of secrecy in a 
 speech which he made in the House of Lords 
 shortly after the Home Kule debate. In this 
 speech he admitted that he had an interview with 
 Parnell, but he claimed that Parnell had sought 
 the interview, and that he, at the outset, had given 
 Mr. Parnell to understand distinctly that in all 
 he said he was speaking only in his personal 
 capacity and not as a minister of the Crown. 
 
 To this speech Mr. Parnell replied in a letter to 
 the newspapers giving a detailed explanation of 
 all the circumstances attending the interview, as 
 follows : — 
 
 Sir, my reference in the House of Commons on 
 Monday, explanatory of reasons which induced passages 
 in my speech at Wicklow last year regarding protec- 
 tion, has called from Lord Carnarvon a lengthy explan- 
 ation regarding my interview with him in July, as to 
 which he makes certain positive, but chiefly a series of 
 negative, statements. 
 
 It will, I think, be now generally considered desir- 
 able that some positive information be given to the 
 public regarding details of that interview, that defi- 
 ciencies left by Lord Carnarvon should be supple- 
 mented, and that I should say how far my recollection 
 coincides with him. 
 
 But first it will be convenient I should recall to 
 mind reference which I made on Monday to my 
 Wicklow speech as to which controversy, at first with 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 277 
 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, and now with Lord Carnar- 
 von, has arisen. 
 
 It was as follows : That speech at Wicklow about 
 protection was delivered at a time when I had every 
 reason to believe that the Conservative party, if they 
 should have been successful at the polls, would have 
 offered Ireland a statutory legislature with the right 
 to protect her own industries, and that this could have 
 been coupled with a settlement of the land question 
 on the basis of purchase on a larger scale than that 
 now proposed by the Prime Minister. 
 
 What I have now to tell concerning the interview 
 of July will, I think, be held to fully justify that 
 reference. I regret that I am obliged to commence 
 the recital by differing with Lord Carnarvon point- 
 blank as to a matter of fact. 
 
 He says in his explanation that towards the end of 
 last July it was intimated to him that if he were 
 willing I should also be willing to meet him in con- 
 versation ; in other words, that I sought an interview. 
 Now, this I positively deny. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the meeting was brought about 
 by an intimation being conveyed to ^me exactly 
 converse to that which Lord Carnarvon alleges was 
 -conveyed to him in this connection. 
 
 I may mention that Lord Carnarvon originally 
 proposed that I should meet him at the house of a 
 gentleman now a prominent Conservative member of 
 Parliament, who subsequently undertook a mission to 
 Ireland and obtained letters of introduction to several 
 leading members of the Irish parliamentary party, 
 with whom he discussed in detail the species of Irish 
 Parliament that would be acceptable to Ireland. I 
 
278 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 declined, however, to meet Lord Carnarvon at the house 
 of a stranger, and suggested that if the interview was 
 to take place at all, it had best be at his own residence. 
 
 I must also take issue regarding the correctness of 
 Lord Carnarvon's memory as to two of the three 
 conditions which he alleges he stated to me as the 
 condition upon which he could enter into any conver- 
 sation with me, namely, that first of all he was acting 
 of himself, by himself, and that the responsibility was 
 his and communications were from himself alone; 
 and, secondly, that he was there as the Queen's servant, 
 and that he would neither hear nor say one word that 
 was inconsistent with the union of the two countries, 
 and that I assented to these conditions. 
 
 Now, Lord Carnarvon did not lay down any con- 
 ditions whatever as a preliminary to his entering into 
 conversation with me. It must be manifest that if he 
 had desired to do so he would have intimated them 
 when requesting the interview. He certainly made no 
 use whatever of terms of the two conditions which I 
 have repeated. There is, however, some foundation 
 for his statement concerning the remaining one, inas- 
 much as he undoubtedly remarked at the commence- 
 ment that he hoped I would understand that we were 
 not engaged in making any treaty or bargain whatever. 
 
 Lord Carnarvon then proceeded to say that he had 
 sought this interview for the purpose of ascertaining 
 my views regarding — should he call it a constitu- 
 tion for Ireland ? But I soon found that he had brought 
 me there in order that he might communicate his 
 views upon this matter, as well as ascertain mine. 
 
 I readily opened my mind to him on this subject, 
 and in reply to an inquiry as to a proposal which had 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 279 
 
 been made to build up a central Legislature upon the 
 foundation of county boards I told him I thought 
 this would be working in the wrong direction, and 
 would not be accepted as a settlement by Ireland ; 
 that a central legislative body should be a Parlia- 
 ment in name and in fact, and that to this body 
 should be left the construction of whatever system of 
 local government for the counties might be found 
 necessary. 
 
 Lord Carnarvon then assured me that this was his 
 view also, and that he strongly appreciated the impor- 
 tance of giving due weight to the sentiment of the 
 Irish in this matter. He then inquired whether, in 
 my judgment, some plan for constituting a Parliament 
 in Dublin, short of repeal of the union, might not be 
 devised and prove acceptable to Ireland ; and he 
 made certain suggestions to this end, taking the co- 
 lonial model as a basis, which struck me as being the 
 result of much thought and knowledge of the subject. 
 
 Then came the reference to protection. We were 
 discussing the general outlines of apian for constituting 
 a Legislature for Ireland on the colonial model, when I 
 took occasion to remark that protection for certain 
 Irish industries against English and foreign compe- 
 tition would be absolutely necessary, upon which Lord 
 Carnarvon said : " I entirely agree with you, but what 
 a row there will be about it in England ! " 
 
 At the conclusion of the conversation, which lasted 
 more than an hour, and to which Lord Carnarvon 
 was very much the larger contributor, I left him, 
 believing that I was in complete accord with him 
 regarding the main outlines of a settlement conferring 
 a Legislature upon Ireland. 
 
280 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 In conversing with him I dealt with the Lord- 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, who was responsible for the 
 government of the country. I could not suppose that 
 he would fail to impress the views which he had 
 disclosed to me upon the cabinet, and I have strong 
 reason to believe that he did so impress them, and 
 that they were strongly shared in by more than one 
 important member of that body, and strongly opposed 
 by none. 
 
 From information conveyed to me by those who 
 were in communication with Lord Carnarvon after he 
 went to Ireland, I have also ground for supposing that 
 he continued of the same opinions as those which 
 he expressed to me, and that he resigned his office 
 because of our failure to give the Conservative party 
 a majority at the polls, and opposition overwhelming 
 in its character first appeared in the cabinet to his 
 views. 
 
 I spoke at Wicklow under the impression of my 
 interview with Lord Carnarvon. I acted subsequently 
 and throughout the general election from the same 
 motive, largely strengthened as I was by subsequent 
 information from other sources. I leave it to the 
 public to judge whether I was warranted in those 
 impressions and beliefs, and will only further say that 
 history will not tell a more disgraceful and unscrupu- 
 lous volte-face than that executed by the Tory party 
 last January, when they found that our vote was not 
 numerous enough to keep them in office. I feel bound, 
 however, to add that I entirely acquit Lord Carnarvon 
 of responsibility for the tactics of his own party. 
 Yours obediently, 
 
 Charles Stewart Parnell. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 281 
 
 This brought out another letter from Lord Car- 
 narvon, in which he said : " I recollect perfectly 
 the circumstances of the interview with Mr. Par- 
 nell. I proposed nothing. Mr. Parnell did the 
 bulk of the talking, while I put questions, sug- 
 gested difficulties, and raised objections for him 
 to answer or explain. He dwelt upon the charac- 
 ter and functions of a central Legislature, the ne- 
 cessity of developing Irish industries, etc. I 
 remember his alluding to some kind of protection 
 as necessary to promote Irish industries, to which 
 I replied that, whatever my individual opinion 
 might be in regard to protection, such a proposal 
 must arouse great objections from many classes. 
 I regret that my impression was so different from 
 Mr. Parnell's. I do not wish to impute any un- 
 fairness to him. I found him during the conver- 
 sation frank and straightforward. I only regret 
 that he so greatly misunderstood me. I must 
 re-affirm that I never said anything on these sub- 
 jects in any wise committing other-." 
 
