The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-05-06
LEADERS.
Three Rampant Tory Members OF
Parliament Who Persistently
Oppose Home Rule.
A PEN PICTURE OF THE TRIO

A PEN PICTURE OF THE TRIO.
William Johnston, of Ballyklbeg,
Col. Saunderson, the Swash-
buckler, and r. W. Russell.
As Johnston is one of the most int1u-
entail leaders of the Orange lodges OF
Ulster, brief sketch of his personality
might be in order just now when his
subordinates and himself are in fever
heat of Indignation over the Home Rule
bill, says Eugene Davis in the Western
Waterman. I must at the start do this
frebrand the justice of stating that be
does not trade on politics. He is com
parativeiy poor man, and spends most OF
the parliamentary session in modest
rooms in the vicinity of Westminster, the
walls of which are decorated with cheap
portraits of the GLORIOUS, pious, and i'm
mortal King William" and uncanny
daubs of the "great Protestant victory"
of the Boyne. Mr.. Johnston is neither
an aesthete nor an art connoisseur. He
consequently prizes these nnpretentious
pictures not from an artistic but from
! what he believes to be patriotic point
of view. He has, moreover, in his poses
sion moro or less authentic relics OF the
past in the shape of a nail from the shoe
of a horse ridden by Duke Schomberg at
the moment of the latter's death while
he was crossing the Boyne; brass but
ton from the uniform of the Rev. Mr..
Walker, the hero of the defence of Derry
and the old fashioned sabre Of one of the
aides de camp of King William of Or
ange. Johnston would not part with
these doubtful treasures for all the gold
in the vaults of the Bank of England.
He holds each of them in higher esteem
than he does the apple of his eye; and it
is said that he carries the b storic nall OF
the Dut ;hman's steed about with him on
his person as ta]isman against the
dark designs of the Church of Rome in
his regard. When he enters tho portals
of the House of Commons every after
noon, it is with the self-conscious stride
of one who looks on himself as the first
and best of defenders of the faith, and
the ascendancy of England. One day he
asks the Home Secretary if he knows Of
the existence of Jacobite clique whose
object it is to replace the .Guelphs with
the Stuarts on the throne of England.
Another day he addresses the Prime
Minister. anxious]y. inquiring if he is
about to establish diplomatic relations
with the Romish church. Johnston, like
other eccentric geniuses, has quite a
number of fade. He hates the Latin
language, simply because it is that OF
the Mass. He devotes several hours
every week to study Of the biography
of King William, and history of the
Wllliamlte wars. He suspects some Of
his own Unionist colleagues of being
positively Jesuits in disguise, acting in
this regard like two of his bigoted prede-
ceesors OF twenty years ago in the Eng
lish parliament: Whally and Newdegate,
each of whom-a staunch Protestant
himself suspected the other of being a
son OF Ignatius Loyola, wearing the mask
Of an anti Romanist! When Johnston
takes parliamentary holiday on the
banks of the Lagan, he visits the various
lodges where he keeps the fire of mo
Popery," at furnace heat among bis fana-
tical followers. Some years ago, when
the Tory government were in power they
bestowed on him the lucrative position
of Inspector of Irish Fisheries-an office,
which precluded it's occupant from TAX
ing part in public affairs. Johnston,
however, did not keep his job two
mouths. In a moment of foolish enthu-
aasm he addressed public meeting at
Belfast in speech in which he de-
nonnced the Vatican aud Irish national
ity in his usual spanking style; and his
Tory friend, Lord Salisbury, hao 10 ols-
miss him from the post. A short time
afterwards he was returned to his seat
in the House of Commons for one Of the
Ulster constituencies as revenge on the
part of the Orangemen for the insult
perpetrated by the English Premier on
their petted darling. Since then he has
continued to be one OF the stormlest ot
petrels in the big talking shop on the
banks of the Thames.
sAuNDERsoN, THE swAsHBUCKLER.
Another leader of the Orange coterie
"a the English House Of Commons is
Col. Saunderson of her Majesty's Militia.
Like the late King Harman, who to-
wards the close of his life became rank
West Britisher, Saunderson made bis
ao,,,,+ - rol;t;co a. q s,,nnnrtar Of Isaac