^i^^^c-JTiS^^, --•S'in, S-^z C<]®K]oWDiL[LDAKa [Sa(S[L'A©gTr©!?3!I, fi^flo^o GLADSTONE-PARNELL AND THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. A GRAPHIC STORY OF THE INJUSTICE AND OPPRESSION INFLICTED UPON IRISH TENANTRY, AND A HISTORY OF THE GIGANTIC MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT IRELAND, AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN FOR "HOME RULE," ALSO A COMPLETE HIS- TORY OF THE GREAT TIMES CONSPIRACY, WITH BIOG- RAPHIES OF THE GREAT LEADERS, GLADSTONE, PAR- NELL, DAVITT, EGAN, AND VERY MANY OTHERS BY THB DISTINGUISHED AUTHORS, JOURNALISTS AND FRIENDS OF IRELAND, Hon. THOMAS POWER O'CONNOR. M. P., AND ROBERT McWADE, Esq., Ex- President Municipal Council of Philadelphia, etc, etc. GENERAL INTRODUCTION BV HON. CHARLES STEWART PARNELL, M.P. Canadian Introduction hy A. Burns, D. D., LL.D. American Introduction by Prof. R. E. Thompson, D. D., LL.D. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED. HUBBARD BROTHERS, PHILADELPHIA, PA., U. S. A. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by HUBBARD BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. Printed, Bound and Manufactured in the U. S. INTRODUCTION. I HAVE pleasure in writing a few lines of preface to Mr. T. P. O'Connor's volume. I know no one who is better fitted to present the case of Ireland, and especially the history of our movement, before the public of Arrterica. His vigorous and picturesque pen makes everything he writes lucid, interesting, and effective ; and he has had the advantage of himself taking a promi- nent and honorable part in many of the scenes he so graphically describes. I believe it espe- cially desirable to have our case properly stated to the American public at the present moment. No Irishman can speak too warmly of the ex- traordinary assistance that America has rendered to the cause of Ireland. The financial and moral support which our movement has received from the Great Republic has been recognized by eminent English Statesmen as an entirely new factor in the present movement, and as giving it g INTRODUCTION. a Strength and a power of endurance absent from many previous Irish efforts. It is at mo- ments of crisis Hke the present, when other po- litical parties face the expense and difficulties of a political campaign with hesitation and appre- hension, that one really appreciates the enormous position of vantage in which American generosity has placed the Irish party. Then the unanimity of opinion both among the statesmen and the journalists of America has done much to en- courage men like Mr. Gladstone, who are fight- ing for the Irish cause, and to fill Ireland's enemies with the grave misgiving that the policy con- (lemned by another great and free nation may not be sound or just. For these reasons we are all especially desirous that American opinion should be made acquainted with the merits and facts of this great controversy, and the following pages are eminently calculated to perform that good work. Charles Stewart Parnell. HON. T. P O'CONNOR, M. P. A BURNS, D U , LL D CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. BY A. BUEKS, D.D., LL.D., President Wesleyan Female College, Hamilton, Ont., Canada. THE following pages cover one of the most interesting periods in Irish history. The story related falls mainly within the memory of most of its readers, embracing scarce the last two decades. It is written by a university man of scholarly attainments, a brilliant journalist and author, one who, although comparatively a young man yet, is fairly entitled to say of most of the strug- gles and scenes he describes, quorwn pars magna fui. The book may be taken as a representative putting of the great struggle now going on, and as such it may fairly claim the attention of all in- terested in the peace and prosperity of Ireland. None need be told that that land is now unhappy and somewhat disaffected.. Her harp is on the willows, her songs are threnodies. Yet no one can become acquainted with her children without 9 10 CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. discovering that naturally they are cheerful, light- hearted and hopeful. Nor can you give to one of them a cup of cold water without waking a genuine inborn gratitude. Whether at home or abroad, the race is "lopeful, grateful, and essen- tially patriotic. A kind word ^r deed for Ireland will brighten the eye, quicken the pulse, arouse the enthusiasm, and win the affection of her chil- dren the world over. Have her critics furnished an adequate expla- nation of the present unhappy condition of such a people? The passionate outbursts of her out- raged sons receive due prominence. Her agra- rian crimes are published far and wide, Bu,'. few zre candid enough to admit that the crimes of Ire- land are chiefly agrarian, and caus"ed by the wholesale confiscation of her soil, and the strug- gles of the descendants of the real owners to re- gain the lands of their fathers. Goldwin Smith tells us "an alien and absentee proprietary is the immediate source of her troubles." " The owner- ship of land in that country is itself the heritage of confiscation, and of confiscation which has never been forgotten. The struggle is in fact the last stage of a long civil war between the con- quered race and an intrusive proprietary, which was closely identified with the political ascendency of the foreigner, and the religious ascendency of an alien creed." *' The districts where agrarian violence has most prevailed have been singularly CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. H free from ordinary crime. The Irish farmer has clung desperately to his homestead, eviction is to him destitution." "The crime (of the Irish) is solely agrarian. In the districts where it has been most rife, even in Tipperary itself, ordinary offences have been very rare," and he continues, "justice requires that we remember the training which the Irish as a nation have had, and of which the traces are still left upon their character. In 1798 they were goaded into open rebellion by the wholesale flogging, half-hanging, pitch-capping and picketing which were carried on over a large district by the yeomanry and militiamen, who, as soon as the suffering masses began to heave with disaffection, were launched upon the homes of the peasantry." Irish history is little studied. Few even of my countrymen know anything of the history of our country. A partial excuse may be found in the fact that even in the schools of Ireland the history of the country is not found. Only as it may be considered necessary to explain English history is Ireland ever mentioned, and neither in common school nor in university have the children of Ire- land the faintest opportunity to learn anything of their people, or the causes of the disaffection so generally prevalent. Traditions abound, but they are generally on sectarian lines, and theological bitterness, the worst of all, is usually added to political. 12 CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. The story that follows will be found real his- tory, the history of our own times. Every page will revive the memory of the stirring scenes of the last decade or two, and as a panoramic vision will fix in the mind the cause of events that had well-nigh passed from us forever. This work will be found exceedingly oppor- tune. Mr. Gladstone's bill for Home Rule in Ireland has been defeated at Westminster, and again by the people of England, because, as we verily believe, it was not understood by the Brit- ish people, while it was grossly misrepresented by those whose interests are at war with the enlargement of popular rights. The following pages will show the emptiness and absurdity of the war cries of the late conflict — "The Empire in Danger," "The Union in Dan- ger," "Protestantism in Danger"-— all echoes of the Disestablishment Conflict of 1868, the recol- lections of which ought to have taught the pseudo- prophets wisdom and moderation. There never was a measure more grossly caricatured than the late bill for the relief of Ireland. It was all in vain that the leaders of Irish thought had declared both with pen and voice that " the proposed Irish Parliament would bear the same relation to the Parliament at Westminster that the Legislature and Senate of every American State bear to the head authority of the Congress in the capitol at Washington." All that relates to local business it CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. ^3 was proposed to delegate to the Irish Assembly ; all questions of imperial policy were still to be left to the imperial government. It wais all in vain that the acknowledged Irish leader, Mr. Par- nell, declared in the closing debate that the Irish people were content to have a Parliament Wholly subordinate to the imperial Parliament ; that they did not expect a Parliament like Grattan's, which possessed co-ordinate powers. The words of some outraged exile in Amerka or Australia fur- nished a suffitient pretext for the ungenerous but characteristic vote that followed. In this great struggle I am thoroughly in sym- pathy with my country. With the historian Lecky I believe that "the Home Rule theory is within the limits of the Consdtutioh and supported by means that are perfectly loyal and legitimate." The British Colonies have Secured it, and it is not too much to say that the bond of union be- tween the Colonies and the Empire depisnds on its existence. Canadian opposition to Home Rule would seem to show that the denial of the boon implies also the rejection of the Golden Rule. That permanent peace will ever come to Ire- land without it no sane man expects. No foreign power can govern Ireland. The experiment has surely been tried long enough. The unconquer- able spirit possessed so fully by the larger island is no less developed in Ireland. The spirit of 14 CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. the age only strengthens the spirit of indepen- dence, while the millions of her children on this side the Atlantic tell her that Home Rule is the only reasonable rule for freemen. Ireland needs rest. For a long tiiae she has been under terrible provocation, and has suffered as no other country in Europe. She looks around for sympathy, and i!; is not wanting. But what she needs most is equitable, yea, generous treatment at the hands of England. These pages will show that her poverty is largely the result of misgovernment. England needs the tranquillity of Ireland as much as Ireland herself does. Let Ireland be assured that her rights are to be sacredly respected ; that her wrongs are to be redressed by England, not grudgingly nor of necessity; that the elevation and comfort of her down-trodden children is to be considered a more pressing subject of legislation than the claims of an independent and irresponsible no- bility. She has given her Burkes, her Welling- tons, her Ekifferins and her Tyndalls to enrich the Empire. Let her be told to call her children to the development of her own resources and the improvement of her own polity. Order will then soon come from chaos, and light from her sadly prolonged darkness, and the days of her mourningr will soon be ended. Thoroughly satisfied that a generous policy on the part of England, not merely permitting, but CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. jg encouraging Home Rule, would give to my country peace, prosperity, and enthusiastic loyalty, I take my place with those who plead for a sep- arate Parliament for Ireland, as Illinois, Ohio, and California have separate Parliaments, but still allied to the Imperial Parliament on the principle that binds Illinois, Ohio, and California to the United States of America. Less than that should not be accepted. More has not been asked by any of the leaders. sketched in this work. I commend the work to the reader not because I can endorse every sentence that it contains, or approve of all the details of operation therem, for I have not studied carefully every page. But J heartily approve of the object aimed at, and believing that the present struggle is the old con- test of monopoly against the common weal, or, as it has been aptly put recendy, of "the classes against the masses," I promptly take my place with the latter, and claim for my countrymen a respectful hearing. As In all past struggles for the enlargement of British liberties the terms "loyal" and "disloyal" have been called into active service, so It Is to-day, and " Unionists " and " Loyalists " are posing as the legitimate opponents of Home Rule. These pretensions and assumptions have been torn Into tatters a thousand times, and are as meaningless when so used as the terms "orthodox" and "heterodox" among speculative theologians. 18 CANADIAN INTRODUCTION. And as we scan the ranks of the men who on either side of the Atlantic are the self-constituted representatives of loyalty, and monopolize the term, we instinctively ask Risum tejieafis ? Some, I adrhit, may honestly see in Home Rule the dis- memberment of the Empire and innumerable Other evils. But I am firmly convinced that there are a thousand thousand good hearts and true, who, like myself, see in Home Rule and its con- comitant legislation not merely harmony and prosperity to Ireland, but an immeasurably brighter future and a more permanent stability to the British Empire. A. BcfR}^ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Charks Stewart Parnell — His character for grip and grit — His talents — His appearance — His early life and education — His ancestry^ Admiral Charles Stewart — Pamell's first tour in America — The Manchester Martyrs — Pamell's entrance into political life — Isaac Butt and the earlier movements for Home Rule — Parnell and Butt — Joseph Gillis Biggar — Enormous salaries paid to ofificials in Ireland — The policy of obstruction — Pamell's first speech in the House of Commons 25 CHAPTER II. The era of obstruction — The British House of Commons — Queen's speech — The vote on supplies — How obstruction helped Ire- land's cause — A happy hunting-ground — Flogging in the army- England's treatment of prisoners — The Mutiny Act — Making John Bull listen — The Transvaal bill — The Irish in England and, Scotland — The Famine of 1879 — A crisis in Ireland's history- Mr. Butt's defects as a leader — Michael Davitt — The story of his early years — A Fenian movement — Davitt in prison — A ticket- of-leave — Irish-American organizations — Land League — " The Three F's" 78 CHAPTER IIL The land war — The struggle of seven centuries — Illustrations fron^ Irish history — Coin and livery — The wars under the Tudor dy- nasty — Feudal tenure — The Munster undertakers — The settle- ment of Ulster — The Commission of Inquiry — The perfidy of the Stuarts — Cromwell in Ireland — William III., Sarsfield, Limer- ick, and the Penal Code . « 120 17 18 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. {Tie destruction of Irish industries — An alien proprietary — English legislation for many years directed against Ireland's prosperity — Interference with Irish trade — The depopulation of the land — Woollen manufactures crushed out — Blow after blow dealt at nascent industries — Lord Dufferin on English jealousy of Ireland — Rack-renting, eviction and legalized robbery — Cruelties of the landlords — Dean Swift's pictures of Ireland in the eighteenth century — Beggary and starvation 159 CHAPTER V. The story of Irish Parliament — Poyning's law — Molyneux's " Case of Ireland Stated " — Wood's Half-Pence — The condition ot* Catholics — The corruptions of the Anglo-Irish Parliament — The Irish Volunteers — The convention at Dungarvan — Grattan's Declaration of Rights — An independent Irish Parliament — Its happy effect on Irish industries and on business in general — Lord Fitzwiliiam recalled — Tiie rebellion of 1798 — Castlereagh — How the Union was brought about . . . . '177 CHAPTER VL After the Union — Ireland heavily taxed for England's benefit — Shameful injustice — The degradation of the tenantry — Absentee- ism — Wliolesale eviction — Coercion acts — Woise and worse — Wrong, poverty and hopeless misery — Catholic Emancipation — O'Connell the Liberator — The attitude of the Orange Tory party — O'Connell in Parliament 226 CHAPTER VII. The great famine of 1845— Only 'he culmination of evils — The pota- to-rot — The great stiuggle in England regarding the Corn-Laws — Protection versus Free Trade — Peel and repeal — Lord John Russell — His criminally stupid Irish policy and its bitter conse- quences — Tenant right the only remedy for Ireland's woes — Co- ercion as a cure for fnmine — The awful disasters of 1845 ^"^^ 1847 — Foolish doctrinaire policy of Russell — The Labor Rate act — The Fever — The Soup Kitchen act — Emigration — Death of O'Connell — Young Ireland — John Mitchel and Smith O'Brien ■ — Great Britain the unchecked mistress of Ireland . . . 254 CONTENTS. 19 CHAPTER VIII. Resurrection— The Fenian movement— Gladstone's mental and moral characteristics— The disestablishment of the Irish Church— The Land Bill of 1870, and its fatal defects— The Home Rule movement oiiginally started by Protestants— The Home Rule Association-A complete change of policy— No favors to be asked or accepted from either great English party . . .289 CHAPTER IX. The old fight again-The crisis of 1879-The election of Mr. Par- nell as chairman of the Irish parly- Defects of Mr. Shaw as a polilical leader— The leaders decide to remain in opposition to both English parties— Mr. Shaw's friends sell themselves for place and pay— The hopeless differences between the Irish party and the English Liberals— Parnell's platform for settling the Irish land problem— English incapacity to deal with Irish ques- tions—The Di-sturbance Bill— Forster— Irish outrages— Irish members suspended and ordered to leave the House— Land Bill of 1881— No-Rent cry S°^ CHAPTER X. In the depths— Merciless war between the Irish people and the au- thorities— Forster and Clifford Lloyd— « Harvey Duff"— Par- nell imppisoned— Parnell triumphant— The Phoenix Park mur- ders—Conservative rule and its benefits— Gladstone's new move- ment for conceding Home Rule— The situation in January, 1886 345 CHAPTER XI. The great Home Rule debate of 1886— Gladstone, the Grand Old Man— His appearance— His qualities of mind and heart— John Morley— Joseph Chamberlain— Mr. Goschen—Haitiugton— Sal- isbury— Churchill— Justin McCarthy— Thomas Sexton— Arthur O'Connor— Timothy Daniel Sullivan— James O' Kelly— His sin- gular and checkered career as soldier, journalist, politician and parliamentarian— John Dillon— Edmund Leamy— E. D. Gray— T. M. Healy— William O'Brien— J. E. Redmond— T. Harring- ton— The Liberal Parliament of 1886— Gladstone's grand speech — The debate — Hope again deferred 3"^ 20 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. The appeal to the country-r-Gladstone's popuIa,rity with the mE^sses— ■, His brilliant campaign in Scotland— Splendid receptions at M^Hr Chester, Liverpool, and elsewhere — Anti-Giadstonian efforts of Hartington, Chamberlain, Goschen, Churchill, Trevelyan qi?,d Bright — The Primrose League — The attitude of the agricultural laborer and the farmer — -The democracy almost unanimously friendly to Ireland — The result of the midsummer elections of 1886 — Ireland not crushed — The revival of hope — Belfast riots —The outlook to-day 445 CHAPTER XIII. THE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA. American Introduction 457 Parnell's Appeal to America — Founding of the Irish National League of the United States — The Buffalo Convention — The " No-Rent Manifesto" — The Chicago Convention — The League's Second National Gathering — Gloomy days for the League — End of the Land League of America — Birth and growth of the Irish Na- tional League of America — Hon. Alexander Sullivan's admin- istration — The emigration question — Irish-American leaders — Patrick Egan takes the reins — Dark days again dawn for the League— Public utterances of eminent Americans — To strengthen Gladstone's hands— Third Annual Convention of the National League — The League under John Fitzgerald's administration . 471 CHAPTER XIV. HISTORY OF AN IDEA, "Why I became a Home Ruler," by Hon. W. E. Gladstone . . 823 CHAPTER XV. JOHN SHERMAN S VIEWS. Hon. John Sherman, U. S. Senator for Ohio, on '^ The Great Irish Struggle" 843 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. pAca RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE {Steet) Frontisptec* THOMAS POWER O'CONNOR 7 A. BURNS, D. D., LL. D 8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL {Steel) 24 ISAAC BUTT —J. G. BIGGAR 53 JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN— T. BRENNAN 54 DR. K. O'DOHERTY ,, 71 J. WINTER 72 LORD SPENCER — MR. TREVELYAN 83 LORD R. CHURCHILL— LORD HARTINGTON 84 MICHAEL DAVITT 97 MEETING OF LAND LEAGUE COMMITTEE 98 F. B. FREEHILL 105 W. REDMOND — J. E. REDMOND 106 SCENE IN IRELAND — FARMER'S CABIN in EVICTED — DRIVEN FROM THE HOUSE WE BUILT 112 CELEBRATING MASS IN A CABIN 155 LIFE IN IRELAND 156 DESTITUTE FISHERMEN 173 EVICTED — HOMELESS 174 HENRY GRATTAN 189 GRATTAN'S PARLIAMENT 190 DANIEL O'CONNELL 249 DRINKING HIS HONOR'S HEALTH 250 THE OBNOXIOUS PROCESS-SERVER 293 NO RENT 294 T. M. HEALY — JUSTIN McCARTHY 313 THOMAS SEXTON — W. H. O'SULLIVAN 314 M. McDonald, of victoria 321 JOHN MORLEY — sir W. V. HARCOURT 322 21 22 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. rAGE A. M. SULLIVAN — T. D. SULLIVAN „ 333 GLADSTONE'S SPEECH 334 PARNELL'S NEW NATIONAL MAP 442 ROBERT M. McWADE 469 PATRICK A. COLLINS — THOMAS FLATLEY 470 PATRICK EGAN — ALEXANDER SULLIVAN 475 JAMES MOONEY — JOHN J. HYNES , 476 REV. PATRICK CRONIN — JOHN F. FINERTY 509 REV. CHARLES O'REILLY, D. D. — REV. THOMAS J. CONATY 510 WILLIAM J. GLEASON — HON. M. V. GANNON 54s REV. DR. GEO. C. BETTS — REV. P. A. McKENNA 546 COL. JOHN F. ARMSTRONG — PATRICK MARTIN ., '. 603 MICHAEL J. REDDING— MILES M. O'BRIEN 604 JAMES REYNOLDS — JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY 613 COL. W. P. REND — JOHN GROVES 614 ROGER WALSH— JUDGE MICHAEL COONEY....... 651 JOHN FITZGERALD — JOHN P.SUTTON 652 REV. GEO. W. PEP^'ER — THOMAS H. WALSH 759 M. J. RYAN — E. JOHNSON 760 MAURICE F. WILHERE — HUGH McCAFFREY , 819 REV. MAURICE J. DORNEY — M. D. GALLAGHER ta) tn.y ai, J=; CHAPTER I. CHARLES STEWART PARNELL. GRIP and grit: in these two words are told the secret of Mr. Parnell's marvellous success and marvellous hold over men. When once he has made up his mind to a thing he is inflexible ; immovable by affection or fear or reasoning. He knows what he wants, and he is resolved to have it. Throug-hout his career he has often had to make bargains ; he has never yet been known to make one in which he gave up a sinorle iota which he could hold. But it takes time before one discovers these qualities. In ordinary circumstances Mr. Parnell is apparently the most easy-going of men. Though he is not emotional or effusive, he is genial and unaffected to a degree ; listens to all comers with an air of real deference, especially if they be good talkers ; and Apparently allows himself to follow implicitly the guidance of those who are speaking to him. He is for this reason one of the most agreeable of companions, never raising any difficulties about trifles, ready to subject his will and his conven- ience to that of others ; amiable, unpretending, a (25) 26 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. splendid listener, a delightful host. But all the softness and the pliancy disappear when the moment comes for decisive action. After days of apparent wavering, he suddenly becomes granite. His decision is taken, and once taken is irrevocable. He oroes ri^ht on to the end, whatever it may be. In some respects, indeed, he bears a singular resemblance to General Grant; he has his council of war, and nobody could be a more patient or more respectful lis- tener, and, ordinarily, nobody more ready to have his thinking done for him by others. But when affairs reach a great climax, it is his own judg- ment upon which he acts, and upon that alone. Mr. Parnell has not a large gift of expression. He hates public speaking, and avoids a crowd with a nervousness that sometimes appears almost feminine. He likes to steal through crowded streets in a long, heavy Ulster and a small smoking-cap that effectually conceal his identity, and when he is in Ireland is only happy when the quietness of Avondale secludes him from all eyes but those of a few intimates. From his want of any love of expressing himself, it often happens that he leaves a poor impression on those who meet him casually. More than one man has thought that he was litde better than a simpleton, and their mangled reputations strew the path over which the Juggernaut of Parnell's fortunes and genius has mercilessly passed. He is incapable THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 27 of giving the secret of his power, or of explaining the reasons of his decisions. He judges wisely, with instinctive wisdom, just as Millais paints ; he is always politically right, because, so to speak, he cannot help it. This want of any great power and any great desire to expose the line of reason- ing by which he has reached his conclusions has often exposed Parnell to misunderstandings and strong differences of opinion even with those who respect and admire him. The invariable result is that, when time has passed, those who have dif- fered from him admit that they were wrong and he rio-ht, and once more have a fatalistic belief in his sagacity. Often he does not speak for days to any of his friends, and is seldom even seen by them. He knows the enormous advantage some- times of pulling wires from an invisible point. During this absence his friends occasionally fret and fume and wonder whether he knows every- thing that is going on ; and, when their impatience has reached its climax, Parnell appears, and lo ! a great combination has been successfully laid, and the Irish are within the citadel of some time- honored and apparently immortal wrong. Simi- larly it is with Parnell's nerve. In ordinary times he occasionally appears nervous and fretful and pessimistic; in the hour of crisis he is calm, gay, certain of victory, with the fanaticism of a Mussul- man, unconscious of danger, with a blindness half boyish, half divine. 28 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Mr. Parnell is not a man of large literary reading, but he is a severe and constant student of scientific subjects, and is especially devoted to mechanics. It is one of his amusements to isolate himself from the enthusiastic crowds that meet him everywhere in Ireland, and, in a room by himself, to find delight in mathematical books. He is a constant reader of engineering and other mechanical papers, and he takes the keenest in- terest in machinery. It is characteristic of the modesty and, at the same time, scornfulness of his nature, that all through the many attacks made upon him by gentlemen who wear their hearts upon their sleeves, he has never once made allusion to his own strong love of animals ; but to his friends he often expressed his disgust for the outrages that, during a portion of the agitation in Ireland, were occasionally committed upon them. He did not express these sentiments in public, for the good reason that he regarded the outcry raised by some of the Radicals as part of the gospel of cant for which that section of the Liberal party is especially distinguished. To hear a man like Mr. Forster refusing a word of sympathy, in one breath, for whole housefuls of human beings turned out by a felonious landlord to die by the roadside, and, in the next, demanding the suppression of the liberties of a nation be- cause half-a-dozen of cattle had their tails cut off; to see the same men who howled in delight be- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 29 cause the apostle of a great, humane movement, like Mr. Davitt, had been sent to the horrors of penal servitude, shuddering over the ill-usage of a horse, was quite enough to make even the most humane man regard this professed love of an- imals as but another item in the grand total of their hypocrisy. Mr. Parnell regards the lives of human beings as more sacred than even those of animals, and he is consistent in his hatred of op- pression and cruelty wherever they may be found. His sympathies are with the fights of freedom everywhere, and he often spoke in the strongest terms of his disgust for the butcheries in the Soudan, which the Liberals, who wept over Irish horses, and Irish cows, received with such Olym- pian calm. In 1867 the ideas that had been sown in his mind in childhood first beofan to mature. His mother was then, as probably throughout her life, a strong Nationalist, and so was at least one of his sisters. Thus Mr. Parnell, in entering upon political life, was reaching the natural sequel of his own descent, of his early training, of the strongest tendencies of his own nature. It is not easy to describe the mental life of a man who is neither expansive nor introspective. It is one of the strongest and most curious peculiarities of Mr. Parnell, not merely that he rarely, if ever, speaks of himself, but that he rarely, if ever, gives any indication of having studied himself. His mind, if one may use the jargon of the 30 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Germans, is purely objective. There are few men who, after a certain length of acquaintance, do not familiarize you with the state of their hearts or their stomachs or their finances ; with their fears, their hopes, their aims. But no man has ever been a confidant of Mr. Parnell. Any allusion to himself by another, either in the exu- berance of friendship or the design of flattery, is passed by unheeded ; and it is a joke among his intimates that to Mr. Parnell the being Parnell does not exist. It is plain from the facts we have narrated that Parnell's great strength is one which lies in his character rather than in his attainments. Yet his wonderful successes won in the face of nu- merous and most bitter opponents testify to mental abilities of a very high order. Mr. Glad- stone has said of him, " No man, as far as I can judge, is more successful than the hon. member in doing that which it is commonly supposed that all speakers do, but which in my opinion few really do — and I do not include myself among those few — namely, in saying what he means to say." Mr. Parnell is moreover very strong in not saying the thing which should not be said. Too many of his countrymen, it may be safely as- serted, are of that hasty and impulsive tem- perament which may betray, by a word prema- turely spoken, some point which should have been held from the enemy, and which might easily THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gj have been made, at some later time, a strono^hold t> of defence in the parliamentary contest. Mr. Parnell has few qualities which have hitherto been associated with the idea of a successful Irish leader. He has now become one of the most potent of parliamentary debaters in the House of Commons, through his thorough grasp of his own ideas and through his exact knowledge of the needs of his country. But Mr. Parnell has be- come this in spite of himself He retains to this day, as we have before stated, an almost invin- cible repugnance to public speaking; if he can, through any excuse, be silent, he remains silent, and the want of all trainino- before his entrance into political life made him, at first, a speaker more than usually stumbling. His complete suc- cess in overcoming, not indeed his natural ob- jection to public speaking, but the difficulty with which his first speeches were marked, affords one of the many proofs of his wonderful strength and singleness of purpose. It is not a little re- markable that his first successful speech was crit- icised for its vehemence and bitterness of tone, and for the shrillness and excessive effort of the speaker's voice. It seems probable that the embarrassing circumstances of his position while addressing an unsympathizing body of legislators, combined with a sense of his own inexperience, may have produced the appearance of excessive vehemence of manner. 32 GLADSTONE4-PARNELL. Nature has stamped on the person of this re- markable man the qualities of his mind and tem- perament. His face is singularly handsome, and at a first glance might even appear too delicate to be strong. The nose is long and thin and carved, not moulded ; the mouth is well cut ; the cheeks are pallid; the forehead perfectly round, as round and as striking as the forehead of the first Napoleon ; and the eyes are dark and un- fathomable. The passer-by in the streets, taking a casual look at those beautifully chiselled features and at the air of perfect tranquillity, would be inclined to think that Mr. Parnell was a very handsome young man, who probably had graduated at West Point, and would in due time die in a skirmish with the Indians. But a closer look would show the great possibilities beneath this face. The mouth, especially the under lip, speaks of a grip that never loosens ; the eye, when it is fixed, tells of the inflexible will be- neath ; and the tranquillity of the expression is the tranquillity of the nature that wills and wins. Similarly with his figure. It looks slight almost to frailty ; but a glance will show that the bones are large, the hips broad, and the walk firm ; in fact, Mr. Parnell tramps the ground rather than walks. The hands are firm, and even the way they grasp a pencil has a significance. This picture of Parnell is very unlike the por- traits which have been formed of him by the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. ■- 33 imagination of those who have never met him. When he was first in the storm and stress of the era of obstruction, he used to be portrayed in the truthful pages of English comic journalism with a battered hat, a long upper lip, a shillelah in his hand, a clay pipe in his caubeen. Even to this day portraits after this fashion appear in the lower-class journals that think the caricature of the Irish face the best of all possible jokes. Par- nell is passionately fond of Ireland; is happier and healthier on its soil than in any other part of the world, and is almost bigoted in the intensity of his patriotism. But he might easily be taken for a native of another country. Residence for the first years of his life in English schools has given him a strong English accent and an essen- tially EngHsh manner; and from his American mother he has got, in all probability, the healthy pallor, the delicate chiselling, the impassive look, and the resolute eye that are typical of the chil- dren of the great Republic. Such is the man in brief who to-day is perhaps the most potent personality in all the many na- tions and many races of the earth. The Russian Czar rules wider domains and more subjects ; but his sway has to be backed by more than a million armed men, and he passes much of his time shiv- ering before the prospect of a sudden and awful death at the hands of the infuriated amono- his own people. The German is a more multitudi- 34 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. nous race than the Irish and almost as widely scattered ; but Bisrnarck requires also the protec- tion of a mighty army and of cruel coercion laws, and the German who leaves the Fatherland re- gards with abhorrence the political ideas with which Bismarck is proud to associate his name. Gladstone exercises an almost unparalleled sway over the minds, hearts, imaginations of English- men ; but nearly one-half of his people regard him as the incarnation of all evil ; and shallow- pated lieutenants, great only in self-conceit, dare to beard and defy and flout him. But Parnell has not one solitary soldier at his command ; the jail has opened for him and not for his enemies, and except for a miserable minority he is adored by all the Irish at home, and adored even more fer- vently by the Irish who will never see — in some cases who have never seen — the shores of the Green Isle again. In one way or another, through intermixture with the blood of other peoples, the Irish race can lay claim to some twenty millions of the human race. Out of all these twenty millions the people who do not re- gard Parnell as their leader may be counted by the few hundreds of thousands. In cities sepa- rated from his home or place of nativity by oceans and continents, men meet at his command, and spill their money for the cause he recommends. Meetings called under his auspices gather daily in every one of the vast States of America, in THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 35 Canada, in Cape Colony; and the primeval woods of Australia have echoed to the cheers for his name. But this is but a superficial view of his power. A nation, under his guidance, has shed 'many of its traditional weaknesses; from being im- pulsive has grown cool and calculating ; from being disunited and discordant has welded itself into iron bands of discipline and solidarity. In a race scattered over every variety of clime and soil and gover'nment, and in every stratum of the social scale from the lowest to the highest, there are men of every variety of character and occupation and opinion. In other times the hatred of these men over their differences of method was more bitter than their hatred for the common enemy who loathed alike their ends and their means. Now they all alike sink into equality of agree- ment before the potent name of Parnell, high and low, timid and daring, moderate and extreme. Republics change their Presidents, colonies their governors and ministers ; in England now it is Gladstone and now it is Salisbury that rules; but Parnell remains stable and immovable, the apex of a pyramid that stretches invisible over many lands and seas, as resistless apparently as fate, solid as granite, durable as time. It was many years before the world had any idea of this new and potent force that was coming into its councils and affairs. Charles Stewart Parnell was born in June, 1846. He is descended 36 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. from a family that had long been associated with the political life of Ireland. The family came originally from Congleton, in Cheshire; but like so many others of English origin had in time proved its right to the proud boast of being Hibemior Hibernis ipsis. So far back as the beginning of the last century a Parnell sat for an Irish constituency in the Irish Parliament. At the time of the Union a Parnell held high office, and was one of those who gave the most substantial proof of the reality of his love for the independ- ence of his country. Sir John Parnell at the time was Chancellor of the Exchequer and had held the office for no less than seventeen years. It was one of the vices of the old Irish Parliament even in the days after Grattan had attained com- parative freedom in 1782 that the Ministers were creatures of the Crown and not responsible to and removable by the Parliament of which they were members. There was everything, then, in these years of service as a representative of the Crown to have transformed Sir John Parnell into a time- serving and corrupt courtier. But Sir John Bar- ington, the best known chronicler of the days of the Irish Union, describes Sir John Parnell in his list of contemporary Irishmen as " Incorruptible;" and " Incorruptible " he proved ; for he resigned office and resisted the Act of Union to the bitter end. A son of Sir John Parnell — Henry Parnell — -was afterwards for many years a prominent THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 37 member of the British Parliament, became a Cab- inet Minister, and was ultimately raised to the Peerage as the first Baron Congleton. John Henry Parnell was a grandson of Sir John ParnelL In his younger days he went on a tour through America ; there met Miss Stewart, the daughter of Commodore Stewart, fell in love with her, and was married in Broadway. It is unnecessary to speak to Americans of the immortal " Old Iron- sides." Suffice it to say that the bravery, calm- ness, and strength of will which were characteris- tic of the brave commander of the " Consdtution " are inherited by his grandson, the bearer of his name ; for the full name of Mr. Parnell, as is known, is " Charles Stewart Parnell." There was also somethinor significant in the fact that the man who was destined to prove the most potent foe oi^ British misrule in Ireland should have drawn his blood on the mother's side from a captain who was one of the few men that ever brought humili- ation on the proud mistress of the seas. The young Parnell, chiefly because he was a delicate child, was sent to various schools in England during his boyhood, and finally went to Cambridge University — the universit)^ of his father. Here he stayed for a couple of years, and for a considerable time thought of becoming a lawyer. But he changed his purpose, with a regret that sometimes even in these days of supreme political glory finds wistful expression. 