 Unfortunately for Lord Carnarvon, Mr. Parnell 
 had convincing corroborative testimony to prove 
 that his version of the affair was the true one. It 
 was through Justin McCarthy, the member for 
 Longford, that the interview was arranged; and 
 that gentleman, in a letter to the New York 
 Herald, related the circumstances as follows : — 
 
 As the parliamentary battle is over for the present, 
 and the electoral battle is not yet begun, I take advan- 
 
282 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 tage of this temporary lull to tell the readers of the 
 Herald something about the arrangement between 
 Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Parnell. Mr. Parnell wrote 
 to the papers yesterday, denying that it was he who 
 sought the interview with Lord Carnarvon, and leav- 
 ing it to be understood that Lord Carnarvon had 
 allowed him to believe that he (Carnarvon) was 
 speaking on behalf of his Government. I wish to tell 
 my story. About the end of last June or the begin- 
 ning of July, the Conservatives having just come into 
 power, a Conservative who is now, but was not then, 
 in the House of Commons, a friend of Lord Carnarvon 
 and mine, told me that Lord Carnarvon was anxious 
 to be put in communication with Parnell, and asked 
 me w r ould I come and see Carnarvon. I did so, as I 
 thought it wise and statesmanlike of Carnarvon, as the 
 new Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to break away from the 
 stupid old track of his predecessor, and take counsel 
 with the Irish leaders. I had a long conversation with 
 Carnarvon, and was much struck with the boldness and 
 wisdom of his views. He asked me to explain to him 
 my views and the views of Mr. Parnell as to the nature 
 of Home Rule. I did so, dwelling especially on the fact 
 that no system of mere local boards would ever satisfy 
 the Irish people, and it would be only a waste of time 
 to trouble himself about any such scheme. When I 
 had explained all this fully, he said that, speaking for 
 himself, he would be prepared to go as far toward 
 Home Rule as Parnell or myself. He gave me to 
 understand there were difficulties in the way of some 
 of his colleagues who were not yet educated up to the 
 mark, but I certainly understood from him that an 
 endeavor would be made to complete their education. 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 283 
 
 We had a long talk on various Irish questions, and 
 I promised to ask Parnell to arrange for an interview 
 with Carnarvon. I saw Parnell, and told him my 
 story. The whole thing was entirely new to him, 
 but, after a short consideration, he determined that he 
 would see Carnarvon. I wrote to Carnarvon, who 
 replied suggesting the time and place of an interview. 
 The place suggested was the house of the friend I 
 have just mentioned, in one of the great fashionable 
 West End squares. Parnell demurred, and said that 
 if there was any talk to be made about all this here- 
 after, he could not consent to have any appearance of 
 mystery and secrecy about it, and if he was to meet 
 Carnarvon he would go openly to Carnarvon's own 
 house. To this Carnarvon at once agreed, and the 
 interview took place in one of Carnarvon's town 
 houses at the West End. I was not present, and only 
 know what happened there from what Parnell told 
 me, which he has now told the public. My story is 
 important chiefly because it gives the fullest and 
 flattest contradiction to the statement which I regret 
 to think Carnarvon has made, that Parnell sought the 
 interview. The truth is that, when the elections came 
 on and did not give the Tories a majority, even with 
 our help, the Conservative government were afraid to 
 take the jump. Carnarvon, I believe, did his very 
 best, and, failing, resigned his office. I met him in 
 December, after the elections, at a small dinner party, 
 and we had some frank and friendly conversation. 
 
 He gave me to understand that nothing was to be 
 hoped for just then from his party. He certainly did 
 not say a word to me which implied that through the 
 whole transaction he had been acting merely for him- 
 
284 C. S. DARNELL, M. P. 
 
 self alone. The whole tenor of what he said seemed 
 to imply quite the contrary, and in what I said to him 
 I took this as a matter of course. I have not the 
 slightest doubt in my mind that up to the late 
 elections the leaders of the Conservative government 
 were taking into consideration the wisdom of prepar- 
 ing a Home Rule measure, that it was done under 
 the inspiration of Carnarvon, that he was strongly 
 supported by Lord Randolph Churchill and Lord 
 Ashbourne, then the Irish Lord Chancellor, and that 
 Lord Salisbury was beginning to see his way in it 
 when the elections knocked all their calculations to 
 pieces. If he could have said to their party: "We 
 €an give Ireland Home Rule and keep office ourselves," 
 then the education of the party would have been 
 -easily accomplished. But to say : " We can prepare a 
 Home Rule scheme, but we are not strong enough 
 to carry it and keep in office," is quite a different 
 thing. 
 
 This controversy is only important now as go- 
 ing to show that the late Tory government was 
 willing to concede to Ireland a measure of Home 
 Rule, if the ministers could see their way clear to 
 do so and still keep office, and as proving that the 
 attitude of the Tory party on Mr. Gladstone's 
 measure was not dictated by Tory aversion to the 
 principle of the bill, but solely by party reasons 
 more or less dishonest. As it was, Mr. Parnell 
 had the best of the dispute, and the cause of Ire- 
 land profited by the revelations. 
 
 When the House of Commons re-assembled, on 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 285 
 
 the 10th, Mr. Gladstone announced that the minis- 
 try had decided to appeal to the constituencies, 
 and that the Queen had sanctioned the decision. 
 No date was set for the dissolution, but the Prime 
 Minister said that the remaining business of the 
 session would be wound up as quickly as possible, 
 and the event would doubtless take place before 
 the end of the month. 
 
 Here, on the eve of what we are convinced will 
 prove a glorious victory for Ireland, we are com- 
 pelled to bring this history to a close. Mr. 
 Parnell's life-work is yet far from complete accom- 
 plishment, but its progress has been rapid and 
 gratifying, and every day that elapses makes the 
 final triumph more certain. Twelve short years 
 ago the Irish leader was absolutely unknown out- 
 side of a small circle of immediate friends in Ire- 
 land. Now his name is upon every lip, and his 
 character and achievements are the topics of gen- 
 eral discussion in two hemispheres. Six years ago 
 he undertook the leadership of a despised agra- 
 rian movement which it was predicted would go to 
 pieces in a month or two. lie has made of it a 
 power which overawes the mighty British Empire. 
 All the vast resources of England were arrayed 
 against him, but they were impotent against his 
 sleepless, tireless determination and his marvel- 
 lous sagacity. Neither threats nor jails could 
 daunt his spirit, or break his indomitable will. 
 He was resolved to obtain a hearing and compel 
 
286 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 justice to Ireland, and nothing could sever him 
 from his purpose. The bitterest invective and the 
 most enthusiastic adulation found him and left him 
 perfectly unmoved — as stolid and impassive as 
 the Iron Duke himself. Such great abilities and 
 such amazing persistency as he displayed could 
 not for long go unrecognized, and, years ago now, 
 the leaders of the English parties had begun to 
 respect as well as fear him. Mr. Gladstone said 
 of him " no member of the House can say what 
 he has to say more clearly or in fewer words than 
 the member for Cork." Mr. Labouchere declares 
 that Cf Parnell is one of the very best tacticians 
 that I know," and Lord Salisbury has pronounced 
 him to be "the very coolest head in the Three 
 Kingdoms." His power has had a steady and 
 continual growth : the despised faction which he 
 led has become one of the most influential parties 
 in the House of Commons, and the agitation of 
 which he is the respected head has developed into 
 the greatest human movement of the age. 
 
