The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-04-03


thesis that the Irish members of
Parliament were the accomplices Of .
assassins, "mOOnlighters," and other
offenders against persons or pro
perry. On top Of them came the
forged letters intended TO show that
ParneI was actually cognIzant Of
and approved Of the murders of
Burke and Cavendish. and Of the
plot to murder Mr. Forster.
In legislating IN this way for the
benefit Of the Times, the Ministry
were undoubtedly giving a quid pro
quo. When, after cOQuetting with .
the Irish IN 1885, denOuncing cOer-
cion, and half promising Home Rule, /
they found in 1856 that GladstOne's .
scheme was SO unacceptable to the +.
English constituencies that they T.
could get a majority in the House .
without the help Of the Irish, they /
fell back once more on the natural
Tory plan Of 'TesOlute government .
or rigorous policy" Ia other
words, determined on plan Of cOer- .
ciou which should have certain novel
should be perpetual in its operation,
and not limited in point Of time, as
all previous ones We're E; another
was, that the power Of imprisonment
at hard labor as common felOns
under 1t should be given to remOv
able justices Of the peace, sitting
without a jury, and that it should
cover speeches or writings which
should, IN the eyes of these jurists,
have a tendency to promote boycott
ing OF nOn-payment of rent, or to
! prevent people from taking evicted
farms To get bill like this passed,
with the help Of the Liberals who
had deserted Gladstone, and large
numl g IS of whom had pledged Il en-
/ selves on the stump against coercion
| and in favor of the government Of
| ireland by ordinary equal laws, OF
| course was not an easy matter. Eng
/ Hshmen were not quite prepared for
anything so drastic as putting II IN
! the power Of the Irish Secretary to
thin the benches Of the Opposition
by shutting up the opponents of the
government in jail on plank beds.
To carry it through, it was absO-
lutely necessary that the Irish mem
bers should be made to figure in
! English eyes as common criminals,
the friends and companions of assas-
sins, so that public opinion should
be prepared for any coercion bill
| however ferOciOus.
This work the Times undertook by
producing the pamphlet so widely
known as "Parnellism and Crime"
and by a series Of articles on the
Irish members, Of extraordinary
ferocity, in which they were really
described as unfit for human soci-
ETY.. When the Coercion Bill was
ready for its second reading, facsi-
miles Of the forged Parnell letters
were produced on the morning be
fore, and accepted by the supporters
of the Government as genuine, and
the bill went through with a rush.
Parnell'8 indignant denial was re
ceived with derisive laughter, and
the Times treated it as an aggrava-
ton of his crimes. English society
then started that system Of prOsecu-
ton in which a certain portion of it
} always delights. Not only were the
Irish members treated as the vilest
Of their species, but a strict boycott
was set on foot against everybody
who would associate with them. To
have dined with Parnell or Healy
entailed a sentence Of eXclu
sion from all Tory and Uni
onist drawing rooms, and the
immortality" Of the Home Rulers
became a favOrite topic of semi
sacred journals like the Spectator, as
we'll as Of common secular JingOes
like the Telegraph and Saturday
Review. ParnelI-a very sick man
was pursued in city and country
by reporters, who daily reported his
movements as those Of an escaped
criminal, and threw out the most
OdiOus destinations about his walk
and conversation. In fact. it is not
too much to say that the life Of the
Irish members i'll London during the
past two years, under the batting Of
the Times, has been as near an APP
prOach to " hell upon earth as Is
possible in a well-policod Christian
city. The bulk Of them were men Of
the ordinary somewhat coarse type
which peasants have to elect when
they have but few gentlemen on
their side: but PaTneIl, and Sexton,
and Dillon, and others are men Of
education and refinement, on whose
health and spirits these long pro
tracted social barbarities could not
but tell. At last the day Of reckon
ing has come, and the whole fabric
of iniquity," as Mr.. Gladstone has
called it. has fallen to pieces through
the confessions Of a forger, black
mailer, and vender Of obscene htera-
ture. On this wretch, whom the con
ductors of the Times actually fore
bore to inquire about lest they should
ruin their game, nine-tenths OF the
! snnnrstrnctIlra seams to have rested.