The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-11-30
Stand by ParneIl--He Is Ircianl's
Only Hope.

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Only Hope.
We observe with grief and alarm
the concentrated attack which
the shrewd enemies and the foolish
friends Of Irish home rule are making
upon Charles Stewart Parnell, the
consummately cool, courageous and
skillfuI organizer and leader of the
Irish Parliamentary party. In the
cessation OF bis leadership we can see
no prospect but that of absolute
collapse in the cause for which he has
fought for years.
Wedo not desire to be regarded as
excusing or paliiating Mr.. ParnelIs
private immortality. It is a thing TO
be at once deplored aud condemned.
It Is a phase OF his Character which
might properly initiate against his
admission to Christian family circles.
It is blot and a stain on his reputa-
ton; it is a falling which must dimin-
ish the general respect for him as an
individual member OF society.
But 30 pretend that il affects his
ability or standing as statesman
is as absurd as to assert that it would
render him incapable of commanding
an army if he had the necessary mill
tary genius. The greatest and bright
est names in the political history OF
the world are sinirched with the re-
proach of incontinence, and yet their
private vices no more diminish the
lustre of their fame than they reduced
the contemporary value Of their
Efforts
Indeed if the roll of statemen were
reviewed, it would be harder to
find names that were wholly free from
this reproach than those whose vices
were inferior in magnitude to their
genius. In our own country, some Of
the lives that we are most accustomed
TO regard with generation would not
bear close examination, and the Irish
leader who has become almost the
tuteiary genius OF Irish politics, the
renowned and splendid Daniel
O'ConnelI, was notoriously lover Of
the fair sex with reckless disregard
OF the Seventh Commandment which
cannot be exaggerated
With SO much history TO fall back
upon, it is not easy to see why Mr..
Parnell should be singled out as a vic
tim to the British Inatron's prudery,
unless on the theory that he is the
one man whom the British statesman
finds invincibie. Mr.. Parnell abso-
lutely created the present Irish Par
Hanentary party. From the heart of
the iate Isaac Butts vague and dis
heartened Hone Rule" cohort he
took handful of followers. Assuni-
ing the aggressive in the House of
Commons he gradually drew to his
standard all the elements Of combat
that the interests, the despair or the
patriotism OF his country could sup
ply. He suppressed those dissen-
sions which had before been
the bane Of Irish politics.
He held his followers with q
firm hand. and he guided them with
a fixed purpose. Seeing into futuri ty,
even to the issue of his great enter
prise. he never yielded either to the
iInpatience Of his own side or the i'm
petuosity of adverse attack. Calm
and resolute, he advanced day by day,
session by session, election by election,
towards the goal.
And all this while, where was Mr..
William Ewart Gladstone2 Why, he
was the leader of British ministry
which was adopting measures to re-
strict debate, passing coercion laws
FOR Ireland, and keeping Irish mem
hers Of Parliament- ParnelI himself
among them in Kilmainhain Jail.
+ But ParnelI was only human, and
while in his public capacity he was
heroic, in his private life he fell BY
the way and sinned. And now Mr..
Gladstone, his old zine jailer, comes
clanoring for bis blood.
We wonder will the Irish people