38 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Almost Immediately after his years at Cam- bridge he went abroad for a tour; and like his fadier he chose America as the first place to visit. While travelling through Georgia — where his brother has now a great peach-orchard — he met with a railway accident. He escaped unhurt; but John, his elder brother, was injured; and John says to this day that he never had so good a nurse as " Charley." Then Mr. Parnell came back to his home in Avondale, County Wicklow, and gave himself up to the occupations and amusements of a country gentleman. At this time he was known as a reticent and rather retirlnof young man. He must have had his opinions though ; for he was brought up in a strongly political environment. Probably owing to her father's blood Mrs. Parnell had always a lively sympathy with the rebels against British oppres- sion in Ireland. She had a house in Dublin at the time when the ranks of Fenianism had been descended upon by the government; and when in Green Street Court-house, with the aid of in- formers, packed juries, and partisan judges, the desperate soldiers of Ireland's cause were being consigned in quick and regular succession to the living death of penal servitude. There were in various parts of the city fugitives from what was called in these days justice ; and among the places where most of these fugitives found a temporary asylum and ultimately a safe flight to freer lands THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gg and till better days was the house of Mrs. Parnell. Fanny Parnell is also one of the family figures that played a large part in the creation of the opinions of her brother. At an early age she showed her poetic talents ; and from the first these talents were devoted to the description of the sufferings of Ireland and to appeals to her sons to rise against Ireland's wrongs. When the Fenian movement was in its full strength it had an organ in Dublin called The Irish People ; and into the office of The Irish People Fanny Parnell stole often with a patriotic poem. In the midst of these surroundino-s came the news of the execution of the Manchester Martyrs. The effect of that event upon the people of Ire- land was extraordinary. The three men hanged had taken part in the rescue of two prominent Fenian soldiers. In the scrimmage a policeman, Sergeant Brett, had been accidentally killed, and for this accidental death several men were put on their trial for murder. The trial took place in one of the periodical outbursts of fury which un- happily used to take place between England and Ireland. The juries were prejudiced, the judges not too calm, and the evidence far from trust- worthy. Three men — Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien — were sentenced to death. Though many hu- mane Englishmen pleaded for mercy, the law was allowed to take its course, and Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien were executed. A wild cry of hate and 40 GLADSTONE— PA RNELL. sorrow rose from Ireland. In every town multi- tudes of men walked in funeral procession, and tq this day the poem of " God Save Ireland," which commemorates the memory of Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien, is the most popular of Irish songs. To anybody acquainted with the nature of Mr. Parnell it will be easy to understand the effect which such a tragedy would have upon his mind. If there be one quality more developed than an- other in his nature it is a hatred of cruelty. When he was a magistrate he had brought before him a man charged with cruelty to a donkey. Fanny Parnell was the person who had the man rendered up to justice, and her brother strongly sympathized with her efforts. The man was con- victed, and was sentenced to pay a fine of thirty shillings. The miscreant might as well have been asked to pay the national debt, and the fine was a sentence of prolonged imprisonment. The sequel of the story is characteristic of the family. Miss Parnell herself paid the fine and released the ruf- fian. It was his strong sympathy with suffering and his hatred of cruelty that first impelled Mr. Parnell to lead the crusade against the use of the odious lash in the British army and navy. So deep, indeed, is his abhorrence of cruelty and even of bloodshed, that he is strongly opposed to capital punishment ; and once, when one of his colleagues voted against a motion condemnatory of capital punishment in the House of Commons, he THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 4J expressed the hope, half joke, whole earnest, that some day that colleague might be taught a lesson by being himself hanged as a rebel. The Man- chester tragedy then touched Parnell in his most tender point, and from that time forward he was an enemy of English domination in Ireland. But he seemed to be in no hurry to put his convictions into action. He is not a man of ex- uberant enjoyment of life. He has too little imagination and too much equability for ecstasies, but he enjoys the hour, has many and varied in- terests in life, and could never, by any possibility, sink to a slothful or a melancholy dreamer. His proud and self-respecting nature, too, saved him from any tendency towards that wretched and squalid viciousness which is the characteristic of so many landlords' lives in Ireland. He is essen- tially temperate; eats but plainly, and drinks nothing but a small quantity of claret. Nor could he descend to the pure horsiness which makes so many country gentlemen regard the stableman's as the highest of arts and pursuits. One of the reasons why Mr, Parnell delayed his entrance into public life was the state of Irish politics at that moment. There was little move- ment in the country of a constitutional character. The representation was in the hands of knavish office-holders or office-seekers. The professions of political faith were so many lies, and the con- stituencies distrustful of all chance of relief from 42 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the Legislature, allowed thems^elves to be bought, that they might afterwards be sold. All that was earnest and energetic and honest in Ireland sought relief for her misery in desperate enter- prises, or stood aside until better days and more auspicious stars. Then the landlords of the coun- try remained entirely, or almost entirely, aloof from the popular movements. With the singlfe exception of the late Mr. George Henry Moore, the representation of Ireland was abandoned by the country gentlemen, who in other times had occasionally rushed out of their own ranks and taken up the side of the people. It is a curious fact, but the man who, perhaps, had more influ- ence than almost any other in bringing Mr. Par- nell into the arena of Irish nationality, has himself proved a recreant to the cause. In 1 87 1 was fought the Kerry election. This election marked one of the turning-points in the modern history of Ireland. During the Fenian trials Isaac Butt was the most prominent figure in defending the prisoners. He was a man who had started life with great expectations and supreme talents. Before he was many years in Trinity College, Ireland's oldest university, he was a pro- fessor; he had been only six years at the bar when he was made a Queen's counsel. He was the son of a Protestant rector of the North of Ire- land, and adhered for some years to the prejudices in which he had been reared. In his early days THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 45 every good thing in Ireland belonged to the Protestants. The Catholics were an outlawed and alien race in their own country. O'Connell, not many years before, had carried Catholic emancipation, but Catholic emancipation was alive only in the letter. The offices — the judgeships, the fellowships in Trinity College, the shrievalties, everything of value or power — were still exclusive- ly in the hands of the Protestants. O'Connell, in 1843, was so thoroughly sick and tired of vain ap- peals to the English Legislature that he resolved to start once again a demand for a native Irish Legislature. He opened the agitation by a de- bate in the Dublin Corporation, and Butt, who was a member of that body, though he was but a young man, was chosen by the Conservatives to oppose O'Conmell, and delivered a speech so effective that O'Connell himself complimented his youthful opponent, and foretold the advent of a time when Butt himself would be among the ad- vocates instead of the opponents of an Irish Leg- islature. It was not till a quarter of a century afterward that this prophecy was realized. Butt, immediately after the Fenian trials, began an agitation for amnesty, and in this way gradually went forward to a primary place in the confidence and in the affections of his countrymen. There were still some people who believed in the power and the willingness of the English Parliament to redress all the wrongs of Ireland, and there was 44 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. some justification for this faith in the fact that William Ewart Gladstone was then at the head of the English state, and was passing the Disestab- lishment of the Irish Church, the Land Act of 1870, and the Ballot Act, three measures which mark the renaissance of Irish nationality. But one of these very measures Isaac Butt was able to show was the very strongest proof of the neces- sity for an Irish Legislature. The Land Act of 1870 is an act the defects of which have passed from the region of controversy. Mr. Gladstone himself offered the strongest proof of its break- down by proposing in 1881 an entirely different Land Act. In fact it would not be impossible to show that in some respects the Land Act of 1870 aggravated instead of mitigated the evils of Irish land tenure. It put no restraint on the raising of rents, and rents were raised more mercilessly than ever ; it impeded, but it did not arrest eviction ; it caused as much emio^ration from Ireland as ever.. Yet all Ireland had unanimously demanded a dif- ferent bill. Mass-meetings all over the country had demonstrated the wish of the people, and ex- pectation had been wrought to a high point. The fruit of it all had been the halting and miserable measure of 1870. It was this fact that gave the farmers into the hands of Butt. The population of the towns was always ready to receive and to support any Na- tional leader who advocated an Irish Parliament ; THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 45 indeed there is scarcely a year since the Act of Union in 1800 when the overwhehning majority of the Irish people were not in favor of the resto- ration of an Irish Parliament. A.t that moment, too, another force was working in favor of a re- newed aeitation for Home Rule. The Protestants were bitterly exasperated by the Disestablishment of the Irish Church. Some of the more extreme Orangemen had made the same threats then as they are making now, and, while professing the strongest loyalty to the Queen, had used lan- guage of vehement disloyalty. For instance, one" Orange clergyman had declared that if the Queen should consent to the Disestablishment, the Orangemen would throw her crown into the Boyne. To the Irish Protestants Butt could ap- peal with more force than any other man. He was an Irish Protestant himself, brought up in their religious creed and in their political preju- dices. He made the appeal with success, and it was Irish Protestants that took the largest share in starting the great Irish movement of to-day. The Home Rule movement received definite form for the first time at a meetin^r in the Bilton Hotel on May 19, 1870. It was held in the Bilton Hotel in Sackville (now O'Connell) street, and among those who were present and took a promi- nent part were Isaac Butt, a Protestant ; the Rev. Joseph Galbraith, a Protestant clergyman and a Fellow of Trinity College ; Mr. Purdon, a Prot- 46 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. estant, and then Conservative Lord Mayor of Dublin ; Mr. Kinahan, a Protestant, who had been High Sheriff of Dublin ; Major Knox, a Protes- tant, and the proprietor of the Irish Times, the chief Conservative organ of Dublin, and finally Colonel King Harman, a Protestant, w\\o has since gone over to the enemy and become one of the bitterest opponents of the movement which he was largely responsible in starting. It was a Protestant, too, that won a victory that was decisive. In 1871 there was a vacancy in the representation of the County of Kerry. At once the new movement resolved to make an appeal to the constituency in the name of the revived de- mand for the restoration of an Irish Parliament. The friends of Whiggery, on the other hand, were just as resolved that the old bad system should be defended vigorously. And this elec- tion at Kerry deserves to be gravely dwelt on by those who regard the present movement as a sec- tarian and a distinctly Catholic movement. The Whig candidate was a Catholic — Mr. James Ar- thur Dease, a man of property, of great intellect- ual powers, and of a stainless character ; and Mr. Dease was supported vehemently and passion- ately by Dr. Moriarty, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Kerry. The Home Rule candidate on the other hand was a Protestant — Mr. Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett ; and he had but few ad- herents among the Catholic clergy of the diocese : THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 47 and the clergy who did support him fell under the displeasure of their bishop. The struggle was fought out with terrible energy and much bitterness ; the end was that the feeling of Na- tionality triumphed over all the influence of the British authorities and of the Catholic bishop, and Blennerhassett, the Protestant Home Rule candi- date, was returned. Blennerhassett belonged to the same class as Mr. Parnell. He was a landlord, a Protestant, and a Home Ruler. Mr. Parnell was a landlord, a Protestant, iand a Home Ruler. The time had ap- parently come when constitutional agitation had a fair chance ; and when men of property who sym- pathized with the people would be welcomed into the National ranks. A few years after this came the general election of 1874; and Mr, Parnell thought that his time of self-distrust and hesita- tion had passed ; and that he might put himself forward as a National candidate. But his chance was destroyed by a small technicality of which the government took advantage. It is the cus- tom in Ireland to appoint young men of station and property to the position of high sheriffs of the counties in which they live. The high sheriff cannot stand for the constituency in which he holds office unless he be permitted by the Crown to resign his office. Mr. Parnell applied for this permission and was refused. And thus in all probability he was unable to represent his native 48 GLADSTONE— PARN ELL. county in Parliament. But he had not long to wait. When a member of Parliament accepts office he has to resio-n his seat in the British Parliament and submit himself once more to the votes of his constituency. A Colonel Taylor, a veteran and rather stupid hack of the Tory party, was promoted by Mr, Disraeli to the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster — a well- paid sinecure — after many years' service as one of the whips of the party. Colonel Taylor was member for County Dublin. He had to seek re-election on his appointment to the chancellor- ship ; and Mr. Parnell resolved to oppose him. Mr. Parnell was beaten, of course, by a huge majority ; for in those days, though the majority of the people of County Dublin were, as they are now, energetic Nationalists, the franchise suffrage was so restricted that a small minority was able to always win the seat. But Mr. Parnell had borne himself well in the struggle ; and though he was held to be absolutely devoid of speaking power, yet he made many friends and admirers by the pluck with which he fought a forlorn hope. The next year the man who had been chiefly Instrumental In bringing him Into public life died — honest John Martin. At the time of his death John Martin was member for County Meath. The county, always strongly National, looked for a man capable of stepping into the place of a noble patriot. Parnell was selected. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 49 ' Parnell was now at last embarked on the career of an Irish pohtician. He had not been long in the House when he discovered that thinp-s were not as they should be, and that the movement, though it appeared powerful to the outside pub- lic, was internally weak and to some extent even rotten. Butt, the leader of the Irish party, was a man of great intellectual powers, and was hon- estly devoted to the success of the cause. He was ready also to work very hard himself, and he drafted all the bills that were brought in on va- rious subjects by his followers. But he was old, had lived an exhausting life, was steeped in debt, and had to divide his time and energies between the calls of his profession as a lawyer and his duties as a legislator. Such double calls are especially harassing in the case of a man who is at once an Irish lawyer and an 'Irish politician. The law courts are in Dublin, the imperial Parliament is in London; the journey between the two cities, part by sea and part by land, is fatiguing even to a young man, and thus it was quite impossible that Butt could attend to his duties as a lawyer in Dublin and as a politician in London without damage to both. This seriously interfered with his efficiency, and was partly accountable for the break-down of himself and his party. But he had, besides, personal defects thet made him unfit for difficult and stormy times. He was a soft-tempered, easy-going man who was without 50 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. much moral courage, incapable of saying No, and with a thousand amiable weaknesses which leaned to virtue's side as a man, but were far from vir- tuous in the politician. As a speaker he was the most persuasive of men. He discussed with such candor, with such logic, with temper so beautiful, that even his bitterest opponents had to listen to him with respect. But the House of Commons has respect only for men who have votes behind them, and can turn divisions, and Butt was unable to turn divisions. This brings us to the second defect in the Home Rule party of Butt. Most of his followers were rotten office-seekers. When in 1874 Butt had an opportunity of getting a party elected he was beset by the great weakness of all Irish move- ments^-the want of money. The electoral insti- tutions of England were, and to a certain extent still are, such as to make political careers impossi- ble to any but the rich or the fairly rich. The costs of election are large, members of Parliarhent have no salary, and living in London is dear; and thus as a rule nobody has any chance of entering into political life unless he has a pretty full purse. The result was that when the contest came Butt was in a painful dilemma. The constituencies were aH rigrht, and were willin^f to return an hon- est Nationalist, but there were no honest candi- dates, for there was no prospect but starvation to anybody who entered into political life without THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 51 considerable means. Butt himself was terribly pressed for money at that very moment. He had to fly from a warrant for debt on the very morn- ing when Mr. Gladstone's manifesto was issued, and John Barry, now one of the members for County Wexford, tells an amusing tale of how he received the then Irish leader in the early morn at Manchester, where Barry lived. It was from Enofland that Mr. Butt had to direct the electoral campaign, and his resources for the whole thing amounted to a few hundred pounds. To Ameri- can readers these facts ought especially to be told, for they serve two objects: First, they show how it is that though the feeling of Ireland has always been strongly National, representatives of these opinions have not found a place in Parlia- ment until a comparatively recent period; and secondly, because they bring out clearly the enor- mous influence which America has exercised in the later phases of Irish policy by her generous sub- scriptions to the combatants for human rights and human liberty in Ireland. The result of all these circumstances was that Butt was compelled to fight constituencies with such men as turned up, and in the majority of cases to be satisfied with the old men under new pledges. Of course, these old representatives were quite as ready to adopt the new princi- ples of Home Rule as they would have adopted any other principles that secured them re-election, 52 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and through re-election the opportunity of selling themselves for office. Many of the members of the Home Rule party of 1874 were men, accord- ingly, who had been twenty or thirty years engaged in the ignoble work of seeking pay or pensions from the British authorities, and as ready as ever to sell themselves. Of course, such a spirit was entirely destructive of any chance of getting real good from Parliament. The English ministers felt that they were dealing with a set of men whose votes they could buy, and were not going to take any steps for the redress of the grievances of a country that was thus represented. It was no wonder, then, that w^hen Mr. Parnell entered Parliament he at once beg-an to meet with painful disillusions. Mr. Butt's plan of action was to bring forward measures, to have them skilfully and temperately discussed, and then to submit to the vote when it went against him. The Home Rule question was opened every year. Mr. Butt himself introduced the subject In a speech of-great constitutional knowledge, of Intense closeness of reasoning, and of a statesmanship the sagacity of which is now proved by the adoption of Butt's views by the leading statesmen of England. Then the leaders of both the English parties got up; each In turn condemned the proposal with equal emphasis; the division was called; Whig and Tory went into the same lobby; the poor Irish party was borne down by hundreds of English THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 55 votes, and Home Rule was dead for another year. Parnell's mind is eminendy practical. Great speeches, splendid meetings, imposing proces- sions — all these thinors are as nothing: to him unless they bring material results. He was as great an admirer as anybody else of the genius of Isaac Butt, but he could see no good whatever in great speeches and full-dress debates that left the Irish question exactly where it was before. He saw, too, that Isaac Butt was the victim of one great illusion. Butt founded his whole policy on appeals to and faith in the reason of the House of Commons. Parnell saw very clearly that at that period the keeper of the conscience in the House of Commons on the Irish question was the division lobby. "Appeal to the good sense and good feeling of the House of Commons." said Butt; and the House of Commons replied by quietly but effectually telling him that it didn't care a pin about his feelings or his opinions — its resolution was fixed never to grant Home Rule to Ireland. Parnell naturally began to think of an opposite policy. "Attack the House through its own interests and convenience," said he to Butt, "and then you need not beg it — you can force it to listen." When Parnell entered into Parliament there was already another member there whose mind was of an even more realistic order than his own. At the general election of 1874 Joseph Gillis Big- 56 QLADSTONE— PARNELL. gar had been returned for the County of Cavan. Biggar is an excellent type of the hard-headed Northerner. He was all his life in the pork trade, and had the reputation of being one of the closest, keenest and most successful business men of Belfast. Biggar is not a man who has read much — he does not even read the newspapers which contain attacks upon himself; but he has an extremely shrewd, penetrating mind, a judg- ment that is often narrow but is nearly always sound, and that once formed is unchangeable by friend or foe. But above all things, Biororar has extraordinary and marvellous courage. This courage exhibits itself in small as well as in big things. He has the courage to refuse an exorbi- tant fare to a cabman or a fee to a waiter; will oppose the best friend as readily as the bitterest enemy if he think him wrong; can speak unpleas- ant truths without the least qualms; and is not so much indifferent as unconscious of what other people say about him. In these respects he was the very opposite of poor Butt, who was childishly sensitive to opinion either of friend or foe. Big- gar had been gready disgusted with the way things were going in the House of Commons even before Parnell had become his colleague. He has a wonderfully keen eye in seeing through falsehood and pretense, and if he be once con- vinced that a man is dishonest he loathes him for- ever afterwards. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 57 Joseph Gillis Biggar was born in Belfast, on August I, 1828. He was educated at the Belfast Academy, where he remained from 1832 to 1844. The record of his school-days is far from satisfac- tory. He was very indolent — at least he says so himself — he showed no great love of reading — he was poor at composition, and, of course, ab- jectly hopeless at elocution. The one talent he did exhibit was a talent for figures. It was, per- haps, this want of any particular success in learn- ing, as well as delicacy of health, which made Mr. Biggar's parents conclude that he had better be removed from school and placed at business. He was taken into his father's office in the provision trade, and he continued as assistant until 1861, when he became head of the firm. Mr. Biggar's first attempt to enter Parliament was made at Londonderry in 1872. He had not the least idea of being successful ; but he had at this time mentally formulated the policy which he has since carried out with inflexible purpose — he preferred the triumph of an open enemy to that of a half-hearted friend. The candidates were Mr. Lewis, Mr. (afterwards Chief Baron) Palles, and Mr. Bis^Qrar. At that moment Mr. Palles, as Attorney-General, was prosecuting Dr. Duggan and other Catholic bishops for the part they had taken in the famous Galway election of Colonel Nolan — and Mr. BIo^2:ar made it a first and indis- pensable condition of his withdrawing from the 4 58 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. contest that these prosecutions should be dropped. Mr. Palles refused; Mr. Biggar received only 89 votes, but the Whig was defeated, and he was satisfied. The bold fight he had made marked out Mr. Biggar as the man to lead one of the as- saults which at this time the rising Home Rule party was ^beginning to make on the seats of Whig and Tory. He himself was in favor of try- ing his hand on some place where the fighting would be really serious, and he had an idea of contesting Monaghan. When the general elec- tion of 1874, however, came, it was represented to Mr. Bipfear that he would better serve the cause by standing for Cavan. He was nominated, and returned, and member for Cavan he has since remained. Finally, let the record of the purely personal part of Mr. Biggar's history conclude with mention of the fact that, in the January of 1877, he was received into the Catholic Church. The change of creed for a time produced a slight estrangement between himself and the other members of his family, who were staunch Ulster Presbyterians, and there were not wanting mali- cious intruders who sought to widen the breach. But this unpleasantness soon passed away, and Mr. Biggar is now on the very best of terms with his relatives. Not lonof after the niorht of Mr. Bicrorar's cele- brated four hours' speech, a young Irish member took his seat for the first time. This was Mr. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLfe. 59 Parnell, elected for the county of Meath in suc- cession to John Martin. The veteran and incor- ruptible patriot had died a few days before the opening of this new chapter in Irish struggle. There was a strange fitness in his end. John Mitchel had been returned for the county of Tip- perary in 1875. After twenty-six years of exile he had paid a brief visit to his native country in the previous year. He had triumphed at last over an unjust sentence, penal servitude, and the weary waiting of all these hapless years, and had been selected as its representative by the premier constituency of Ireland. But the victory came too late. When he reached Ireland to fight the election he was a dying man. A couple of weeks after his return to his native land he was seized with his last illness, and after a few days suc- cumbed, in the home of his early youth and sur- rounded by some of his earliest friends. John Martin had been brought by Mitchel into the na- tional faith when they were both young men. They had been sentenced to transportation about the same time ; they had married two sisters ; they had both remained inflexibly attached to the same national faith throughout the long years of dis- aster that followed the breakdown of their at- tempted revolution. Martin, though very ill, and in spite of the most earnest remonstrances of friends, went over to be present at the death-bed of his life-long leader and friend. 60 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. At the funeral he caught cold, sickened, and in a few days died. He was buried close to Mitchel's grave. After Mr. Parnell's first election to Parliament, he, in common with his associate, Mr. Biggar, was deeply impressed by considering the impotence that had fallen upon the Irish party. Both were men eager for practical results, and debates, how- ever ornate and eloquent, which resulted in no benefit, appeared to them the sheerest waste of time, and a mockery of their country's hopes and demands. Probably they drifted into the policy of " obstruction," so called, rather than pursued it in accordance with a definite plan originally thought out. There was in the Irish party at this time a man who had formulated the idea from close reflection on the methods of Parliament. This was Mr. Joseph Ronayne, who had been an enthusiastic Young Irelander, and though, amid the disillusions that followed the breakaown of 1848, he had probably bidden farewell forever to armed insurrection as a method for redressinor Irish grievances, he still held by an old and stern gospel of Irish nationality, and thought that polit- ical ends were to be gained not by soft words, but by stern aijd relentless acts. He, if anybody, de- serves the credit of having pointed out, first to Mr. Biggar and then to Mr. Parnell, the methods of action which have since proved so effective in the cause of Ireland. