New-York tribune., 1883-03-12
MR.. PARNELL.
HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE POSITION IN
ENGLISH POLITICS.


powerful speech, the House undoubtedly
allowed itself to judge Mr.. Parnell without hearing
him. They had, to be sure, heard him often enough
before, they had read him when speaking else
where, they knew something of his Land League or
ganization, and they knew that he had carefully abb
stainedfr from cricsng, and still carefully from
interfering WITH the outrages to which he and the
League owed their authority in Ireland. Still, when
members came together on Friday, the senti-
ment of fair play. never long absent, had re-
sumed its usual hold on their feelings. They
were5ully disposed to give Mr. Parnell hearing, and
a fair hearing. The temper Of the House must have
been evident enough to old q member and so cool
an observer as Mr. Parnel He had only to take ad-
vantage of 1t. If he had shown disposition to meet
the charges against him on their merits, to refure
them, or even to admit his guilty knowledge OF
agrarian crime and express his regret for 1t, the
House would certainly have done him full JUS
tce.
But Mr.. ParneIl had to speak to two audiences,
tho House of Commons and that Ireland which Mr.
Trevelyan hopes is the lesser but which constitutes
the bulk of Mr. Panelps political following, the Ire
| land which commits or condones agrarian crime. de
stood in the presence of two tribunals. To obtain
an acquittal FROM one would be to insure condem-
| nation by the other. He had to choose. The d.
| lemma, admit, was hard one but many dilemmas
in this best OF all possible worlds hard. and
man must be judged by his choice between the al
ternatives offered him. Mr.. Parnel deliberately
elected to win the approval OF that Ireland of out
| rage and crime which he has at his back. He an
nounced his purpose In the first sentences OF his
speech. So far was the House at that moment from
spirit of harshness. that members received the
| damnng confession ut first with Incredulity.
They really could not believe that Mr. Parnell was
going to sit down for the rest of his life under the
| load Of infamy laid upon him, and not make one
| effort to lift 1t and cast it away But the most
| increduous were convinced, and when Mr..
| ParnelPs speech came TO an end he had not made
one serious effort to disprovo the circumstantial
accusations against him, or to meet tho evidence by
which they had been supported. SO far as his fame
in England Is concerned, he had better have per-
sisted in the stubborn silence he had kept during
tho week. II no had remained dumb. people
might still have supposed he had some defence he
did not choose to Offer But he has spoken, no has
offered no defence, and verdict and sentence have
been pronounced against him by what Is
practically an all but unanimous English public.
The stain of blood is him, and wash 1T off he
not He enters the House henceforth with rep
utatOn ravaGod by crlme and 1T will be bold
faction among Englishmen that shall venture now
| to ally itself with Mr. Parnell.
None the less did the Irish leader proceed on the
following Monday with his attack on the Govern
ment in respect of the administration of the Crimes
Act in Ireland. Tho amendment which Mr.. Parnell
moved to the Address denounced the exercise Of
official hority in Ireland styrannical and unjust
asserted tha. gross license of oppression existed,
alleged that constitutional agitation is despoticay
impeded and presented aud wound up with the
declaration that Justice IL administered in most
| partial and preiudiced spirit, aud that the conf
dence of the people in the application OF the law IS
destroyed by a system Of jury packing which has
already in the opiDion of The vast majority of the
Irish people led TO many iniquitous sentences and
the execution Of innocent persons, while 1t Is prac-
tically impossible to obtain justice protection for
the masses Of the people from tho present admins
| traitors of the law"
These are very grave charges Urged by n
| who has held Mr. Parnclps position in public lIfe
there can be but justification for bringing them
forward in the present state OF public opinion In
| Ireland. They would become justifable when they
were proved. Mr.. Parnell spoke an hour and half
| and he did not even attempt to prove them. The
! two English Journals most disposed TO champion
| his cause are Tho Pail Mall Gdsette and The
| Daily Nelcs. The former found it convenient
| on the day following Mr. Parnelrs discourse to
| devote its editorial page TO discussion Of very
| obeap money! Mr. Parnel il dealt with III para
graph which complains that his speech did not
Justify the terms of his amendment. and concludes
with the remarkable admission that probably no
country passing through the thrOos of a social revo
luton has ever had TO complain of so little inter
ference with individual liberty on the part of au-
tl,orties armed with such arbitrary power" The
| Daily Ners, describing the language OF the
amendment as violent and almost" abusive
roundly declares that "Mr. Parnell offered nothing
III the shape of proof Of his accnsations In tone
which II we're to be wished were more frequent.
the same journal says 1t is nothing less than scan
dalous that judges and jurors doing their duy at
tho risk of their lives should be publicly calumniated
without shred of testimony being adduced
against them. "There has boen," ADDS this parti-
san of Irish agitation, no serious attempt to show
that the evidence on which any single conviction for
murder was obtained did not support the concu-
sion thus arrived at"
| commend that admission TO those American
Journals IN tho Irish interest which have been talk
| ing mischievous nonsense about packed tribunals
TO the Public Ledger, OF Philadelphia for example.
Not that suppose this journal to represent, or in
nurnce an important public opinion, bus because 1t
derives here IN Engl land facttious prominence from
the connection of Of its odtOrs with the Times
! as correspondent Mr.. Joel Cook telegraphs
| with respect to Shcridan's extradtion that
| n strong feeling is expressed in the
newspapers throughout the country that he should
| not be surrendered, and. evidence of strong
feeling throughout tho country he cites from the
| Philadelphia sheet 10 which he contributed tine re-
mark that "Carey's accusation is scarcely enough
to justify placing any one at the mercy OF the pres
ent Dublin jures, which seem organized to convict,
like some OF our own cOurts-martial during the late
war" This little squirt of the old Copperhead
venom need not surprise us But as to Dublin
juries, there has been timo enough for even
Philadelphia paper TO learn that the accusations
against them have totally and hopeessly broken
down. They have been made with perhnacity'
The hostility of the criminal classes has found vent
at one time in the attempted murder
of a Judge and jury at Others in the Parnellite
press, aud now last OF all in Mr.. ParnelPs formal,