 And now at last his indefatigable energy, his 
 talents for organization, his wonderful persever- 
 ance under difficulties, his broad and commanding 
 qualities as a statesman, and his splendid genius 
 for leadership are about to receive an adequate 
 reward. He has obtained a hearing for Ireland's 
 case and coerced England's greatest statesman into 
 an effort to do her justice. The first decision was 
 adverse, it is true ; but the defeat was a Bunker 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 287 
 
 Hill, not a Waterloo. The public opinion of the 
 world is with Ireland and Parnell, and Gladstone 
 and English irrationality cannot long prevail 
 against them. Mr. Gladstone has appealed the 
 case from the prejudices of Parliament to the high 
 court of the people, and he looks forward confi- 
 dently to a favorable judgment from the democ- 
 racy of England. 
 
 But whether the measure be passed by the next 
 Parliament or one to follow it, Home Rule for 
 Ireland is now assured, — even Lord Hartington 
 admits it, — and the long-suffering Irish race can 
 rejoice in the prospect of once again possessing 
 a happy, prosperous, and independent country, 
 with a government w broad-based upon the peo- 
 ple's will." To Mr, Parnell more than to any 
 other man — for he has had no rivals in his leader- 
 ship — the glorious result at hand is due, and 
 Irishmen everywhere gladly accord to him the full 
 meed of honor, and gratitude, and affection, which 
 he merits. His labors and his genius have made 
 the emancipation of a nation possible, and " built 
 himself an everlasting name." 
 
CHARLES S. PAKNELL. 
 
C. S. PARNELL,, M. P. 280 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SOME PARTICULARS OP C. S. PARNELL's EA.RLT LIFE. 
 
 We arc indebted to Mrs. Delia Partial), mother 
 of Charles Stewart Parnell, for the following 
 authentic particulars regarding his early career, 
 in addition to those which will be found on an 
 earlier page in the body of our biographical 
 sketch : — 
 
 As a child he was remarkable for wit, poetical 
 fancies, sprightliness, and enterprise. 
 
 At the age of seven, on the outbreak of the Cri- 
 mean war, in 1853, he amused his fellow-passen- 
 gers in the Rathdrtim stage, on his way home 
 from school, by comparing the populations and 
 military strength of the various European Powers, 
 with a view to determining their respective 
 chances in the event of a general European war. 
 Some of the passengers remarked that the little 
 fellow had been wonderfully well taught. 
 
 In alluding to his early taste for mechanical 
 science as exhibited in his efforts to construct a 
 "perpetual motion" machine, Mrs. Parnell says: 
 r Some danger attended his experiments about 
 perpetual motion ; and when he feared an explo- 
 
290 C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 
 
 sion he would call out to every one to get out of 
 the room, but remain in it near his machine him- 
 self." This anecdote of the boy is surely charac- 
 teristic of the man ; for at least on two occasions 
 during the land agitation in the West, at Balla 
 aud at Castlerea, when there was imminent pros- 
 pect of a collision between the armed police and 
 the unarmed people, he displayed a like personal 
 intrepidity and a similar care for the safety of 
 others, flinging himself into the gap of danger, 
 so that the lives of the people should not be im- 
 perilled. 
 
 Referring to his daring escapade in the effort 
 to make bullets by pouring melted lead from the 
 roof of the mansion of Avondale, Mrs. Parnell 
 remarks : " It was a great undertaking for a 
 small boy safely to lug an iron pot, such as po- 
 tatoes are boiled in, but filled with hot coals, up 
 two high pairs of stairs, two high ladders, the 
 ascent from the lead valley in the midst of the 
 slated roof to the top of it, and down to the coping 
 around the roof. To this day his enterprises are 
 vast, but with this advantage now — that the 
 greatest enterprises have the greatest opinions, 
 the greatest masses, and the greatest natural forces 
 behind them." 
 
 Ampler details concerning Mr. ParnelPs school 
 life than we were able to give previously are here 
 appended : "His education, after having been 
 considerably advanced at home, was continued, at 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 291 
 
 seven years of age, at a small school, Hiss Marly's, 
 in Somersetshire, England, where, while eagerly 
 and advantageously pursuing his studies, he fell 
 ill, and lay for weeks almost at the point of death, 
 through typhoid fever. Since then he has never 
 enjoyed the robust health of his childhood, and 
 the illness left an unnatural nervous irritability, 
 which, however, he has conquered. Soon after 
 this illness he was taken back to Ireland, and 
 placed under a private tutor. After this he was 
 sent to the Rev. Mr. Barton's, in Derbyshire, 
 where he again improved greatly under the care 
 aifd tuition of Mr. and Mis. Barton, both of them 
 kind and superior people. Mrs. Barton belonged 
 to a celebrated literary family. "I will remark," 
 says Mrs. Parnell, "that particular pains were 
 taken to place Charles with manifestly kind and 
 religious people. Miss Marly was especially so. 
 She was a Dissenter. After his father's death 
 Charles was kept at home under a private tutor, 
 until, at Lady Londonderry's instance, I sent him 
 to the Rev. Mr. Wishaw's, in Oxfordshire, whence 
 he went to Cambridge. Mr. Wishaw was a spec- 
 ially kind, highly educated, and accomplished 
 tutor. All my son's tutors," continues Mrs. Par- 
 nell, "expressed a high opinion of Charles' abili- 
 ties ; and the tutors of my three sons reposed a 
 peculiar trust in their honor and steadiness. All 
 three have been remarkable for goodness and ten- 
 derness of feeling, industry, patience, and perse- 
 
292 0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 verance — attributes remarkably derived." The 
 reader of these pages will, we are sure, concur 
 with Mrs. Parnell in deeming those attributes "re- 
 markably derived." Few men had ever more il- 
 lustrious ancestry. 
 
 We get a pleasant glimpse of Charles Stewart 
 ParnelPs natural generosity of disposition, as well 
 as of the warmth of Irish feeling which kindly 
 treatment ever evokes, from the following: — 
 H Charles always deprecated any lack of hospital- 
 ity at his early home, wanting every man and 
 beast that came to it to be entertained ; and I 
 found, while I was a widow, that tenants and i%- 
 tainers who needed it while travelling, adopted 
 my house as a home, as in feudal times, while, 
 such was the devotion of the people on our place 
 to us, I thought that did we require it we could 
 raise a corps of defenders among them. Nothing 
 could exceed the faithfulness and unselfishness of 
 our employees." 
 
 Another pleasant glimpse — one of family life 
 — is afforded in the appended passage: "My 
 children have always been good and devoted to 
 one another. Charles, ki particular, has shown 
 that the child was father to the man ; for the 
 energy and devotion he now manifests to his 
 country — to those who need a mighty help — are 
 the outgrowth of his youthful activity and consid- 
 eration in favor of his family, and of his feeling, 
 just and indulgent judgments, respect, and un- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 293 
 
 selfishness towards all who came near him. In 
 these traits, and in his prudence, he resembles his 
 late uncle, my devoted brother, Col. Charles Tudor 
 Stewart, who was perfect as a son, a brother, an 
 uncle, and a friend." 
 
 II. 
 
 FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE PARNELL 
 FAMILY. 
 