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 61 When one now looks back upon the task which these two men set themselves, it will appear one of the boldest, most difficult, and most hopeless that two individuals ever proposed to themselves to work out. They set out, two of them, to do battle against 650 ; they had before them enemies who, in the ferocity of a common hate and a common terror, forgot old quarrels and obliterated old party lines ; while among their own party there were false men who hated their honesty and many true men who doubted their sagacity. In this work of theirs they had to meet a perfect hurricane of hate and abuse ; they had to stand face to face with the practical omnipotence of the mightiest of modern empires ; they were accused of seeking to tram- ple on the power of the English House of Com- mons, and six centuries of parliamentary govern- ment looked down upon them in menace and in reproach. In carrying their mighty enterprise, Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar had to undergo labors and sacrifices that only those acquainted with the inside life of Parliament can fully appre- ciate. Those who undertook to conquer the House of Commons had first to conquer much of the natural man in themselves. The .House of Commons is the arena which gives the choicest food to the intellectual vanity of the British sub- ject, and the House of Commons loves and re- spects only those who love and respect it. But :62 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the first principle of the active poHcy was that there should be absohite indifference to the opin- ion of the House of Commons, and so vanity had first to be crushed out. Then the active poHcy demanded incessant attendance in the House, and incessant attendance in the House amounts almost to a punishment. And the active poHcy required, in addition to incessant attendance, considerable preparation ; and so the idleness, which is the most potent of all human passions, had to be gripped and strangled with a merciless hand. And finally, there was to be no shrinking from speech or act because it disobliged one man or offended another; and therefore, kindliness of feeling was to be watched and guarded by re- morseless purpose. The three years of fierce conflict, of labor by day and by night, and of iron resistance to menace, or entreaty, or blandish- ment, must have left many a deep mark in mind and in body. " Parnell," remarked one of his fol- lowers in the House of Commons one day, as the Irish leader entered with pallid and worn face, " Parnell has done mighty things, but he had to go through fire and water to do them." Mr. Biggar was heard of before Mr. Parnell had made himself known ; and to estimate his character — and it is a character worth study — one must read carefully, and by the light of the present day, the events of the period at which he first started on his enterprise. In the session of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 63 1875 he was constantly heard of; on April 27 in that session he " espied strangers ; " and, in ac- cordance with the then existing Vules of the House of Commons, all the occupants of the different galleries, excepting those of the ladies' gallery, had to retire. The Prince of Wales was among the distinguished visitors to the assembly on this particular evening, a fact which added considera- ble effect to the proceeding of the member for Cavan. At once a storm burst upon him, be- neath which even a very strong man might have bent. Mr. Disraeli, the Prime Minister, got up, amid cheers from all parts of the House, to de- nounce this outrage upon its dignity ; and to mark the complete union of the two parties against the daring offender. Lord Hartington rose imme- diately afterwards. Nor were these the only quarters from which attack came. Members of his own party joined in the general assault upon the audacious violator of the tone of the House. Mr. Biggar was, above all other things, held to be wantinof in the insdncts of a gentleman. " I think," said the late Mr. George Bryan, another member of Mr. Butt's party, *'that a man should be a gentleman first and a patriot afterwards," a statement which was, of course, received with wild cheers. Finally, the case was summed up by Mr. Chaplin. "The honorable member for Cavan," said he, '• appears to forget that he is now admitted to the society of gentlemen." This was 64 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. one of the many allusions, fashionable at the time — among genteel journalists especially — to Mr. Biggar's occupation. It was his heinous of- fence to have made his money in the wholesale pork trade. Caste among business men and their families is regulated, both in England and Ireland, not only by the distinction between wholesale and retail, but by the particular article in which the trader is interested. It was not, therefore, surprising that an assembly which tol- erated the more aristocratic cotton should turn up its indicrnant nose at the dealer in the humbler pork. But much as the House of Commons was shocked at the nature of Mr. Biggar's pursuits, the horror of the journalist was still more ex- treme and outspoken. " Heaven knows " (said a writer in the Wo7dd), "that I do not scorn a man because his path in life has led him amongst pro- visions. But though I may unaffectedly honor a provision dealer who is a Member of Parliament, it is with quite another feeling that I behold a Member of Parliament who is a provision dealer. Mr. Biggar brings the manner of his store into this illustrious assembly, and his manner, even for a Belfast store, is very bad. When he rises to address the House, which he did at least ten times to-night, a whiff of salt pork seems to float upon the gale, and the air is heavy with the odor of the kippered herring. One unacquainted with the actual condition of affairs might be forgiven if THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 65 he thought there had been a large failure in the bacon trade, and that the House of Commons was a meeting of creditors, and the right honorable gentlemen sitting on the Treasury Bench were members of the defaulting firm, who, having con- fessed their inability to pay ninepence in the pound, were suitable and safe subjects for the abuse of an ungenerous creditor." These words are here quoted by way of illus- trating the symptoms of the times through which Mr. Biggar had to live, rather than because of any influence they had upon him. On this self-re- liant, firm, and masculine nature a world of ene- mies could make no impress. He did not even take the trouble to read the attacks upon him. The newspapers of the day were full of sarcasm against Mr. Biggar, the chief points made against him being directed at his alleged " grotesque ap- pearance" and "absurdity." Indeed, the impres- sion made upon such Americans as have derived their information regarding Irish affairs chiefly from the London periodicals has been that Mr. Biggar was a man of no sort of intelligence, and of no possible weight in Parliamentary counsels, but that he was simply a hornet who was always ready to sting John Bull's leathern sides. That this hornet was a sore annoyance it was very evident. That he was fearless and persistent was equally plain. No man was more ready to assert Biggar's lack of scholastic acquirements 66 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. than he himself was prompt to admit the fact. Even the proud title of '* father of obstruction " has been denied him, since obstructive action has long been recognized as a legitimate weapon in the hands of otherwise hopeless legislative mi- norities. Mr. Biggar's real title to eminence lies largely in his persistence. He Is emphatically a vir tenax propositi. Others may have had more definite plans for the future of Ireland. Others may have far excelled him in political skill and tactics. Beyond a doubt there are many others who surpass him in the gifts and graces of oratorical display. He does not despise these gifts ; he simply does not possess them, and he knows the fact right well. Another point in his favor is his singleness of purpose and childlike simplicity of character. A certain un-Irish insen- sibility to attack has also helped Mr. Biggar. The attacks made in the House of Commons in his own hearing neither touch him nor an- ger him. The only rancor he ever feels against individuals is for the evil they attempt to do to the cause of his country. This little man, calmly and placidly accepting every humiliation and insult that hundreds of foes could heap upon him, in the relentless and untiring pursuit of a great purpose, may by-and-by appear, even to Englishmen, to merit all the affectionate respect with which he is regarded by men of his own country and principles. Before he was long a member THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gy of Butt's party he had seen that more than half the number were rascally self-seekers who didn't mean a word of what they said, and who were only looking out for the opportunity to don the English livery. And here, perhaps, it would be as well to pause for a moment and explain to an American reader what are the means which a British government has at its disposal for corrupting political oppo- nents. Few Americans realize the splendor of the prizes that are at the disposal of the British authorities. Americans know that members of Parliament are paid no salary ; they hear the boasts of the enormous and immaculate purity of public life in England; and they, many of them, infer that political life in England is preceded by the vows of purity and poverty. As a matter of fact, there is no country in the world in which politics has prizes so splendid to offer. The sala- ries reach proportions unexampled in ancient or modern times. The Lord Chancellor of England, for instance, has a salary of fifty thousand dollars a year as long as he is in office, and once he has held office — if it be only for an hour — he has a .pension of twenty-five thousand dollars a year for the remainder of his days. The Lord Chancellor, besides, has extraordinary privileges. He is the head of the judiciary of the country; he is Speaker of the House of Lords ; he is a peer with right of succession to his children ; he is a member of the gg GLADSTONE— PARNELL. cabinet. The Speaker of the House of Commons has a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year, a splendid house in the Parliament buildings; fire and light and coal free ; and when he retires he gets a pension of twenty thousand dollars a year for life and a peerage. Several of the cab- inet ministers receive salaries of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The Lord Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench gets a salary of forty thousand dollars a year, and the puisne judges get a salary each of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. In Ireland — one of the poorest countries in the world — the official salaries are on almost an equal scale of extravagance. The Lord-Lieutenant re- ceives a salary oC one hundred thousand dollars a year and many allowances. The Chief Secre- tary for Ireland receives a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year, with many allowances. The Lord Chancellor has a salary of forty thou- sand dollars a year during office, and, as in the case of the Lord Chancellor of England, has a pension for life even if he have held the office for but an hour; the pension is twenty thousand dol- lars a year. The Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench Court has a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year; and the puisne judges, who, as in England, hold their offices for life, have a salary of nineteen thousand dollars a year. The Attor- ney-General in Ireland has a nominal salary of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 69 <|^i 2,895, t>ut he has fees besides for every case in which he prosecutes ; and, as times of disturbance bring many prosecutions, he thrives on the un- happiness of the country. Frequently the salary of the Irish Attorney-General, in times of dis- quiet, has run up to fifty thousand dollars in the year, or even more. Then, as everybody knows, England has innumerable colonies, and in all her colonies there are richly paid offices. The average salary of a governor of a colony is twenty-five thousand dollars, and there are chief-justiceships, and puisne judgeships, and lieutenant-governor- ships, and a thousand and one other things which can always be placed at the disposal of an obe- dient and useful friend of the administration. The difficulty of the Irish struggle will be understood when it is recollected' that, in antago- nism to all this, the Irish people have nothing to offer their faithful servants. In Ireland there are, practically speaking, no ofiices in the gift of the people. From the judgeships down to a place in the lowest rank of the police, everything is in the gift of the British government. Nor is this all. The Irish patriot, up to the last year, always ran the risk of collision with the authorities, and, in consequence, faced the chances of imprisonment. Mr, Parnell has been in prison ; Mr. Dillon has been twice in prison ; Mr. O'Kelly has been in prison ; Mr. Sexton has been in prison ; Mr. William O'Brien has been in prison ; Mr. Healy has been 70 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. in prison ; Mr. Timothy Harrington has been three times in prison ; Mr. Edward Harrington has been in prison ; Dr. O'Doherty was sent to penal servitude in '48 ; Mr. J. F. X. O'Brien was sent to penal servitude in 1867, having first been sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Out of the eighty-six Irish members of the present Irish party no less than twenty-five have been, on one excuse or other, and for longer or shorter terms, imprisoned by the British authorities. The choice, then, of the Irish politician lay between wealth, dignity, honors, ease, which were offered for traitorous service by the British government, and the poverty and hardship and lowliness, with a fair prospect of the workhouse and the gaol, which were the only rewards of the faithful servant of the Irish people. Isaac Butt himself was a signal and terrible example of what Irish patriot- ism entails. We have already described how hard he had to work in his closing days to meet the strain of professional and political duties. When he was wrestling with the growing disease that ultimately killed him, he was beset by duns and bailiffs, and his mind was overshadowed with the dread thought that he had left his children unprovided for. And to-day, in poverty — perhaps in misery — they are paying the penalty of having been begotten by a great and a true Irishman. Any man of political experience or reading will know how easy it is for a government to rule a K O'lxiHERTY '^WW?^^^^^^^ J. WINTER, Treaeurer Victoria Branch, Irish National League. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 73 country if it have the gift of wealth to bestow, or the curse of poverty to entail. In our own days we have seen France ruled for twenty years by an autocrat through bayonets and offices ; and the offices were just as important an element in the governing as the bayonets. The fears of the timid, the hopes of the corrupt, are the founda- tions of unjust government in all ages. If Amer- icans be sometimes impatient at the duration of British domination and the helplessness of Irish efforts to overthrow it, they must always take into account the vast influence which an extremely wealthy country has been able to exercise over an extremely poor country by the gift of richly- dowered office. As soon as Biggar found that the new race of so-called Nationalists were of exactly the same brood as those who had gone before he made up his mind that these men would do nothing for Ireland, and he took his own course. Biggar's mind is essentially combative. He is utterly with- out the Christianity of spirit that suggests the acceptance of a blow on one cheek after being struck on the other, and he was brooding over some means by which he could give these insolent Englishmen blow for blow. But the member for Cavan has not a mind of much initiative, and he was helpless until he had the assistance of Mr. Parnell. A few nights before Parnell took his seat the 74 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. House of Commons was enorao-ed in the not un« familiar task of debating a Coercion Bill for Ire- land. A Coercion Bill in these days was not thought much about ; it was not felt as much of a hardship on the English side nor as much of an outrage on the Irish. Such was the poor spirit of the Irish representatives of these days that Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Conservative Chief Secretary, who was passing the bill through the House of Commons, used frequently to be com- plimented by so-called Irish Nadonal Represent- atives for his courtesy ; the least little concession was hailed as an example of whole-souled gen- erosity ; and if an Irish member ventured to put the government to any inconvenience, by asking for the postponement of the discussion or by "obstructing" in any way the progress of busi- ness, he was at once pounced upon by his col- leagues and charged with ungenerous and irra- tional obstinacy. There was among the party at the time a shrewd and witty Corkman named Joseph Ronayne. Ronayne had been one of the party that in 1848 wanted to fight against the intolerable wrongs of Ireland. Time had brought the philosophic mind so far that Ronayne saw some hope in constitutional agitation ; but he was quite as fierce and quite as masculine a Nationalist as ever. He had a sharp and humorous tongue. The compliments that were poured on the Eng- lish Chief Secretary at the moment when he was THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 75 depriving Irishmen of the fundamental rights of citizens roused his gorge, and he compared them to the shake-hands which the convict gives to the hangman immediately before his execu- tion. Biggar was not the man to pay such compli- ments, to consult the ease of ministers, or to have regard to what used to be called the tone of the House. He resented frankly and irreconcilably the coercion of his country; he hated the man who proposed it ; he didn't care a farthing what the House of Commons liked or disliked ; his policy was to fight the bill clause by clause, line by line, in season and out of season, with the con- venience of the House and against the conven- ience of the House ; and with absolute disregard of protest or plaint, of compliment or threat. It was on the night of April 22, 1875, that he first got the opportunity of putting this policy into effect. Mr. Butt asked Mr. Biggar to speak against time on a Coercion Bill. Mr. Butt had probably little idea at that moment of what he was doing. It was on this eventful night that one of the most singular and most potent political births of our time saw the light. On that aight Parliamentary obstruction was born. Mr. Biggar rose at five in the evening. One of the writers of this work happened to be in the Speaker's gallery of the House of Commons on this evening and remembers the speech very well. 76 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. The subject was Irish coercion, but Mr. BIggar seemed to be giving his opinion on every subject under heaven. For instance he happened to stumble across something of a reHgious character, and thereupon he gave the House the benefit of his views on the great question of Ritual which divides the two schools of relio^ious thoueht in the Established Church of England. It is probable that Mr. Biggar could not tell the difference be- tween a High and a Low Churchman ; and that if he could know the difference, he would not re- gard it as of the least importance. But he man- aged to dissertate on the subject for several sen- tences, and so filled up a portion of the time. At last his voice began to fail, and a friend who was watching the game resolved to come to his assistance. According to the rules of the House of Commons forty members is the quorum at a debate. The forty members need not be in the House itself. They may be dining or wining, en- joying a cigar in one of the smoke-rooms or en- gaged in study in a room in the library; but when a count is moved they all hurry in ; the Speaker counts; if there be forty members present, the debate goes on, and the greater number of mem- bers scutde back to the half-eaten chop or the half-smoked cigar ; while if there be not forty, the House stands adjourned. A count takes about five minutes, three minutes belnor allowed to the members to assemble from the different places of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 77 retreat. These five minutes Mr. Bi^o-ar utilized in recovering breath. But again his voice began to fail, and the Speaker thought he had him in a trap. He declared that the member for Cavan was out of order ; his remarks were inaudible and no longer reached the chair. But Mr. Biggar was equal to the occasion. He moved up closer to the chair, and as the Speaker had not heard his previous observations obligingly offered to repeat them all over ag^ain. It was five minutes to 9 o'clock when Mh Biggar resumed his seat; he had spoken nearf^ four hours. This was the beginning of the' nfew era. Hence Mr. Biggar is known by the proud tide of the "Father of Obstruction." It was a few nights after this that Charles Stewart P^r- nell took his seat for the first time as a membtrr of the House of Commons. It was characteristic' of his whole future that he spoke the very firSt night of his entrance into the House, and th^t his first speech was a vigorous protest against ia'' Coercion Act for Ireland ; for the discussion oftlie' question was still proceeding on which Mr. Big'g?Lt had made his historic speech, and his dogged courage had found the necessary supplement' in- the bold, daring, and inventive brain of theyourig member for County Meath. The hour had come ; and the man. CHAPTER II. THE ERA OF OBSTRUCTION. BEFORE the policy of Parliamentary ob- struction is properly understood the reader must have some acquaintance with the rules and manners of the British House of Commons. The House of Commons meets for a period generally beginning the first week of February, and ending in the second week of August each year. It meets for five out of the seven days of the week for the transaction of business. On every one of those days except Wednesday the hour for assembling is lo minutes to 4 o'clock. The sittir^g has no definite time of closing, and cases have been known where it has been ex- tended to forty-one hours, or almost two days, continuously. The House cannot adjourn unless op a motion carried by the members present. So rigid, is this rule that a story is told how, on one occasion, the Speaker w^as left alone in his chair; the , official whose duty it was to move the ad- journment having forgotten to attend to do so, and that official had to be sent for, in order that the necessary formality might be complied with. 78 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 79 On Wednesdays the House meets at 12 and closes at 6 o'clock. The business of the House is divided into two categories, viz. : First, what is called government business; and, secondly, the business of "private" members. Mondays and Thursdays throughout the session are what are called "Government Nisfhts," and on these occasions the business of the executive administration has precedence over all others. Tuesdays and Fridays are private members' nights, and on these occasions the business of the private members has priority over that of the government. On the nights devoted to the private members the business usually con- sists of resolutions upon some of the questions of the day which are not yet actually ripe for legis- lation. A member makes, say, a motion calling for the abolition of capital punishment ; or for a change in the licensing laws ; or for the cessation of the traffic in opium ; or for the abolition of the House of Lords ; or for the disestablishment of the church ; or for some such kindred purpose. Members sometimes make an attempt to carry their proposals into law, and introduce bills for that object ; but, generally speaking, the efforts of members are confined to abstract motions. Tuesday night belongs entirely to private mem- bers — the government not even making an at- tempt to get any portion of the time for the transacdon of its own work. On Friday nights, ,^gQ GLADSTONE— PARNELI.. however, the government sometimes succeeds in getting through a few of its proposals. "Supply," or ** appropriation " as it is called in America, is put down for that night. It is a principle of the Eng-Iish Constitution that the statement of a grievance shall precede supply. On Friday nights, accordingly, before the government are able to get a penny of money from the House, they have to listen to anything that a private member has to say. Sometimes half a dozen motions on half a dozen different subjects are put upon the paper, and are discussed. A private member even has the right to stand up in his place, and talk about any subject without putting a notice upon the paper. It thus very often hap- pens that the discussion of a grievance proceeds till 12 or I o'clock at night; and when the debate has been extended to this period the government give up the project of getting money ; and there- upon no supply is taken that night. There is another rule which has a most im- portant effect upon the transaction of business in the House of Commons. This is " the half-past 12 o'clock rule," under which no business that is opposed can be taken. The Cabinet proposes, for instance, a bill for the future government of Ireland. At once a member of the Tory party, or of the Liberals who are opposed to it, puts down an " amendment" moving that the bill in question be read that day six months, which is the official THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 8| way of moving the rejection of the measure. As long as this amendment appears upon the paper the bill cannot be taken after half-past 1 2 o'clock at night. An amendment of the kind is what is known in Parliamentary vocabulary as a "block- ing " motion. It often happens that a bill which is very much objected to seems to have a chance of coming on about half-past 11 or 1 2 o'clock. When this occurs a number of members opposed to it immediately begin to talk against time, with the result that half-past 1 2 o'clock is reached ; then the bill has to be postponed till another day. Wednesday, to a great extent, is a dies nmt in Parliament. It is entirely given up to private members, and the subjects discussed are usually something in the nature of a fad or crotchet or an '* ism." A change in the ecclesiastical law and other pious matters used to form the leading sub- jects of discussion, and this earned for Wednes- day the reputation of being the special day for religious bills. At a quarter to 6 on the Wednes- day the debate, if proceeding, has to cease upon any bill which is the subject of discussion. Ac- cordingly, whenever a division is not considered desirable on that day, a speaker will get up about 5 o'clock or later, and talk on until a quarter to 6. The debate has then to be interrupted, and thus a division is avoided. Between a quarter to 6 and 6 business can be done to which no objection is made; and often that short space of time is occu- 82 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. pied most usefully by a member of the government or private member in getting a bill through its final stage. But if any member get up and use the words, "I object," the bill cannot be advanced any stage, and is postponed till another day. The first thing to be remembered about the House of Commons is, that it is a machine en- tirely incapable of transacting the amount of work put upon it. The affairs of India, colonial rela- tions, international relations, the domestic affairs of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales — all these subjects have to be dealt with in one single Parliament. Frequently there are questions which involve such pith and moment as a threat- ened war between England and Russia, down to the less significant matter of a complaint about the defective paving of a street in London, or the neglect of a pauper in an Irish workhouse. There is no division between imperial and local government such as there is in the United States. In fact, the imperial Parliament is in the same position as the Congress at Washington would be if the State Legislatures throughout the whole country were abolished, and their work trans- ferred to the central assembly in the national capitol. The result of the arrangement of the imperial legislature is, that the main work of government is to attempt a victory in an ever- failing race with time. The history of every administration and, indeed, of every session of Parliament Is the same. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 85 The basis of the poHcy of Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar was, that the Irish party should take ad- vantage of the way in which the rule^ of the House of Commons thus left the English ministries at the mercy of any resolute body of men. They pointed out to Mr. Butt that his annual debates were not advancing the Irish cause by one step, and that he must adopt entirely different methods if he hoped to succeed in his mission. Mr. Butt, however, was a man of amiability that reached to weakness. He knew that a policy of this kind could not be carried out without coming into fierce collision with the House of Commons, even without evoking a storm of interruption and of passion there, too, and an equally violent storm of passion outside. Kindly himself, he trusted to conciliation, and he had not the nerve to face the frowns and the hootings of men with whom he was in daily intercourse. For a long time Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar pressed their views upon the Irish leader over and over again, but with no satisfactory result ; and they finally came to the conclusion that it was perfectly impossible to hope for anything from Mr. Butt's initiative, and that they must take the work in hand themselves. It was acting upon these ideas that Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar started the movement known as the " Policy of Obstruction." They began by blocking every bill brought in by the government. This single step alone created a revolutionary 86 GLADSTONE— PARNELL, change in the situation. Up to this time the gov- ernment had been able to get through some of their bills at whatever hour of the sitting they came on — whether i or 2 or 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. Now, however, their operations could not reach beyond half-past 12 o'clock. This is how the new and the old system worked. Sup- pose half a dozen government bills put down on Monday or Thursday night; under the old system four or five of these bills would have a fair chance of being- considered on the same nio;ht. Under the new system it rarely happened that more than one of the bills was even discussed. Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar were there to speak at length, sometimes for an hour, other times for two hours, and frequently talking even nonsense. The result was, that a debate, which began at 5 o'clock and was expected to finish at 8 o'clock, would be prolonged by these indefatigable talkers until II or 12 o'clock, and then some one of their friends would start up at midnight, and, by speaking till half-past 1 2 o'clock, prevent the gov- ernment from bringing on bill No. 2. In the House of Commons talk begets talk, and the speeches of the Irish members always resulted in eliciting speeches from the English members. Sometimes the speeches of their opponents took the form of violent attack and personal vitupera- tion, but Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar did not care a pin. In fact they were only too delighted, for THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gy those attacks not only wasted time in themselves, but produced that feverish temper in the House during which abundant speech became infectious. Whenever, too, there were little interstices of time, which in the easy-going good old days the government were able to fill up with little bills, there was either Mr. Parnell or Mr. Biggar ready to stand up and fill in the chasm, and so prevent the bills from coming on. " Supply " was their happy hunting-ground. On every item which gave the least promise of fruitful discussion they raised a debate. This was especially the case with Irish supply. On the votes for the constab- ulary, or for the state prosecutions, or for money to the Chief Secretary, they initiated discussions that dragged into the light every dark place in the English administration of Irish affairs. That put the government upon their defence, and sometimes kept the subject of Ireland before the House and the country for weeks in succession. The vote for the police alone has been known to occupy a week in discussion ; and the entire Irish votes have rarely taken less than three or four weeks in stormy times. Nothing will bring more clearly before the mind of the reader the difference between the old and the new time than a single incident that occurred with regard to these Irish estimates. One night Mr. Butt and his followers were dining in the House of Commons. They had intended to raise 88 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. some kind of a debate upon the government of Ireland upon the Irish estimates. In the middle of the dinner somebody came, breathless and dis- mayed, to announce that the Irish estimates had all passed through in the course of a few minutes without a word of comment or a whisper of disap- proval. It was fortunate for Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar that at this time also the government, which at the moment belonged to the Conserva- tive party, resolved to bring in a series of measures which were of much length and vast perplexity. Some of these measures, besides, raised questions upon which Mr. Parnell knew some feeling would be raised in England. He had known of the ex- istence for a long time of a party violently opposed to flogging in the army — an odious institution, which survived in England alone, of all civilized countries in the world. Mr. Parnell readily con- cluded from this that if he raised a debate upon flogging in the army he would be followed by a certain number of Englishmen ; that they would talk and divide along with him, and that in this way the progress of any bill in which flogging in the army was mentioned might be indefinitely delayed. Another subject on which he knew there was a great deal of feeling was the treatment of pris- oners. English feeling generally was confined to dissatisfaction at the manner in which untried prisoners were treated under the prison rules ; THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gg but the Irish Nationalists had a further and even more serious grievance : that was, the treatment of political prisoners. Almost alone among the civilized nations of the earth England had up to this time confounded the political and the ordinary prisoners. Men of high character, whose only offence was to feel for the deep distress and the wrongs and miseries of their country and too eagerly desire to redress them — men of educa- tion, good social position, and refined minds- were compelled by the British government to herd with the murderer and the burglar and the lowest and vilest scum of English society. Ac- cordingly Mr. Parnell was able to organize con- siderable support both amongst the English and Irish members in favor of attacks upon the prison discipline of the country. Finally during the Conservative regime the annexation of the Trans- vaal was accomplished. It Is needless now to argue the right or the wrong of that act. The Iron hand of time has crushed its advocates. But when the annexation first took place public opinion In England was not ripe, and Information did not exist. The only persons who were pre- pared to give the annexation any effective oppo- sition were a small group of Radicals, chief among whom was Mr. Leonard Courtney, now Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. The forcible conquest of any people against their will was naturally repugnant to Irish National- 90 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. ists, and thus they were drawn to the side of the Boers from the very first. A junction of their forces with their English Radical allies made it possible to embitter and prolong the fight. These preliminary observations will enable the reader to understand the line of tactics now adopted by the Irish obstructives. Every year the House of Commons has to pass what is called the ** Mutiny Act." This act establishes the discipline of the British army ; and under the British Constitution the army cannot exist with- out the annual passage of this act. The act was originally passed for the purpose of maintaining the control of Parliament over the standing army. If this act should cease to exist the soldier would again become a private citizen, subject only to the common law, and could no longer be punished for disobeying his officers or even quitting the colors. The Mutiny Act in the present form con- sists of about 193 clauses, and in its old shape it was about the same length. But up to the advent of Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar it was regarded as simply a piece of formality that was hurried through in inaudible whispers from the Speaker and imaginary ayes and noes of the members of the House. In fact, it probably never at any period occupied more than ten minutes of the many months during which Parliament sits. But Mr. Parnell, casting his eyes through its innumer- able clauses, discovered the section maintaining THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 21 flogging in the army. He at once saw the im- portance of the point ; raised the question again and again ; was attacked furiously by the Conser- vative Ministers, and for a long time was left alone by the members of the English parties, and even by the members of the Irish party too. The Minister for War at this period was a man now known as Lord Cranbrook, but then Mr. Gathorne Hardy. Lord Cranbrook is a man of vacuous mind and boisterous temper. To watch him well there night after night — compelled to argue and reargue with tortured reiteration in reply to Mr. Parnell and Mr. Biggar — was, to use a colloquial expression, like the sight of a hen on a hot grid- iron. He would try ^/iis form, then ^/^a^ form in treating this obstinate and terrible Irish group. He was civil, and they replied with equal civility, but at the same time with equally lengthy speeches. He sulked in silence, and then they moved mo- tions for adjournment of the debate or of the House that compelled him to answer. He was violendy angry, and then he exposed himself to merciless torture. Night after night, week after week, month after month, the Mutiny Bill dragged its slow length along, not passing itself and not permitting any other measure to pass. The same thing took' place with regard to other measures. The introduction of a Prison's Bill removing the control of prisoners from local authority to the Home Office, or, as it would be 92 GLADSTONE— PARNELT.. called in America, to the Department of the In- terior, afforded an opportunity for raising the question of prison discipline. Again night after night, week after week, and month after month passed, and still the Prisons Bill had not got through its innumerable clauses. And, finally, there was the Transvaal Bill, with its multi- farious clauses also ; and in its case likewise night after night, week after week, and month after month almost passed, and