The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-09-14
LACKING Able } / |. LEADERS /.
Since Fred Douglass Died No One
Has Arisen TO Succeed
.e Him.

| lie Jews III EuTOpSs lMS AASA Ia
Great Britain And the Africans
In This Country Are Cited.
When Charles Stewart ParnelI
Died Home Rule For the Time
Died With Him.
Ever since the death of Frederick
Douglass there has been a spirit OF rest
| lessness manifested among his. people,
who looked to him for leadership, and
| whose leader he was in the broadcast sense
which it is not easy to explain, writes y.
| Thomas Fortune in the Chicago Times
Herald. 1t must be that the absence from
the situation of the great captain is oper-
ating in some sort as the taking off OF
| Alexander the Great acted upon his gen
erals. Decentralization is plainly factor
| in the situation In his lifetime the greaa
masses did not take the trouble to think
of MI. Douglass as the supreme force in
their life; many openly denied that ne
was. Great masses seldom think They
act, and mostly by Intuition or upon i'm
pulse. But when the sage OF Cedar Hill
died they realized in an hour the ex-
tent of their loss and gave proper express
sion of their grief.
Mr.. Douglass occupied a peculiar place
in the life of his race and in the history
of the stirring and trying times in which
it was his good fortune to live and 90, a
nosit:on which no other man ever occu-
MED and which no other man may ever
occupy again The fact that all bodies,
large and small, must have head,
spokesman, a leader, has been again en-
phasized by the persistent discussion IN
the newspapers, In private conversation
and in pubic addresses Of the illness OF
this or that man to take the place made
vacant by the death OF Mr.. Douglas Inc
character. attainments and services OF all
the men of the race who have become IN
any way conspicuous have been discussed
and are still the themes uppermost in the
thoughts Of the people. 1t Is natural tnat'
it should be. 1t is equally natural that
1.-THE woods shoud be full Of aspiran an anx-'s
| ious. nervously anxious, to occupy Mac
Gregor's vacant chair at the mead Oh the
table The ambition is laudable one.
! tt is also indicative of the existence OF ma
terial capable of leading in one way ana
! another. and in one department ana
another, il not in the full sense that MT.
Douglass did.
Oppressed races, races which have been
denied equality with other elements OF
! the society of which they were constltu-
! ent parts, have for some reason always
suffered or been blessed by an absence Of
strong. commanding characters. The
Jews in Europe and the Irish in Great
Britain and the Africans IN the United
States are striking illustrations of this
fact, in modern and contemporary history.
Beaconsfield, was undoubtedly the great
est Hebrew produced by the hard condi-
tions that surround his race in Europe.
He hewed his way from the bottom to the
| TOP of the mountain, and few men nave.
I had greater obstacles to overcome. After
his death no man Of his race was prepared
| ia take his place in British politics and
| letters. 1t still remains vacant. But on
! this account no one has charged that tne
| Hebrew race is without mental and moral
| reserve force On the contrary, it Is re-
garded as among the strongest race eie-
ments in the population OF the world, and
| it's activity and success in various occu-
pations of thought and industry justit1es
| the estimate placed upon it's capacity,
despite the fact that 1t had no man ready
| to take his place when Disraell laid aside
the pen Of the author and the robes OF
official place and went to sleep. 'Ihere
will be another Disraeli, but he will be,
called forth as all great men are, by somd
supreme crisis in the affairs OF his race or
of his state. It has been said that the Via
tality OF many generations OF race or
nation is exhausted in the production OF
one pre-enlinent, character in any given
| field of distinction, and history seems to
hear out the truthfuIness of the obserya-
| tion.
In case Of the, Irish in Great Britain,
we have a more emphatic and pathetic
condition Of affairs than that illustrar-
| ed in the death of Disraeli or Douglass.
M generation of the Irish race has pro-
duceds more than one supreme charac-s
! ter When Charles Stewart Parnell
died, home rule, for the time, died with
him. He was the only living man Of
I his race who possessed the genius to
ccntrol his own forces. and therefore able.
Ito control in a great degree the forces
/ lof those he regarded as his enemies and
1.-THE enemies Of his race. He was able to
force an alliance with the greatest states
II en- Of modem times and with the. great
lest party in British politics, and to Sc
cure for the Irish people. by reason Of
Ifhis. q larger measure of respect and
|rened fal legislation than had ever been
secured by, any other Irish statesman.
| ifs he had had no downfall !, it he had con-
tfnued id the mastery Of the situation,
which he had gained by his incompara-
blef genius for leadership, who will deny
that he would not have ultimately SEE
cured all that he contended for The
moment that he ceased TO dominate Irish
politics, the. moment the strong handA0f
4 Tie supreme master was paralyzed, de-
lmoraliz lization seized upon the Irish parlia-S
InentarY party and continued To this day
4 TIie swords OF the faith fnl generals who
4 had followed Parnell 4 to victor and
glory, we're turned against thamselvsss
I the ununlent the great; captain was no
IIoneergin posi- tien to control and direct
and the az has bee a. waged ever since
IWhile the rfyal. chiefs nght anaong hem
Ise1yesst the British enemy IAN Irish