Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-11-07
PARyEL.
A Sketch Of the Leader OF the Irish
Land Agitation.
London Echo.

bSI lOCh dllh hcy' IL Is not NY III
tention to justify the observation, or to
discuss the anti-rent agitation in Ireland
in any shape, but it seems to me that
when politician comes to be regarded
by great many people as a rather
dangerous mainland there are great
many people of my friends way of
thinking-it is well the country should
know something about him. Gladstone
we know, and Beaconsfield we know;
but here is new factor in politics, as
the jargon of the day goes, about whom
nobody, except his own personal friends,
knows anything. To begin with, Mr..
Parnell--as | am for the moment bio
graphical, let me say Mr.. Charles
Stuart Parnell-although an Irish agi-
tator, and the hope of very "young
ireland" party, is, curiously enough,
not an Irshman at all, or one only to
II limited extent. He is American by
his mothers side, his mother being the
daughter of an admiral in the United
States navy, and his father comes of an
old English family, originally, believe,
from one Of the Midland counties. The
poet Parnell was one of his ancestors.
do not know at what date the Parnells
settled in Ireland, but it must have
been very long time ago, for the
grandfather of our Mr.. Parnell was the
last chancellor of the exchequer of the
Irish parliament. and Il bitter opponent
of the union. So much for the lineage
Of my hero. 1t is not by any means
contemplate. There are very many
peers VINO have not 30 good one.
Now for the man himself. | do not
know that previous to 1875 either Ire
land or England had ever heard of Mr..
Parnell His father was a quiet, I'M
obtrusive man of no mark ut all, EXCEPT
that he was once high sheriff for the
county of Meath, in which the family
property is situated. The first appear
ance of our friend on any stage was
when he made his bow to the speaker
Of the house o. commons, III April, 1875
with the return for the county of Meath
in his pocket. A tall, thin, fair, stud
ious young man Of 90 at that time, no
body then suspected in him the future
leader of n party of exasperation." He
had not long finished his studies at
Cambridge, and politics were practically
an unknown field to him, his chief ar
ticle of latin being ''home rule" which
Mr.. Butt had not long before invented
as an improvement on Fenianlsm, and
while il was then understood by young
Ireland to be II patriotic thing to believe
IN. That session, after the manner of
most new members, Mr.. Parnell was
mute. Mr.. Parnell heard vote after
vote of the estimates passed and clause
after clause of bills discussed in COM
mittee, and said not q word. The idea
of obstruction was then as far from his
mind as from, say, Admiral Eimon-
ston's. The following session he began
to find his feet and to interest himself
in small details of estimates and i,
seems to be about this time, on his see
ing tine success which attended per-
sistent criticism, that he thought
of obstruction. 1t was only by degrees,
however, that the policy Of obstruction
was developed, and the house itself is,
perhaps, in some degree responsible for
It, Everybody knows that the house
or rather the ministerial portion Oft, IL
somewhat impatient of criticism, es-
pecially of persistent criticism, of the
estimates. Dillwyn, Whitwell, and
few others have sort of prescriptive
right to make the same remarks and
ask the same questions year after year;
but no sooner does any new member
betray ~ disposition to pry into the Sc
crets of the public purse than the me-
chanical majority proceed to sit on him
after its own fashion. A hum of con-
versation arises as soon us d new man
gets upon his legs The new man being
under the impression that members are
merely careless, and not malicious,
raises his voice the takers raise theirs,
if the trial Of strength is continued long
enough, the house Is II perfect Babel OF
sound. This was Mr.. Parnells expert
ence.
Now, few men have the ten Gritty to
brave the house of commons. Ninety
nine members out of hundred, find
ing that they cannot get hearing, are
content to accept the inevitable. Not so
Mr. Parnell. Under slim and almost
etleminate exterior he has an iron will.
He refused to be put down. The more
the house would not listen, the more
he would talk. even although he could
not be heard a couple of benches of,
and his persistence gradually attracted
the support of the sympathetic Biggar
and one or two kindred spirits in the
same direction, who looked upon him
rs an Irish Martyr. BY and by he be.
gan to retaliate by talking when he had
nothing TO say, and SO during the SEES
sions of 1877 and 1873 the merits of Oh
struction as an engine for extorting con-
cessions from the government gradually
dawned upon him ard his faithful ad
herents, whose appearance IN the char
aeter of financial and administrative
critics the house resented in pretty
much the same way as his own. Per.
haps had Mr.. Parnell possessed in some
degree the oratorical faculty the house
would have treated him more kindly.
But he has Il harsh, monotonous voice,
which at once destroys all sympathy
between him and his hearers and his
manner is stiff, and, SO to speak, wood
en-. Since he has been in parliament
he has never, So far as recollect, spo-
ken upon any question of general pol
itics except tlogging, and that he took