still the bill had not become a law. It was the policy of himself and Mr. Biggar (as he told one of the writers of this work when they were travelling over to Ireland together to organize the great election campaign of 1885) always to avoid stand-up fights with the Govern- ment. The work of delaying legislation and wasting time was done more effectively in quiet- ness and without any of these great struggles. This remark of Mr. Parnell's is quite characteris- tic of the man's whole nature and policy. The showy fights were not to his taste half as much as the quiet and unseen work ; for the quiet and unseen work produced practical results, whereas the showy fights sometimes were not so effective. In one respect this criticism upon his own policy was not altogether correct. These showy fights had the effect of drawing the attention of all man- kind to the Irish question, and had a second, and even equally important effect — they " enthused " THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 93 the Irish race at home and abroad. When Mr. Parnell came to America in 1880, Wendell Phillips best pithily described the effect of Mr. Parnell's action, when he said he had come to see the man who had made John Bull listen. And the second effect is best shown by the extraordi- nary union of the Irish nation now in his support. In the midst of the struggle between the active section, as the Obstructives were called, of the Irish party, and the loggards, or trimmers, or traitors, who formed the bulk of that party, Mr. Butt died. Mr. Parnell was still at this time a young man and had only made a short record. The country was not yet quite certain of his power to take the position of leader. In addition to all this the then Home Rule Party consisted mostly of men who disliked him personally and loathed his policy. Under these circumstances it was vain to think of his being appointed the leader ; and Mr. William Shaw was elected as a stop-gap leader. The reasons for this election were, that Mr. Shaw was a Protestant, supposed to be very rich, and that he had a moderate mind and an easy and genial temperament. Under the rules of the Irish party the leader is elected for only one year, and the time was bound soon to come when Mr. Shaw would have once more to submit his claims for the position of chief The selection was perhaps the best that could have been made at the time. Mr. Shaw was not with- 6 9-^ GLADSTONE— PARNELL. out many admirable qualities. He, however, was too cautious and timid, and had not imagination or mind large enough for the sublime and gigantic evils that had now to be grappled with once and for all. The year 1879 marked a crisis in the history of Ireland. Owing to circumstances which will be presently detailed the potato crop has occupied in Irish life a position of extraordinary importance. With- out any exaggeration the potato crop may be described as the thin partition which used to di- vide large masses of the Irish people from whole- sale starvation. The years iSyy-'/S had both been years in which the crops had largely failed to come up to the expectations of the people. The following table will prove this fact conclu- sively ; Value of Potato Crop. 1876 $60,321,910 1877 26,355,110 1878 35.897,560 It will therefore be seen that by 1879 there had been two bad seasons; and three bad seasons in Ireland as it then was were sufficient to make all the difference between the chance of weather- ing the storm and going down in awful ship- wreck. But the year 1879 disappointed all the expectations that had been formed of it. The potato crop, instead of rising, went down to a lower point than it had reached even in the dis- astrous year of 1877. The figures are ; THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 95 Value of Potato Crop. 1879 $ 1 5 .705 .440 In Other words two-thirds of the potato crop had not come to maturity, and in some parts of the country it had entirely disappeared. Thus Ireland stood face to face with famine. The time had come now for making a choice between either of two courses, each of which presented enormous difficulties and terrible dangers. Either the country had to remain quiet and sub- missive to the decree of British law and of Irish landlords, when the result would probably be a considerable amount of starvation, an enormous number of evictions, and an immense amount of emigration, as well as the break-down of all spirits and of all hopes in the people. The other course was that of passive resistance to the law of eviction, and of strong agitation which would make the landlords pause in their tyranny, and compel the British Parliament to bestow reform. The latter course could not be entered upon without the risk of violent collision with the law and the chances of penal servitude and perhaps death on the gallows ; and above all, without the sickening dread when the hour of trial came that the people might prove unequal to the opportun- ity, and allow themselves to be again driven back by the dark night of hunger and of despair. If Mr. Butt had remained at the head of affairs it »s more than probable that the first of these two 96 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. courses would have been adopted. It was the only course that recommended itself to timid and constitutional lawyers like him, and to all the other large sections of society in Ireland, that always wish to avoid open collision with the great powers of the British government. But Mr. Parnell is a very different type of man to Mr. Butt. His Iron nerve and his darine mind induced him to believe that the bold course was the true course, that eviction should be grappled with, that the landlords and the law should be encountered, and that in this way the threatened famine of 1879, in place of being a night of darkness and despair, might make a morning of hope and resurrection to the Irish people. His choice of weapons was largely influenced by a very remarkable man who at about this time began to have considerable influence over the course of Irish affairs. This was Michael Davitt. The life of Michael Davitt is in many respects like that of hundreds of thousands of Irishmen. Evic- tion, Exile, Poverty — these are its main features. Michael Davitt was born at Straid, in the County Mayo, in the year 1846. That year, as will be seen afterwards, was one of Ireland's darkest hours. Famine was in the country; thousands were dying in every hospital, work- house, and jail, and the roads were literally thick with the corpses of the unburied. The landlords were aggravating this terrible state of things by MICHAEL D 4VITT. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 99 their merciless eviction of all their helpless ten- antry whose means of living and power of paying their rent had been entirely destroyed by this economic cyclone. The father of Davitt was one of these victims. Davitt's earliest recollection is of an eviction under circumstances of cruelty and heartlessness. He was but four years of age when his father was turned out of his house and farm. It was the curious irony of fate that he afterwards held a Land League meeting at Straide, and that the platform from which he spoke stood on the very spot where he had first seen light. His family emigrated to Lancashire, where to-day there are thousands of other Irish families who sought refuofe in English homes from their own country. The fate of the Irish in England has been one of the many tragedies in the sorrowful history of the Irish race. Coming mostly from the country and from rural pursuits, the Irish exiles were thrown into the midst of large manu- facturinof industries. For such industries of course they had had no training whatever. The result was that the only work they could obtain was the work which was hardest and worst paid. To- day, if you pass through a Lancashire, Northum- brian, or Scotch district you will find that the stokers in the gas-works, the laborers in the blast furnace and chemical works are nearly all men of Irish birth and descent — people or the sons of people who were driven from Ireland by hungei" flOO GLADSTONE— PARNEDL. and iby eviction. In his early years Davitt led the same life as that of the other Irishmen around him. As soon as he was able to work he had to be sent to the mill in order to eke out the scanty subsistence of his family. While employed in the mill his arm was caught in the machinery and wrenched off. This misfortune, terrible as It was, perhaps influenced his life for the future. He was taken away from the mill, and was able in this way to devote time to the improvement of his mind. He was living at this time at Has- lingden, a town in the Lancashire constituency, which is represented at present by the Marquis of Hartington. -He was employed there for some years in a stationer's shop and afterwards as a letter-carrier. In Haslingden there is a large Irish population, and the young Irish boy grew up amid Irish surroundings and Irish influences. However, it was not until one night he attended a meeting addressed by an Irish orator that he really began to have strong political opinions. This orator told him the history of his country, of her wrongs, of her plans, of her hopes. The whole soul of the young man was fired; his im- pressions were crystallized into convictions, and from that time forward he was an ardent Irish Nationalist. It is a singular circumstance that the man who gave to Davitt this new birth of conviction afterwards proved recreant to the cause; for the orator who first made Davitt THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. JQI an Irish Nationalist was Mr. John O'Connor Power. In those days there was no place in politics for an honest Irish Nationalist save in the ranks of the revolutionary party. That party found some of its bravest and fiercest recruits among the Irish in England, and Davitt was one of them. The English Branch of the Fenian oro^anization contemplated some of the most desperate enter- prises of the movement. Among many other plots they resolved to make an attack on Chester Castle, where there used to be a large supply of arms. Davitt, although very young at the time, was one of those who were present at the tryst- ing-place. He escaped arrest at this time, and then he became prominent by his energy and talents, and after a while was one of the foremost organizers of the movement. He was mainly concerned in the purchase of arms and their transportation to Ireland to prepare men for the fight, which was then supposed to be ripening fast. One eveninor he was arrested at a London railway station and was brought before the courts on the charge of levying war against the Queen. The main evidence against him was that of Corydon, an infamous ruffian, who first joined and then sold the organization. From the onset Davitt knew there was no escape. In his "Leaves of a Prison Diary," which contains an account of his life, he describes his feelings at this terrible hour ; 102 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " I recollect," he writes, " having occupied the half-hour during which the jury was considering whether to believe the evidence of respectable witnesses or accept that of a creature who can be truly designated a salaried perjurer in my case, in reading the inscriptions which covered the walls of the cell — the waiting-room of fate — in Newgate prison, to which I was conducted while my future was being decided in the jury-room overhead. Every available inch of the blackened mortar contained, in few words, the name of the writer, where he belonged to, the crime with which he was charged, the dread certainty of conviction, the palpitating hopes of acquittal, or the language of indifference or despair. What thoughts must have swept through the minds of the thousands who have passed through that cell during the necessarily brief stay within its walls! Loss of home, friends, reputation, honor, name — to those who had such to lose ; and the impend- ing sentence of banishment from the world of pleasure or business for years — perhaps forever —with the doom of penal degradation, toil, and suffering in addition ! "Yet, despite all these feelings that crowd upon the soul in these short, fleeting, terrible moments of criminal life, the vanity — or what shall I term it? — of the individual prompts him to occupy most of them in giving a short record of himself, his crime or imputed offence, scratched THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 103 upon these blackened walls, for other succeeding unfortunates to read! " Most of these inscriptions were in slang, showing that the majority of those who had writ- ten them were of the criminal order, and guilty of some, if not of the particular, offence for which they were doomed to await the announcement of their punishment within that chamber of dread expectancy. Not a few, however, consisted of declarations of innocence, invocations of Divine interposition, appeals to justice, and confidence in the ' laws of my country ; ' while others denoted the absence of all thoughts except those of wife, children, or sweetheart. Some who were await- ing that most terrible of all sentences — death — could yet think of tracing the outlines of a scaffold amidst the mass of surrounding inscriptions, with a ' Farewell to Life ' scrawled underneath. Giv- ing way to the seeming inspiration of the place, and picturing jurors' faces round that dismal den — dark and frowning, into which the sun's rays never entered, lit only by a noisy jet of gas which seemed to sing the death-song of the liberty of all who entered the walls which it had blackened —I stood upon the form which extended round the place and wrote upon a yet uncovered por- tion of the low sloping roof: *M. D. expects ten years for the crime of being an Irish Nationalist and the victim of an informer's perjury. — July, 1870.' From the ghasdy look of the place, the 104 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. penalty I was about to undergo, and my own thoughts at the moment, I might have most ap- propriately added the well-known lines from the 'Inferno,' which invite those who enter its portals of despair to abandon hope." The anticipations in this heart's cry proved cor- rect. Davitt was found guilty and was sentenced to fifteen years* penal servitude. Replying in the month of May last (1886) to Lord Randolph Churchill's incitements to civil war, Mr. Davitt gave a scathing reply, and at the same time a neat summary of his miseries in penal servitude. " The treason for which I was tried and con- victed in 1870 was more justifiable in reason and less culpable to law than the treason which this ex-cabinet minister commits in telling the people of Ulster that they will be entitled to appeal to the arbitrament of force if the imperial Parliament passes a certain law. In 1870, when I was tried in London, the Casde system of government still obtained in Ireland — a system of rule which, by the measure which the Prime Minister of Eneland — (loud cheers) — has introduced for the better government of Ireland, is now proved to be un- just and unconstitutional. Nevertheless, I was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude for sendinor firearms to Ireland to be used asfainst a system of government in that country which was not objectionable to the minority, but which was looked upon by the mass of the Irish people as a F. B TRLKHILL, M A, President Irish National League, New South Wales. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 107 tyranny. (Applause.) Now, what will be the position of this precious ex-minister of the Crown in 1887 if he be true to his words in sending fire- arms to the North of Ireland? (Applause.) Lord Churchill will be in insurrection against his Dwn Queen and country. (Hear, hear.) He "vill not be In revolt against a despotic Castle system, but against the legally-constituted Irish Parliament, and, therefore, this treason which he commits by anticipation will have no earthly justification or extenuation. (Cheers.) Well, I will give the noble lord some friendly advice to- night — (laughter) — based upon a good deal of prison experience. (Renewed laughter.) I will assume that in 1S87, when Paddington's lordly representative will become a rebel against impe- rial authority, Mr. Gladstone will be Prime Minis- ter of England. (Cheers.) He was England's Prime Minister in 1870, when I left the Old Bailey to undergo penal servitude. If Lord Randolph Churchill receive the same sentence for a similar offence without any justification for committing it, I will tell him what he will have to undergo. (Hear, hear.) If he is treated in prison as I was under Mr. Gladstone's adminis- tration, he will be chained to a cart with murder- ers and pick-pockets for the first four years of imprisonment, and if he goes through that ordeal without quarrelling with his new chums — (laughter and loud applause) — it may be his good fortune, 108 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. as It was mine, to be in six years' time piomoted to the position of turning a wringing machine in the Dartmoor convict laundry. (Loud laughter and applause.) Well, after seven years and eight months' Imprisonment, I hope he will be released on ticket-of-leave, as I was, and then, perhaps, it may be my duty, rising from the opposite benches of the Irish Parliament — (cheers) — to do for him what he did for me in 1881, when he called upon the then Chief Secretary of Ireland to send me back to penal servitude to undergo fifteen months' additional imprisonment." (Cheers.) Several attempts were made to procure Davitt's release from prison, which attempts failed for years ; but at last, on the morning of December 19, 1877, the governor of Dartmoor jail brought Davitt the information that he was a free man. The release, however, was not unconditional. He was let out on a ticket-of-leave. This at the time might well have appeared nothing more than a hollow formality. But it afterwards proved to be a grim safeguard for Davitt's political orthodoxy in the future. After his release he took to lectur- ing. In the course of time his family had been further scattered, and having first left Ireland for England they had subsequently quitted England for America. They were settled in Manayunk, Pennsylvania. Davitt went over to America to see his mother and sister, and also probably with the view to his career thereafter. When he ar- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 109 rived In America he had not more than a few acquaintances in the country. The chief of thes^ was Mr, James O'Kelly, then connected with the New York press, now a member of the British House of Commons. At this time there had come an important crisis in the history of Irish-American organizations. A large number of the men who had been en- gaged in revolutionary effort had made up their mind that the Hberation of Ireland could not for the moment be advanced by Immediate resort to physical force. Several of the men of the keenest intelliofence and of thoughtful and states- manlike minds had come to the conclusion that other devices should be employed. Of these men perhaps the most noteworthy was Mr. John Devoy. It required some courage to preach to men of the revolutionary party any doctrine save the attempt to liberate Ireland by force of arms. Constitutional agitators had been proved in so iTjany cases liars and traitors that constitutional agi- tation was regarded by vast numbers as a delusion and a snare ; and any plan that had even the least approach to constitutional agitation in its character Vv^as condemned beforehand. But some of the leading spirits of the revolutionary party were men above the cant of faction or the emptiness of phrases. They saw that the Land question was, after all, the fundamental question with the vast mass of the Irish people ; that that was the ques- 110 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. tion which touched their hearts, their homes, and tjieir daily lives, and that accordingly, if some movement were started in which the land would play a prominent part, the adhesion of the farmers to the National movement would be easily ob- tained. Revolutionists were accordingly advised to take up the .igitation of the Land question as the best means by which they could reach the goal of National revival. This was known at one time as " the new departure." Mr. Davitt was brouorht into contact with the men of this new school ; his mind was captured by the idea ; and when he returned to Ireland it was with a determination to put this new plan of action into operation. For a year he met with but little success ; the revolutionaries would not accept his plan because it was too constitutional. The con- stitutionalists rejected it as too revolutionary. The period of Davitt's arrival in Ireland was the period of dark distress from the failure of the crop which has been already described. Another event which lent force to Davitt's ideas was the action of the land-owners. They proceeded to deal with their tenantry in exactly the same way as they had done at all previous periods of dis- tress. That is to say, they took advantage of their tenants' distress to drive them out of their holdings. This will be seen more plainly by put- ting side by side the increase of the distress and the number of evictions : THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE II3 No. of Evictions Year. Value of Potato Crop. by Families. 1876 160,321,910 1,269 1877 26,355,110 1,323 1878 35.897,560 1,749 1879 15,705,440 2,667 From this short table it may be gathered that the number of evictions increased in exact pro- portions to the deepening of the distress. Davitt saw how this state of things could be used for the purpose of advancing his ideas. He after- wards thus describes his mode of acfion : " I saw the priests, the farmers, and the local leaders of the Nationalists. I inquired and found that the seasons of 1877 and 1878 had been poor, and that a famine was expected in 1879. -^^^ ^^e farmers and cotters were in debt to the landlords and the shopkeepers. One day in Claremorris, County Mayo — it was in March, 1879 — ^ was in company with John W. Walsh, of Balla, who was a commercial traveller. He is now in Australia in the interests of the Land League. He knew the circumstances of every shopkeeper in the west of Ireland — their poverty and debt, and the pov- erty of the people. He gave me a good deal of valuable information. I met some farmers from Irishtown, a village outside of Claremorris, and talked to them about the crops and the rent. Everywhere I heard the same story, and I at last made a proposition that a meeting be called in Irishtown to give expression to the grievances of the tenant farmers, and to demand a reduction of 114 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the rent. We were also to urge the abolition of landlordism. I promised to have the speakers there, and they promised to get the audience. I wrote to Thomas Brennan, of Dublin, John Fer- guson, of Glasgow, and other Irishmen known for their adherence to Ireland's cause, and I drew up the resolutions. The meeting was held and was a great success, there being between ten thousand and twelve thousand men present. In the pro- cession there were fifteen hundred men on horse- back, marching as a troop of cavalry ; and this feature, inaugurated at Irishtown, has been con- tinued ever since at every meeting of the Land League. The meeting was not fully reported in the Dublin papers, but was, as far as the object went, a success ; for the landlords of the neigh- borhood reduced the rents 25 per cent." From this meeting at Irishtown grew the great Land League movement. However, Davitt had yet to gain the adhesion of the Parliamentary leader. The fierce obstructive fights in the House of Commons happened by a fortunate coincidence to be going on exactly at the same time as the threatened famine and the increasing evictions prepared the mind of Ireland for a new land movement. These strues^les had roused the spirit and the hopes of the people, and they were above and beyond all pointing to the possibility of their finding a leader who had the necessary courage, determination, and skill to lead a new THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 115 land movement to victory. Mr. Davitt early appreciated the fact that if he were to make a successful land movement he should secure the leadership of Mr. Parnell for it, as he alone among the Parliamentarians of that day had the necessary magnetism and other qualities for such an arduous and perilous enterprise. But he did not find in Mr. Parnell immediate assent to his proposals ; for Davitt's schemes, not merely in their means but in their ends, went far beyond any plans that had yet been formulated by any Irish organization or any Irish politician. The Land reformers in Ireland had always demanded as the goal and limit of its efforts what came to be known as the " Three F's ; " that is to say, Fixity of tenure, Free sale, and Fair rent. The demands for these con- cessions had been urged for more than forty years, and had formed the subject of innumerable bills in the House of Commons, of countless mis- sions, and of many successive agitations ; and in 1879, when Davitt was preparing the new move- ment, the three " F's " seemed nevertheless to be as far off realization as ever. Davitt's startling proposal was that in place of urging this moderate demand, which appeared unattainable, they should advance to a far more drastic proposal for the settlement of the land question. This suggestion, curiously enough, had first been made by English statesmen. John Stuart Mill, the great English economist, Mr. Bright, the great English tribune, 7 116 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. had both suggested that the real and final remedy for the land struggle of Ireland was the establish- ment, through the state, of that system of peasant proprietors which had brought wealth and inde- pendence out of poverty and servitude in France, Germany, and Austria. Davitt now proposed to drop the proposal for the three Fs, and to stop nothing short of the declaration that the occupy- ing tenantry of Ireland should be transformed into proprietors of the soil. Mr. Parnell, although he is bold and audacious in enterprise, is a cool and cautious calculator of means towards ends. Up to this© time he had never dreamt of makinof a step beyond the demand for the three F's ; and he long hesitated before he could accept the pro- posal of Davitt; but at last he embraced Davitt's programme ; he went to a meeting at Westport, and preached the doctrine of peasant proprietor, and so the most popular figure of Ireland had crossed the Rubicon : the land movement now must go on to great victory or disastrous shame. Thus it was that the oreat Land League move- ment took its start. It was a movement that grew rather than was made. The circumstances of the time made it necessary. All that was wanted was now supplied. There was a leader of the necessary boldness and adroitness to direct and to guide it ; and soon from one end of Ireland to another there were bodies of farmers ready to o;o in for the struQ-ofle. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. Ij? Matthew Harris is one of the most interesting and strikinof ficrures of the Irish movements of the last thirty years. During all this period he has devoted himself with self-sacrificing and unremit- ting zeal to the attainment of complete redress of his country's grievances. In this respect poli- tics are with him an absorbing passion, almost a religion. In the pursuit of this high and noble end he has risked death, lost liberty, ruined his business prospects. Eager, enthusiastic, vehe- ment, he has at the same time that grim tenacity of purpose by which forlorn hopes are changed into triumphant fruitions. He has fought the battle against landlordism in the dark as well as in the brightest hour with unshaken resolution. Reared in the country, from an early age he saw landlordism in its worst shape and aspect ; his childish recollections are of cruel and heartless evictions. Thus it is that In every movement for the liberation of the farmer or of Ireland during the last thirty years he has been a conspicuous figure, as hopeful, energetic, laborious in the hour of despair, apathy, and lassitude, as in times of universal vigor, exultation, and activity. Matthew Harris made war on landlordism, which in the county of Gal way had been particu- larly atrocious for many years before the Land League was thought of; and in this way his ac- tions became the orerm of a new movement. o And now we have come to a point in our nar- 118 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. rative that makes it necessary to give a short his- torical retrospect. How comes it that the Land question in Ireland has grown to be a question of life and death to the Irish people ? Is the land system in Ireland the same as in America or in other countries ? And how is it that there has grown up between the landlord and the occupier of the Irish soil a feud so bitter, a hatred so deadly? These questions compel a short sketch of the land struggle. A short sketch, indeed ; and yet any sketch, however long, would, in point of fact, be all too brief to convey any adequate idea of the wretched history of Ireland's wrongs. For the struggle in Ireland, from the very outset, has been a land struggle. Every combination against the Saxon invader has been a land league ; almost every new creation in the Irish peerage has been simply the transfer of some land grabber into the galaxy of the Anglo-Hibernian aristocracy. It is a mis- erable story, sickening in its details ; but there is no alternative. Any view of the situation which leaves out of the account this lone cataloofue of the crimes of the rich man against the poor man in Ireland must altogether fail of its purpose. The sketch is brief, not for lack of material to make it long ; but our purpose in this book is not to repeat in detail the old story of shame and crime and misery. Our narrative is not designed as a chronicle of Ireland's wrongs so much as a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 119 new gospel of hope, and a prophecy of future peace and prosperity for that unhappy country. The situation at present is, indeed, full of hope and promise ; but the full end is not yet attained. The goal seems near at hand; but the need for united action, wise counsels, persistence and pa- tience, was never greater than now. England has been forced to hear Ireland's complaints ; her best statesmen have been found not unwilling to concede the essential part of what Ireland claims ; and even the majority of those who oppose most strongly the plans of settlement which have been offered profess to object to the details of those plans rather than to the essential principles in- volved. There is, then, every reason for the friends of Ireland to be of good cheer. CHAPTER III. THE LAND WAR. THE history of Ireland for centuries — the his- tory of Ireland to-day — Is largely the strug- gle for the possession of the land. Behind the Land question stands the larger and higher ques- tion of National rights ; but the land struggle has always been present to add fierceness to the de- sire for National liberty. The possession of the land forms in most coun- tries the ground and bottom subject of struggle ; but the fierceness of the fight is naturally pro- portioned to the prominence which agriculture holds in the economy of a state. In countries with huge manufacturing industries the struggle for the land has not the same intensity as in coun- tries where farming is the main if not the sole re- source of the people. Again, the keenness of land struggles is proportionate to the other dif- ferences in the combatants by which it may be accompanied. There are states where the strug- gle between the owner and the occupier of the soil is a struggle between men of the same race and the same creed ; and naturally struggles in (120) THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 121 such countries have not the terrible and passion- ate hatred of struggles in countries where the di- vergence of interest is accompanied by difference of faith and blood. And finally, the battle for the land is fiercest of all in a country where the power on the side of 'the owner is that of another and a foreign nation. In Ireland all the conditions that make the land-owner fierce and relendess coexist. The ownership of the soil was transferred from the Catholic and the Celt to a Protestant and a Saxon ; the occupier of the soil was robbed of his heritage in a land where the cultivation of the soil was the one and only means of making a liveli- hood, and all this was done through the agency of England and in the interests of Englishmen and English policy. The struggle between the native race of Ireland and the intrusive English landlord-class for the possession of the soil of that oppressed country may be said to date from 1 1 69, when Richard Fitzstephen landed near Wexford with the advance party of Strongbow's famous bands. The first invaders were Norman and Welsh rather than English ; and the first enemies they met were Danes rather than Irish. Sdll from this time dates the attempt (long continued, but for centuries unsuccessful) to substitute feudal laws and the feudal land tenure for the semi-communal land systen; which was that of the native Irish popu- ladon. From this seed sprang the baleful upas- 122 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. tree of English oppression, which was destined to overshadow the whole country for ages. There is little doubt that the first cause of the difficulty between the English and natives was largely a misapprehension The Anglo-Normans were ignorant of the Irish land tenures, and of their system of septs and tribes ; and they seem never to have suspected that there was any people in the world which did not hold their land by a tenure like their own. Dermod MacMorrough is said to have given Strongbow his only child Eva in marriage, and with her to have granted certain lands in perpetuity. Now it is most certain, first, that the lands which Dermod is said to have granted were never his ; and next that if they had been his, he would have had no right, by Irish law, to convey them out of his sept. The Norman feudal laws, however, would have made Eva sole heiress of her father's power (a thing unknown in old Irish law), as well as the inheritress of all the lands in his kingdom. Quite in the same line of stupidity and ignorance has been the much more recent experience of the British in India, where, for more than a century, they kept confis- cating and granting lands to which they had no right. Until very recent years they seem to have had no conception or suspicion of the fact that they were violating all the immemorial land laws and traditional riohts of an ancient and intelli- o gent people, and making deep wounds which THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 123 the East Indian races will never forget nor forgive. As early as 121 7 marks of strong mutual hatred between the Irish and Anglo-Irish begin to appear. All through the later feudal reigns there were fre- quent deeds of blood. The English looked upon the Irish as no better than wild beasts ; and the Irish returned their scorn with the bitterest hatred. The "great Talbot," immortalized by Shakes- peare, was in truth an able soldier, though feeble in council; yet towards the Irish people he acted with extreme barbarity. An old Irish chronicle says that he was " a son of curses for his venom, and a devil for his evil deeds ; and the learned say of him that there came not from the time of Herod [Pilate], by whom Christ was crucified, any one so wicked in evil deeds." It is not necessary to go back to the first in- vasion of Ireland by the English or even to some centuries later in order to find the origin of the present land system. For several centuries after the English had invaded Ireland the English kings had but a small extent of territory; and their authority was shadowy and shifting. More- over the English invaders in time mingled with the Celtic inhabitants ; adopted their customs, their dress, and their sentiments ; took their wives from among them ; and in time were so thoroughly transformed that they were described in the well- known phrase, Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis. But the English authorities looked on these proceed- 124 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Ings with evil eye ; passed laws inflicting heavy fines upon the English settlers who thus inter- mingled with the Irish race. Indeed they went even further; for one of the laws passed in the reign of Henry VI. made it felony on the part of an English merchant to sell his goods to an Irish- man. The relations between the English settled in the counties around Dublin — the region was known as The Pale — and the Irish throughout the rest of Ireland, throughout all those centuries, were those of perpetual and incessant war. The Irish were regarded as enemies whom it was lawful to rob and to slay and desirable to exter- minate. Then, as for many centuries afterwards, it was the policy of English statesmen and