The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-01-13
CHARLES s. PARNELL.
The Secret Of the Great Irish
Statesman's Power Over
His Fellow Men.

His Fellow Men.
From O'Brien's Life Of the Irish Leader.
Only once was Parnel's plan of riding
all horses at once and making them all
subservient frustrated. That was when
the Phoenix park murders were commit
ted. 1t was stab in the back for Par
nell, and for once in his life he was un-
nerved.
"He flung himself into chair in my
room,' says Davitt, land declared he
would leave public life How can t.
ne said, carry on public agitation il I
am stabbed in the back in this wayT
He was wild. Talk of the calm and cal
lous Parnell. There was not much calm
ness or callousness about him that morn-
ing.''
"On the Sunday after the Phoenix park
murders. said Mr.. Gladstone, while
was at lunch, letter was brought to
me from Parnell. / was much touched
by it. He wrote evidently under strong
| emotion. He did not ask Inc if would
advise him to retire from public life or
not. That was not how he put it. He
asked me what effect l thought the MUIR
der would have on English public opin-
ION in relation to his leadership of the
Irish party. Well, wrote expressing
my own opinion, and what l thought
would be the opinion of others. that his re-
tirement from public life would do no
good on the contrary, would do harm.
thought his conduct in the whole ma tier
very praisewrothy.'
Having described Parnell's central idea.
we pass to his tactics. Some of the most
interesting of Mr.. O'Brien's pages are
nose IN which he describes the state of
the game at various times and the moves
which Parnell made. Perhaps the most
| remarkable game was that which ureced-
ca the ultimate adoption Of home rule by
Mr.; Gladstone. ParneIl at this period
nad three strings to his bow-Lord Car
narvon and Lord Randolph Churchill,
Mr; Chamberlain and Mr.. Gladstone.
NJ man 61 tor man. Parneil would rather have
ar: Gladstone on his side than anyone
IN England: Party for party. be pre-
ferred the Tories to the Liberals. '.f'hc
| Tories he said, "can carry a horne-rulc
bill through the Lords. Can the Iitrr.
als: Hoping to convert the Tories, he.
| believed nevertheless that Mr.. Gladstone.
| would in the end outstrip all competitors
in the race for the Irish vote. The great.
est parliamentary tactician of the age. thu.
chances were he would outmaneuver every
antagonist. He might even outn,a ncuyer
Parnell himself. Still the course of the
lr1sh leader was perfectly clear. He had
% threaten Mr.. Chamberlain with Lord
| tria0HfOITp
with both, letting the whole world know
meanwhile that his weight would Ultimate
~ be thrown into the scale which went
down upon the side of Ireland.
| Nhat was the secret of Parnell's power
oyer men! The stamp Of mastery. of
a!D11ness was on him from the first.
o ineie was "a. in his eyes" says Mr..
who knew Charles Stewart Parnell will
never forget; How often did one feel il.
walking. with Parnell that he was really
unconscious of your presence. and that his
thoughts were far. far away" 1t is re-
markable that upon men of different ma
t!onalities he produced the same impres-
sion of strangeness; To 1rishmen he was
Sullivan. lis certainly the coolest hand l
ever shok; He is never put out at any
thing. and he never thinks that you ought
to be put out. He is regular English
man.; There is not a bit Of the Celt in
MN. But to Englishmen he was no less
Dixie, ':like a foreigner. We could not get
at INN IA. as at any other man i'll EnglisI,
public life. Dealing with him was like
dealing with foreign power
| farnells sangfroid on all occasions and
his cohtemptuous liberation of his COL
leagues was remarkable Once he was
walking along the Strand with his secre-
|
luted the chief. who is that?' asked
1P.arnell. why. don't you know?' sad
his. companion, 1T is one of our party:
it is Mr.. ~ "Ahr' said ParrtelI. Il
did not know we had such an ugly man
n the party. On the occasion of the
Kilkenny election Parnell asked O'Brief
to stand. He subsequently, and at the
last moment. selected a local man. Mr.
| Scully. "Sha1l we wire and put off
| O'Brien:' Parnell was asked. NO"
was the reply, ''he can come and help
f ssqS Of obaon aons f6a &
upon the line to be taken with regard
| to the second reading of the land bill ii,
| 1881. A party meeting was called and
the members attended with the intention
| of giving their views. Parnell. as usual.
arrived late. Gentlemen he said. Il
ton is. l am against voting for the bill.
If majority of the party differ from me
| shall resign at once. | now move tina:
we do not vote for the second reading
The motion was Immediately carried.
There is another good story. which Mr..
where there had. been an important and
close division iii the House. an ardent
Nationalist went oft excitedly to his
chief, exclaiminog: We've all but licked
them, Parnell:' '.Mr. Parne1l. if you
please was his only answer.
stance. alike of his power and his hau.
| teur was his treatment of the Parnell
! tribute in 1888 1t had become known
| that he was III some financial embarrasS-
ment, and the Irish people subscribed
100000 to relieve him.
The lord mayor. a man of culture and
an eloquent speaker, was-so runs the
citizens. to wait on Parnell at Morrison's
hotel and to hand him the check. His
lordship naturally prepared a few suit
able observations for the occasion. At
the appointed hour the deputation arrived.
and were ushered into a private sitting
room. where stood the chief. The lord
mayor: having :: been D. amnHunced b1 70
lieve: said narnell. you have got
what surprised at this interruption, said
Eyes and was about to recommence his
speech when Parnell broke in rs it made
payable to order and crossed?" The lord
and was resuning the thread of his dis
course when Parnell took the check. fold
ed it neatly and put it in his waistcoat
pocket. This ended the interview
| 1t is pathetic illustration of the con-
trast between Parnelrs rise and fall that
after the split his manner in this respect
entirely changed. He chung to his few
|
panionable, and. indeed. could no longer
bear to be alone Pathetic. too, is Mr..
| O'Brien's account of one of his last in
terviews with the chief:
l said: "Hold together. There is an
end to that for long time 1t will take
you ten years to pull the country together
again"
"No." he rejoined very quietly, Il will
do it in five years-that is what l calcu-
late"
"Well. Gladstone will be dead then"
said. 1.-THE whole question to me is, you
and Mr.: Gladstone. If you both go home
rule will go with you for this generation"
'But l will not co." he answered an
grily. II am young man and l will not
CO. And there was fierce flash in his
eyes which was not pleasant to look at.
l. A few weeks later he was dead.
| The Use of Stimulants.
| What il the gain by the use of stimu-
lants? What the tired man or horse needs