The Irish standard., 1905-12-30


tions-many will say the most valu-
ablc-to the history of Ireland during
the last thirty-five years will be found
embodied in the volume of some five
hundred pages entitled "Recollections," )"
by William O'Brien. M. P. (Macmil-
lans), says the New York Sun. The
reader may possibly ut the first glance
feel disappointed when he observes
that the autobiography carries us only
from the authors birth at Mallow,
in October, 1862. to his election as a
Member of Parliament for his birth
place in the early part of 1888, at a
time when he was under Indictment
on a charge which had 1t been brought
Of jury would have subjected him
to two years imprisonment. AS he
examines the volume more carefully
however, the reader discovers that q
great deal of light is thrown, directly
or indirectly, on the events that have
marked the progress of the Irish pco-
pies movement during the last twcn-
ty-two years, including conspicuously
the work done by Charles Stewart
Parncll, Michael Davitt, John Dillon
Justin Mccarthy, Thomas Sexton, r.
p. OConnor, Il. M. Healy, Joseph
Biggar and the man who has SO long
and ably served the cause of Ireland
on this side of the Atlantic Mr. Pat
rick Ford. 1t is the sketches OF these
eminent Irishmcn, drawn from. the life
by n master hand, to which we shall
chiefly devote the limited space at
our command, though we do not over
look the fact that the authors pri-
mary purpose. purpose admirably
fulfilled in the book before us, is to
present luminous and trustworthy
account of Ireland's efforts for polti-
cal, agrarian and economic regcnera-
ton, from the inception of the Fenian
government in 1865 down to the in
carccration of Parnell and the other
heads Of the Land League in Kilmain-
ham Jail, the outcome of which i'm
prisonment was the Kilmainham
events which led to Mr.. Gladstone's
adoption Of the Home Rule cause.
Before marking Mr.. O'Brien's recol-
lections Of Parnell, let us note what
he has to say about the lieutenants
with the choice of whom, we are told
the prospective "Uncrowned King" OF
Ireland had less to do at the outset
Of his obstructionist career in Par
lament than is generally supposed
Parnell's chief collaborators at the
time when his leadership of the reso-
lutte Home Rulers was accepted were
three men who, in our authors opin-
ion, were endowed with parliamentary
abilities such as few empires, with all
the splendid prizes Of office in their
gift, can command in their public SER
wants. In Mr.. O'Brien's judgment the
most conspicuous figure of the three
in character, II not in intellect, was
Mr.. John Dillon, who at the general
election of 1880 came in for the Coun-
ty of Tipperary. He inherited the
seat which had been held by his
father, who had come out of the or
deal Of the Young Ireland Insurrec-
ton with the unspotted reputation of
one who had been the last to consent
to the call to arms but the first to
confront it's perils and to endure with
Ia quiet fortitude the sufferings and
ruin which followed. Our author says
that "the langurous and halting mo-
notony of John Dillon's own speeches
during the Mitchell election had al
ready given way to the mysterious
Iardor by which even plain words
straight from the heart can send an
electric current through a crowd, AMI
the transparent sincerity that shone
from his worn face conquered the re-
,spect of men in the House Of Com.