New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-28
A CROVN OF FIG LEAVES.

Loyalty TO the uncroWHcu hinS was oh
Irish virtue 30 long as it implied devotion
to the cause which he had made his own. 1t
ceases to be virtue when it involves the sac
rifce OF tho cause. 1t becomes blind, in
fatuated, unreasonable partiSanship wien 1t
sets self-interest above patriotism and prin-
ciple. Mr.. Parnell when prisoner in Kill
mainham was a heroic figure. He was type
of sef-sacrifce, patriotic endurance OF per-
sonal hardship and devotion to his country S
interests Mr.. Forster imprisoned an agrarian
agitator and Parliamentary Obstructionist
and released hero and a martyr Mr.. Par
nell struggling at Westminster to-day to re-
tain leadership which will ALLEVIATE the sup
port of large proportion of the English and
Scotch constituencies is a type of political dcs-
peration and selfishness. At Kilmainham he
was capable of making every sacrifice for prln-
ciple and the welfare of the Irish people.
Now he deliberately chooses to assume that Ire
land, the English Liberals and Mr.. Gladstone
are called upon to make a series OF sacrifices
| for him that they must consent to condOne his
shocking immortality as a harmless and lnno-
cent eccentrcity of genius, and that the tri-
umph of Home Rule must be indefinitely de-
ferred for the sake of vindicating soed and
tattered reputation. Such loyalty to the dis
graced leader involves disoyalty to the Ma
| tiOnal cause.
| The special plea urged by Mr.. ParnelPs
apoOgsts is grounded upon his eminent SER
| vices to Ireland. The argument is that he has
done so much for the island that generosity
and magnanimity should be exercised in judg-
ing his private immortality. That is to say,
| lie viz ha nd diOuifiod vii
public approval because he has been successful
! in converting Mr.. Gladstone and the English
Liberals to his view of Home Rule Let this
plea for gratitude be adapted to MIR. Gladstone's
case and a better argument can be based upon
| it, Ireland owes much to Mr.. Parnell but
certainly not more than it owes to Mr.. Glad
stone. One has made Home Rule a supreme
| issue in the island the other has taken it
up and forced it upon the attention of England
and Scotland. If the English statesman had
not interviewed and undertaken to convert the
Liberal party to Home Rule the Irish obstruc
tionsts would still be leading forlOrn hope
in the Commons. Mr.. GladstOne's services to
| Ireland have been pre-eminent Now is the
! time for the Irish members and people to show
| their gratitude to him. When he asks them to
| abandon a disgraced leader they should remem-
Der the sacrifices which he has made in becOm-
| ing the English champion of the Irish cause
| They should not force him to choose between
| abandoning Home Rule and Sanctioning IL
centiousness in their leader. That is base
] return for his noble and unsefsh advocacy of
| the Irish cause.
| Gratitude to Mr.. Parnell ought not to in
| volve ingratitude to Mr.. Gladstone. The pri-
vate vices of the one ought not to outweigh
| the public services of the other. If any one
be called upon to make sacrifice it is the
man whose offences against public morals have
| found him out, and not his English associate,
who forecasts with unerring judgment the
| disastrous consequences of glazing immortality
in prejudicing English constituencies against
Home Rule That Mr.. Parnell's leadership
will be fatal to the success of the Liberal
party is admitted by every impartial observer
in England. The fact that the Conservatives
have suddenly resolved to appeal to the coun-
try as soon as possible shows that they expect
to profit largely by the scandal. Loyalty to
Mr. Parnell not only implies in this crisis in
gratitude to Mr.. Gladstone, but also indiffer-
ence to the lIOme-Rule cause. Ii involves the
sacrifice of everything which the Irish in
the United Kingdom and America have been
struggling to accomplish during the last fifteen
years and to What end? To cover the naked
ness of Mr.. Parners immoral life--to crown
the uncrowned King with garland of fig