St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-03
IRISH PARLlAMENTS.
]Olegs Green as It Was in the Past and
May Be Again in the Future.
Manners, speech, Dress and Methods
OF the Associates OF Grattan.
Changes During the ParneiIite Period
--Logic - Against oratory.


The parliament Of Ireland that Is to be
will occupy the house Of the parliament of
Ireland that was. How will the new men
compare with the old? Will there be such
scenes in the new as there were In the old?
How will the dress the social usages, the
elOquence, aye. the conflicting ambitions of
the new compare with those or the old?
i.
The parliament house occupies an acre
and half In the heart OF Dublin. Ii Is a
magnificent stone building, whose majesty
OF proportions and beauty Of outline might
have been sufficient, with its noble memo
ries, to keep alive the spirit Of nationality
in the breasts Of q brave people. The edi-
ice Is In nearly semi-circular form. The
principal front consists Of colonnade Of
the Ionic order. extending around three
sides Of quadrangle. In the center Is a
projecting portico on four columns. On
these rests a triangular pedment, In the
tympanum Of which are the royal arms.
Rising above the apex of the pediment Is
statue Of Hibernsa, with one Of FL
deity on the right and OF Com
merce on the left The east front
has a portico OF six Corinthian col
umns; on the apex Of the pediment Is a
statue Of Fortitude, with Justice on
one side and Liberty on the other. This
pOrtlco used to be the entrance to the
house Of lords. The west front has an
Ionic portico of four columns, with entabla-
ture. comlce and pediment corresponding
TO that of the principal front. Within the
central portico are two great entrances
communicating at each end with wide cor
ridors. This was the portion occupied by
the commons. 1t is used now by the Bank
Of Ireland. The old house Of lords remains
in its original form. Ii is a iectsngle. with
semi-circulaT recess. In this the throne
was placed. The alterations Of the interior
OF the building for banking purposes have
left but little OF the original arrangement Of
the house Of commons IL also was rect
angular, with a semi-circle at one end
There was the chair OF the speaker, and be-
fore him, arranged not unlike the congrega-
ton In an Anglican chapel, sat the men,
bers. On the floor, during the last half
century Of the parliament might
have been seen the men who made
Irish oratOry celebrated; the men. too. who
played representative government-such 1t
was in Ireland-fUr the ever-increasing
benefit Of English trade. the neil who finally
for money. for place, for promises, sold
even the surviving sham OF Irish parlia-
mentary privilegest TO England. They were
elected by fraction Of the people; their
function was To make laws. They usurped
the prerogaIive of the entire people and
bartered what IL was not theirs to sell. but
which thev had the power, under the pro-
lection Of an English army, to deliver.
II.
There were lively, even bolsterous, days In
the Dublin of the old parliament before cor
ruption had eaten into its heart. The MEM
bers were all aristocrats or gentry. Before
the barbaTity of black broadclOth became
the rule they were attired in tine and fancy
costumes. Silver, gold or diamond buckles
were on their feet; long silk stockings dis
played shapely legs up to the knees.
breeches of velvet or satin or silk or figured
poplin formed the neither garments. Goats
of brocades. with ruffies, lace aud wigs
completed their apparel. and dangling
swords clattered on the pavements over
which they rarely trod. Rarely. for they
were generally borne along in gorgeous high
gilt carriages with two pair or three pair or
even four pair of spanking horses, and their
numerous attendants were in snowy livery.
with the loud and important bearing of the
servants of great masters. There were no
railroads in those days. and many of the
members often drove from their distant
seats the entire distance to Dublin i'm their
own equipages. resting by the way and
making the journey comfortable by peril
nent stOppages. They We're days when to
be popular man among gentry and arts
tOcraey meant an unlimited capacity TO
drink claret and whisky. and 10 supply
both in unstinted measure TO every one else;
and it was no uncommon sight I'm those
great days, when only landlords and land
lords tools went TO the Irish parliament. to
see a magnificent carriage wheeling down
Saekville street anu being halted by kindly
soldiery i'm front of the Parliament house,
every living thing therein or Herewith con-
nected. except the horses, being blindly,
madly or ludicrously drunk.
III.
The intemperance of those DAYS is not a
conjecture or a fable. There was scarcely
sober man in the lot that were masters
before Grartan's days, or who had 10 think
gravely about tomorrow. Their incomes
were ample from rentals of land TILED by
wretched serfs civily dead-dead to the
state. dead 10 commerce, dead to society.
Wretches who existed merely to paw rent,
they themselves wore scarcely any clothing
ate only potatoes. and were fortunate IL the
crops were not blighted; never crossed the
limits OF the estate on which they were
serfs. without the privileges of serfdom as
known in Russia before emancipation. or in
the thick wilds of the heart of Western
Europe in the days of medieval feudalIsin.
Wretches who lived on the traditions that
their sires had been chieftains. soldiers,
scholars; who. despite their scant robing,
meagre fare and unpartitioned novels. were
people Of pure morality, primitive pride,
natural self-respect and indomltable sturdi-
ness of spirit. People who. debarred by
law from learning to read, learned to
considerable extent to read and
to hate the laws that forbade
them; who. in the generations that
passed dismally along from the enactment
Of the penal laws until the institution of
schools TO which they were legally admis-
sable-only little more than fifty years ago
preserved marvellous fund Of literary
knowledge, copIous and delightful poesy,
music that charmed Haydn and a Flo
tow and all the world besides; dancing that
Is still. as it ever was, the drollest and gay
est on earth; profound religious feeling
and physical power which, although never
potent In the gross for their liberation for
lack Of numbers and resources. gave the