soldiers to exterminate the Irish race from the face of Ire- land and substitute therefor a purely English population. The Irish were foreigners in every sense of the word. The whole policy of this period is put with excellent terseness and lucidity by Sir John Davies. Sir John Davies was At- torney-General of the English authorities in the reign of James I., and he has left most interesting and valuable accounts of his times. " In all the Parliament Rolls," he writes, " which are extant, from the fortieth year of Edward III., when the statutes of Kilkenny were enacted, till the reign of King Henry VIII., we find the de- generate and disobedient English called rebels ; but the Irish which were not in the King's peace THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 125 are called enemies. Statute Kilkenny, c. i, lo and II ; 2 Henry IV., c. 24; 10 Henry VI., c. i, 18 ; 18 Henry VI., c. 4, 5 ; Edward IV., c. 6 ; 10 Henry VII., c. 17. All these statutes speak of English rebels and Irish enemies ; as if the Irish had never been in the condition of subjects, but always out of the protection of the law, and were indeed in worse case than aliens of any foreign realm that was in amity with the crown of Eng- land. For by divers heavy penal laws the English were forbidden to marry, to foster, to make gos- sips with the Irish, or to have any trade or com- merce in their markets or fairs ; nay, there was a law made no longer since than the twenty-eighth year of Henry VIII., that the English should not marry with any person of Irish blood, though he had gotten a charter of denization ; unless he had done both homage and fealty to the King in the Chancery, and were also bound by recogni- zance with sureties, to continue a loyal subject. Whereby it is manifest, that such as had the gov- ernment of Ireland under the crown of England did intend to make a perpetual separation and enmity between the English and the Irish, pre- tending, no doubt, that the English should in the end root out the Irish ; which the English not be- ing able to do, caused a perpetual war between the nations, which continued for four hundred and odd years, and would have lasted to the world's end, if in the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign the 126 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Irish had not been broken and conquered by the sword, and since the beginning of his majesty's reign been protected and governed by the law." It will be remarked that in the extract just given Sir John Davies illustrates his statements with true lawyer-like accuracy by references to the leading cases which corroborate them. In the same series of historical tracts — as they are called — in which he lays the foregoing propositions down, he illustrates the ideas of the times still more clearly by quoting some well-known trials in which there was an Englishman of The Pale on one side and an Irishman on the other. In the one case the Irishman sues the Englishman for trespass ; and the plea of the Englishman is not a denial of the offence but that the Irishman is not an Englishman nor a member of five families whom the English King Henry II. exempted from the laws against the Irish ; and the plea being es- tablished the Irishman is non-suited. In the sec- ond case an Englishman is charged with the mur- der of an Irishman ; and his plea is a confession of guilt as to the murder accompanied by the de- mand that, as the murdered man was an Irishman, the punishment should not be death but the pay- ment of a fine. On the other hand the Irishman that killed an Englishman was always hanged. Indeed there are several statutes that openly preached the assassination of Irishmen found THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 127 within English territory as a duty and a service to the state. Thus in the reien of Edward IV. a statute was passed, intituled — " An Act that it shall be law- full to kill any that is found robbing by day or night, or going or coming to rob or steal, having no faithfull man of good name or fame in their company in English apparrel : " Whereby it was enacted — " That it shall be lawfull to all manner of men that find any theeves robbing by day or by night, or going or coming to rob or steal, in or out, going, or coming, having no faithfull man of good name in their company in English apparrel upon any of the liege people of the King, that it shall be lawfull to take and kill those, and to cut off their heads, without any impeachment of our Sovereign Lord and King, his heirs, officers, or ministers, or of any others." "Thus, in truth," justly comments Daniel O'Connell, " the only fact necessary to be ascer- tained, to entide an Englishman to cut off the head of another man, was, that such other should be an Irishman. For if the Irishman was not rob- bing, or coming from robbing, who could say but that he might be going to rob ; ' in, or out,' as the statute has it. And the Englishman — the cutter-off of the head — was made sole judge of where the Irishman was Sfoino^, and of what he in- tended to do. The followers of Mahomet, with regard to their treatment of their Grecian sub- 128 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. jects, were angels of mercy when compared with the Engflish in Ireland. Care was also taken that no part of the effect of the law should be lost by the mistaken humanity of any individual English- man; for an additional stimulant was given by the following section of the Act : " 'And that it shall be lawful by authority of the said Parliament to the said bringe7' of the said head, and his ayders to the same, for to destrain and levy by their own hands, of every man having one plow-land in the barony where the said thief was so taken, two-pence, and of every man hav- ing half a plow-land in the said barony, one- penny, and every other man having one house and goods to the value of fourty shillings, one- penny, and of every other cottier having house and smoak, one half-penny.' " There was one other provision of the English dealings with the Irish people which was as de- structive to prosperity as those cited were to the safety of Irish life. It has been the constant refrain of those who have demanded land reform for many generations that the Irish tenant gained nothing from industry ; that a premium was placed upon laziness, for, as the tenant made the land more fertile, the landlord came and pocketed the increase by raising the rent. At an early stage in Irish history the Irish tenant had to live under this destructive condition. Ao-ain let us otq to the writings of an English official for our description of this grievance. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 129 " The most wicked and mischievous custom of all was that of Coin and Livery, which consisted in taking of man's meat, horse meat, and money, of all the inhabitants of the country, at the will and pleasure of the soldier ; li^ho, as the phrase of the Scripture is, did eat up the people as it were bread ; for that he had no other entertain- ment. This extortion was originally Irish ; for they used to lay bo7iaght^ upon their people, and never gave their soldiers any other pay. But when the English had learned it they used it with more insolence, and made it more intolerable ; for this oppression was not temporary, nor limited either to place or time; but because there was everywhere a continual war, either offensive or defensive, and every lord of a county, and every marcher, made war and peace at his pleasure, it became universal and perpetual ; and indeed was the most heavy oppression that ever was used in any Christian or heathen kingdom. — And there- fore, vox oppressorum, this crying sin did draw down as great, or greater plagues upon Ireland, than the oppression of the Israelites did draw upon the land of Egypt. For the plagues of Egypt, though they were grievous, were but of short continuance ; but the plagues of Ireland lasted four hundred years together." The natural consequences followed ; they may * " Bonaght" was the Irish term for billeting of soldiers, with a right to be maintained in food. 1 30 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. as well and cannot be better described than In the words of Davies : " This extortion of Coin and Livery produced two notorious effects : first, it made the land waste ; next, it made the people idle ; for when the husbandman had labored all the year, the soldier in one nisfht consumed the fruits of all his labor, longique perit labor irritus anni. — Had he reason then to manure the land for the next year? Or rather, might he not complain as the shepherd in Virgil : " ' Impius haec tarn cu!ta novalia mile; habebit? Barbarus has segetes? En quo discordia cives Perduxit miseros ? En queis consevimus agros ? ' "And hereupon of necessity came depopulation, banishment, and extirpation of the better sort of subjects ; and such as remained became idle and lookers-on, expecting the event of those miseries and evil times, so as their extreme extortion and oppression hath been the true cause of the idle- ness of this Irish nation, and that rather the vulo^ar sort have chosen to be beo^grars in foreipfn countries than to manure their fruitful land at home." It will probably occur to the reader that the horrible oppression thus inflicted on the Irish must have been largely the result of their own folly or ferocity. It will be answered that it was a case of constant and incessant war between two forces equally barbarous, relentless, and irrecon- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 131 cilable, and that if the Irish were savagely treated and regarded as foes to be exterminated by the English of The Pale, it was because the English of The Pale were as savagely treated by the Irish and equally regarded as wild beasts to be extir- pated. But against this theory we call in again the evidence of the English monarch's Attorq,ey- General : " But perhaps," writes Sir John Davies, antici- pating this objection, "the Irish in former times did wilfully refuse to be subject to the laws of Eng- land, and would not be partakers of the benefit thereof, though the Crown of England did desire it ; and therefore they were reputed aliens, out- laws, and enemies. Assuredly the contrary doth appear." And in page loi he expressly declares, — " That for the space of two hundred years at least, after the first arrival of Henry II. in Ireland, the Irish would have gladly embraced the laws of England, and did earnestly desire the benefit and protection thereof; which, being denied them, did of necessity cause a continual bordering war be- tween the English and Irish." And finally he admirably sums up the whole case when he writes : " This, then, I note as a great defect in the civil policy of this kingdom ; in that for the space of three hundred and fifty years at least after the conquest first attempted, the English laws were 132 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. not communicated to the Irish, nor the benefit and protection thereof allowed unto them, though they earnestly desired and sought the same : for as long as they were out of the protection of the law, so as every Englishman might oppress, spoil and kill them without control, how was it possible they should be other than outlaws and enemies to the Crown of England ? If the king would not admit them to the condition of subjects, how could they learn to acknowledge and obey him as their sovereign ? When they might not con- verse or commerce with any civil man, nor enter into any town or city without peril of their lives, whither should they fly but into the woods and mountains, and there live in a wild and barbarous manner? " Before leaving this part of the subject there is one other point that deserves to be noticed. The continuance of the destructive estrangfement al- ready described between the English authorities and the Irish population was not merely against the wishes of the Irish but possibly also against the wishes of English kings and of prudent Eng- lish ministers. It was the great Lords who really stood between the two peoples. Thus the reason why that wise monarch, King Edward III., did not extend the benefit of English protection and Eng- lish law to the Irish people was, that the great Lords of Ireland, the Wicklows, the Stanleys, and the Rodens of the day, certified to the king, — THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 133 "That the Irish might not be naturalized, with- out being of damage or prejudice to them, the said Lords, or to the Crown." This point is put still more clearly in the history of Ireland written by a Protestant clergyman, named Leland : "The true cause which for a long time fatally opposed the gradual coalition of the Irish and English race, under one form of government, was, that the ofreat Engrlish settlers found it more for their immediate interest, that a free course should be left to their oppressions ; that many of those whose lands they coveted should be considered as aliens ; that they should be furnished for their petty wars by arbitrary exactions ; and in their rapines and massacres be freed from the terrors of a rigidly impartial and severe tribunal." These extracts sufficiently indicate the rela- tions that existed between the English conquerors and the Irish inhabitants. It was not unnatural under such circumstances that the territories of the English kings did not increase ; at one time they had fallen as low as four counties out of the entire country. The wars of the Roses too so much occupied the attention of the English at home that the Irish were able to drive the English out of town after town, and finally out of county after county until the reign of Henry VIII. The reign of Henry VIII. was marked by several rebellions against the English authority. 134 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. In the course of these rebellions many severe battles were fought ; Irish chiefs were conquerors and conquered; if they conquered they were ac- cepted, if they were conquered they were brought to London and after a short period in the Tower were hanged as traitors at Tyburn. In this way the seeds were sown of severe and bitter trouble in the reign of Elizabeth. By this time too the design of extending the Protestant religion in Ireland and crushing the Catholic had taken shape; and wars ensued which were embittered by re- ligious passion and by the still more destructive factor of greed for land. It is not our purpose to detail the history of these wars. They have im- portance for the present purpose only in so far as they bear upon the land struggle and explain the state of the land question as it exists to-day. Suffice it then to say that all the great families of Ireland, and in particular the great Anglo-Irish families, rose in succession against the Queen's power. Of all these chiefs the most important was Shane O'Neill. Shane O'Neill is one of the great men of human history. With his cunning he baffled the skilful councillors of Elizabeth ; in bat- tle after battle he conquered the largest and bravest armies the British Queen could send against him, and finally, when he had become master of all Ulster, he ruled it with greater order than had ever been even approached before his time. In the end, after many changes of fortune, his forces were THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 135 routed ; he himself, flying before the triumphant English army, was assassinated, and his kingdom was broken up and scattered. A short time previously rebellions under the Geraldines had been beaten in the southern parts of the country., With the defeat of the O'Neill the conquest of Ireland by Elizabeth was complete, and then Eliza- beth proceeded to carry out the second part of the English policy. This was to transfer the owner- ship, and, so far as possible, the occupation of the soil from the native Irish to English lords and English husbandmen. Thus began the first great era of confiscation and plantation. A preliminary to these steps was deemed necessary. There was a series of expeditions to the different parts of Ireland, which should prepare them still better for the new regime. These expeditions had purposes as fell and were carried out by means as execrable as any re- corded in history. The purpose was not simply to break the forces or quell the spirit of the native population : the object was to actually clear the island of Irish settlers by a war of extermination. Previously and simultaneously was there made another and a disastrous change in the Irish law. " Before the introduction of the feudal English system of tenure," writes T. M. Healy, " the lands of Ireland belonged to the clans of Ireland. The chief, subject to certain privileges appur- tenant to his chieftaincy, held only as trustee for 136 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the tribe, and if by his misfeasance he became personally dispossessed, the rights of his people were in no wise affected. When, however, the councillors of Elizabeth determined to subjugate the entire island, and to substitute British for Brehon law throughout its whole extent, prince and people alike suffered when defeated. Victory for the English resulted in the dispossession and spoliation of the clansmen as well as of the chiefs who led them to the battle ; English adventurers, by the Queen's patent, obtained lordship and dominion over the conquered territory ; and clan ownership gave place to private property in land." And now for the military expeditions which were to complete the work that had been begun by the conquest of O'Neill and the change in the land law. These expeditions, like other events already recorded, we can describe, fortunately, not in the hot language of modern Irish writers, but in the friorid and unadorned characters of o the Englishmen who themselves enacted them and immediately after described them. Mr. Froude transcribes from his own report the following letter written in the year 1576, by Malby, the President of Connaught : "At Christmas," he wrote, "I marched into their territory [Shan Burke's], and finding courteous dealing with them had like to have cut my throat, I thought good to take another course, and so THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 137 with determination to consume them with fire and sword, sparing neither old nor young, I entered their mountains. I burnt all their corn and houses, and committed to the sword all that could be found, where were slain at that time above sixty of their best men, and among them the best leaders they had. This was Shan Burke's country. Then I burnt Ulick Burke's country. In like manner I assaulted a castle where the garrison surrendered. I put them to the misericordia of my soldiers. They were all slain. Thence I went on, sparing none which came in my way, which cruelty did so amaze their followers, that they could not tell where to bestow themselves. Shan Burke made means to me to pardon him, and forbear killing of his people. I would not hearken, but went on my way. The gentlemen of Clanrickard came to mc. I found it was but dallying to win time, so I left Ulick as little corn and as few houses standing as I left his brother, and what people was found had as little favor as the other had. It was all done in rain, and frost, and storm, journeys in such weather bringing them the sooner to submission. They are humble enough now, and will yield to any terms we like to offer them." There are descriptions of similar expeditions in Munster. They are also drawn by English hands. It is a report by Sir George Carew, the Enorlish General. o 138 GLADSTONE— PARNELL " The President having received certaine infor- mation that the Mounster fugitives were har- boured in those parts, having before burned all the houses and corne, and taken great preyes in Owny Onubrian and Kilquig, a strong and fast countrey, not farre from Limerick, diverted his forces into East ClanwiUiam and Muskeryquirke, where Pierce Lacy had lately beene succoured; and harassing the country, killed all mankind that were found therein, for a terrour to those as should give releefe to runagate traitors. Thence wee came into Arleaghe woods, where wee did the like, not leaving behind us man or beast, corne or cattle, except such as had been conveyed into castles." — Pacata Hibei'nia, 659. " No spectacle," writes Morrison, an English Protestant historian of these wretched times, " was more frequent in the ditches of the towns, and especially in wasted countries, than to see multitudes of these poor people, the Irish, dead, with their mouths all colored green by eating netdes, docks, and all things they could rend above ground." And now that the native race had thus been destroyed, there comes the result for which the destruction had taken place. Confiscation follows extirpation. " Proclamation," says Godkin, in his " Land War," "was made throuo-hout England, invitino- 'younger brothers of good families' to undertake THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE, I39 the plantation of Desmond — each planter to ob- tain a certain scope of land, on condition of set- tling thereupon so many families — ' none of the native Irish to be admitted.' Under these condi tions, Sir Christopher Hatton took up 10,000 acres in Waterford ; Sir Walter Raleigh, 1 2,000 acres, partly in Waterford and partly in Cork ; Sir William Harbart, or Herbert, 13,000 acres in Kerry; Sir Edward Denny, 6,000 acres in the same county; Sir Warren St. Leger, and Sir Thomas Norn's, 6,000 acres each in Cork ; Sir William Courtney, 10,000 acres in Limerick; Sir Edward Fitton, 11,500 acres in Tipperary and Waterford; and Edmund Spenser, 3,000 acres in Cork, on the beautiful Blackwater. The other notable undertakers were the Hides, Butchers, Wirths, Berkleys, Trenchards, Thorntons, Bourch- ers, Billingsleys, etc. Some of these grants, es- pecially Raleigh's, fell in the next reign to Richard Boyle, the so-called 'great Earl of Cork ' — proba- bly the most pious hypocrite to be found in the long roll of the * Munster Undertakers.' " And so ended the first great work of trans- ferring the soil of Ireland. The work continued throughout the three following reigns. The Irish hailed the accession of the son of the Catholic Mary of Scotland with great joy and hopes for a happier era for their faith and coun- try, but they were destined to be cruelly and quickly undeceived. One of the earliest acts of 140 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the King was a declaration that Hberty of con- science was not to be granted; but it soon be- came evident that the poHcy of AngHcising Ire- land begun in the previous reign was to be carried out in the present in a thorough and systematic manner. The King had fixed his eyes on Ulster as a fitting quarter in which to carry out a scheme of plantations, and a scheme for getting rid of the native chiefs was speedily developed. This was found in the discovery of an anonymous letter conveniently discovered at the door of the Coun- cil Chamber in Dublin Castle, disclosing a con- spiracy on the part of the Earls of O'Neill and O'Donnell against the authority of the Crown. No evidence was then nor has been since discov- ered, of this alleged conspiracy, but the earls were at once proclaimed traitors and fled the kingdom with their families and a few friends and retainers. Ulster was now ready to James' hand. It was described as a fertile province, well watered, plentifully supplied with all the necessaries for man's subsistence, and yielded abundant products for purposes of commerce. The lands were in- deed occupied by the Irish natives, who had on the King's accession been assured in their possession of their fields on a tenure which would remain un- affected by the submission or rebellion of their chiefs. But they could be easily dealt with. A proclamation was issued confiscating and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 141 vesting in tlie Crown six counties in Ulster — Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan, comprising in all three and three- quarter millions of acres. The scheme of settle- ment was carefully designed to avoid the errors of former plantations. Those in previous reigns had been acknowledged failures, by reason of the enormous size of the grants made to the "under- takers." The "undertakers," as Sir Walter Ra- leigh and his countrymen were called, found their grants too large to settle and farm personally. They returned for the most part to England, took no trouble to plant English farmers in the land, suffered the Irish to remain on the land, and drew their rents in peace. In Ulster, however, the tracts were to be of manageable extent ; the natives were to have lo- cations of their own to which they were to be removed ; the new settlers, drawn from England and Scotland, were to be massed and grouped together for mutual protection. The escheated lands were to be divided into lots of from i,ooo to 2,000 acres, at rents of i%d^ to 2}^d. per acre, and distributed partly among the new settlers, partly among English servitors, and partly among the well-affected natives. Every "undertaker" bound himself to plant on the soil a certain num- ber of fee-farmers, lease-holders, artisans, and laborers, down to the lowest grade ; all grantees and their tenants were to take the oath of su- 142 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. premacy, and none were permitted to employ natives or Catholics in any capacity whatsoever. Of the three and three-quarter millions of acres which were confiscated, about one-fifth was valua- ble or " fat " land, and this was mainly appor- tioned in this manner. Fifty Englishmen and fifty-nine Scotchmen (the needy countrymen of the King) got among them 162,500 acres. The most noticeable names among the English plant- ers were Powell, Heron, Ridgway, Willoughbie, Parsons, Audley, Davis, Blennerhasset, Wilson, Cornwall, Mansfield, and Archdale, and among the Scotch Douglas, Abercorn, Boyd, Stewart, Cunningham, Rallston, and the prolific breed of the Hamiltons, who obtained estates by the thousand acres in every one of the six counties, and whose descendants are to be found to-day in every office of profit and emolument in the country. Sixty servitors, or persons who had served the Crown in a civil or military capacity, swallowed up 50,000 acres, and among these were some of the prominent organizers of this wholesale plun- der and some of the cruel enemies and oppressors of the Celtic population. Chief amongst these were Sir Toby Caulfield, Sir William Parsons, surveyor-general of the lands, ancestor of the present Lord Rosse, Sir Robert Wingfield, astute legal sycophant, Sir John Davis, Sir Henry Fol- llot, the merciless Sir Arthur Chicester, lord THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. I43 deputy and superintendent of the plantation, and captains and lieutenants of lesser fame, Cooke, Atherton, Stewart, Vaughan, Browne, Atkinson, etc. Seventy-seven thousand acres fell to the share of the Protestant bishops, deans and chap- ter, who had already obtained possession of all the Catholic churches and abbeys throughout the island. Trinity College, Dublin, founded in the late reign, obtained 30,000 acres (47,101 acres were reserved for corporate towns), and the 286 so-styled loyal Irish received about 180 acres each, of what, it may be safely asserted, was the most unprofitable portion of the "lean." The Corporation of the City of London, and the twelve City Guilds, the Companies of Skinners, Fishmongers, Haberdashers and the like, took up the whole county of Derry, 209,800 acres in ex- tent, and absentee proprietors on a large scale have drawn rents from that time to the present from lands they have never seen. - Meantime, the native peasantry were driven out of their tribal lands, the rich glens of Antrim, the meadow lands of Fermanagh, the fertile plains of Armagh, into the waste-lands, mountain, moor, bog, marsh of these and the adjoining counties. Shielded, favored, and aided by the law, the success of the plantation made itself apparent when in a few years commissioners were sent down to report progress. The English and 144 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Scotch grantees were actually occupying their lands with their wives and families. The village of Derry had become the town of " London- derry," with ramparts twelve feet thick, and bat- tlemented gates. Castles, mansions, farm-houses, sprang up everywhere; millwheels turned, or- chards bloomed, villages and towns rose all around. Nevertheless the strict letter of the scheme was not and could not be carried out. Sufficient laborers of British birth could not be obtained, and numbers of the natives had to be employed as " hewers of wood and drawers of water," and also as tenants, who, in order to remain in their beloved homes, were willing to pay double rents to new masters. And many English and Scotch tenants, failing to obtain from the large proprie- tors the long leases guaranteed to them by the terms of the act of settlement, sold their interest in their holdings to the Irish and others, and re- tired in disgust from the country. It was mainly In this manner sprang up the custom of Ulster Tenant-right as a part of the unwritten law of the province, destined to share largely in the causes which operated to contrast the well-being of its lanld-occu piers with the insecurity and misery of the same class in other parts of Ireland. The effect of the Ulster settlement was to create a lesser Britain in Ireland, composed of men whose very proximity to their plundered THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 145 neighbors seemed to arouse their worst passions of hatred and sectarian bitterness. It deprived the native Irish of all title to the lands which their race had held from time immemorial, and reduced them at one sweep from the position of owners of the soil they tilled to that of outlaws or tenants- at-will, only countenanced through sheer neces- sity, and established between Ulster and the other provinces of Ireland a contrast at once pro- found and painful, and a discord of religion, feel- ing and nationality which has often manifested themselves since in civil disorder and disgraceful feuds, and which are only slowly disappearing in our own day. The coffers of James were so well filled with the profits of the Ulster settlement — with the pro- ceeds of the sale of broad acres and brand-new baronetcies — that his eyes turned to the other parts of Ireland for similar spoil. And a system of plunder by legal chicanery was invented. The counties still inhabited by the native Irish were Wicklow, Wexford, and those lying along the left bank of the Shannon, viz., Leitrim, Longford, and the western portion of Westmeath, Kings, and Queens Counties. "A Commission of Inquiry into Defective Titles" was sent down into these districts with directions to collect evidence as to the holdincr of the land therein, and what title the Crown had in any part of the same. It was gravely asserted 146 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. that, whereas the Anglo-Norman settlers to whom the Plantagenet Kings granted these lands 300 years back had in later evil days been driven from their grants by the original native owners, and retired to England, the deserted lands had, through the action of various statutes against absentees, reverted to the Crown. To give an appearance of legality to the pro- ceedings of the Commission, juries were empan- elled and forced to give verdicts in favor of the Crown ; witnesses were compelled to supply satisfactory evidence — the means employed for the purpose being of the most revolting descrip- tion. Courts-martial were held before which un- willing witnesses were tried on charges of treason, imprisoned, pilloried, branded with red-hot irons, and even put to death, some being actually roasted on gridirons over charcoal fires. A horde of "discoverers" sprang up whose business it became to pick holes in men's titles to estates, sharing the proceeds with the King. Every legal trick and artifice was unscrupulously resorted to. The old pipe-rolls in Dublin and the patent rolls in the Tower of London were searched to dis- cover flaws in titles, clerical errors, inaccurate wording, every defect in fact which might frighten the present holder of the land into paying a heavy amount for a fresh patent, or, failing his ac- quiescence, would entitle the handing over of his estate to some " discoverer," willing to lay down THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. J47 a round sum for it. By such means as these over 430,000 acres were confiscated In the coun- ties above mentioned. The old proprietors were required to sign surrenders of their lands, and after setting apart a considerable portion for glebes, etc., and a fourth part for English " under- takers," the remainder was restored to " the more deservinof" at fixed rents. In Loneford the natives obtained less than one- third of the land promised them, in Leitrim half, in Queens county a'bout two-thirds. In Wexford thirty-one "undertakers" obtained 33,000 acres, and only fifty-seven natives received any land at all, and that to the amount of 24,615 acres of the most unprofitable portion. The residue of the in- habitants of this county, some 14,500 persons, were given merely the choice of being evicted or becoming tenants-at-will. Many of the old pro- prietors took to the woods and became " outlaws;" others like the tribe of the O'Moores in Queens county were transplanted bodily into Kerry. In VVicklow the O'Byrnes, whose estates cov- ered half the county, were imprisoned on a charge of conspiracy, trumped up against them by Sir William Parsons, Lord Esmond, Sir Richard Graham and other prominent undertakers, on the evidence of notorious thieves. They were ulti- mately declared Innocent and set at liberty, but their lands had been in the meantime declared forfeit and divided between Parsons and Esmond, and were not afterwards restored to them. 148 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. The King profited immensely by the various fines and forfeitures, and the customs duties swelled In a single year from ^50 to ^10,000. The plantation policy flooded Ireland with a host of impecunious Englishmen and Scotch- men — admittedly the scum of both nations — debtors, bankrupts, fugitives from justice, land- jobbers and land-speculators, who soon, through ownership of land, secured power, influence and rank. They held aloof from the natives, culti- vated the " Castle," and were the embryo of the Protestant ascendency and aristocracy of later days. More than half the present Irish peerage sprang from such beginnings, of which two ex- amples will serve as types of the whole. The most remarkable of the new nobility was Richard Boyle. He was the son of a Herefordshire squire, fled from England on account of his perjuries and forgeries, and landed in Dublin with only a few pounds in his pocket. He man- aged to get the office of deputy escheator of the lands of Munster, fraudulently became pos- sessed of a considerable extent of forfeited Irish estates ; and though imprisoned for felony six times in five years cheated justice, ingratiated himself with the various lord-deputies, and finally became first Earl of Cork and a privy-councillor. Of the same kidney was William Parsons, an- cestor of the Earls of Rosse. An English ad- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. I49 venturer, arriving in Ireland with only ^40 in his pocket, he married a niece of the Surveyor- General, succeeded to that office, and became a commissioner of the escheated lands in Ulster, obtaining for himself 1,890 acres in Tyrone, and 2,000 acres in Fermanagh alone. Ultimately ttirough means as unscrupulous as those by which he deprived the O'Byrnes of their lands he se- cured over 8,000 acres and amassed an immense fortune. The system of " inquiry into defective titles " in Leinster had proved so remunerative that James determined to extend it to hitherto un- touched parts of the island. The province of Connaught w^as the only one which had not been planted. The proprietors had in 161 6 made a surrender of their lands to the King- to receive new patents, for which they paid fees amounting to ;^3,ooo. Owing, however, to the neglect of the clerks in Chancery, neither the surrenders nor regrants were enrolled, and the titles were all declared defective and the lands held to be vested in the Crown. A proclamation was issued for a new plantation, but the alarmed proprietors, aware that it was money the King was most in need of, offered him a bribe of ^10,000 (equal to ;^i 00,000 at the present day) to induce him to abandon his design. The death of James put an end to the negotiations, and it was i-eserved for his son, Charles I., to replenish the royal 150 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. coffers at the expense of the Connaught land- owners. His afjent in this matter was the no- torious Wentworth, who carried out his poUcy of "thorough" by dragooning both the Irish Parliament and the Irish Church, forcing the one to vote enormous subsidies, and the other to ac- cept his ideas in matters of religion. Under threats of confiscation, various subsidies were ob- tained, but at last after an elaborate hunting up and inquiry into old title-deeds and royal grants, the whole of Connaught was declared to be the property of the Crown ; and Commissioners with Wentworth at their head went into the province to find verdicts for the King-. These were ob- tained by the same means as had succeeded in Leinster, extreme resistance being only met with in Galway alone, where juries were fined /^^,ooo apiece, and lodged in prison until the fines were paid, or their decisions retracted. The landlords at last submitted, paid heavily in fines, gave up a portion of their estates for Church purposes, and were so left in peace. The Irish met this ill-treatment on the part of the perfidious Stuart with a loyalty that may be de= scribed according to taste as generous or imbecile. When the rebellion broke out in England, Charles appealed for help to his subjects in Ireland. They rose in arms, both Catholic and Protestant, and came nearer to victory than they had been for many a long year ; and then, when Charles THE L-KKAl- IRISH STRUGGLE. l^l was defeated and beheaded, Vae vidis was the cry. Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland. He suc- ceeded in quelling the revolt in favor of the King after the most wholesale massacres ; and then oc- curred the greatest scheme of confiscation yet de- scribed in the history of the Irish nation. The whole of Ireland, 20,000,000 acres, was declared forfeit, and three-fourths of the inhabitants were to be expelled. Exemption was made in favor of some husbandmen, plowmen, laborers, and artificers, who would be necessary to the new planters, and of a few well affected to the Com- monwealth. The Irish soldiers who laid down their arms were forced to enlist for foreien ser- vice. The widows, wives and families of the sol- diery to the number of 100,000 souls were trans- ported to the West Indies to be the slaves or mistresses of the planters there. The rest of the Irish people — of Munster, Leinster, Ulster — gentle and simple, land-owners and burgesses, Presby- terians and Catholics, were forced, in the depth of the v/inter of 1655, ^^ leave their homes, and cross the Shannon to allotments assigned to them in Clare and Connaught, the most barren portions of all Ireland, where they were hemmed in by the sea on the one side and a ring of soldiers on the other, w^ho had orders to shoot down all who attempted to cross the boundary. The evacuated land, 15,582487 acres in extent, was then dis- tributed, the orovernment first reserving to icself 152 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the cities, church-lands, tithes, and the four coun- ties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow and Cork. The cities were afterwards cleared of their inhabitants (who were nearly all of English descent) and sold to English merchants. The other twenty- three counties were then divided between those "adventurers" who had advanced money (amounting to ^360,000) to the Parliamentary army and the Parliamentary troops in lieu of arrears of pay due to them amounting to £1,- 550,000. County Louth was given wholly to the adventurers, and the counties of Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaglian, Wicklow, Wexford, Longford, Kilkenny and Kerry wholly to the soldiers. Then Antrim and Limerick and the nine counties lying diagonally between them, viz., Down, Armagh, Meath, West- meath, Kildare, Carlow, Kings, Queens, and Tip- perary were divided amongst both classes of claimants. Afterwards portions of Connaught, viz., the county of Sligo and parts of Mayo and Leitrim, were taken from the transplanted Irish to satisfy arrears of pay due to part of the English army who had fought in England during the civil war. Debentures were issued in recognition of each claim, and localities assigned to each rejj-i- ment. These debentures were put up to auction, and large estates were put together by the pur- chase of them. And yet the plantation failed in its main object, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE I53 as previous ones had done, through the gradual absorption of the planters among the native Irish notwithstanding strict prohibitions against mutual intercourse. And many estates through purchase or marriao-e fell aorain into the hands of old o o masters. Forty years after the settlement, it is related that numbers of the children of Crom- well's soldiers could not speak a word of English. Thus ended the last grreat unsettlement of the Irish land. In the reicjn of William III. there were some large confiscations, but they sunk into insitrnificance beside the wholesale confiscations in the days of Elizabeth, James and Cromwell. The reign of William III. is mainly remarkable for the passing of what is known as the Penal Code. The horrors of this code are increased by the fact that it was passed in spite of the solemn compact between the English and the Irish. In the civil war between James II. and William III. the Irish with characteristic imbecility had fought on the side of the State. The final issue was before the city of Limerick, which was defended by Sarsfield, an Irish general of genius. After a long siege it was finally agreed that the garrison should surrender with all the honors of war, and that in return they should get con- cessions establishing fully their religious liberty. The first article of the new treaty provided that "the Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of religion 154 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of Charles II., and their Majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom, will endeavor to procure the Roman Catholics such further security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the ac- count of their said relicrion." The ink of this was scarcely dry when Catholics were ordered at the meetinof of the Irish Parliament to take an oath denying the Catholic doctrine of transub- stantiation and pronouncing the sacrifice of the Mass damnable and idolatrous. No Catholic could, of course, take such an oath, and the de- sired result was brought about. The Irish Par- liament consisted exclusively of Protestants. The penal code first took precautions against the education of Catholics. They were forbidden to keep school in Ireland and were prohibited at the same time to send their children to be edu- cated abroad ; then they were disarmed, and statutes were passed prohibiting the makers of weapons from receiving Catholic apprentices, and that authorized the authorities to search for arms in the houses of Catholics by night and by day. Catholic priests were commanded to leave the kingdom before May 9th, 1668. The bishops and priests who ventured to enter the country were subjected to imprisonment and banishment for the first offence, and put to death on the second. In THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 157 the reign of Anne the code was rendered still more severe. In order further to prevent the chance of education, a Catholic could not employ or act as a private tutor. He could not buy land, and if he did possess land he was obliged to leave it in equal parts among all his children, so that the papist land might be distributed and have no chance of accumulating. Then there was an atrocious law by which an eldest son, on becoming a Protestant, could obtain possession of the entire land and disinherit the rest of his relatives. A Catholic could not have a lease for more than thirty-one years. All the Civil Senace, all the Municipalities, all the Army and the Navy, and the Professions, except that of medicine, were closed to the Catholics. A Catholic could not go more than five miles from his house without a pass- port. He could not keep a horse above the value of ^5. If the farm of a Catholic yielded one-third more than the yearly rent a Protestant by swearing to that fact could evict him ; ana li a Protestant could be proved guilty of holding an estate in trust for a Catholic he could be dis- possessed. The Penal Code invaded domestic life. A son becoming a Protestant could demand one-third of his father's income ; a wife be- coming a Protestant was free from her husband's control and could demand alimony. The decrees against priests were rendered also severe ; 3,000 were regist(|red, and others were liable to death, 158 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and in order that no further priests might be ordained no bishop was allowed in the country. Under these laws there grew up the hateful race known to Irishmen as Priest-Hunters, who for the sake of fifty pounds' reward in the case of a bishop, twenty in the case of a priest, and ten pounds in that of a school-master, betrayed min- isters of religion and the humble promoters of education to the authorities. The Catholics refused to conform to these hideous laws. Mass was said on the mountains with scouts watching to see whether the British soldiers were approaching, and many priests fell martyrs to their creed. Finally the Catholics were prevented from voting for members of Parliament or members of cor- porations. The whole code was well summed up by the judge who declared that the law did not suppose the existence of any such person as an Irish Roman Catholic, nor could the people even breathe without the surveillance of the govern- ment. CHAPTER IV. THE DESTRUCTION OF IRISH INDUSTRIES. THE final result of it all — the massacre, the confiscation, the Penal Laws — was that at the beginning of the eighteenth century the Irish Catholics were owners of just one-seventh of the soil of Ireland. On the other hand, the landlords were placed in a position that developed between them and the tenantry the worst and the fiercest passions. They were foreigners, and they had acquired the lands of the natives by robbery or by massacre. They were Protestants, and the Penal Code, making the Catholic religion a legal offence, gave to the Protestant creed a social as- cendancy. On the one side the landlords re- garded themselves as by race and by creed ele- vated as much above the tenant as ever had South Carolina planter been over negro slaves ; and on the other hand the tenant saw in the landlord a tyrant with the hated additions of foreign blood and a different creed. From this evil state of things grew up the melancholy relations between the Irish landlord and the Irish tenant which have produced in Ireland a more morbid condition of 159 IGO GLADSTONE— PARNELL. things than exists in any other part of the world and involved the two classes in a persistent, re- lendess, sanguinary war, which is not even yet closed, the landlords on their side treating the tenants as creatures, not merely of another race and creed, but of another and inferior species. They inflicted upon them sufferings that few men would care to inflict on the lower animals ; and the tenants responded by forming assassination lodges and perpetrating murders cold-blooded, systematic, unrepented. " Of all the fatal gifts," says Mr. Froude, deal- ing with this part of the case, " which we bestowed on our unhappy possession [Ireland], the greatest was the English system of owning land. Land, properly speaking, cannot be owned by any man — it belonors to all the human race. Laws have to be made to secure the profits of their industry to those who cultivate it ; but the private property of this or that person is that which he is entitled to deal with as he pleases ; this the land never ought to be and never strictly is. In Ireland, as in all primitive civilizations, the soil was divided among the tribes. Each tribe collectively owned its district. Under the feudal system the proprietor was the Crown, as representing the nation ; while subordinate tenures were held with duties attached to them, and were liable on their non-fulfil- ment to forfeiture. In England the burden *of defence was on the land. Every gentleman, ac- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. igl cording to his estate, was bound to bring so many men into the field properly armed and accoutred. When a standing army was substituted for the old levies, the country squires served as unpaid magistrates on the commission of the peace. The country squire system was, in fact, a develop- ment of the feudal system ; and, as we gave the feudal system to Ireland, so we tried long and earnestly to give them our landownership. The in- tention, doubdess, was as good as possible in both cases, but we had taken no trouble to understand Ireland, and we failed as completely as before. The duties attached to landed property died away or were forgotten — the ownership only re- mained. The people, retaining their tribal tra- ditions, believed that they had rights upon the land on which they lived. The owner believed that there were no rights but his own. In Eng- land the rights of landlords have similarly sur- vived their duties, but they have been modified by custom or public opinion. In Ireland the pro- prietor was an alien, with the fortunes of the resi- dents upon his estates in his hands and at his mercy. He was divided from them in creed and language ; he despised them, as of an inferior race, and he acknowledged no interest in common with them. Had he been allowed to trample on them, and make them his slaves, he would have cared for them, perhaps, as he cared for his horses. But their persons were free, while their 152 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. farms and houses were his ; and thus his only object was to wring out of them the last penny which they could pay, leaving them and their children to a life scarcely raised above the level of their own pigs." Meantime the British authorities took care to aggravate all the evils of the land system by an- other set of laws. Manufactures might have drawn away a section of the people from agricul- ture, and would thus have relieved the pressure upon the soil. There would then have been less of the competition which placed the tenantry at the mercy of the landlords : the landlords would have been compelled to offer the tenant lower rents: and thus manufactures would have fulfilled a double purpose — they would have given employ- ment to the persons immediately engaged in the manufactories, and would have made life easier to those outside manufacturing altogether: to those especially who were engaged in cultivating the soil. But even this outlet was forbidden, and a series of laws were passed, the effect and the deliberate object of which were to kill Irish manufactures. The attempts of England to interfere with Irish trade were made in two directions, namely, throuofh leorislative enactments in the Enorlish Parliament, and through the sinister influence of England over a too servile Irish Parliament. Looking at the relative commercial positions of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 1^3 England and Ireland at the present day, we are apt to overlook the fact that they were considered on terms of greater natural equality in past years, and that any advantage was rather on the side of the now poorer country. England had always been jealous of the least prospect of Irish prosperity ; but it was only in the reign of Charles II. that any direct attempt was made to interfere with her growing industries. Ireland was, as of old, " rich in cattle ; " and at this time had a large cattle-trade with England. Acts were passed in 1660-3 prohibiting all exports from Ireland to the colonies, also prohibiting the importation into England of Irish cattle, declaring the latter to be "a publick nuisance;" likewise forbidding the importation of Irish sheep, beef, pork, and, later on, of butter and cheese. Ire- land was also omitted from the " Navigation Act," in consequence of which no goods could thenceforward be carried in Irish-built ships under penalty of forfeiture of ship and cargo. The result of these acts was to destroy the shipping trade of the coun*try at a blow, and to so reduce the value of cattle in Ireland that " horses which used to fetch thirty shillings each were sold for dog's meat at twelve pence each, and beeves that before brought fifty shillings were sold for ten." Unable to make a profit from growing cattle, the Irish turned their pastures into sheepwalks, 1^4 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and set to work to improve their woollen manu- factures with such success that the anger and jealousy of English traders were once more ex- cited, and the ruin of this trade also was decided on. An address was presented in 1698 by both English Houses of Parliament to William III., complaining of the injury done to the English woollen trade by the growth of that trade in Ire- land, recommending its discouragement, and the encouragement, in lieu thereof, of the linen trade, to w^hich both Houses promised their utmost assistance. To this address His Majesty vouch- safed the following gracious reply : " I shall do all that in me lies to discourage the woollen man- facture in Ireland, and encourage the linen man- ufacture there, and to promote the trade of England." In view of promises of encouragement of the linen trade, the Irish Parliament, moved on by the King's Irish ministers, placed forthwith a pro- hibitive duty on all flannels, serges, and such like woollen stuffs ; but, not content with this, the English Parliament passed an act prohibiting the export of Irish wool or woollen goods to any port in the world, except a few English ports, and for- bidding its shipment from any but five or six ports in Ireland. It might have been expected that the promise to promote Irish linen industry would have been honorably kept. But the promise was distinctly THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. I65 violated. The importation of foreign linens into the kingdom was encouraged, and a disabling duty was laid on Irish sail-cloth, in which branch of the linen trade Ireland had prospered so much as to supply sails for the whole British navy. It was, however, not only in these large indus- tries that the infatuated jealousy of England was felt ; such smaller matters as the Irish trade in glass, cotton, beer, and malt being struck at by heavy prohibitive duties. " England," says Froude, writing of these laws, " governed Ireland for her own interests ... as if riorht and wronof had been blotted out of the statute book of the uni- verse." The general result of these successive blows at nascent Irish industries was most disastrous. The mischief was dealt, not so much on the crushed Celtic race, as on the wealthy citizens of the towns and seaports, English-descended, and the main- stay of English ascendancy. The destruction of the woollen and linen trades fell most severely on the Protestants, and in fifty years as many as 200,000 persons left the country for North America, where they afterwards formed the back- bone of resistance to England in the War of Inde- pendence. We conclude by summarizing this sad relation of facts in the words of Lord Dufferin : " From Queen Elizabeth's reign until within a few years of the Union, the various commercial 10 166 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. confraternities of Great Britain never for a mo- ment relaxed their relentless grip on the trades of Ireland. One by one each of our nascent in- dustries was either strangled in its birth or bound to the jealous custody of the rival interest in England, until at last every fountain of wealth was hermetically sealed, and even the traditions of commercial enterprise have perished through desuetude. What has been the consequence of such a system, pursued with relentless pertinacity for over 250 years? This: that, debarred from every other trade and industry, the entire nation flunpf itself back on 'the land'' with as fatal an im- pulse as when a river whose current is suddenly impeded rolls back and drowns the valley it once fertilized."* " The entire nation flunof itself back on the land," with the result that the tenants were placed at the absolute mercy of the landlords. Deprived of every other form of making a livelihood, the possession of land meant the chance of life ; the want of land, the certainty of death. With such a population craving for land as hope, food, life, the landlord was in a position as supreme as the armed keeper of the stores might be with the famished victims of a shipwreck on a raft in the middle of the ocean : and most cruelly did the landlord use the omnipotence which British laws * " Insh Emigration, and the Tenure of Land in Ireland." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE ]67 had thus placed in his hands. The pictures of Irish life in the eighteenth century are drawn, as those of the preceding centuries, mainly by Eng- lish and Protestant hands; and they give pictures almost as horrible of the manner in which a nation can be murdered. Rack-renting and eviction and robbery by act of Parliament had been sub- stituted for massacre by the sword, but the re- sults remained the same : the people were de- stroyed. Above all, one great weapon of the days of the gentle and poetic Spenser and of the pious Cromwell still remained. Famine was at once a means and a result. English writers of the eighteenth century teem with denunciations of the rack-renting and the other cruelties inflicted by landlords upon the tenants. Bishop Berkeley describes the landlords as " men of vulturine beaks and bowels of iron.'' Swift, writing about 1724, said: "These cruel land- lords are every day unpeopling the kingdom, for- biddinor their miserable tenants to till the earth, against common reason and justice, and contrary to the practice and prudence of all other nations, by which numberless families have been forced to leave the kingdom, or stroll about and increase the number of our thieves and beggars. . . . The miserable dress and diet and dwellings of the peo- ple ; the general desolation in most parts of the kingdom ; the old seats of the nobility and gentry all in ruins, and no new ones in their stead ; the J (5;^ GLADSTONE— PARNELL. families of farmers, who pay great rents, living in filth and nastiness, upon buttermilk and potatoes, without a shoe or stocking to their feet, or a house so convenient as an English hogsty to receive them — these, indeed, may be comfortable sights to an English spectator, who comes for a short time only to learn the language, and returns back to his own country, whither he finds all our wealth transmitted. . . . Nost7'a miseria mag7ta est. There is not one argument used to prove the riches of Ireland which is not a logical demonstration of its poverty. . . . The rise of our rents is squeezed out of the very blood and vitals and clothes and dwell- ings of, the tenants, who live worse than English beggars. ... * Ye are idle, ye are idle,' answered Pharaoh to the Israelites, when they complained to His Majesty that they were forced to make bricks without straw." It was the sight of mis- eries such as these that suggested to Swift his most savage and most terrible satire. It is worth while giving an extract from his " Modest Pro- posal for Preventing the Children of the Poor from being a Burden to their Parents." It is a most eloquent picture of Ireland in those days : "The number of souls," he writes, "in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and ahalf, of these I calculate there maybe about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders ; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couple who are able to maintain their THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. IQQ own children (although I apprehend there cannot be so many under the- present distresses of the kingdom). . . . The question, therefore, is how this number (one hundred and twenty thousand children annually born) shall be reared and pro- vided for? — which, as I have already said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impos- sible by all the methods hitherto proposed. . . . I do therefore offer it to the publick consideration, that, of the one hundred and twenty thousand chil- dren already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed. . . . That the remaining one hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in sale to persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table. . . , I have reckoned, upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh twelve pounds, and, in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, will increase to twenty- eight pounds. I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and, therefore, very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, have the best title to the children." After dilating on the succulent properties of infant flesh for nurses: "I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar's child (In which list I reckon all cottagers, laborers, and four-fifths of the farm- ers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included ; and I believe no gendeman would re- X70 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. pine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child, which, I have said, will make four dishes of excellent, nutritive meat, when he has only some particular friend or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will learn to be a good landlord and grow popular among the tenants ; the mother will have eight shillings neat profit, and be fit for work till she produces an- other child." He then suggests to the " more thrifty (such as the times require) to flay the car- cass, the skin of which, artificially dressed, would make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen ; " " the establishment of shambles, butchers being sure not to be wanting," and the " buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs." Having thus disposed of the infants, he came to the grown-up portion of the " beggars," and at the suggestion of "a very worthy person, a true lover of his country," recommends that "the u^ant of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens, not exceeding four- teen years, nor under twelve — so great a number of both sexes being ready to starve in every county for want of work and service. . . . Neither, indeed, could he deny that if the same use \vere made of several plump, young girls in this town [Dublin], Avho, without one single groat to their fortunes, cannot stir abroad without a chair, and appear at a play-house and assemblies in foreign THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 171 fineries which they never will pay for, the king- dom would not be the worse." And lastly, as to " these vast number of poor people who are aged, diseased, and maimed," he was " not in the least pained upon that matter, because it was very well known that they were every day dying and rot- ting by cold, famine, and filth, and vermin, as fast as could be reasonably expected," "Such," comments Healy, in his "Word for Ireland," " is the picture of Irish wretchedness when our population was only one million and a half, and before the phrase ' congested districts ' was invented." The result of this state of thingrs was that semi- starvation was chronic throughout Ireland and absolute famine periodic. In 1 725— '26-'27-'28 there were bad harvests ; and in 1 739 there was severe frost. In every one of these cases there was famine. In 1739 there was a prolonged frost, with the result that in 1 74o-'4i there was one of the most severe famines in Irish history. This was the first occasion on which was observed the phenomenon that, as will be seen afterwards, has played a terrible and important part in Irish life. The frost brought on potato-rot, and the potato- rot brought on universal famine. There are plenty of contemporaneous records of the suffer- ing which this created. "Want and misery in every face, the rich unable to relieve the poor, the roads spread with dead and dying ; mankind of 172 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the color of the weeds and nettles on which they feed ; two or three, sometimes more, on a car, going to the grave, for the want of bearers to carry them, and many buried only in the fields and ditches v/here they perished. Fluxes and malig- nant fevers swept off multitudes of all sorts, so that whole villaores were laid waste. If one for every house in the kingdom died, and that is very probable, the loss must be upwards of 400,000 souls. This is the third famine I have seen in twenty years, and the severest ; these calamities arise from the want of proper tillage laws to pro- tect the husbandmen." " I have seen," says Bishop Barclay, "the laborer endeavoring to work at his spade, but fainting for the want of food, and forced to quit it. I have seen the aged father eat- ing grass like a beast, and in the anguish of his soul wishinor for his dissolution. I have seen the helpless orphan exposed on the dunghill, and none to take him in for fear of infection ; and I have seen the hungry infant sucking at the breast of the already expired parent." " I am well acquainted," said Fitzgibbon in the Irish House of Commons, in 17S7 — a man who will reappear as one of the most violent sup- porters of British rule in Ireland — " with the prov- ince of Munster, and I know that it is ilnpossible for human wretchedness to exceed that of the miserable peasantry of that province. I know that the unhappy tenantry are ground to powder EVICTED— HOMKI.ESS. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 175 by relentless landlords. I know that far from being able to give the clergy their just dues [Protestant tithes], they have not food or raiment for themselves ; the landlord grasps the whole. The poor people of Munster live in a more abject state of poverty than human nature can be sup- posed able to bear ; their miseries are intoler- able." These sufferings led to reprisals on the part of the tenants ; and from this period there dates the rising of the organizations which gave back assas- sinations in answer to rack-rents and eviction. "White Boys," "White Feet," " Peep-of-Day Boys," " Hearts of Steel" — these are among the many designations which these bodies were called by. They were sometimes founded by Catholics and sometimes by Protestants. The " Hearts of Steel," for instance, were all Protestants, who rose against the exactions on the estates of Lord Doneeal. The Irish Parliament answered the ex- cesses of the tenants by laws the savagery of which can scarcely be understood at this day. Death became a penalty for the most trivial offence, and every assize was followed by num- bers of executions. This, then, was the condition to which British law, confiscations, and the land system had brought the Irish nation. The vast majority of the natives were in a state of beggary and starvation. The land was over- run ; manufactures were dead ; between the land- 176 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. lords and the tenants there raged civil war. All these phenomena will unfortunately reappear in the earlier part of th'^ present century. For the present we have to pause to describe a brilliant but too brief interval in the tale of monotonous gloom. We have to tell the story of the Irish Parliament. CHAPTER V. THE STCRY OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT. IT will not be necessary for the purposes of this book to trace the history of the Irish Parlia- ment back to the dim ages in which it took its origin. It will suffice for our purpose to start from the point when the controversy between the demands of an Irish Parliament for supremacy in Ireland and the demands of the English Parlia- ment to control its proceedings came to be a burning question. The first great enactment which limited the power of the Irish Parliament is known as Poyn- ing's Law. This was passed in the reign of Henry VII. The Irish had taken the side of the Pretender Perkin Warbeck, and Sir Edward Poyning had been sent over by the King to put down the rebellion. Poyning, after some doubt- ful successes in the field, called together a Parlia- ment in Drogheda, and immediately induced it to pass a series of severe enactments against the native Irish and those English who had taken up their side and their habits. It has been seen in a preceding chapter how efforts had been made 178 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. by means of the most savage laws to keep up the separation between the two races, and how, in spite of these things, the two races had com-' bined and had gradually melted in spite of their different origins into one common nationality. In a Parliament which had met in the city of Kil- kenny in the reign of Edward III., the act known as the Statute of Kilkenny had been passed, by which it had been made high treason to bring up, marry with, foster or stand sponsor to a Celtic native of Ireland. It was also enacted that any Englishman who should dress himself after the fashion of the Irish people, adopt an Irish name, speak the Gaelic tongue, wear a moustache, as was the custom in Ireland, or ride without a sad- dle, as was also an Irish custom, had his property confiscated or was imprisoned for life if he was poor. Poyning's Parliament confirmed the Statute of Kilkenny, with important modifications made necessary by the failure of the previous enact- ment. For instance, the portions of the Statute of Kilkenny were omitted which prohibited the use of the Irish language, for by this time that language had become common even in the Eng- lish pale, and the custom of riding without a sad- dle had also become so general that it was deemed hopeless to try to prevent it. The im- portant business, however, done by the Parlia- ment of Drogheda was the passing of an act THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. I79 which made two memorable and fatal laws. First, no Parliament was in future to be held in Ireland "until the chief governor and council had certified to the King, under the Great Seal, as well the causes and considerations as the acts they designed to pass, and till the same should be approved by the King and Council." The effect of this act was that when any bill was passed by the Irish Parliament, it had to be approved by the English Privy Council, and the act had to be for- warded to England for the purpose of receiving their sanction or disapproval. Often bills were returned by the Privy Council completely di- vested of their original meaning. On being re- turned to the Irish House of Commons no further alteration in the bill was permitted. The effect of this disastrous act was to deprive the Irish Parliament of any real power ; the au- thority given to the English Parliament was fre- quently and scandalously used, and prevented the application to Ireland of any of that broadening of popular liberties which had become apparent in England. For a considerable period the Eng- lish settlers in Ireland raised some objection to this degradation of their Parliament — for it was their own Parliament — but in later years they fully accepted it. It was made up of men of their creed and race. The Parliament was deemed by them to serve a useful purpose, because it was through the decrees of that body they were able 180 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. to finish by chicanery the transfer of the soil that had been begun by the sword. The Irish Padia- ment was employed to pass acts of attainder and forfeiture by which the estates of the Catholic Irish landlords were handed over to the English Protestant settlers, to confirm the defective titles that had been won on the field or in the law courts, and finally to pass the penal code by which the Catholics were excluded from the ownership of property and all possible share in the govern- ment of their country. But as time went on, the Irish Protestants found that the authority of the English Parliament was intended for use against all men of Irish birth whatever their creed or their original de- scent. The great positions of the country — the judgeships, the bishoprics, the places in the House of Peers and the House of Commons, the com- mands in the army and the navy, and all the high offices of state, were, in most cases, conferred on Englishmen. Englishmen were the " fathers in God " of dioceses that they never saw ; sate for constituencies which they had never cast eyes upon ; drew the salaries of offices in which they had never done a day's work; and outside all these ereat things stood shiverinor the Irish Prot- estants of English blood, naked and scorned. Meantime, the poverty of the country became daily deeper; the exaction of rent grew more difficult ; the kingdom was infested with bands of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 181 wandering beggars ; and gentlemen of tide, long descent and of ancestral homes sharing in the general ruin, found the refusal of all positions a serious aeofravation of their misfortunes. In the days of Dean Swift the government of Ireland was almost entirely in the hands of the Arch- bishop of Armagh, Primate Boulter. The cor- respondence of this prelate survives, and through it we are enabled to get many valuable glimpses of what the government of Ireland meant in his days. " Boulter," writes Lecky, in " Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," " was an honest but narrow man, extremely charitable to the poor, and liberal to the, extent of warmly advocating the endowment of the Presbyterian clergy; but he was a strenuous supporter of the Penal Code, and the main object of his policy was to prevent the rise of an Irish party. His letters are chiefly on questions of money and patronage, and it is curious to observe how entirely all religious mo- tives appear to have been absent from his mind in his innumerable recommendations for church dignities. Personal claims, and above all the fitness of the candidate to carry out the English policy, seem to have been in these cases the only elements considered. His uniform policy was to divide the Irish Catholics and the Irish Protes- tants, to crush the former by disabling laws, to destroy the independence of the latter by con- ferring the most lucrative and influential posts 182 GLADSTONE— PARN ELL upon Englishmen, and thus to make all Irish in- terests strictly subservient to those of England. The continual burden of his letters is the neces- sity of sending over Englishmen to fill important Irish posts. " The only way to keep things quiet here," he writes, "and make them easy to the Ministry is by filling the great places with natives of England." He complains bitterly that only nine of the twenty-two Irish bishops were Eng- lishmen, and urges the Ministers " gradually to get as many English on the Bench here as can decently be sent hither." On the death of the Chancellor, writing to the Duke of Newcastle, he speaks of "the uneasiness- we are gnder at the report that a native of this place is like to be made Lord Chancellor." " I must request of your Grace," he adds, "that you would use your influence to have none but Englishmen put into the great places here for the future." When a vacancy in the See of Dublin was likely to occur he writes : "I am entirely of opinion that the new archbishop ought to be an English- man either already on the bench here or in Eng- land. As for a native of this country I can hardly doubt that, whatever his behavior has been and his promises may be, when he is once in that sta- tion he will put himself at the head of the Irish interest in the church at least, and he will natur ally carry with him the college and most of the clergy here." