The Irish standard., 1909-01-16

not tell the Irish people they were the
banest peasantry in the world, but that
they were men and had rights (hear.
sshAare. He had the hardest work to do
that had fallen to any man to attempt
Id the world Of Ireland Of our tins;
III was to plant the Irish peasantry
III the Irish soil and to bring back
the Irish Parliament to College Green
(chears). He knew that justice. truth
reason, right and honor were weighed
light in the scale when against those
Understanding names stood the single
A.ct Of possession. He knew law could
become the handmade Of privilege, and
that power and purse were co-equal
farms. The question: before Parnell
vas this-"What power have at hand
70 beat down this power of the purse.
this citadel of privilege?" In the decade
sof the seventies things looked placid
In politics, even the London "Times"
wrote hopefully Of the Irish prospect.
The Franco German War had thrown
Hood Of gold into England. 1t was Of
this sedate, well regulated and emf
nently self-satisfied and respectable
society of English political life that
Parnell found himself member in
THE middle Of the seventies. The
greatest French writer of the last GEN.
fury had said of England that nothing
impressed him more in the history Of
English life than what he called "the
hypocrisy of her pretended national
history" That showed that Victor HUI
60 had examined English historical life
down to the bedrock Of her old Devon
ian system. In England the substance
was usually forgotten in the NAME
Almost the first words uttered by Par.
nell In the House of Commons was a
protest against this pretence. An Eng
lish member had spoken Of the agita-
ton for the liberation of the Man.
chester "murderers." A cry Of mo. no."
uttered by a single member struck the
ear Of the House. It was Parnell who
had spoken that clear interjected neg
alive (applause) - the first note of
defence and defiance which was soon
TO ind repetition on platform and in
Parliament. The mon who had ten
years before suffered at Manchester
had not committed murder in the
moral sense of that term (applause).
That law which condemned them as
murderers had acted in tho same spirit
OF pretence which the great French
thinker had found to be the underly-
ing factor In English history. When
called upon to withdraw his exclama-
tion Parnell rose, and said quietly and
without trace Of passion, II wish to
say as publicly as can that do not
believe, and never, shall believe, that
any murder was committed at Man
chester" (applause). From his point
of view, all the evils that had befallen
ireland, all the misfortunes and
wrongs that oppressed her. had their
origin and their support in this iden-
stical Parliamentary institution Of
which he was by courtesy or custom
an honorable member .(cheers). It was
easier to find the cause Of the disease
than to frame any plan by which the
enemy could be- met and defeated.
Parnell was by nature, and In the
highest meaning of the word, despot.
He regarded the House Of Commons in
much the same sense as Carlyle and
sRuskin and other great thinkers had
looked at 1t. Seerss had always looked
with contempt on deliberative assem-
blies which devoted months to talk
and hours to action (applause). 1t was
the sight-seers Of the human race who
regarded them with most, profound
Parnell did not care for
sights or sounds; it was the verdict,
and not the speech. he thought Of. He
'once said; 1T is not by smooth speech
Ees you will get anything done here:
they. are far too, comfortable" He
could make them uncomfortable Zap
9plause).' He was as proud and naughty
as the best of them (applauee). Els
family had a splendid record; poets
and statesmen had been among them.
One Of his direct ancestors had borne
the name Of the 'incorruptible Par
nell" (applause). In the correspon-
.dence Of the Duke of Wellington there
would be found letter written at the
time when Sir Arthur Wellesley was
Chief Secretary for ireland, and was
almost entirely conducting his office
through the arts of bribery. They
would find letter in which the plan
aof corruption was laid out for the
sbenefit Of the Prime Minister and his
colleagues, Eldon, Camden, and Cas-
stlereagh, ard in that letter these
words occurred, with Mr.. Parnell
we have no chance" If Parnell held
strong views, he was not in bad COM
.phny. He found and saw that all ora