The Irish standard., 1889-04-06

That one side of the house OF commons
stands up bareheaded to do him hom
age. While the cheers we're yet ringing
on Friday night my mind went back t(
another scene in the same house not sc
many wears ago-a scene Of which too
Parne1l was the central figure. Then
too. the house was crowded to excess
An English statesman, the late N-r
Forster, was denouncing MIR. Parnell
and both sides OF the house were clam
orous with delight. Mr.. Forster was
treating the House with series of ex
tracts from speeches alleged to have
been delivered by MIR. Parnell. Mr.
Parnell was listening with his usua
cold conposure. AT length some pass
ages were read which surprised and
sven startled him. some extraordinary
indictments to violence were undoubt-
edly conveyed in the sentences read out
to the house: and the house roared loud
aud long in it's passionate anger and
hatred. Suddenly Mr. Parnell sprang
to his feet and cried out: MIR. Speak
er," and endeavored to address the
house. Now, Of course, to the elemen-
tary rules Of order, one member must
not address the house while another is
speaking. But it is the commonest thing
in the world that if the orator in pos
session should make some inaccurate
statement which CAN be. cOntradicted
at once another member should rise to
interpose the contradiction. The TAO
ment the one man rises to correct the
| mistake the man who has been speak,
ing resumes his seat and allows the cor"
rection to be suggested. This happens
every day. and it is recognized as the
most convenient practice that the cor
rectlon should be made at once, and
that the error should not be allowed to
remain uncorzected until after the
speech which contains it is over. But
this night the house would not listen
to Mr.. Parnell. He rose again and
again; the house shouted, yelled, raved
| against him. No mans voice could be
heard above the din. After awhile be
sat Gown with his quiet. half contempt
uous smile, and made no further af-
fort to be heard just then. What was
it that he had TO sayp Simply this:
That he had never made the speech he
was charged with making, or any
speech at all like it. The truth Of the
matter soon came out. Mr. Forster had
got together Z; mass of extracts from
speeches made by all manner of men in
ireland, aud he had muddled them up
somehow, and had in his haste ascribed
to Parnell speech made on a certain
day in ireland by an utterly obscure
person whose very name, / confess, /
had never heard before, at meeting
where Parnell was not present, on a
platform some hundred miles away
from the platform on which Parnell
was standing at the time. Mr.. Forster
acknowledged his error Immediately
after. The House Of Commons made
splendid atonement for it's error on
Friday night.
Parnell now and ParneD then ! Did
eyer any man in England come from
that position to this in such a time
there is no change in the man. The
world has come to him; he has not gone
out to seek the world. Like Orlando
in LAS You Like it. he has wrestled
vel, and cverthroWn more than bis en-
emies. He has conquered by the VIZ
tue of his cause and by the unselfsh
heroism with which he has clung to it
and c}aaved to it. I remember him
when his followers in the House of
Commons were but six OF seven. re-
member when he felt hopeful, not to
say elated, because onr number had
amounted to twenty. Now we have
the whole democracy of England, Scot
land and Wales at our back. Now we
have Gladstone at our head. Parne]l
now is just what Parnell was then.
Then he was inspired by quiet hope;
now he is not upborne by personal
pride Simple, unpretending, modest
as free from vanity as he is free from
fear-he takes his triumph as calmly as
he took his many defeats When he
had finished his speech Friday night
and sat down, he turned to friend and
colleague who was seated near him.
"What did you all stand up for?" he
asked; ''you almost startled me I" See
how the stars in their courses which
once seemed to be fighting against him,
as they were fighting against Sisera,
have now come to fight on his side.
Why, it his enemies and the enemies Of
his country had not got up against him
the vilest conspiracy ever known in
Eng lish history since the DAYS of Titus
Oates, the liberal party IN the House Of
Commons might never have had an op-
portunity of rising and standing bare
headed to receive him when he came
back victorious over the slanderers and
the perjurers and the forgers and the
suborners of false witness against their
neighbor.