The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-06-13

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sled.' and subject to no authority or
check or control Of anv kind. It IS
| easy to see how system of Home Rule
| would work it such an influence as that
prevailed in Ireland"
Speaking of the plea raised by the
Parnellites against the right Of the
bishops to Issue their declaration
against MIR. Parneil's continued leader
ship. the Archbishop said: Eyes they
keep on saying that there is no question
Of morality involved. Re there were,
they say. the bishops would have spok.
en- earlier than they did. Now the
truth is, that if we had taken public &C.
tion in the matter at an earlier stage.
some of those very gentlemen who now
try to make capital out Of the fact that
we avoided all precipitancy, and kept
silent so long as the faithful discharge
of the duties of our Office left it possi-
BILE for us to do so. would have jumped
at the opportunity Of assailing us on a
charge Of acting with unseeEnly haste.
You understand, of course. that this
question IF date has no possible bearing
upon the case. They haYe introduced
IL to draw off attention from the real
issue. Everyone who knows what a
moral question is, knows that it would
oe a moral question even if no episco-
pal declaration ever was issued in refer
ence to 1T. Until Mr. Parnell had had
an opportunity which everyone would
recognize as g fair opportunity Of as
sertjng his innocence, supposlng him to
be in a position to assert 1t. we were
bound to await the issue OF that oppor~
tun1tv. We did SO. Mr, Parnell had
that opportunity, then. On Tuesday,
Noy. 25th, the dav OF his reelection to
the craftsmanship OF the Irish party,
but no vindication, no assertion Of his
innocence, came from him, no such re-
pudiation of the infamies with which
he was charged. as had come from hlm
In the House Of Commons in 1887, when
he found himself charged with the au-
thorship of the letter forged by Richard
Pigott."
''Up to that point, Your Grace, I be-
lieve. had every confidence that MIR.
Parnell was in position to clear HIM
self in this case as he had done in the
case Of the forged lstters2"
II had. at all events, a strong hope
that he would be able to do SO. I had
put faith, and think not unnaturally.
in his personal assurance reported to
me by Mr. Davitt. But I had also
other grounds, A number Of detailed
statements. all tending in the same d.
rection, had reached me from various
quarters. some of them, / may say. of a
highly sensational character. I did
not altogether lose faith In these even
for some days after Mr. Parnell's re-
election, not indeed until the following
Saturday. had the best Of reasons
for losing faith In them then"
In answer to g question about the
position Of some prominent individual
supporters of Mr.. Parnell in opposition
to the bishops. the Archbishop indicat-
ed an unwillingness to speak of the
case as it affected individuals. II have
always epdeavored" he said, Ito distin-
guish between Parnellism and individ.
ual Parnellites. With very few excep-
tions, those who are now supporting
Mr.. Parnell In his career of destruction
will fall into line again. have no
doubt Of this. / had no doubt OF it
from the beginning. There are, Of
course, two classes of persons to be ex-
cepted from this remark. There are,
in the first place. those men who never
were supporters Of Mr.. Parnell, never
had good word for him or for the work
he was doing for Ireland, never sab.
scribed penny to help him IN that
work, or to help in extricatlng him
from the difficulties and dangers in
which his position as irish leader in
volved him. OF course. do not speak
of these. The national forces, as led
by Mr.. Parnell in the past. have tri.
umphed up to the present point with
out the help Of these gentlemen. and
need net trust to their help for their
future. Then. too, there are some few,
most fortunately very few, individual
members Of MIR. Parnell's party. and
hitherto active and useful members Of
it, to whom the nation never again can
give its confidence. The national
movement is well rid OF them. In the
heat Of che conflict they have revealed
themselves in their true colors. They
have shown that they had been PLAYING
the hypocrite for years, pretending to
sDe constitute patriots, pretending
to be faithful. loval Cath0lic ics, pretend
5inR TO be- honorable men. Fortunately
they have shown themselves to be what
they are, In time to save as from some
great disaster which the future surely
would have brought with It if theV had.
continued to stand before the country
as being IN reality what they had 50.
long pretended TO be.