 In the Freeman's Journal of February 15, 1821, 
 a correspondent who signs himself fr C.," and dates 
 from "16 Parliament-street, 12th February, 1821," 
 writes as follows of Mr. C. S. Parnell'a grandfather, 
 William Parnell, brother of Sir Henry, and M. P. 
 for county Wieklow, to whom but a passing refer- 
 ence was made in a previous page : — 
 
 M Few men in modern times excelled the late William 
 Parnell, Esq., in those virtues which may be bene- 
 ficiall}- recorded. Descended from an illustrious famih', 
 he obtained his first literary instructions under the 
 superintendence of his incorruptible and patriotic 
 father — the late Sir John Parnell, Bart. Passing 
 over the scenes of infancy and early }'outh, I find Mr. 
 Parnell a distinguished student in the University of 
 Cambridge, excelling in the cultivation of the liberal 
 sciences, unequalled in chaste literature. He returned 
 to his native land at the period of his maturity. The 
 first emotion of his generous and exalted mind was 
 
294 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 sorrow for the condition of his country, and his first 
 desire was to remedy some portion of her manifold 
 evils. He could not refer to the situation of his 
 Catholic countiymen in any other terms than those of 
 shame and abhorrence ; neither was he content to linger 
 out his days in inactive and unprofitable sympathy. 
 
 u In 1806 he published his excellent work upon the 
 Penal Code affecting the Catholic bod} r , in which he 
 reviewed, with boldness and brilliancy, the bad policy 
 of past ages, and was the first to trace, in a manner 
 becoming an efficient statesman, the cruel and perni- 
 cious ramifications of that system. 
 
 " In 1807 he sent forth his 'Apology for the Irish 
 Catholics,' in which he exhibited in vivid colors the in- 
 justice of the imputations made against that bod} r . 
 
 " He continued to the latest period of his life the same 
 spirit of friendly exertion, in and out of the senate, 
 to promote their claims, and had nearly completed 
 an invaluable History of the Irish Roman Catholics, 
 enumerating their many grievances and sufferings from 
 the reign of Henry the Eighth to the present period. 
 
 "The poorer classes of his countrymen were the 
 dearest objects of his anxious and earnest solicitude. 
 He studied their wants and sustained their interests 
 with a care and devotion almost chivalrous. His kind- 
 ly heart was deeply grieved by the neglect of education 
 to which the peasantry were exposed, and his earnest 
 labors were daily engaged in endeavors to alleviate 
 the evil. 
 
 u Every attempt to educate the poor could claim a 
 participation in his patronage and purse ; and his last 
 effort was to obtain from the Government a grant for 
 the education of the Catholic poor on principles un- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 295 
 
 objectionable in theory and practical in application. 
 He found there were objections made to the reading of 
 the Testament unaided by the guidance of any annota- 
 tions ; his wish was to serve, and not offend, and ac- 
 cordingly, in the true spirit of his comprehensive liber- 
 ality, he published, at his own expense, five thousand 
 copies of the notes approved of by the Roman Catholic 
 Archbishops of Ireland, to be gratuitously distributed 
 with the New Testament. 
 
 u His forbearance and consideration toward his nu- 
 merous tenantry obtained a return of attachment the 
 most enviable and animated, the natural result of the 
 excellent qualities of the heart that render the relation 
 of landlord and tenant a reciprocal blessing. 
 
 11 Possessing captivating manners, a cultivated mind, 
 and eminent rank and connections, his society was 
 cherished and appreciated by the most exalted ; but 
 his desire was to be useful rather than ornamental, and 
 he manifested the sincerity of that predilection by his 
 deportment through life. He endured the most severe 
 of human afflictions — the loss of a beloved, amiable, 
 and endearing wife — with the resignation that be- 
 came a Christian, but with a sorrow that would not be 
 discreditable to the most dignified philosophy. Indeed 
 that calamity bore heavily upon him to the last ; but 
 his parental solicitude was only increased, if possible, 
 by the additional duties that devolved upon him. 
 
 11 He was a good man in all his courses ; but as a 
 father he excelled almost inimitably. The education 
 of his children occupied a principal portion of his time 
 and thoughts ; these tender orphans, bearing the marks 
 of his care, now furnish living proofs of the excellent 
 qualities of their lamented guide, director, and parent. 
 
296 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 "On Friday, the 22nd of December, 1820, he had 
 been occupied with the Eight Honorable Secretary for 
 Ireland, in procuring through him a grant of £3,000 
 annual^, to be vested in the Roman Catholic bishops 
 of Ireland, for the education of their poor ; and that 
 day, on which he had completed the preliminaries to 
 carry his benevolent design into effect, having proved 
 unusually wet, he caught a severe cold that terminated 
 in a malignant fever. He died at the house of his 
 revered and distinguished father-in-law, Colonel How- 
 ard, on the 2nd of January, 1824, in the forty-fourth 
 year of his age, being ill but eleven days. 
 
 " No man was ever withdrawn from the busy scene 
 of life more beloved, revered, and esteemed b} r those 
 who were favored with his acquaintance ; and few have 
 left behind them more acute lamentations for the de- 
 parture of generous philanthropy and honored worth. 
 One who valued him in life, pays this inadequate trib- 
 ute to his memory." 
 
 The two eldest of Mr. C. S. Parnell's brothers 
 have been long dead. One, William Tudor Par- 
 nell, fell a victim to bad vaccination, after a long 
 struggle 9 in his infancy. The other, Hayes Par- 
 nell, was a most promising youth. From the age 
 of six or thereabouts he evinced tendencies which 
 afterwards developed into remarkable literary and 
 artistic talent, and he was early noted for patriot- 
 ism. He wrote both prose and poetry well while 
 still a boy ; and in his passion for military and 
 naval life was wont to cover sheets of paper with 
 original battle-scenes, and with plans for construct- 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 297 
 
 ing the best and swiftest ships. When he wished 
 to ascertain areas, while as yet he was ignorant of 
 the very name of Euclid, he drew, for the sake 
 of accuracy, problems of his own invention. 
 Although a pleurisy carried him off at so youthful 
 an age as fifteen, he had written a "History of 
 Ireland as she is to be," in which he introduced 
 laws of his own framing for her free government. 
 John Howard Parnell, Mr. C. S. Parnell's elder 
 living brother, who was a Home Rule candidate 
 for the representation of Wicklow County at the 
 general election of 1874, has attained singular 
 success in the growing of peaches on his land in 
 Alabama. He has been mentioned in agricultural 
 periodicals, especially "for having obtained by his 
 skill the best and largest peaches ever grown. 
 Their size is almost incredible. " In quality they 
 are said to reach perfection ; and the number of 
 them Mr. J. II. Parnell annually produces is 
 astonishing. He was the first to export peaches 
 in good condition from America to Ireland. Of 
 his estate in the county Armagh the corporation 
 of Trinity College is the head landlord. Mrs. 
 Parnell describes him as having more of the physi- 
 cal strength of Sir John Parnell, whom he is said 
 to resemble, than her other sons ; and relates of 
 him the following anecdote : — 
 
 " When a boy, having received some great provoca- 
 tion, but unwilling to hurt any one weaker than himself, 
 he seized hold of a heavy mahogany old-fashioned arm- 
 
298 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 chair, and saying, ' I must hurt something/ smashed it 
 to pieces at one blow on the floor." She sums up his 
 character by saying that he is " full of pity and kind- 
 ness for every one." 
 
 Mr. C. S. Parnell's younger brother, Henry 
 Tudor Parnell, at the very threshold of manhood 
 gave practical effect to the theory of peasant 
 proprietorship by disposing of his estate to those 
 who tilled it. Mrs. Parnell says of him : 
 
 "My youngest son, always a hard worker and 
 student, and delicately honorable, showed extra- 
 ordinary business capacity, immediately on com- 
 ing of age, in the rearrangement of his property 
 and its sale to his tenants." The name of the 
 estate thus referred to is Clonmore. It furnished 
 the courtesy title of the eldest sons of the Earls of 
 Wicklow. 
 