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 133 Up to this time the protests against the degra- dation of the Irish Parliament had been confined to the native Irish. In a famous assemblage, known as the Confederation of Kilkenny, the claim of the Irish Parliament to the exclusive power to make laws for Ireland had been asserted ; and it was laid down with even more emphasis in a Parliament called together by James II. during his war with William III. It was not till 1698 that the first Protestant voice was raised in em- phatic protest. The author of this protest was Molyneux — one of the members for Trinity Col- lege ; Molyneux was, of course, a Protestant; no- body but a Protestant at the time had a seat in the Parliament. He was a man of great learning and ability ; of which among many other proofs is the fact that he was the " ingrenious friend" to "whom Locke dedicated his immortal essay. Moly- neux in his book, "The Case of Ireland Stated," laid down the claim of the Irish Parliament in clear and unmistakable language. He had been induced to this train of thought by the infamous laws which had destroyed the woollen trade of Ireland, and in destroying that trade had terribly aggravated the miseries of the unhappy nation. The book was written in moderate and decorous language ; but it was too strong for the govern- ment of the day ; the English Parliament decreed that it was dangerous, and that accordingly it should be burned by the common hangman. 11 184 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. But the spirit which Molyneux aroused was immortal, and indeed lies at the root of the Na^ tional movement of to-day. There soon came, too, an event which was destined to aggravate the feelino-s of resentment which had been created by the restrictions on trade and by the rigid ex- clusion of the Irish gentry from all offices of pay and power. In the year 1719 Hester H. Sherlock brought an action against Maurice Annesley in reference to some property in the county of Kildare. The case was tried before the Irish Court of Ex- chequer, which decided in favor of Maurice An- nesley, the respondent in the case. Hester Sher- lock brought the case on appeal to the Irish House of Peers, and they reversed the judgment of the Court of Exchequer. Annesley then took the case to the English House, of Peers, and they reversed the decision of the Irish Peers and con- firmed that of the Irish Court of Exchequer. This was regarded throughout Ireland as a gross infringement of the rights of the Irish Parliament. The Sheriff of Kildare acted upon the general opinion and recognized only the decision of the Irish House of Peers. He declined to obey the decree both of the Irish Court of Exchequer and the English House of Lords, and refused to com- ply with an order for placing Annesley in posses- sion of the property. The Court of Exchequer thereupon inflicted a fine upon the sheriff. The THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 185 Irish House of Lords removed the fine and passed a resolution declaring that the sheriff had be- ha.V8d with integrity and courage. The English Parllamentwas not slow to respond to this open defiance of its authority, and it passed llie famous law known as the Vlth of George I. The following extract will show what this law is : "Whereas, . . . the lords of Ireland have of late^ against law, assumed to themselves a power and a jurisdiction to examine and amend the judg- ments and decrees of the courts of justice in Ire- land ; therefore, ... it is declared and enacted . . . that the King's Majesty, by and with the ad- vice and consent of the lords spiritual and tempo- ral and Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assembled, had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and stat- utes of sufficient force and validity to bind the people of the kingdom of Ireland. And it is fur- ther enacted and declared that the House of Lords of Ireland have not, nor of right ought to have, any jurisdiction to judge of, affirm, or re- verse, any judgment . . . made in any court in the said kingdom." It was in the height of the exasperation caused by arrogant denial of the rights of the Irish Par- liament that there came into Irish affairs one of the most potent influences by which they were ever euided. Dean Swift had about this time re- turned to Ireland, as he said himself, " like a rat 186 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. dying in its hole." He saw all around him the fearful sufferings of the people, the gross injus- tice of the landlords, the cruel harvest which the wicked legislation of England was reaping in barren fields, depopulated villages, and crowded and tumultuous beggary. It was then he began to publish that series of pamphlets on the Irish question which can be read with as much profit at this day as when they were first pub- lished. They afford, perhaps, the most graphic and telling picture of a nation's misery ever pro- duced. An accident soon enabled him to bring the growing resentment of Ireland into direct and successful collision with Enorlish authorities. Sir Robert Walpole, an English Premier of the time, gave a patent to a man named Wood for the pur- pose of coining /,S,ooo in half-pence. The im- pression to-day is that the copper was badly wanted ; that Wood's half-pence were as good as those already existing, and that the Minister had no sinister idea of debaslno^ the coinao^e of the country. "But," as Lecky remarks, "there were other reasons why the project was both dangerous and insultinof. Though the measure was one profoundly affecting Irish interests, it was taken by the Ministers without consulting the Lord Lieutenant or Irish Privy Council, or the Parlia- ment, or any one in the country. It was another and a signal proof that Ireland had been reduced to complete subservience to England, and the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. Igy patent was granted to a private individual by the influence of the Duchess of Kendal, the mistress of the King, and on the stipulation that she should receive a large share of the profits." Swift published a number of letters upon the new coin, with the result that the country was roused to a state of fury. Both Houses of the Irish Parliament passed addresses against it ; grand juries of Dublin and the gentry all over the country condemned it, and finally it had to be withdrawn from circulation. The indirect effects of this were more important than the mere small point of whether the coin was genuine or base. Swift, in his book, laid down clearly the same doctrine as Molyneux of the sole right of^ the Irish Parliament to pass measures for Ireland. He was a loyal subject of the King, he declared, not as King of England, but King of Ireland. Ireland was a free nation, which implied in it the power of self-legislation, for such " Government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery," says Swift; a maxim, by the way, that applies as much to the case of Ireland to-day as to the case of Ireland in his days. Thus the demands of Ireland were once more put forward in clear terms that resounded all over the country. The second important re- sult was the union between the much-divided classes and sections of the Irish nation, which this legislation produced for almost the first time. " I 188 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. find,'' wrote Primate Boulter, " by my own letters and others' enquiry, that the people of every reli- gion, country, and party, here are alike set against Wood's half-pence, and that their agree- ment in this has had a very unhappy influence on the state of this nation, by bringing on intimacies between Papists and Jacobites and the Whigs." The third and most satisfactory result of all was that it marked the first peaceful triumph of Ire- land over English interference. "There is," says Lecky, "no more momentous epoch in the his- tory of a nation than that in which the voice of the people has first spoken, and spoken with success. It marks the transition from an age of semi-bar- barism to an age of civilization — from the govern- ment of force to the government of opinion. Before this time rebellion was the natural issue of every patriotic effort in Ireland. Since then rebellion has been an anachronism and a mistake. The age of Desmond and of O'Neill had passed. The age of Grattan and of O'Connell had beo^un." It was these various causes that produced the rise in the Irish Parliament of the historic body of men known as the patriot party. When first these champions of Irish rights started out on their enterprise never did difficulties appear more gigantic, never task more hopeless. By various methods both Houses of Parliament had been reduced to a state of corruption and of subservi- THE LATE -MR. HENRY GRATTAN, M. P. ?' -5 < o Pi a o a £ O b THE GREAT IRISH STPs-UGGLE 191 ency perhaps unequalled in the annals of legisla- tive assemblies. The Catholics had no share whatever in the election of the Parliament, and even the Protes- tant minority was practically excluded from any real control. The plan of the English kings had been, in general, to make no increase whatever in the number of county constituencies; all new members were given to the boroughs. In some cases the new boroughs might be described as non-existent; others consisted of but a few houses and inhabitants. The Stuarts had been the most shameless in this manufacture of unin- habited boroughs. James I. summoned a Parlia- ment in 1 613. There being about one hundred Catholics to one Protestant in Ireland at this time, it was naturally feared that there would be a Catholic majority in the Parliament (this was before the Catholics were excluded), and imme- diate measures were taken to prevent such a ma- jority from being elected. Seventeen new coun- ties and forty boroughs were created by royal charter in places thinly or not at all inhabited, and towns as yet only projected on the estates of the leading undertakers were named as boroughs. " Forty boroughs," quoth the King, when remon- strated with ; " suppose I had made four hundred — the more the merrier." There was, after all, a very strong Catholic minority in the lower House, but after an unseemly dispute about the 192 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Speakership the CathoHcs left the House in a body. James I. passed away, and left his throne and some of his propensities to his son Charles before another Parliament met in Dublin, in 1 634. Straf- ford was Lord Deputy, and in pursuance of his policy of " Thorough," exerted all his energies to satisfy his master's eager requests for money. One of his first acts was to summon a Parliament, in which, by judicious management, the propor- don of Catholics was reduced from nearly one- half to one-third of the assembly. By further official manipulation the two Houses were soon brought into a condition satisfactory to the Lord Deputy. The House of Lords consisted of about one hundred and seventy-eight temporal and twenty-two spiritual peers. Many of the temporal peers were Scotchmen and Englishmen, having" no connection whatsoever with the coun- try, and having never seen it in their lives. The Bishops, nominees of the Ministry, were alto- gether out of sympathy with the people ; half of them were EneHshmen, to account for whose con- duct Swift could only suggest that the real pre- lates sent over from England had been waylaid, robbed and stripped outside London by highway- men, who now masqueraded in their clothes. The lower House consisted of three hundred members, the bulk of whom were nominees of the great Protestant land-owners, members of the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE I93 upper House; two hundred being returnable by single individuals, and altogether two-thirds by less than a hundred persons, who openly made large sums of money by the sale of seats. Place- men and pensioners of the government filled many seats. There was no Ministry responsible to the Parliament; the administration consisted of the English Viceroy and his English Secretary, nominees of the English government, together with a Privy Council, over none of whom had the Houses any control, and whose chief business was the carrying of measures pleasing to their mas- ters across the channel, by means of bribes, of titles and places, and the playing off of the differ- ent factions against each other. The patriot party of later days, headed by men like Flood, Lucas, Daly, and Burgh, made, night after night, persistent attacks along the whole line of monopoly and misgovernment — the law of Poyning, the Penal Code, the absence of an Irish Mutiny Bill, the bloated Pension List, the jurisdiction of the British Parliament. The government, harassed and perplexed, tried their old arts of seduction, but with only trifling success. The weakest of the patriots were bought over, but the remainder closed up their ranks and came on again to the assault. The first victory achieved by them was to obtain, in 1 768, the pass- ing of a bill limiting to seven years the duration of Parliament, which hitherto lasted during an en- 194 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. tire reign, an act which Lecky describes as having laid "the foundation of parhamentary influence and independence in Ireland." To the first House of Commons elected under this act, the patriots were returned in greater force than be- fore, and soon to their ranks was added the power, the genius, the eloquence, and the enthu- siasm of Henry Grattan, who entered Parliament in 1775 for the borough of Charlemont. The next year the revolt in the North Ameri- can colonies broke out, and England, her avail- able troops being employed against the colonists, was obliged to leave Ireland defenceless, though American privateers and French men-of-war were hovering round her coasts. The Irish applied to the English authorities for soldiers to defend Ire- land ; the authorities declared that they had no troops to spare for Ireland. The Irish, under the circumstances, felt justified in taking means for their own defence. Men were enrolled rapidly all over the country ; before long no less than 150,000 men were in arms, and thus arose the body known as the Irish Volunteers. Raised originally for the defence of Ireland against the enemies of England, the "Volunteers" naturally turned their eyes to the evils of their own country. The position of England, too, at that moment, showed that the hour had come when Ireland could demand her rights, with a reasonable chance of having them accepted. The THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 195 Volunteers outside Parliament and the patriot party inside Parliament then devoted themselves to demanding an immediate redress of all their grievances. It is characteristic of the whole his- tory of Ireland that this National party displayed the highest spirit of religious toleration. The volunteers were Protestant to a man. The very first thing they did was to proclaim the right of every man in Ireland to the free exercise of his religion and to his due share of political rights altogether apart from his religious persuasion. Towards the close of the year 1781 the officers of the First Ulster Regiment of Volunteers, com- manded by Lord Charlemont, resolved to hold a convention of the Ulster Delegates at Dungan- non, and this convention assembled in the church in that ancient city in 1782. Then " the repre- sentatives," writes Mitchell, " of the regiments of Ulster — one hundred and forty-three corps — marched to the sacred place of meeting, two and two, dressed in various uniforms, and fully armed. Deeply they felt the great responsibilities which had been committed to their prudence and cour- age ; but they were equal to their task, and had not lightly pledged their faith to a trustful coun- try. The aspect of the church, the temple of re- ligion, in which, nevertheless, no grander cere- mony was ever performed, was imposing, or, it might be said, sublime. Never, on that hill where ancient piety had fixed its seat, was a nobler 196 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. offering made to God than this, when two hun- dred of the elected warriors of a people assem- bled in His tabernacle, to lay the deep founda- tions of a nation's liberty." The convention then passed several resolutions, of which the following are the more important. First, it was " resolved unanimously, that a claim of any body of men, other than the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland, to make laws to bind this kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a grievance." Second, resolved with one dissent- ing voice only, " that the powers exercised by the Privy Councils of both kingdoms, under, or under color or pretence of, the law of Poyning, are un- constitutional and a orrievance." " Resolved unani- mously, that the independence of judges is equally essential to the impartial administration of justice in Ireland as in England, and that the refusal or delay of this right to Ireland makes a distinction where there should be no distinction, may excite jealousy where perfect union should prevail, and is in itself unconstitutional and a grievance." But, perhaps, the two most important resolutions of all were the final closing ones : " Resolved, with two dissenting voices only to this and the following resolution, that we hold the right of private judgment in matters of religion to be equally sacred in others as ourselves." "Re- solved, therefore, that as men and as Irishmen, as Christians and as Protestants, we rejoice in the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. ]97 relaxation of the penal laws against our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, and that we conceive the measure fraught with the happiest consequences to the union and prosperity of the inhabitants of Ireland." Meantime the patriot party in Parliament acted in co-operation with the armed patriots outside. They saw that the time had come for pressing forward the claims of Ireland. Grattan was now the leader of the patriot party, and he first made an attack upon the law preventing Ireland from carrying on trade with the colonies. After some hesitation the motion was carried, and Ireland's right to free trade with other countries was estab- lished. Immediately after this came a move in favor of a greater and more important reform. Grattan brought in a Bill declaring in almost the same language as the resolutions passed at the Dungannon convention, that the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland were the only persons com- petent to enact the laws of Ireland. A similar measure had been brought forward in the year 1780, but then it had been rejected. But in 1782 things were in a very different position. England had been beaten at Saragossa ; American inde- pendence had been established, and the patriot party had a backing of 100,000 armed men. At last the British government yielded, and the Duke of Portland was sent over as Lord Lieutenant to grant the prayer of Ireland. On the i6th of ' 198 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. April, 1782, Grattan brought forward his Decla- ration of Independence. " On that day a large body of the Volunteers were drawn up in front of the Old Parliament House of Ireland. Far as the eye could stretch the morning sun glanced upon their weapons and upon their flags ; and it was through their parted ranks that Grattan passed to move the emanci- pation of his country. Never had a great orator a nobler or a more pleasing task. It was to pro- claim that the strife of six centuries had termi- nated ; that the cause for which so much blood had been shed, and so much genius expended in vain, had at last triumphed ; and that a new era had dawned upon Ireland. Doubtless on that day many minds reverted to the long night of op- pression and crime through which Ireland had struggled towards that conception which had been as the pillar of fire on her path. But now at last the promised land seemed reached. The dream of Swift and of Molyneux was realized. The blessings of independence were reconciled with the blessings of connection ; and in an emanci- pated Parliament the patriot saw the guarantee of the future prosperity of his country and the Shekinah of liberty in the land. It was impos- sible, indeed, not to perceive that there was still much to be done — disqualifications to be re- moved, anomalies to be rectified, corruption to be overcome ; but Grattan at least firmly believed THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. I99 that Ireland possessed the vital force necessary for all this, that the progress of a healthy public opinion would regenerate and reform the Irish Parliament as it regenerated and reformed the Parliament of England ; and that every year the sense of independence would quicken the sym- pathy between the people and their representa- tives. It was, indeed, a noble triumph, and the orator was worthy of the cause. In a few glowing sentences he painted the dreary struggle that had passed, the magnitude of the victory that had been achieved, and the grandeur of the prospects that were unfolding. * I am now,' he exclaimed, ' to address a free people. Ages have passed away, and this is the first moment in which you could be distinguished by that appellation. I have spoken on the subject of your liberty so often that I have nothing to add, and have only to admire by what heaven-directed steps you have proceeded until the whole faculty of the nation is braced up to the act of her own deliverance. I found Ireland on her knees; I watched over her with paternal solicitude ; I have traced her pro- gress from injuries to arms, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift, spirit of Molyneux, your genius has prevailed ! Ireland is now a nation ! In that character I hail her ; and, bowing in her august presence, I say, Esto perpetual '' " In England the change in the position of the Irish Parliament obtained the approval of all en- 200 GLADSTONE— FARNELL. lieHtened men. Edmund Burke wrote to Lord Charlemont: " I am convinced that no reluctant tie can be a strong one, I believe that a natural, cheerful alliance will be a far more secure link of connection than any principle of subordination borne with grudging and discontent." Fox and Grey, the leaders of the English Whig party, w^re equally delighted with the change. " I would have the Irish government," said Fox in 1797, " regulated by Irish voters and Irish prejudices, and I am convinced that the more she is under Irish government the more she will be bound to English interests." The independence of the Irish Parliament was now achieved, and, following quickly in its wake, came the attainment of objects which had been striven for long and vainly while that body was under the thumb of an alien administration. Par- liament met yearly, and not at fluctuating inter- vals as before. The Independence of the judicial bench was secured by an act providing that their commissions should be valid during good beha- vior, their salaries ascertained and established, and their removal dependent on an address from both Houses. The right of the Commons to originate money bills, as in England, was estab- lished, as was also their right to assign how money voted by them should be expended. But there were some points on which Grattan appealed for further reform. The pension list, as THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 201 has been seen, was one of the most potent agen- cies in the hands of the Crown for the corruption of members. The enormity of the grievance is sufficiently shown by the fact that the money spent in pensions in Ireland was not merely rela- tively, but absolutely, greater than was expended for that purpose in England ; that the pension list trebled in the first thirty years of George III. ; and that in 1793 it amounted to no less than ^i 24,000. As a proof of the number of persons to whom pensions were given, it may be men- tioned that on the Irish Pension List there were the names of the mistresses of George I., of the Queen Dowager of Prussia, sister of George II., and of the Sardinian Ambassador who neofotiated the peace of Paris. The efforts of Grattan to reduce this scandalous list were repeated over and over again. He brought forward the subject in 1785 and in 1791, but the government always opposed him, and he was as often defeated. The legislation of the Irish Parliament upon one question, however, proceeded with rapidity and with extraordinary liberality. The reader is already aware that the Irish Parliament at this time consisted exclusively of Irish Protestants and Irish landlords, but that Parliament had scarcely received its independence when it proceeded to carry out the great principles which had been laid down by the Protestant volunteers' meeting in the Protestant Church of Dungannon. The 12 202 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. toleration, indeed, of the Irish Parliament began at a date even anterior to its independence. In 1768 a Bill had been passed without a division against the Penal Code, and its rejection was due to the English Parliament. In 1774-78 and 1782, and finally in 1792, other relief Bills were also enacted, and by this time some of the worst griev- ances of the Irish Catholics were removed. But there were other grievances which still remained, and which were of the very iJ^imost importance. The Irish Catholic had not a right to vote for a member of Parliament or to become a member of Parliament, and he had no place in the higher ranks of the law or the army. Under the influ- ence of a native legislature the feeling against the Catholics was now rapidly passing away; indeed, it had begun to disappear at even an earlier date. Lecky quotes the following passage from the preface to Molyneux's " Case of Ireland," which proves that as far back as 1770 religious bigotry was already disappearing: " The rigor of Popish bigotry is softening very fast ; the Protestants are losing all bitter remem- brance of those evils which their ancestors suf- fered, and the two sects are insensibly gliding into the same common interests. The Protestants, through apprehensions from the superior numbers of the Catholics, were eager to secure themselves in the powerful protection of an English Minister, and to gain this were ready to comply with his THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 203 most exorbitant demands ; the Catholics were aHke wilhno- to embarrass the Protestants as their o natural foes; but awakening from this delusion, they begin to condemn their past follies, reflect with shame on having so long played the game of an artful enemy, and are convinced that with- out unanimity they never can obtain such con- sideration as may entitle them to demand, with any prospect of success, the just and common rights of mankind. Religious bigotry is losing its force everywhere. Commercial and not re- ligious interests are the objects of almost every nation in Europe." But in a moment the Irish Parliament was in full possession of its powers. The car of progress proceeded with unexampled rapidity. In 1793 a bill was introduced the object of which was to allow the Catholics to vote. This act was per- haps the most noteworthy ever carried by the native legislature. The independent native Legislature proceeded to justify its existence in other respects also. During its existence the country had its first gleam of prosperity. On this point evidence is abounding and incontestable. The testimony comes as emphatically from the men who de- stroyed the Legislature as from those who de- fended it. The increase of Ireland's prosperity under the native Legislature was by a curious reversal of facts and ideas one of the arguments 204 GLADSTONE— PARNELL by which Pitt justified the extinction of Parlia- ment. "As Ireland," he said, " was so prosperous under her own Parliament, we can calculate that the amount of that prosperity will be trebled by a British Legislature." Pitt then went on to quote a speech of Mr. Foster, a member of the Irish Legislature in 1785, in these words: "The ex- portation of Irish produce to England amounts to two millions and a half annually, and the exporta- tion of British produce to Ireland amounts to one million." Quoting Foster again, he said, " Britain imports annually ;^2, 500,000 of our products, all, or very nearly all, duty free, and we import almost a million of hers, and raise a revenue on every article of it." Pitt went on to say, " But how stands the case now (1799) ? The trade at this time is infinitely more advantageous to Ire- land. It will be proved from the documents I hold in my hand, as far as relates to the mere in- terchange of manufactures, that the manufactures exported to Ireland from Great Britain in 1797 very little exceeded one million sterling (the arti- cles of produce amount to nearly the same sum), whilst Great Britain, on the other hand, imported from Ireland to the amount of more than three millions in the manufacture of linen and linen yarn, and between two and three millions in pro- visions and cattle, besides corn and other articles of produce." Fitzgibbon, Lord Clare, was Pitt's most unscrupulous and ablest instrument in car- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 205 rying the Union; yet in 1798 Lord Clare said: "There is not a nation on the face of the habita- ble globe which has advanced in cultivation, in agriculture, in manufactures, with the same ra- pidity, in the same period, as Ireland," namely, between 1782 and 1798. In this opinion Lord Grey, Lord Plunket, and many others fully concur. The question will at once occur to the mind of the American reader why it was that an institution that was thus daily proving its fitness for the country ever ceased to exist. The explanation is easily found in the constitution of the Parliament, and partly also in the nature of the settlement made in 1782. First, as to the constitution of the Parliament; attention has already been called to the character of both Houses of that body. Grattan and the other patriot leaders saw the immense dano^er there was to the continuance of Ireland's independence if this state of things was allowed to continue. Session after session, time after time, Grattan and others brought in Bills, the object of which was to procure the reform of Parliament, both in its own constitution and in the electorate. In speech after speech the cor- ruptions of the existing system were pointed out; and attention was especially called to the system by which at one stroke both the House of Lords and the House of Commons were corrupted. The House of Lords was corrupted by the admis- sion to Its ranks of men who had bought their r 206 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. peerages, and the House of Commons was at the same time corrupted by the sale to the govern- ment of the seats which belonged to the men who had bought the peerages. " Will any man," says Flood, "say that the Constitution is perfect when he knows that the honor of the peerage may be obtained by any ruffian who possesses borough interest?" Grattan accuses the Minister of the Crown of havinof '* introduced a trade or com- merce, or, rather, brokerage of honors, and thus establishing in the money arising from that sale a fund for corrupting representation." But these remonstrances proved in vain ; and the government, times out of number, refused to make any change of a really practicable character in the composition and constitution of either House of Parliament, and the House of Commons con- tinued to consist for the most part of placemen and pensioners and the creatures of the propri- etors of rotten boroughs, openly and flagrantly ready for sale. The attempts to reform the Parliament by the admission of Catholics thereto met with an equal fate. At one time, however, it seemed as if this question were about to be decided. In 1794 Lord Westmoreland — a Lord Lieutenant who was unfavorable to Catholic claims — was succeeded by Lord Fitzwilliam, who was equally known as a stronof advocate of those claims. Lord Fitzwil- Ham was a man of great importance in those days THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 207 He was the most prominent member of the Whig party. He was a friend of Grattan's, and his views on Catholic emancipation had been over and over again pronounced. When he landed in 1 794 accordingly he was received everywhere with enthusiasm. Petitions in favor of Catholic emancipation were sent in not merely by the Catholics but also by the Protestants. And Lord Fitzwilliam himself was able to speak to the King of " the universal approbation wuth which the emancipation of the Catholics was received on the part of his Protestant subjects." Ireland at the moment became as one man, religious bigotry was forgotten, loyalty was universal. Within the last few weeks the change that Lord Fitzwilliam's viceroyalty made was brought mto relief by a significant episode. Lord Aberdeen, a popular London viceroy of the Queen, and bearer of another message of peace, visited Kenmare, in the month of May, 1886. He was received by a popular band of music, which played "God save the Queen." It was the first time the National Anthem of England had been played in this town since 1795 ; and then in honor of a visit from Lord Fitzwilliam, but he now was recalled, and the hopes of Ireland were blasted. "We have," said Grattan, "no Irish Cabinet. Individuals may deprecate, may dissuade, but they cannot enforce their principles; there is no embodied authority in Ireland. Again, your 208 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Government constantly fluctuates ; your viceroys change every day ; men of different parties and different principles, faithful to private engage- ments but not bound to any uniform public sys- tem. Again, you have no decided responsibility in Ireland ; the objects of your inquest might not be easily found ; in short, you have in this country the misfortune of a double administration, a double importunity — a fluctuating government, and a fugacious responsibility." Some years later Mr. Grattan says, "Are the Ministers of Ireland fonder of the people of this country than the Ministers of the sister country are of Great Britain ? Are they not often aliens in affection as well as birth, disposed to dispute your rights, censure your proceedings, and to boast that you cannot punish them, and that, therefore, they do not fear you ? Are they not proud to humble you and ambitious to corrupt you ? " In 1798 the rebellion which had been smoul- dering throughout the country at last broke forth. Though Catholics took mainly the chief part in the insurrection it was originally started by a body of Protestants in Belfast, who formed a society known as the " United Irishmen." The testimony is overwhelming that the United Irish- men contemplated at first only constitutional methods of action ; but, as they themselves after- wards stated, their despair of obtaining reform through the continued opposition of the govern- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 209 ment