The Irish standard., 1910-11-05

arch feel proud. Before returning to
his native land he visited the principal
cities of the country, including Mime
apolis and st. Paul. His mission was
q success and his departure was the
cause of much regret on the part of
many Americans who had hoped for
la still longer visit. On his return to
ireland he succeeded in getting a land
bill passed by the commons, but the
house of lords defeated it. At this time
the Land League was doing its mission
we'll and that the government might
not be considered too arbitrary in it's
efforts to suppress it, introduced the
Coercion and Arms bill by means of
,, which the constitution in Ireland was
to be suspended and martial law prac-
tically put in place of it, Parnell and
his followers attacked these measures
so bitterly that the speaker of the
house ordered the sergeant-at:arms to
remove them. On the passage of these
acts the Land League was ordered sup.
pressed by proclamation and Parnell
and many of his followers were arrest.
ed and without trial placed in jail
Parnell was imprisoned in Kilmain-
ham Jail, Dublin. In 1883 the Land
! League had passed into history only
to be succeeded by the newly-formed
Irish National League. Though differ.
emit in name it's mission was that of
the Land League.
Gladstone was now in power, having
been elected in 1880, and his second
Irish land. bill became law the follow.
ing year. In 1886 Gladstone intro
duced his famous Home Rule measure,
which had the warm support of Par
nell and his eighty-five followers.
Gladstone's Home Rule measure
passed the commons but met death
at the hands of the lords in the upper
house. In 1887 the Ashbourne act was
passed. By means of this act the
government pledged itself to advance
money to tenants who desired to pur-
chase their holdings from the land
lords.
Many took advantage of this act,
and still many more would have done
likewise were it not for the fact that
most of the landlords were unwilling
to sell, besides the amount of money
appropriated by the government was
limited. In the same year the Lon
don Times began the publication of a
series of articles entitled "Parnellism
and Crime" Coupled with Parnell,
who was the "Thunderer's" chief OBJ.
ject Of attack, were Davitt and other
Irish members. For a time Parnell
paid no attention to the false state
ments of this paper, but when it an
rounced to the world that he was in
league with the Phoenix Park murder
ers, he broke silence, and asking the
privilege OF the house; of commons,
called attention to the Times coward
ly and unwarranted attack upon him
and his party. At hts request a. COM
mission of three judges was named by
the commons to investigate the
charges. This was in 1888. The COM
mission sat in London, and Lord Rus
sell ofsKillowen defended Parnell. The
result showed that the letters in pos
session of the Times which Parnell
was accused of having written were
forgeries, and the chief witness, Pig.
oft, broke down and admitted they
were so. During this great trial Davitt
spoke for five days in defense of the
Land League. The commission was in
session one hundred and twenty.eight
days. Parnell and those accused with
him were acquitted, and Mr.. Parnell
subsequently received in suit for libel
$4,000 from the London Times. The
great London libeler was forced to
bend the knee for once to the cause
of Ireland and acknowledge before
the world that it had grossly libeled
Ireland's faithful representatives. A
short time after his great triumph
Parnell lost the leadership of the par
ty over scandal connected with Cap
tain O'Shea and his wife. He died in
1891.
The downfall of Parnell was the
severest blow the Irish national cause
received since the days of the United
Irishmen, and for some time all was
chaos, Some of Parnell's closest
friends still stood by him. This party
was now divided into two factions.
Many conferences were held with the
view. of harmonizing conditions, but
it was not until almost seven years
after the first rupture that peace was
declared and John E. Redmond was
chosen leader of the United party To
bring about this reunion, no one con.
tributed more than William O'Brien.
Few men at that time did more for