 Ill 
 
 ADDITIONAL DETAILS REGARDING C. S. PARNELL S 
 MATERNAL ANCESTRY. 
 
 "My grandfather, Charles Stewart," writes 
 Mrs. Parnell, "quartered the royal arms of Scot- 
 land, which were on a large quantity of family 
 plate he brought with him to this country ; but 
 at the time of the Revolutionary war, when the 
 distress in this infant country (the United States) 
 was extreme, his widow — who, besides being of 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 299 
 
 Milesian origin, was still further revolutionized in 
 this land, and being by his death freed from the 
 influence of her semi-Scotch husband and of the 
 little god of love (more potent than blood) — 
 melted down her plate to help suitably to rear her 
 eight children, which was a matter of primary im- 
 portance. This she did through the urgency of 
 her son-in-law, John MacAuley, father of Admiral 
 MacAuley, of the United States Navy. She was a 
 lady of excellent education, polished manners, su- 
 perior beauty of face and figure, and strong and 
 unblemished character. All her children pros- 
 pered, through her kind and yet severe training. 
 Soft as a mother's heart is to her manly boys, she 
 did not hesitate to punish them, particularly for 
 the least breach of truth or chivalry. 
 
 "Her son Charles was full of fun, and some- 
 times of mischief. I remember his telling me 
 how severely his mother punished him for upset- 
 ting the stall of an apple-woman — so severely that 
 he never did the like again. I remember hearing 
 that when his dancing master's back was turned he 
 tvould amuse himself pulling out the peg (the ar- 
 ticle used in those days) that stopped up his mas- 
 ter's barrel of beer. It was from dancing school 
 he ran away to sea. His mother did not contem- 
 plate such 'steps' on his part. She had prom- 
 ised his father on his death-bed that his son should 
 never embrace a sea-faring life. 
 
 "My father inherited from his parents, and, as I 
 
300 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 remember, from his mother certainly, the graco 
 and dignity of his carriage and the charm of his 
 mariner and conversation. I remember the de- 
 lightful stories she told and the sweet songs she 
 sang at ninety-three and later. She never seemed 
 old in any respect. Her husband must have been 
 very attractive to have captivated, when so much 
 older than herself, this charming beauty, and a 
 reputed heiress of fifteen. She blamed some of 
 her family for encouraging her elopement, as they 
 coveted her prospective wealth, and wished to get 
 rid of her. Only to my father, I believe, she 
 mentioned their names, she so disdained their 
 conduct. 
 
 "Her husband, Charles Stewart, gave half his 
 fortune to the Revolutionary Government, and so 
 helped to impoverish his family, as they never re- 
 ceived any compensation for its surrender. My 
 father, I have been told, gave the ships he owned 
 to the United States Government in the war of 
 1812 with Great Britain, and received no remun- 
 eration beyond what his sword brought him. 
 With similar devotion to a yet poor country, he 
 never urged his claims to large amounts of prize- 
 money, including those for the capture of the Le- 
 vant and several British merchantmen, the latter 
 not mentioned in his life. My grandfather, Wil- 
 liam Tudor, or Judge Tudor, as he was called, 
 also generously spent a colossal fortune in bene- 
 fiting individuals, the public of Boston and its 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 301 
 
 environs. Both sides of my family were wealthy 
 at first, and, for this land then, immensely 
 wealthy. Therefore, but for the traits mentioned, 
 and had they let their means moderately take care 
 of themselves, we would have been among the 
 richest of the rich in this rich country. How- 
 ever, we have been taken care of by a wise 
 Power, and their descendants have never been 
 seen begging their bread. I tell the story that it 
 may point a moral and adorn a tale. 
 
 "My father, it was said by English gentlemen 
 visiting this country, had the most fascinating 
 manners of any gentleman in it — a wide asser- 
 tion ; for none, in old grand grace, urbanity, wit, 
 and intelligence united, not even French noblemen 
 of the ancien regime, surpass Southern gentlemen 
 in these States. Bat my father was descended 
 from Irish gentlemen, under the hollow of whose 
 feet water could run without touching them ; from 
 a race that even in the poorest looked to me, a 
 young American nurtured among great men, when 
 I first landed at Kingstown, as one and all, gentle- 
 men at ease, as they lounged about with their 
 hands in their pockets to keep them warm and 
 clean while looking for a job. If it is true that 
 what is bred in the bone will come out in the 
 breeding, the Irish must have drunk, in better 
 days, of congenial Pierian springs, and, for 
 mother-milk, sucked honey from Hybla ; for no 
 fustian can disguise, no hardship obliterate, the 
 
302 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 keen intellect, the ready wit, the noble composure 
 of their solid substratum, their ancient founda- 
 tion. 
 
 "A brother of Mrs. Segrave (a late resident in 
 the County Wicklow) , while he was a middy in 
 the Cyane or Levant, was in great terror at false 
 stories told him of American conquerors, which 
 my father noticing, patted the little fellow on the 
 back, and told him to fear nothing. My father 
 also paroled and helped home the crews and offi- 
 cers of those two ships. 
 
 " When taking some prizes into Gibraltar he was 
 vexed by Admiral Lord Carysfort's sending an of- 
 ficer to one of them to investigate their business, 
 but the officer in command of said prize threat- 
 ened to cut the first man down who stepped on 
 board. My father afterwards went to Portsmouth 
 in England to complain of Lord Carysfort's inter- 
 ference, and received an apology from the Admi- 
 rality. One of my kindest friends afterwards was 
 the brother of the said Admiral. Granville Lev- 
 eson, Lord Carysfort, married my late husband's 
 aunt, and I used to fight my father's battles over 
 again with him in a friendly way, though argu- 
 mentative. 
 
 " My father told me that the great mistake of 
 his life had been not valuing my mother as she de- 
 served ; that the brilliancy of his career had in a 
 great measure been due to her, and through her 
 sympathies and influences had been destined to be 
 
C. S. PAENELL, M. P. 303 
 
 still better and brighter. She knew Latin and 
 Greek, and besides fluently spoke French, Ger- 
 man, Italian, and Spanish. Her performance on 
 the piano was famed in France, England, and 
 America ; her oil paintings are still a theme for 
 admiration ; and she played the harp exquisitely. 
 Her memory of history in particular was extraor- 
 dinary, and her eloquence overpowering. A lady 
 said to me, 'Every word that falls from her mouth 
 is a jewel.' Her soul was too great for her means 
 and her sphere. Her exertions to serve others 
 knew no limits. Many owed their comfort, their 
 happiness, their existence to her ; for her purposes 
 were never small, her efforts never weary. She 
 was the amanuensis of my father while he was on 
 the Pacific station, and wrote his French and 
 Spanish letters. He said to me, when he was 
 nominated for the Presidency of this country, that 
 had he appreciated my mother's abilities in time 
 she would have had him made President ten years 
 previously, 'for she could do anything she liked.' 
 In every relation of life my mother was a glowing 
 example of every virtue. Her filial devotion was 
 mentioned from the pulpit. 
 
