The Irish standard., 1897-03-20

The rent that had to be pad for the
farm to the court by Mr.. Parnell's
brother in connection with the house
had not been demanded for year or
two, but this year 1t was insisted upon,
and he had to abandon 1t. Talk to him
about attachment to Mr.. Parnell's prin-
ciples. He did not care whether they
were Parnellites or antl-P Parnellites, the
men who took part in the general move
ment before the split, he knew no greater
shame likely to come upon the nation
than to have it appear that Mr. Parnell's
family were in absolute want because OF
| the position he took up.
He knew that possibly it might not
be wise to call attention to these mat
ters. Possibly his friends might say that
they had a right to keep UP the delusion
and try to make the people Of Ireland
believe they were winning. What was
the Use OF living in FOOLS paradise? He
appealed to the men Of Dublin who were
intimately connected with the ward as
|
meeting of the National League were
called few years ago they would have
every man at their back. In how many
wards today had they vigorous branch
of the National League? He would also
ask how many branches of the league in
| Ireland had affiliated with the Central
branch? He need only look at the char
acter Of the meetings they had held there
recently to prove the truth of the prop
osition he had laid down-that so far
from winning (and while they had done
nothing to forfeit the peoples conf
dence) the people had one by one, hun
dreds by hundreds, thousands by thou
sands, dropped out of the movement;
and he asserted this, that the people
were still in large numbers dropping out
OF the movement and giving no assist
ance in the fight in which they were en-
gagged. 1t was now acknowledged by his
colleagues and others that no progress
could be made in the national movement
until they had united party on the
lines laid down by Mr.. Parnell in the
house Of commons.
Was it a sin or a crime where that be-
lief was shared in by every section of
| Irish Nationalists, as he knew it was, to
state it to the Irish public? One thing he
claimed credit for, and that was that he
had never allowed himself to be in
| fluenced by the unreasoning clamor of
| the crowd any more than by the blan-
dishments of those who We're opposed to
| him. A few of his colleagues criticized
his proposals, not in any bitter or ull-
| friendly spirit, because nothing that
could take place in Irish politics was
likely to sever them from him in the
slightest degree. 1t was we'll known
that there was not genuine Irish Ma
tionalist belonging to one section or the
other, who did not in his heart and soul
| sigh for the days before the split, even
though he might not have the courage
of publicly stating so. Little more than
a month ago, when it was question Of
their obtaining the means to do so, some
of his colleagues, who had recently criti-
cized his plan, had no better plan them
selves to propose than that the party
should resign in body, desert their
posts, not turn up in parliament, and
leave their friends who fought for them
In the country to be despised, laughed
at. and jeered at. Which Of the policies
was the wiser? His policy, which pro-
posed a generous compromise, not for
party purposes, but for the purposes of
Ireland, or that miserable policy OF funk
and surrender? He stuck to his pposi
ton. He believed that no matter what
might be said he had cleared the air in
Irish politics. He believed he had sill
enced the voices of those men who said
''No, there shall never be any union with
the men who stood Oh the other side;
union will come from the people" This
simply meant that the men who stood
by the leadership of the others would be
asked again to repeat the base act of
committee room Is, and to desert their
leader. He was in favor OF no such
policy. He believed that union accom-
plished by conquest and coercion could
not be permanent. His policy was to
deny to no man the right OF entering
the ranks and serving his country,
whether he had a tongue to plead their
cause, a. pen to write for it, or an arm to
fight for it.