St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-12-18
THE LESSON OF PARNELL,s FALL.

crowbar in hand prying open the
door of the office of United Ireland,
is recent picture that is presented
| to us of the cool, self-centred and dig
| nifed leader whom freemen every
where ha We delighted to honor. How
are the mighty fallen! If Parnell
finds himself irritated beyond his
| usual self-control, by the severe crit1-
cism that has been heaped upon him,
he has only himself to thank for it,
and he will benefit neither his own
cause nor that of Ireland by passion
ate and unreasoning action, by the
forcible capture of newspapers and
| by obstinately claiming the leader
| ship which his countryrnen will never
unanimously accord him. The hero
worship that holds allegiance to I'M
| worthy idols is not easily broken
down. Hence it happens that many
of his old followers still cling blindly
! to Parnell, in spite of the fact that
he has failed to meet the charges Of
heinous wrong that are made against
| him. But he cannot hold the full al
| and he knows it. If then he were the
| devoted patriot he claims to be, and
not an ambitious, self-seeking and
| passionate politician, he would have
stepped aside and urged the union of
his countrymen upon some leader
whom all could have followed and
who would have been acceptable to
Ireland's indispensable English allies
Instead of such a course as this we
see him leading a violent mob, giving
way to his temper and obstinately
insisting on dismembering his party
rather than sacrifice himself This
is not the course of good, true, or
great man, and serves to deepen
the conviction of Parnell's guilt.
Had he offered single manly de-
NAL of the charge against him, SO
high in honor has he been held that
a large part of his former admirers
would have accepted his word against
any but the most definite testimony
The time for such course has now
gone by We are forced to accept
the belief that Parnell has violated
the highest canons of purity, and in
creased the sin many fold by adding
treacherv to the friend who trusted
him. After this it is impossible to
believe in the honesty of the man or
his purposes.
1t seems to us that these considera-
tions are just and that the loud pro-
testations of loyalty to Parnell sa-
vor of Mysteries, and of disloya1ty to
Ireland No man can serve two
masters. To hold Parnell, the de
ceiver and migrate, above Irish unity,
at this critical period in Ireland S
long struggle, is to place the man
above the cause.
This is good time to assert be-
fore all people the principle-the only
safe one-that personal honor and
purity are essential to leadership
among men. Men may squeeze into
political office with furnished char
acters but they cannot, at least they
should not, be upheld as respected
leaders. If they are the whole fabric
of our English civilization must be-
come rotten and fall in ruins. No
civilization in history has ever sur
vived the pollution of its social life
and to avoid that high standard
must be set for the men who are to
be the exemplars and captains among
the people.
Not long ago no name was more
prominent among English states
men than that of Sir Charles Dixie
no Englishman had before him a
brighter future; yet when his moral
degradation was exposed he fell al
once and forever from his eminence
He dropped from political life, and ii
is to be remembered to his credit that
he showed a sense of his position and
accepted the verdict without a strug
gle. Parnell may well emulate his
example. There is evil enough in So
ciety but the moral sense of the En-
glish, Irish and American people is
not yet dead.