 "As I peruse the letters of different members of 
 my family I am struck by their far-sightedness 
 and accuracy of detail and judgment. My mother 
 daily evinced a penetration almost superhuman, 
 and a prevision that seemed prophetic. But as 
 too little attention is often paid to woman's wit, 
 
304 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 notwithstanding the familiar phrase of ? mother- 
 wit,' she was often compared to Cassandra at the 
 siege of Troy. I can conceive nothing more 
 painful to human feeling than as a woman to be 
 compelled, like some of the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem, to cry f Wo! wo!' and yet remain un- 
 heeded ; and I believe that life in its struggles, 
 its future, is in tenderness veiled to woman, as a 
 rule ; and further, that so she seems meant to 
 typify, to exemplify, the warmth and intelligence, 
 the hope and charity, at whose pure founts the 
 infant man may be nurtured, strengthened, and 
 upheld to surmount the difficulties that chiefly 
 beset the widest sphere of action — from whose 
 purer hands he may depart winged for a double 
 mission, like Mercury, the messenger of the gods. 
 Woman's mission is chiefly to pity, to aid, the 
 feeble and the suffering ; and in her sorrow how 
 wide that mission may become ! History shows 
 that, for good or evil, often, as is the mother, so 
 is the son ; and private life shows too often that as 
 is the mother for nullity, frivolity, or selfishness, 
 so is the son. Many a man who would respond 
 on some angelic mission to Beranger's lines — 
 
 " ' Plaignez le peuple, il souffre, et tout grand homme 
 Aupres du peuple est l'envoye de Dieu' — 
 
 has surely felt and acknowledged a mother's sacred 
 influence. 
 
 "I am informed that the name Ford is of 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 305 
 
 purely Milesian origin, and am therefore inclined 
 to think that, as nothing has ever done so, noth- 
 ing ever will quench the ardor and pertinacity 
 which seem inherent in all my children, the 
 power to struggle and to overcome, and which 
 succeeds in whatever field is open to it — in 
 whatever the hand finds to do. Let us hope it 
 may be accompanied too by the keen vision to see 
 the open door, the rift in the cloud ; by the faith 
 to behold, while yet unseen, the blessings that lie 
 buried, but germinating for a greater birth, in the 
 Isle of Saints, the Isle of the West, the isle whose 
 hope, tried and purified as silver in the fire, but 
 undimmed still, awaits the rising sun of prosper- 
 ity. 'To everything there is a time.' Some one, 
 some sides must tire first; and all efforts, if not 
 relinquished, are by practice made perfect." 
 
 The Tudors — the other branch of Charles 
 Stewart ParnelPs maternal ancestry — have a his- 
 tory full of interest. They were of Spanish ori- 
 gin, and afterwards settled in Wales, whence 
 divers branches of the family pushed out into 
 positions of prominence, like the line of Tudor 
 sovereigns who swayed the destinies of England 
 so extraordinarily in their day. The first of the 
 family who is known to have appeared on the 
 American shores was a Colonel Tudor, an officer 
 in the British army. In all probability he went 
 there with his regiment, helping to hold the colo- 
 nies for the British crown. After his death, his 
 
306 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 widow, a woman of high spirit, disagreeing with 
 her late husband's relatives, boldly left them, 
 trusting to her own resources, and with her only 
 son John repaired to Boston. Good looks have 
 long been a noted Tudor characteristic. Even 
 Henry the Eighth, before he became bloated and 
 disfigured by sensuality, is said to have had a mag- 
 nificent presence. The John Tudor mentioned 
 above did not lack the family speciality. He " was 
 noted for his beauty, grace, gentlemanliness, and 
 accomplishments." Probably his widowed mother 
 had been compelled h from want of means, to bring 
 him up in the pinching school of hardship, and 
 that thus he acquired a close-fisted ness foreign to 
 the family nature and habits. Certain it is that 
 close he was, notwithstanding his graces of form 
 and manner; so close that he contrived to amass 
 an immense fortune at a time when the British 
 colonies in America, through lack of industries, 
 offered but very meagre opportunities for fortune- 
 building to even the clearest commercial heads. 
 He left a son William in possession of his wealth ; 
 and this William Tudor, revolting from the ex- 
 periences of his early years, and as if in protesta- 
 tion against the niggardliness so long beneath his 
 eyes, spent his money with an absolutely "impe- 
 rial benevolence and generosity." 
 
 William Tudor, who was born at Boston on the 
 28th March, 1750, studied at Harvard College, 
 and graduated in 1769, was a splendid man, 
 
0. S. PARNELL, M. P. 807 
 
 physically and morally. He had in perfection 
 what was called "the Tudor eye" — "a large, bril- 
 liant, dark-blue eye." He possessed at once the 
 extremes of courage and tenderness, and was as 
 unselfish as he was clear-headed. He was a very 
 accomplished man, and a fine writer. In his 
 young manhood he studied law, under the cele- 
 brated John Adams ; but the study did not ossify 
 his heart. Even while, still little more than a boy 
 his chosen friends were among the best and hon- 
 estest of his contemporaries. While the bloody 
 quarrel of the North American colonies with Great 
 Britain was as yet looming in the distance, Wil- 
 liam Tudor had for bosom companions only those 
 who misfht be counted on to take the side of their 
 native country against the foreign crown. One 
 of these intimates was his teacher of legal lore, 
 John Adams, who, having discovered how nig- 
 gardly John Tudor was in supplying money to 
 his student son, wrote, without the knowledge of 
 the latter, to the former, appealing to him to give 
 William a more liberal allowance, to help his ad- 
 vancement in life. rf \i' your son were infected 
 with the follies and vices so fashionable among 
 many of the young gentlemen of our age and 
 country," urged Adams, "I would never become 
 an advocate for him, without his knowledge, as I 
 now am, with his father. I should think, the 
 more he was restrained, the better. But I know 
 him to have a clear head, and an honest, faithful 
 
308 C. S. PAENELL, M. P. 
 
 heart. He is virtuous, sober, steady, industrious, 
 and constant in his office. He is as frugal as he 
 can be in his rank and class of life, without being 
 mean. It is your peculiar felicity to have a son 
 whose behavior and character are thus deserving." 
 
 William Tudor was admitted to the Suffolk bar 
 on the 27th July, 1772. He had but little time to 
 acquire a name before the revolution came. He 
 counted on his list of intimates some of the most 
 distinguished patriots of the day. There could be 
 but one side in the strife for the young lawyer, 
 and that side was his country's. Of course he 
 might have acted the coward's part, and remained 
 neutral ; but he had come of a strong and daring 
 race, and with their hot blood surging in his veins 
 he could not stand idle while others were arming 
 for the fray. He made his way to Bunkers Hill, 
 and, as a volunteer, took part in the action. 
 After the retreat of the American insurgents from 
 that hard-fought field, William Tudor joined the 
 army in a regular manner, and served under Gen- 
 erals Lee and Washington. The latter made him 
 his aide-de-camp — a fact which sufficiently attests 
 that he had distinguished himself for bravery and 
 coolness in the hour of peril. 
 
 There was a tender and romantic side to Wil- 
 liam Tudor's nature. At the very time that the 
 insurrection began, and indeed for a considerable 
 period before that, he was ardently attached to a 
 young lady named Delia Jarvis, whose sympathies 
 
C. S. PARNEI.L, M. P. 3C9 
 
 were entirely with the royalists. He spent seven 
 years in striving to induce her to accept him. 
 Mrs. Parnell writes of her: — 
 
 "She had romantic ideas of feminine character, 
 which she always maintained. Her strongly 
 aesthetic tastes led her to prefer courtly circles , 
 and her gentle, indulgent disposition to deprecate 
 wars, and long for a compromise. Nevertheless 
 she was considered to be a loyalist, and showed 
 considerable spirit as such. For instance, when 
 Boston opinion was all aflame about the tea ques- 
 tion she gave a tea-party. Whoever used this 
 herb was considered a foe to the country, and a 
 rigid inquisition and vigilance were maintained to 
 prevent its use, A sprig of tea," Mrs. Parnell 
 continues, "might be our national emblem, for its 
 familiar shape involved then a principle soon to 
 be combated by open war." 
 
