The Irish standard., 1892-08-27
MICHAEL DAVITT,
A RevOlutionist in His Youth Who
is Now a Member of
Parliament.
A MOST NOTABLE FIGURE
A. Patriot Whose Name is More
Than Household Word
in Ireland.

| 41SdA q 11OuS0IlOlQ w OIu
in Ireland.
The leading Liberal paper of England,
the London Daily News, in one of a
series of sketches under the title "Our
Public Men," has the following to say
about Michael Davitt:
! His entrance into the House of Com
mons adds little or nothing to his own
influence or fame, But, on the other
hand, he will be one of the most notable
figures in that assembly. It is curious
that an Irish patriot of such eminence
and ability should have been defeated IN
his first candidature, and should have
had hard fight in his second. The rea-
son, of course, is that he preferred to
contest Parnellite strongholds rather
than places where his return would have
been a foregone conclusion. For Mr..
Davitt is an ardent Nationalist and a
| loyal member Of the Irish Parliamentary
party. No more striking tribute has
been paid to the strength of the Nation
alist cause and the prudence of it's lead
ers than the adhesion of Mr.. Davitt.
Mr.. Davitt, as everybody knows, was in
his youth an active Fenian, and spent
some of the best years of his life in penal
servitude for treason-felony. His politi
cal opinions are much more Socialistic
than those of his Parliamentary col
leagues, and during the reign of Mr.
Parnell he was not on the best terms
with Mr. Parnell's principal lieutenants
For Mr.. Parnell himself he had pro-
found admiration and never lifted fin
ger to dispute the authority OF the Chief.
But when Ireland had to choose between
a constitutional alliance with British
liberalism and the desperate struggle Of
disappointed man for the recovery of
his personal ascendancy, Mr.. Dayitt
Joined the Constitut1onalists without a.
moments hesitation. If Mr.. Gladstone's
Irish policy has achieved nothing else
than the conversion of Mr.. Davitt it
would not have been fruitless. Before
1886 Mr.. Davitt, though he trusted Mr..
Parnell, grayely doubted the efficacy Of
political agitation as weapon for ob-
tanning Home Rule. 1t was in frank ac-
knowledgmento of Nh. G]adstonee wisdom
and sincerity that he fell into line with
the general body of Nationalist politi-
clans. Nothing could be more creditable
to Mr.. Davitt. It was Mr.. Gladstone's
Government that prosecuted. him in
1870. It was MIR. Gladstone's Govern
ment that revoked his ticket-ol-]eave and
sent him back to Portland in 1881. When
the interests of his country are concerned
Mr. Davitt is incapable of personal feel
ing. He may not be always judiclous;
he may not sufficiently realize the truth
of the maxim that if speech is silvern, si-
lence is golden, but his keenest and Bit
terest opponents admit his transparent
sincerity, his chivalrous sense Of honor,
| and his absolute devotion 70 the cause of
Ireland. In Ireland the name of Michael
Davitt is something more than house
hold word. Even at the height of the
lamentable quarrel to which the DISPOSE
ton of Mr.. Parnell gave rise the cowardly
assault upon Mr.. Davitt, for which, like
Mr.. O'Brien, he refused to prosecute, ex-
cited universal indignation.
The characteristic qualities of the in
tellectual and gentlemanlike party have
been we'll illustrated in their references
| to Mr.. Davitt. Some of their lower or.
gans in the press think it dignifed and
becoming to call him "Davitt." The
fact that when he was twenty four he
engaged in crimi al conspiracy to pro-
cure the restoration of his country 3
freedom by force has been made the ex-
cuse for denouncing him as unfit for the
society of honest men. Chief Justice
Cockburn's suggestion, founded on an
ambiguous letter, that he had been en-
gagged in plot to murder somebody, is
s1ill repeated without the full explana-
tion given by Mr.. Davitt himself to the
Special Commissioners. Because in
1882, being in jail for felony, he was in
eligible for Parliament, the iurists and
pundits who follow the Duke of Devon
shire and Mr.. Chamberlain gravely argue
| that, although his sentence expired in
1885, he must be Ineligible now. Their
way of putting the argument is even
| more edifying than the argument itself.
They describe Mr.. Davitt as disqualified
lby vote Of the House Of Commons =
They might as well say that he was dis
qualified By vote Of the Ulster Conven-
tion, for the House Of Commons has no
Imore power TO disqualify anybody than