New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-08
DEATH OF Mr.. PARNELL.

The death of Mr. Parnell would have been
little less than a catastrophe year Ego. From
his entrance upon public life at Westminster
in 1875 to his downfall in the divorce court
he was more than the stronghold and defence
of Home Rule He was the dayspring of a
new era of political regeneration for Ireland.
Whatever may have been the causes OF tho
decline of the islands fortunes, and large or
small as may have been England's share Of
responsibility for its misgovernment and eco
nomic ruin, he was the only hope of an impov-
erished and despairng people. Many schemes
of administrative reformation and agranan re-
lief had been enacted by English legislators,
whose cOnscienceS were harried when they read
the records left by their own historians of the
misgovernment and oppression Of Ireland by
an alien race What the island needed moro
than land bills or reform measures was man
capable of embodying in his own heroic purpose
the aspirations and enthusiasm OF his race Tor
self-goyernment. Mr.. Parnell's was leader
ship vitalized with self-sacrifce, patriotism and
, the virtues of Irish soil. Life can only come
from contact with life. That leadership impart-
ed to his country a life giving touch of creative
energy and the inspiration of hope.
Mr.. Parnell rescued the Irish cause from the
hollow mockery of Mr.. Butts dress-parade de-
bates on Home Rule and forced it upon the
attention of English legislators and constt-
uencies to the exclusion Of everything else were
English rather than Irish. That was true.
He was not an orator like OConnell or Grattan.
He was not parliamenarian nor diplomatist
like Flood. He was utterly devoid OF humor,
the characteristic trait Of his race. His was
not a sympathetic, impetuous nature, such as
ordinarily attracts IriShmen. lie was Protest.
ant. and had nothing in common with the re-
ligious feeling of his race. His imperiouS will,
his cool, calculating judgment, his iniieuble
determination, his logged persistence, and his
cynical contempt for the opinion of his adyer-
sarjes were English traits. Through those traits
and characteristics he won his battle in an Eng
| fish Parliament where other Irish leaders had
failed. If there was ever an English bulldog
| fighting in the kennel at Westminster it was
Parnell.
English as this aggressive leader was in his
methods and bearing he had as loyal an Irish
heart as ever quickened its beat under the in
fuencc of his country's wrongs and its hopes
of REDEMPTION. He loved his country as only
|
life force, all that he was or hoped to be, in de-
fence of its liberties and in magnificent strug-
gle to accomplish her legislative independence.
! He enlisted in the Home Rule cause when all
his selfish interests lay with the continuance of
| the political domination of the privileged land
holding class to which he belonged. That first
sacrifice involved obloquy in the country where
he was educated imprisonment in Kilmainham
iail, and malevolent persecution on false charges
and forged evidence in an English court. These
were sacrifices which endeared him to his coun-
try because they were proofs that he had true
| Irish heart.
The clangor of controversy which has filled
the last year of Mr.. Parnell's life will be hushed
before his grave. If his race has had some
thing, perhaps much, to forgive in his conduct
during the closing scenes Of his career 1t has
infinitely more to be grateful for in his services
to its cause and in the inspiration of his patriot
ism. With his English traits and his Irish heart
he accomplished for his country what no other
man of his time could have done. If his death
be not catastrophe now, as 1t would have been
not long ago, it is because his success had been
50 oyermastering and his triumph so glorious
that he could not himself, with all his resources
of genius, influence, and inhexibe will, undo
his work Parnell was needed not only to
revive and unite Ireland, but also to convert
a Gladstone and English Liberalism 10 Homo
Rule. His work is done another year will wit
ness it's full fruition.