 The young lady's loyalist feelings, however, did 
 not always go unhurt. In her son William's Life 
 of Otis the following passage referring to her 
 occurs : — 
 
 "After the battle [of Bunker's Hill], a young 
 person living in Boston, possessed of very keen 
 and generous feelings, bordering a little perhaps 
 on the romantic, as was natural to her age, sex, 
 and lively imagination, finding that many of the 
 wounded [American] troops brought over from 
 the field of ac'ion were carried by her residence, 
 mixed a quantity of refreshing beverage, and, with 
 
310 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 a female domestic by her side, stood at the door 
 and offered it to the sufferers as they were borne 
 along, burning with fever and parched with thirst. 
 Several of these, grateful for her kindness, gave 
 her, as they thought, consolation, by assuring her 
 of the destruction of [the British]. One young 
 officer said, ? Never mind it, my brave young 
 lady; we have peppered 'em well, depend on it!' 
 Her dearest feelings were thus unintentionally 
 lacerated, while she was pouring oil and wine into 
 their wounds." 
 
 Courting this lady under the circumstances was 
 no easy task for one whom, while her sympathies 
 went out to him as a man, her prejudices taught 
 her to regard as a criminal because of his having 
 become "a rebel to his sovereign.'' Court her, 
 however, and persistently too, he did. He kept 
 up a correspondence with her during the war, as 
 full as opportunity permitted, usually beginning 
 his long letters with "Mfy fair loyalist," and end- 
 ing them with "Your devoted rebel" — a mode of 
 address calculated to laugh her prejudices away. 
 Nor was he satisfied to confine himself to episto- 
 lary pleadings. In spite of dangers and difficulties 
 he contrived to meet her. In Drake's " Historic 
 Fields and Mansions of Middlesex" the following 
 passage occurs : — 
 
 "His courtship of the lady who afterwards be- 
 came his wife was prosecuted under very roman- 
 tic circumstances. By the hostilities which had 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 311 
 
 broken out he was separated from the object of 
 his affections, who was residing on Noddles Island 
 (East Boston), in the family of Henry Howell 
 Williams. The British fleet which lay off the 
 island rendered it dangerous to approach it in a 
 boat. A boyish acquisition was now of use to 
 the gallant colonel. He w r as an excellent swim- 
 mer. Tying his clothes in a bundle on his head, 
 he, like another Leander, swam the strait between 
 the island and the main, paid his visit, and re- 
 turned the way he came. It is related of Colonel 
 Tudor that when a boy, being on a visit aboard 
 an English line-of-battle ship in Boston harbor, 
 the conversation turned on swimming. Tudor 
 proposed to jump from the taffrail rail — which in 
 ships of that time was at a considerable height 
 from the water — if any one would do the same. 
 A sailor accepted the challenge. The boy took 
 the leap, but the man was afraid to follow." 
 
 In the end the colonel's wooing prospered. The 
 most bigoted 8 fair loyalist" that ever was could 
 not go on for years receiving letters signed "your 
 devoted rebel " from a man to whom she was really 
 attached without suffering a considerable abatement 
 of her devotion to her sovereign. Further, Miss 
 Jarvis had an innate honor of war ; and it was 
 but natural that during the colonel's long absence 
 she should torture herself with dreadful imagin- 
 ings of what might happen to him at any moment. 
 So she put an end to her torments by deserting 
 
312 C. S. PAKNELL, M. F. 
 
 from the royalists, and going over to the enemy's 
 camp, joined her life and fortunes with Colonel 
 Tudor's. 
 
 Honors showered on Colonel William. He was 
 appointed Judge-Advocate-General of Washing- 
 ton's army, and held a military position equal to 
 that of general. He presided over the courts- 
 martial at Cambridge after Washington's arrival 
 there. In his position of Judge-Advocate-Gen- 
 eral, his legal training and abilities gave him 
 great advantages over mere military men ; and 
 these he employed with success in defence of 
 many an accused one. In especial, a Colonel 
 Henley, who was charged with unmilitary conduct 
 towards British prisoners in his care, had reason 
 to be grateful to the Advocate-General. We 
 read : ft Henley owed his acquittal mainly to the 
 exertions of Colonel Tudor in his behalf. The 
 evidence showed that the prisoner had acted 
 under great provocation ; but what most influ- 
 enced the result was the startling testimony ad- 
 duced of the mutinous spirit prevalent among the 
 British soldiers." 
 
 When the war was over, and the colonel's 
 sword sheathed, he returned to Boston, and to 
 the practice of his profession, wherein he achieved 
 a reputation as " an eminent counsellor." He be- 
 came a member of the House of Representatives 
 of Massachusetts, and afterwards of the Senate. 
 He held the high office of Secretary of State in 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 313 
 
 1809 and 1810. He was appointed Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the Cincinnati of Massachusetts in 1816, 
 and was one of the founders of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society, in whose "Collections" appears 
 an extended memoir of him. He was an elegant 
 and a spirited public speaker, and his talents in 
 this line, as in others, we e frequently drawn on 
 by his fellow-citizens of Boston. He paid a visit 
 to Europe and saw the state of Ireland with his 
 own eyes. Mrs. Parncll says of him: — "I have 
 many charming letters of my grandfather, in one 
 of which he forcibly condemns from Ireland the 
 British government there. His letters are a won- 
 derful exemplification of his excellence and at- 
 tractiveness as a father, son, and husband. He 
 begins one letter to his wife with 'My truest 
 friend ; ' and ends it, ? I must cease to feel and to 
 reflect ere I cease to love and to admire yon.' 
 John Adams and Judge Tudor kept up a long 
 and interesting correspondence — a very valuable 
 one, being especially on political subjects of the 
 day. In John Adams' works, edited by a de- 
 scendant of his, his letters to Judge Tudor are 
 published." The judge died on the 8th of July, 
 1819. 
 
 "Miss Peabody, the sister of Mrs. Nathaniel 
 Hawthorne, wrote a beautiful account of my 
 grandmother," Mrs. Parnell says. "In it she 
 mentions my grandmother's resolution to do or 
 say something to contribute to the happiness of 
 
314 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 each one she daily met ; and her learning Spanish 
 at the age of seventy. Through her letters in 
 Spanish she procured from General Tacon the 
 monopoly of the ice-trade in Cuba for her son 
 Frederic. She read, wrote, and mended fine 
 lace, without spectacles, to ninety-two years of 
 age. Her poetry was very fine. One day, my 
 mother, coming in with the Washington National 
 Intelligencer y said: ? I have found a rare thing — 
 a fine piece of poetry in the newspaper,' and read 
 out, to my grandmother's surprise, a piece by her- 
 self on a Fourth of July oration, by John Quincy 
 Adams, at the Capitol, where several old revolu- 
 tionary soldiers were present. My mother was 
 delighted to learn that her own mother wrote it. 
 The latter was descended from some of the ad- 
 venturous Puritans who sought this shelter, and 
 the name Delia was originally Deliverance. She 
 is mentioned in Comte de Segur's memoirs. Her 
 home in Boston, wherein her two beautiful and 
 accomplished daughters did the honors, was 
 the rendezvous of all the French officers stationed 
 near. She addressed some fine verses hi French 
 to Marie Antoinette, which were acknowledged 
 by the latter. 
 
 "Of her two daughters, Emma married Robert 
 Hallowell Gardiner, of Oaklands, Gardiner, 
 Maine; and Delia married Commodore Charles 
 Stewart, of the United States Navy. Emma had 
 the splendid Tudor eye, and her mother's delicate 
 
C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 315 
 
 complexion, auburn hair, and exquisite figure. 
 Delia, my mother, had the Norman combination 
 of fine, curling, coal-black hair, blue eyes, and a 
 complexion like a tinted rose-leaf. She was tall, 
 and remarkable for fine-cut regular features, sym- 
 metry, grace, and a dignity and elegance of car- 
 riage that were truly regal." 
 
