The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-15
THE PARNEI.L CASE.
Moral Drawn From the Great
Political Scandal.
or POLITICS AND MORALITY.
Rev. George A. Tewksbury Asks and
Answers the Question (Which
Is the GREATER,

"Politics and Mqrality-which is the
GREATER" was the subject of Rev George
h. Tewksbury at Plymouth Congregational
church last night, and the case of Charles
Stewart Parnell, the greatest political
scandal of modern times, furnished food
for the speakers arguments. Notwith-
standing the inclemency of the night the
auditorium, which is always too small to
accommodate the congregations that
gather there, was crowded to it's ut
most capacity and the preacher had
the closest attention of his hearers from
first to last. After the opening exercises,
which were Of more than an ordinary
character, Rev. Tewksbury took for his
text the passage from Matthew VIII, read
ing:
Think Not That I Came to Destroy the Law or
the Prophets; came Not to Destroy, but to Fal-
all.
Mr.. Tewksbury, in drawing the lesson
Of the evening from his text, said:
On the four buttresses Of the national
monument to the forefathers at Plymouth,
Mass, cut in solid granite, are four sitting
figures, representing Liberty. Law, Educa-
ton, Morality. The figure of Morality is
understood TO stand for Moses, the great
law-giver of the Hebrews. His face bears
decided aspect, majestic, yet pleasant,
sternncss. At his right side. supported by
and supporting his right hand, is a granite
slab, representing the tables of stone on
which were written the Ten Command
ments received at Horeb.
Is that figure of Morality sculptured
nuachronisn? Is the Law of the Ten Com
mandments out of date? Is it no longer
IN force? Then let that statue, though as
: work Of art finely conceived and timely
wrought, be broken into thousand frag-
ments as soon as possible, and another put
m its place.
But those commandments came to STAY
They are meant not for the Jews only, but
for MI men throughout all time. They are
Gods charter and constitution of univer-
sal human government. The angels Beth
lehcm chant of, "On earth peace, good will
among men," Is but an empty song of the
air, If it be not in principle rendering of
these ten words. The moral law is both
permanent and supreme.
tits an application of this two-fold truth
10 the case of Parnell, the great Irish leader,
the able and devoted advocate of home
rule in Ireland, which we propose now to
make The subject, in its latest issues and
present crisis, has challenged leading and
general attention in the papers, and on its
moral side may we'll challenge that of the
pulpit. Its prominence presents an oe-
casion which the pulpit should not be slow
70 improve, aud for improving which it
need make no apology, to inforce prin-
ciplc vital to the social and national well
fare of every people; and which is sug-
gestcd in the question: "Politics and
morality; which is the greater?"
Il Let US notice first in outline the issue
presented. We are familiar, doubtless, in
a general way, with the character and
history Of the cause of home rule in Ire
land, which took organic form in 1878 in
great national convention held at Dublin.
This action came as the capitalization Of a
iong-gathering and noble discomfort with
the relations of England To Ireland. 1t
Z vas the natural and worthy rebound and
}f0tcst ff0rn- the ieng course Of injustice
and oppression which may be said to
have begun with the supremacy of
England established by Cromwell in 1649,
and which, after repeated effort of resist
ance, ending only In failure, was made yet
more certain OF continuance in 1901 in the
legislative act which formally united Great
Britain and Ireland Even Mr.. Lecky, an
opponent of home rule, in his latest vol
umes, draws up what would seem to be a
most convincing record of the mistakes
and cruelties which have been thickly
scattered through the centuries of English
administration. The purport of .home
rule" is found in the solemn assertion, at
the conference in 1873, of 'sthe inalienable
right of the Irish people to self-govern-
ment;o and in the adoption of "the prin-
ciple Of federal arrangement, which
would secure TO the Irish parliament the
right of legislating for and regulating all
al q ii
Ireland, while leaving TO the imperial par
lament the power of dealing with all ques-
tons affecting the imperial crown and
government
The movement has gathered volume
from that day To this. 1t has had the
cordial sympathy and active support of
Mr. Gladstone, the great English COM
lnoner, the man of the people, within
whose spirit the sentiments of liberty and
Justice are rs native and vital as is the cur
rent of life itself. liz has been the warmly
avowed and vigorously advocated feature
of the English Liberal party. The great
middle class of England, the class that
held itself true to the cause of union and
liberty in our recent war, sending its warm
heart-beats then across the Atlantic, has
not failed To send the same heart-beats now
across the Irish channel, and to answer To
the cries of repression and distress in
Ireland, which its quick ear has heard. Ii
land, in and through this party of progress
and humanity, led by Mr. Gladstone, has
been against the England of the past in its
treatment of the Irish question.
Ten years ago, Charles ;. Parnell, who
was chief and foremost in bringing the
Home Rule party into being, was chosen
Its leader. He has managed II with con-
snmmate skill and wisdom. He has been
bold yet prudent, and has held in a mas
terly grasp the various elements of the
problem. "He has made Ireland a unit
FOR home rule. He has mustered its CO
horfs: ne has held his eighty or ninety
members of parliament as an invincihlS
force 10 make or unmake English politics.
He has gained the confidence of the no
biest of the English leaders. Gladstone
aud Morley have consulted with him conf.
dentially and have followed ms advice. y
As the enforced tribute TO his genius and
statesmanship. the cause he has SO ably
championed has seemed of late to be quite
on the verge of triumph. What has
turned the tide, whose majestic HoN
seemed hv the dial of events To be nearly
due--nay, 10 be almost 'full'-into 1
disastrous ebb, causing such revulSion Of
disappointment not in England only but
In this country
It is the proven committal Of this leader
of home rule of the crime of crimes against
The home. Ii is the proof of this. en-
dorsed by his own confession. II is his de
hberate and continued breaking of tbs
seventh commandment, which is: Thou
shalt not commit adultery"
Q. This has been done. second issue
that has seemed TO set aside the urst. has
been that of consequent fact. The paper:
and what wonderf have been fun OF the
agitation which this foul act has occa
stoned. The crime discovered, admitted
a,a ,oo3. EpsHxra thrOD~hOp the eSViijEaf