New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-11
Mr.. PARNELL.
HIS WORK FOR IRELAND AND HIS EysfrTY
TO ENGLAND.
MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL TRAITS OF HIs
oHARACTER-THn SPECIAL COMMISSION AND
THE DIVORCE coURT-FUTURE LEADER
SHIP OF THE IRISH PARTY.

CHARACTERIZED SPECIAL COMMISSION AND
THE DIVORCE coURT-FUTURE LEADER,
SHIP OF THE IRISH PARTY.
lBy CABLE TO TIE rEBCsE
Copvfght: 1891; BY The Tribune Association.
London, Oct, lO.-Singular indeed Is the decree
OF destiny which on the same day struck down
two Of the three foremost men in the House Of
Commons. Mr.. W. H. Smith was its actual leader.
Mr.. Parncll had proved himself it's master; and
whatever may be said of his position at the
moment of his DEATH the record Of the last ten
years cannot be blotted out, and that record may
almost be summed up in sentence. This one
man. an Irishman, at first without following
and at the last with only minority Of one-eighth
of the whole body, set himself to DEFY to degrade
and to overmaster the most ancient and power
full and dignifed legislative body in the world
And he succeeded He forced Parliament to
tolerate him, to listen to him, to give
up its time to do the work he wanted
done, to register his policy In many
and many an act, TO treat with him as an equal
to accept whatever humiliation he chose to put
upon this august assembly. and finally almost To
pass a bill for tho disunion Of the Kingdom
it exists TO protect He entered in 1881 upon
struggle with the most powerful party leader
Of modern times who had not only party. but
the whole force Of English public opinion behind
him in his effort TO maintain the union Of these
Kingdoms and to put down rebellion. In five
wears he had beaten him, forced him to capitulate
imposed his own policy upon him, imposed himself
upon him. and become his leader and the pal
leader of what was left Of proud party with
splendid history He had becn during this sams
period and after, the true author Of the agrarian
and social revolution which has transformed the
Ireland Of $50 into the Ireland Of to-day. There
could not be better measure Of this mans tran
scnndant ability than the difference between the
two.
IL would be difficult TO name any ruler or
leader in history who has accomplished so much
with such slender means. In the hrst place, u
is Mr.. Parnell's work, and his alone. He has
had no colleagues He has had domcstics. There
were among the eighty-five Irish Members half
dozen who have shown signs Of capacity for par
ticuar kinds of work, agitators, rhetorcianS
smart attorneys. and the like, but not one with
one single Gift of leadership or OF statcsmanship.
Mr.. Parnell alone excepted. He treated them like
domestics. lie appointed thcm and removed them
and paid them. They were put to whatever
work he thought useful. They did what they
were told None of them were in his confidence
They resented it, but submitted. They wers
aware of his superiority. When their chance came,
they turned on him.
What. then. was his mental and moral equip
,nent? The second will not detain us long.
His morals consisted in not having any. To him.
scruples of conscience were ~ many polucai
obstacles, and he swept them away. One Of thoss
Liberals whom force of circumstances made his
ally. himself man who could on occasion over
IN no
as a man sans fol nj loi' lie stuck at nothing.
He would tell the truth when the truth was USE
full. and the other thing when that was useful
He was master Of intrigue and Of all the base'
arts of public life For human nature he had
sovereign contempt, and he believed that nen
were to be ruled by appeals to what is worst IN
them: and to that he appealed accordingly. The
whole Home Rule agitation based on that
the appeal, primarily. TO sefshness, TO covetous-
ness. to what Mr. Parnell thought the natural
desire of everybody to possess what did not De-
long TO him. He succeeded What other ties,
could any political leader desire? He conferred
in this way great material advantage upon great
bodies of his countrymen, and he demoralzea
and debauched the Irish conscience. Is any
material or political advantage great enough 70
repay nation for its moral deterioration When
Mr. Parnells services to Ireland are summed up.
that. too. is a question that viii have TO be con-
sidered.
Probablv Mr.. Parnell had no liking for crime,
Int neither had he any detestation of the criminal
TT outrages in Ireland and dynamite IN London
helped on the cause Of Irish independence, he
welcomed the aid of the men who employed elthef
or both The Phoenix Park murders seem 70
have shocked him! To all other crimes he showed
n callous indifference, and some OF his latess
public efforts were in behalf Of the unhanged
scoundrels who tried to blow up LONDON ana
assassnate Members Of Parliament by wholesale.
He will ALWAYS be remembered as an Irish patriok
Yet the supreme passion Of his life was not 50
much love of Ireland as hatred Of England. IL
il not likely that he ever deluded himself as 70
the injury Home Rule would do England. lie
wanted Home Rule, and much more than Home
Rule for Ireland's sake, and wanted it all tho
more because it would impair English presuss
and disintegrate the English Empire.
His abilities are best judged by his work.
When you reckon up what Mr. Parnell has DONE
YOU have recSoncd up the man. His natural ap'r
tudes for public life seemed few; of the shower
kind he had almost none. He was no orator.
but az he had to speak he taught himself the an
of saying with perfect precision and perfect clear
ness what he wished to convey to his AUDIENCE
He could calculate political forces with preoi
sion not less remarkable. His study OF politics
was purely scientific. In his long contest WIN
the House there was nothing which other men
respected He used the Irish peasants as Napoleon
used the French peasants, and the conscripuoh VIZ
hardly a more terrible instrument than the evio
tions which Mr. Parnell compelled his conhdins
countrymen to undergo. Mr.. Gladstone said they
were sentences of death. II they werc Mr.. Far
nell pronounced them
II his aim was not rebellion. it was revoi@
tion and he announced his motto in his earliest
speech: "All or any means" to compass his ends'
II he did not join the Physical Force party it wn
because he thought it easier TO destroy the Consu'
tuition from within than from without IL was
his plan to make himself master of the Engnsn
citadel and to turn their own guns against inc