 Besides his two daughters, Judge Tudor left 
 two sons, William and Frederic, both very re- 
 markable men. William, the eldest, had a 
 strongly intellectual bent of nature. While 
 almost an infant he had imbibed his mother's 
 horror of war, and if any one sang in his pres- 
 ence the once popular song, "Oh, what a glorious 
 thing's a battle! drums a-beating, colors flying," 
 he would burst out a-sobbing. Ordinarily, how- 
 ever, he was a bright-witted and lively little boy. 
 When about three years of age he climbed on to 
 the table after a dinner-party, and was engaged 
 in draining the wine-glasses when the black but- 
 ler of the family discovered him. To disarm the 
 negro's wrath the little fellow seized a glass and 
 cried, "Your health, Mr. Pompey ! " so much in 
 the fashion of his elders that the butler did no 
 more than grin. From Blake's and Drake's 
 (American) Biographical Dictionaries the follow- 
 ing memoir of William Tudor has been com- 
 piled : — 
 
 "Tudor, William, scholar and diplomatist, was 
 born at Boston, the 28th of January, 1779. He 
 
316 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 graduated at Harvard College with distinguished 
 honor in 1796 ; and soon after visited Europe for 
 the improvement of his mind. He was an ob- 
 servant traveller, and treasured up for future use 
 a vast and varied fund of information and anec- 
 dote. He returned to his native country with an 
 ardent desire for the improvement of his fellow- 
 citizens in arts and literature. He was the pro- 
 jector and first editor of the North American 
 Review" — the same distinguished periodical in 
 the April 1880 number of which appears his rela- 
 tive Charles Stewart ParnelPs splendid paper on 
 the Irish land question — w which Review has since 
 become identified with the best literature of our 
 country. In whatever Mr. Tudor undertook he 
 had a single eye to the intellectual advancement 
 of his countrymen. No man in public life was 
 ever more distinguished. When a member of the 
 legislature of Massachusetts, he proposed many 
 plans in aid of his favorite object ; but they met 
 with opposition from those who, though they re- 
 spected his motives, considered him a visionary. 
 Several of his projects have, however, since been 
 accomplished, and in the very manner that he first 
 suggested. For two years he wrote all the first 
 Images of the North American Review himself. 
 According to himself, he wrote the whole of the 
 first number, even to the notices, etc., in it. He 
 had previously aided in founding the Anthology 
 Club, publishing his European Letters in their 
 
O. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 317 
 
 magazine, the Monthly Anthology, begun in No- 
 vember, 1803, continued until 1811, and sup- 
 ported by the best pens in Boston. In November, 
 1805, he founded the ice-traffic in tropical climes 
 as the agent of his brother Frederic, which has 
 grown to be an important branch of commerce ; 
 and he was afterwards engaged in other commer- 
 cial transactions in Europe, requiring ability and 
 address. Mr. Tudor was the originator of the 
 present Bunker's Hill Monument, and one of 
 the founders of the Boston Athenaeum in 1807. 
 In 1823 he was named consul at Lima, Peru; 
 and in 1827 was appointed charge d'affaires tit the 
 court of Brazil, where he negotiated a treaty, the 
 last of his public works. Mr. Tudor acquired 
 the personal affection of the Emperor, and the 
 respect and admiration of the carps diplomatique. 
 His character as a literary man and an accom- 
 plished gentleman had preceded him ; and it was 
 well observed that his country was honored in 
 such a representative. Besides his contributions 
 to several periodicals, and his critiques in the 
 y~orth American Review, he published f A Dis- 
 course before the Humane Society,' 1817; 'Let- 
 ters on the Eastern States,' 1820; 'Miscellane- 
 ous,' 1821; 'Life of James Otis,' 1823; ' Gebel 
 Teir,' 1828. He died at Rio Janeiro, the 9th of 
 March, 1830." He was only in his fifty-fourth 
 year then ; and he succumbed to an illness which 
 had its origin a great many years before in an act 
 
818 C. S. PARN&LL, M. I\ 
 
 of kindly humanity, when, travelling in Germany, 
 and seeing a soldier's wife with her infant on the 
 outside of the coach at night in a storm of rain, 
 he gave his own inside place to the poor woman 
 and child, and took her outside one himself. The 
 climax of his disease was brought about by labo- 
 rious journeys, on foot as well as on horseback, 
 into the wild and mountainous interior of Brazil. 
 Mrs. Parnell writes of him :— • 
 
 "Lord Ponsonby, one of his colleagues at the 
 court of Dom Pedro the First, said that such was 
 my uncle William Tudor's humane and judicious 
 advice, and such the influence he exerted over the 
 Emperor, who consulted him on all occasions, that 
 had he lived, the Emperor never would have lost 
 his throne. A succeeding consul told me that 
 my uncle William's beauty and nobility of form 
 and feature made a never-forgotten impression on 
 him. He thought he had never seen any one so 
 handsome. He resembled my mother. This 
 consul also related to me the first act of my uncle 
 on coming aboard the ship where this future con- 
 sul was — an act which in its simplicity and great- 
 ness seemed fitly to accompany his appearance. 
 The mate of the vessel had died on board, leaving 
 his widow and orphaned children at Callao, Peru. 
 My uncle spontaneously and immediately gave 
 them a home in his house, until they could be 
 comfortably sent to their own home and friends. 
 How few consuls thus treat their exiled country- 
 
C. S. PAKNELL, M. P. 819 
 
 men ! I remember the terrible grief and desola- 
 tion of my mother's heart and home when the 
 news of his death reached us at Washington. 
 The diplomatic corps there called to condole with 
 my poor mother. Congress had his very remark 
 able diplomatic correspondence published — for 
 use and enjoyment both." 
 
 Of her uncle, Frederic Tudor, brother of the 
 William above noticed, and whose genius lay 
 more in the commercial line, Mrs. Parnell sup- 
 plies the information subjoined : — 
 
 "Through gigantic endeavors, though often 
 frustrated, he succeeded in restoring his family 
 fortunes and the prestige of the Tudors for 
 wealth. Ho discovered how to preserve ice for 
 long journeys, and conceived the idea that the 
 chief staple of New England — viz., ice — should 
 be a chief source of profit ; and he gathered a 
 harvest of precious metal from frozen waters. 
 The ice he sent, especially to the East Indies, has 
 preserved many a life. He received specially 
 handsome acknowledgments of his services from 
 the East Indies. 
 
 "Some of the agents in the West Indies not at 
 first succeeding, he chartered a vessel, freighted 
 it with ice, and sailed in it himself to the West 
 Indies. I have seen a letter written then by his 
 tender and terrified mother, expressing her fears 
 lest the ice should melt on the voyage and the 
 vessel be capsized. But he went; and, like the 
 
320 C. S. PARNELL, M. P. 
 
 farmer in the fable, immediately prospered by at- 
 tending to his business himself. 
 
 "He was remarkable for his wrt and tor his 
 strong character, which made him, while very 
 droll, very incisive in his speech, and very forci- 
 ble in his views. He had the peculiar beauty of 
 the family then — black hair, blue eyes, a fine 
 figure, a high broad forehead, and regular feat- 
 ures. At his fine place at Nahant he made prize 
 peaches grow on a rock just over the sea, and 
 discovered how to prevent them being injured by 
 the salt in the atmosphere while they received the 
 full advantage of the air. His letters are very 
 entertaining. So also are the letters of his sister, 
 my aunt Emma. I remember particularly her 
 poetical expressions ; and a line in one of her let- 
 ters, while I was a child, when, describing a place 
 she was in, she wrote, 'The frogs croak a bass to 
 the whistling wind.' " 
 
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