to Grattan's proposals drove them into rebellion. The rebellion was crushed by the most terrible cruelty. One of its worst effects was to revive the religious passions between dif- ferent sections of Irishmen by which the benefi- cent policy of the Irish party and the patriot leaders was obliterated. Pitt, and Lord Cas- tlereagh, his agent in Ireland, aggravated the cruelties by giving every form of encouragement to the persons mainly occupied in carrying out his cruelties. "The Protestants," says Lecky, "passed into that condition of terrified ferocity to which ruling races are always liable when they find themselves a small minority in the midst of a fierce re- bellion." ' The minds of the people,' wrote Lord Cornwallis, after the suppression of the revolt, 'are now in such a state that nothing but blood will satisfy them.' ' Even at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it, the con- versation always turns on hanging, shooting, burning and so forth ; and if a priest has been put to death the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company.' " The native Irish, maddened by these cruelties, replied with cruelties of great if not equal fe- rocity. At last the rebellion of 1 798 was, put down, and the British authorities now thought the time had come for proposing the Act of Union. Oa the destruction of the Irish Legislature Pitt 210 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. had been resolved from an early date. He had sent to Ireland as a means of carrying out this policy Lord Castlereagh, an Irishman by birth, but English in all his sympathies and aims. This remarkable man, who played so sinister a part in Irish and afterwards in English history, had the qualities exactly suitable for carrying out an enterprise of this kind. He had cool courage and an utter absence of either shame or of scruple. While Lord Cornwallis, the Lord Lieu- tenant at the time, spoke, as will be seen, with loathing of the work at which he was employed, Lord Castlereagh pursued it with perfect equa- nimity, and sometimes described it as though he gloried in the shame. Preparations went on for years to make the Parliament ready for the final blow, and the patriots of the time over and over again saw how the work of corruption was pro- ceeding, and the hour of destruction drawing nigh. "We are no longer," writes Dr. Browne, one of the members for Trinity College, "attacked by the stern violence of prerogative, but a new and more dangerous foe has arisen — a corrupt and all-subduing influence which, with a silent but resistless course, has overwhelmed the land and borne down every barrier of liberty and virtue." "Then," says Sir L. Parsons, "those acquisitions in 1782, which the people thought would have brought good government, have brought bad, and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 211 why ? Because it has been the object of the English Ministers ever since to countervail what was obtained at that period, and substitute a surreptitious and clandestine influence for that open power which the English Legislature was then obliged to relinquish," It was in the year 1 799 that the Union was proposed for the first time. The government put forward every means they could employ for the purpose of carrying it. But it was, nevertheless, opposed by all the in- tellect and all the conscience of Ireland. " It is scarcely an exaggeration to say," observes Lecky, " that the proposal to make the Union provoked the whole of the unbribed intellect of Ireland to oppose it." The result was that the bill was re- jected by 109 to 104 votes. Castlereagh, however, was a man of persistent purpose, and he now set himself to work to adopt more certain means of carrying out his resolve. He employed a mixture of force and fraud. Mar- tial law was proclaimed all over the country, and wherever there was any attempt to procure an open expression of public feeling, violence was either threatened or employed against it. The people of Dublin had signified their joy at the rejection of the government measure, and they were attacked without notice by a body of soldiers and some people were shot down. A body of the gentry had gathered together in Kings county for the purpose of declaring their opinions 212 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. upon the proposed legislation ; they had no sooner assembled than a column of troops under Major Rogers were seen to be advancing, armed with four cannon; by which it was made perfectly clear that if the meeting were persevered with the building would have been destroyed. Major Rogers was remonstrated wuth ; but his answer was, that but for one word from the sheriff he might blow them all to atoms. And in several other parts of that county — according to Sir Jonah Barrington, a well-known contemporary chron- icler — people were restrained from expressing their opinions by the dread of grapeshot. Steps were taken against all those encouraging public opinion against the Union, or who did anything to promote the national protest. The Marquis of Downshire sent out a circular urging petitions against the Union ; and he was dismissed from the lord-lieutenancy of his county and his name was erased from the list of privy councillors. In the same way in the House of Commons all men who held office and who refused to vote for the destruction of the country's liberties were dis- missed. Among the persons who thus gave hon- orable, testimony to the consistency of their prin- ciples was Sir John Parnell, the ancestor of the present leader of the Irish people, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer for seventeen years. Petitions at the same time were sent over the whole country to gather signatures in favor of the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 213 Union ; and so eager was Castlereagh for even the appearance of popular adhesion to his de- mand that felons in jail were offered their pardon on condition of attaching their names. Never- theless, when the sifjnatures came to be counted up, 700,000 protested against the Union ; and only 3,000 were found to demand it. These were but a small portion of the plans adopted to carry the Union on the second at- tempt. Castlereagh, having made up his mind that corruption was the best of all means for gain- ing votes, resorted to this means in the most open manner. The seats in the House of Commons, owing to the system of bribery, had become as valuable as any other article of merchandise, and Casdereagh determined to take the same view of the question as the owners themselves. Accordingly, he announced three plans on the part of the government, which together made as complete a system of corruption as perhaps ever prevailed in the history of any country. In brief, then, Lord Castlereagh boldly an- nounced his intention to turn the scale by bribes to all who would accept them, under the name of compensation for the loss of patronage and interest. He publicly declared, first, that noblemen who re- turned Union members to Parliament should be paid, in cash, ;^i 5,000 for every member so re- turned ; secondly, that every member who had purchased a seat in Parliament should have his 214 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. purchase-money repaid to him out of the treasury of Ireland ; thirdly, that all members of Parlia- ment, or others, who were losers by the Union should be fully recompensed for their losses, and that ^1,500,000 should be devoted to this ser- vice. In other words, all who should affection- ately support his measure were, under some pretext or other, to share in this " bank of cor- ruption." Meantime seats had been vacated by men who had obtained good sums fordoing so ; and by the time that Parliament met again Lord Castlereagh could feel sure that the mine was laid and that it only required the fuse to burst up the Parliamen- tary edifice. Another of his methods was to hold out vague promises to the Catholics and their bishops, that when the Irish Parliament was destroyed Irish Catholic claims would obtain a hearing from the Imperial Parliament; and in this way undoubtedly a few of the Catholic leaders were lulled into security. The Irish Parliament was opened January 15, 1800. Lord Casdereagh thought it good tactics to keep all mention of the Union out of the King's speech. He wanted more clearly to prospect his ground ; and he also wanted the poison of corrup- tion to have a further chance of working. When an army is demoralized, small desertions lead to general panic. Accordingly Lord Castlereagh THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 215 put up Viscount Loftus to move the address in reply to the speech from the throne. Lord Loftus was a man of grotesque vacuity of mind, and was now known by an uncompHmentary nicl ^ s s a - as £ THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 320 above mentioned, and would distribute the pur- chase-money in accordance with such rights and priorities ; and when any moneys arising from a sale were not immediately distributed the Depart- ment would have a right to invest the said moneys for the benefit of the parties entitled thereto. Pro- vision would be made whereby the Treasury could from time to time advance to the Department such sums of money as would be required for the pur- chases above mentioned. The doctrines laid down in this programme were afterwards in the main adopted by the Im- Derial Parliament, but not until there had been a vast amount of fierce struo^sflinof and bitter suf- ferinor. This platform formulated demands for the per- manent settlement of the land problem. Mean- time there was a point which demanded attention and immediate legislation. What was to be done with the people whom the disastrous failure of the crops made incapable of paying the rents ? It was now that the defects of the Land Act of 1870 came out more clearly than ever before. A vast proportion of the Irish tenants were at the mercy of the landlords, and the landlords were merciless. Evictions were going on all over the country. The mass of poverty and hopeless misery was being daily increased, and if the landlords were allowed to go on at the present rate, there was fair chance of a national disaster. To all these 324 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. things the reply of the Government was absolutely nothing". The Queen's speech contained para- graphs upon all possible subjects, and with regard to almost every nation in the Queen's dominions, but of Ireland not one word. It was discovered that upon the Irish Land question the Queen's speech was a perfect reflex of the state of mind among the Queen's ministers. On the question of Ireland the ministerial mind was a blank. Mr. Gladstone is too frank a man not to reveal to the public at some time or other the workings of his mind. Speaking four years afterwards to his constituents in Midlothian, he used the following remarkable words : " I must say one word more upon, I might say, a still more important subject — the subject of Ire- land. It did not enter into my address to you, for what reason I know not ; but the Government that was then in power, rather, I think, kept back from Parliament, certainly were not forward to lay before Parliament, what was going on in Ire- land until the day of the dissolution came and the address of Lord Beaconsfield was published in undoubtedly very imposing terms. ... I frankly admit that I had much upon my hands connected with the doinofs of that Government in almost every quarter of the world, and I did not know — no one knew — the severity of the crisis that was already swelling upon the horizon, and that shortly after rushed upon us like a flood." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 325 This certainly is one of the most astonishing confessions that were ever made by a Minister, and it throws as much Hght as any other speech of Mr. Gladstone upon the vexed question as to whether the union of the Leoislatures is eood for England or for Ireland. Of all the Ministers that ever reigned in England, there has never been one of more voracious reading or more restless activity or who more nearly approached to om- niscience than Mr. Gladstone. He could speak of a passage in Homer, a poem of Dante, a con- ceit of Voltaire; of a forgotten passage in the history of Greece or in the discoveries of Sir Robert Peel ; he can discourse upon the deepest secrets of theology and the highest problems of statesmanship or the smallest points of detail, such as railway fares and freight rates, with equal ease and with equal command. Yet here was a great national tragedy taking place in Ireland, with all the attendant horrors of a mighty national convulsion, and Mr. Gladstone, the Prime Minis- ter of England, within three hours' reach of Ire- land by steam, was absolutely ignorant of every- thino^ oroinQf on there. That one fact alone was one of the most potent arguments that could be used in favor of removing Irish affairs from the mercy of English incapacity. The Irish members immediately after they heard the Queen's speech found themselves face to face with a question of dispute about the seats 326 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. in the House of Commons. Were they to be patient with the Ministry, to consult its ease and its interests and to postpone the pressing de- mands of Ireland until such time as ministers might consider opportune and convenient? It was held that such a course would be a betrayal of the interests and the hopes of Ireland. In the face of a tragedy so terrible, of sufferings so keen, as were racking Ireland it was decided that delay was death, and that it was their duty as Irish representativ^es to press forward the claims of Ireland without the least regard for anything save Ireland's supreme agony and mighty need. Ac- cordingly they at once proposed an amendment to the Queen's speech insisting that the Land question of Ireland required immediate dealing with. Their demands were regfarded either as wicked or ridiculous. Here was a Ministry just come into office scarcely warm in its place and with difficulties to encounter and errors to amend in all parts of the world ! But the reply of the Irish members was that if there were an Irish Parliament the voice of Ireland would demand and would receive immediate attention ; and that It was not the fault of Ireland that an overworked Ministry and a Parliament with all the world to survey had the sole control of Irish Interests and Irish fortunes. . . . Mr. Shaw joined the Government In Its policy ; and so the division between the two sections of the Irish party THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 327 widened to an impassable chasm, and from this time forward they rarely if ever kept together. The amendment to the Queen's speech was of course lost, but the Irish party were not yet done with the question. They immediately brought in a bill the object of which was to suspend evictions for a certain period until Ireland was able to re- cover from the stunning blow of the ruined harvest. The bill by some miracle was allowed to escape blocking and came before the House of Commons at two o'clock one morning. Mr. Gladstone saw now that the question could no longer be avoided, asked for a postponement of the Irish Bill, and in a few days afterwards announced that the Government themselves were prepared to deal with the question which this bill raised. And thus within a few days after the opening of Parliament the Parnell party had gained an important victory ; and instead of Ireland being without attention or without relief it was placed in the forefront of the Ministerial programme. This was the way in which the measure known as the Disturbance Bill was broucrht into beingf. This bill gave the power to County Court Judges to suspend evictions in cases where, owing to the distress, the tenant was unable to pay the exist- ing rent. The bill led to fierce discussions — the landlord party on both sides of the House oppos- ing it vehemendy. In the end it passed through 328 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the House of Commons ; but when it got to the House of Lords it was rejected by an overwhelm- ing majority. It had not gone through the House of Commons, however, without extorting from Mr. Gladstone some very remarkable words with recrard to the state of Ireland. Thus he brouQ^ht out clearly the relentless cruelty of the landlords. " If," he said on this subject, " we look to the total numbers we find that in 1878 there were 1,749 evictions; in 1879 2,607; and, as was shown by my right honorable and learned friend, 1,690 in the five and a half months of this year — showing a further increase upon the enormous increase of last year, and showing in fact unless it be checked that 15,000 individuals will be ejected from their homes without hope, without remedy in the course of the present year." " By the fail- ure of the crops during the year 1879 ^^"^^ ^^^ of God had replaced the Irish occupier in the condition in which he stood before the Land Act. Because what had he to contemplate ? He had to contemplate eviction for his non-payment of rent; and, as a consequence of eviction, starva- tion; and it is no exaggeration to say, in a coun- try where the agricultural pursuit is the only pur- suit, and "where the means of the payment of rent are entirely destroyed for a time by the visitation of Providence, that the poor occupier may under these circumstances regard a sentence of eviction as coming, for him, very near a sentence of death." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 329 Very remarkable consequences followed from the rejection of the Disturbance Bill by the House of Lords. There were 15,000 people about to be evicted from their homes — about to have decreed against them by the landlords sentences of death. The tenant was left, therefore, to use Mr. Glad- stone's words again, " without hope, without remedy." The Government on their side ought never to have brought in the bill, or else, having brought it in, oueht to have staked their existence as a government upon it. For a while it seemed that the man mainly responsible for the government of Ireland would adopt this course. Mr. Forster declared that if the landlords continued to evict starving tenants he should feel it his duty to come to Parliament for some protection for the tenants, and, if that were not afforded, to resign his office. But Mr. Forster was a man bold in word and weak in action. In a few days afterwards he was assailed by the Tories, and he withdrew his words and laboriously explained them away. This was the state of affairs when the memorable recess of 1880 opened. One thing the government had done was to appoint a commission to inquire into the question, and especially into the operation of the Land Act of 1870. Mr. Parnell liad now one of the most perplexing problems that he has ever faced in his whole public career. The Irish leader knew that if he were to attempt to take the place 330 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. of the law he ran the risk of bringing both the people and himself into collision with the au- thorities, and a collision might defeat the whole movement and throw it back once more into the slough of hopeless despond. At the same time the people must have protection. It is a wonder- ful testimony to his skill, his exhaustless resource, his unfailing nerve, his infallible judgment, that he was able to conduct his campaign and at the same time to preserve the tenants against the evils by which they were threatened and to keep them all the while out of the meshes of the Brit- ish law. He preached again and again the gos- pel that what the tenants were to look to was not the British Parliament. He pointed out how that body had over and over again cheated Irish hopes, and how in its present constitution it was incapa- ble even with such a Minister as Mr. Gladstone of carrying out really acceptable reforms. The result was that the Land League became a mag- nificent organization with a membership almost conterminous with the farming population of the country. In this way the Irish people were brought to such a position that the landlords and not the tenants became the suppliants, and the tenants Avere able to approach Parliament, not with whines upon their lips, but with defiant de- mands. The uprisal of slaves against ancient despotism I's always accompanied by a certain amount of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 331 crime, usually of a brutal character. The revolu- tion of 1880 had not escaped the general fate, but on the whole it was singularly free from grave offence. There was never in Irish history a pe- riod in which there was so much distress, so much excitement, and so litde crime side by side. But the landlords had managed to get hold of the always hostile London press. Every offence, no matter how small, was reported at full length, and the English people were led to believe that Ire- land at the moment was a pandemonium. Mr. Forster went backwards and forwards be- tween England and Ireland during this period. He was very greedy of applause and newspaper eulogy, and was deeply influenced by the attacks that were universally made upon his administra- tion in Ireland. In the Cabinet itself there was division of opinion. The Radicals were opposed to coercion, and the Whisks were rather favorable to it. During one of the struggles a very char- acteristic incident took place, which will show how the whole question of Ireland and its fate is dealt with in imperial councils. There was a struggle on the first day of a Cabinet meeting that lasted two or three days. Mr. Forster was very mild with regard to the state of Ireland, and repre- sented that the accounts in the newspapers were grossly exaggerated, and that the country was far from being in as bad a state as people on the Encrlish side of the channel were led to believe. 332 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. The next day he represented Ireland as a pande- monium, and hoarsely called for coercion. The strueele ended in a drawn battle. In the mean- time Ministers were left in a painful state of sus- pense, and the majority of them held their peace. The newspapers all the time kept howling louder and louder. Their lies and exao^aerations were not corrected by official and authoritative denials. Judgment against Ireland was, in fact, allowed to go by default, the result of which was that the demand for coercion became almost unanimous. Mr. Forster allowed himself to be carried away. He was able to bring forward in favor of his de- mand an aro^ument and a fact that seemed irre- sistible to men unfamiliar with the real state of affairs. Coercion had been refused to him in the September of 1880. The outrages in that month were only 167. In October also there was a struggle against him. The outrages then were only 286. But in November he was able to point to the fact that they had risen to 561, while in December they reached 867. The tide of crime apparently kept rising every hour. The first step Avas taken in a new policy by bringing an action against Mr. Parnell and sev- eral of his colleagues for conspiracy. The only conspiracy in which Mr. Parnell had been engaged was that of saving the tenants, whom Mr. Glad- stone had described as without hope and without remedy, as lying under sentences of eviction GLADSTONE PRESENTING THE HOME RULE BILL, i8 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 335 almost equivalent to sentences of starvation, and of endeavoring to raise to the dignity of freedom, prosperity and manhood a class whose awful suf- ferings for centuries have been described in the preceding pages. It is scarcely necessary to say that no properly chosen tribunal of Irishmen would pass any verdict upon Mr. Parnell except that of having been, at a most dangerous crisis, the best friend of his country; and the trial, after winding its slow length along for many weeks, ended in disagreement of the jury. In January, 1881, Parliament was called to- gether, nearly a month earlier than was usual, in order to give the Government time to pass measures of coercion. It was well known that the Irish party would meet these proposals with obstinate resistance and would prolong the strug- gle to the very uttermost limits the rules of the House would allow. The strugrale besfan on the very first night of the session. The Irish mem- bers resolved to engage in the debate on the Queen's speech as long as they possibly could. Four amendments were proposed in succession, and each amendment was discussed at extraordi- nary length. The Parnell party numbered but thirty-five members, and of these but a small pro- portion were practised speakers. It thus came to pass that, at most, a dozen men had to keep the Imperial Parliament at bay for night after night, and for week after week. At last the debate on 336 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the Queen's speech was allowed to be closed, and Mr. Forster had an opportunity of proposing his Coercion Bill. The first step in the House of Commons is to obtain leave to introduce a meas- ure and have it printed. This stage, on most oc- casions, is not the subject of prolonged debate or of division. But the Parnellites were resolved that not a single point should be surrendered without resistance, and they therefore raised a debate of great length upon the introductory stage of the bill. Meanwhile a very extraordinary occurrence had taken place. Mr. Forster had carried his point by arguments drawn from the vast increase in the number of crimes in the months of October, November and December. These startling totals had broken down the wav- ering purpose of the Cabinet, and had them solid for coercion. But it soon appeared that when Mr. Forster presented his totals he at the same time gave no information as to how they were made up. His colleagues and the public gen- erally assumed that when Mr. Forster spoke of 561 crimes in November and 867 in December, he was speaking of serious crimes — murder, high- way robbery, shooting with intent to kill, mutila- tion of cattle and other offences of the same kind. Mr. Forster had, in introducing the Coercion Bill, given a number of the serious offences — and some of the offences were very brutal indeed — and left the impression upon the mind of every- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 337 body that these were typical instances. When, however, the Blue Book came to be presented, in which the crimes were given in detail, it was dis- covered that a number of these terrible crimes were nothing more serious than threatening let- ters sent by foolish or mischievous persons. An examination of the outrages provoked shouts of laughter. Thus the very first outrage that stood on the Blue Book for the month of October was as follows: A portion of the front wall of an old unoccupied thatched cabin was maliciously thrown down, in consequence of which the roof fell in. Another outraoi-e was the breakinof of a wooden gate with stones. Another, the breaking of sev- eral panes of glass in an unoccupied house. The sixth outrage reported from County Derry ran, " Three perches of a wall maliciously thrown down." The hundredth in the West Riding of the County Galway was, "A barrel of coal-tar maliciously spilled." It was further discovered, on looking into the return of outrages, that very often one crime, by a process of multiplication, was manufactured into four, five, six and seven. It was very easy to reach a total of 561 or 867, if offences like these were dignified with the title of outrages and were made to perform the same operation as the stage army of a scantily manned theatre. These things were brought before the House of Commons by Irish members and by English. 338 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Mr. Gladstone looked surprised, bewildered, and had to confess that the facts were a revelation to him. It was perfectly clear that Mr. Forster had obtained coercion by garbled reports and doc- tored statistics. But it was too late to go back. By this time, too, the resistance of the Irish mem- bers had provoked a good deal of passion in the House of Commons, and still more outside. The Irish members felt bound to defend the liberties of their country, thus unjustly assailed, step by step, and inch by inch, and English opinion could not understand their action. The result was that the few Radicals who had been inclined to stand by the Irish members in the first instance were compelled to desert them under the pressure of public opinion, and the Irish party were left to fight the batde alone. A number of violent scenes took place. The struggle reached a climax on Monday, January 31st. The question still discussed was leave to Introduce the bill. The Irish members demanded an adjournment at the usual hour on Monday night. It was refused, and both sides prepared for an all-night sitting. The struggle went on all through the night, then all through Tuesday, wnth many wild and pas- sionate scenes. Finally, at nine o'clock on Wed- nesday morning, It was brought to a close. The Speaker, by an exercise of authority never before practised In Parliament, declared that the debate had gone on long enough, and closed It on his J THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 339 own will. The Irish members vainly protested, and when they found the Speaker determined to go on, they left the House in a body, shouting " Privilege ! Privilege ! " For a while they de- bated whether they should return to the assembly or not, but they finally decided that it was their duty to fight on. A few hours afterwards there came another starthng episode in the great strug- gle. Just before the House met on Thursday a rumor was whispered around that Mr. Davitt had been sent back to penal servitude. The Irish members were shocked and angered by this wretched piece of political vengeance on a politi- cal opponent. Mr. Parnell raised the question in the House of Commons. He was answered curtly, almost insolently. Then he interrupted the Prime Minister, was called to order, refused to obey the ruling of the chair, and w-as suspended by the Speaker and ordered to leave the House. The same thing happened in the case of Mr. Dil- lon and of many other Irish members, with the final result that the following were suspended: Messrs. Parnell, Finigan, Barry, Biggar, Byrne, Corbet, Daly, Dawson, Gill, Gray, Healy, Lalor, Leamy, Leahy, Justin McCarthy, McCoan, Marum, O'Donoghue, the O'Gorman Mahon, W. H. O'Sullivan, O'Connor Power, Redmond, Sex- ton, Smithwick, A. M. Sullivan, and T. D. Sul- livan. In their absence on the previous Wednesday 20 340 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. leave had been granted for the introduction of the Coercion Bill. The measure was still op- posed and the Prime Minister brought in rules which gave the Speaker the power to close the discussion not only on a certain day but at a cer- tain hour. Despite of all this, it was not until nine weeks from the opening of the session that Mr. Forster had passed through the third reading of the two Coercion Bills — the one suspending the Habeas Corpus, the other authorizing the dis- armament of the Irish people. It was in the session thus inauspiciously opened that the Land Bill of l88i was introduced. The measure was one which would have been accepted with frenzied joy in 1852, and which in 1870 would probably have been accepted as a full and final settlement of the question. It granted " the three F's," and thus rescued the Irish tenant at last from raclc-renting and from capricious and arbitrary eviction. But the time had passed when the Irish would be satisfied with such a moderate settlement. The doctrine of obtainincr the owner- ship of the soil, through the aid of the state, had taken a firm hold of their minds, and a bill which would have been more than they would have ex- pected if they had trusted to Mr. Gladstone and the Imperial Parliament alone was less than they demanded now that they had an organization of their own and an independent Irish party. However, apart from the deficiency of the Land THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 341 Bill of 1 88 1 as a final settlement of the Land question, it was most defective with regard to a very miportant point in the immediate future. The landlords having exacted impossible rents had always the tenants in their debt, and instead of acting after the generous and sensible manner of landlords in other countries, they had kept their debts upon their books in order to always retain the tenant in a state of abject depend- ence. Some landlords had actually kept out- standlngf airalnst the tenants debts dating from 1846 and 1847. The tenant was in most cases lialf a year in arrear, and the rent that he thus owed left the tenant subject to eviction at any hour that the landlord pleased. It may be said that the Landsdowne estate had a bad eminence in this respect as In many others. It is perfectly clear that there was no use whatever in giving the tenants fixity of tenure if these detestable arrears still remained The landlords had noth- ing to do but to bring an action for ejectment, and every tenant who owed a farthing throughout the country could be mercilessly evicted. It turned out that there were nearly 100,000 ten- ants in the country in this position, and thus the Land Bill to them was as the Dead Sea fruits turned to ashes. These facts were brought again and ao-ain before the attention of the House of Commons, but Mr. Forster refused to properly consider them, and the result was that the Land 342 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Bill passed in spite of the protest of the Irish party. Another and a graver objection was, that the Land Courts to which the question of fixing the rent would be referred were courts held nearly altogether by the nominees of landlords or their friends. Lord Selborne, then Lord Chancellor, declared that the Land Bill would restore and not diminish the value of the landlords' property. Lord Carlingford also announced that the pro- visions of the bill would cause the landlords no money loss whatever. It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that the fact dwelt upon by the Irish leaders w^as that the rent of Ireland was far and away beyond the capacity of the Irish tenants to pay; that this rental kept them in a state of hopeless poverty, and that, unless therefore there were a revolutionary reduction in the rent-rolls, the tenants had no chance whatever of reaching a condition of prosperity, not even an ordinarily decent living. These various facts presented to Mr. Parnell and his colleagues a very important problem. Would they or would they not dissolve the Land League ? would they or would they not advise tenants to go into the Land Courts? They held two conventions in succession ; at those con- ventions there was a large party that denounced the Land Act, and declared that the only safety for the tenant was to keep out of it altogether. This party had in their minds the idea that the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 343 time had come for a final and decisive conflict with landlordism, and that if any time were spent in skirmishes or truces the golden opportunity would pass. This party had in their minds the idea that the proper thing to do was to raise the " No Rent " cry ; and in that way to bring the landlords to their knees, and so to compel a transfer of the ownership of the soil on reason- able terms to its tillers and occupiers. Mr. Parnell, however, had very serious doubts of the success that would attend the No Rent movement — doubts that were justified by subsequent experiences. He adopted a more cautious policy, and sug- gested that the tenants should employ a double method. In the first place they should test the Land Courts by sending a number of test cases before them, and if the courts gave just decisions that they should then be encouraged to go on. At the same time the organization was to be main- tained in its full strength ; and to any person who knew the circumstances of Ireland this policy would at once be understood. The Commissioners of Land Courts, with the exception of the three heads of the departments, were officials appointed for certain limited periods. Their proceedings had to be approved, and could be, and frequently were, brought before the Houses of Parliament for discussion and criticism. Accordingly the acts of the sub-commissioners were subject to final review by a tribunal which was almost entirely on 344 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the side of the landlords. As a matter of fact, the landlords took full advantage of the power of reviewing the action of the Land Commissioners which the Land Act gave. Every commissioner that did anything like justice or any approach to justice to the tenant was made the subject of question after question to the ministers, and when the time came for renewing the terms of office all commissioners were dismissed to a man who had showed sympathy with the tenant. Mr. Parnell therefore properly judged that unless there v^ere an immense pressure on the other side the Land Courts were sure to do injustice as be- tween landlord and tenant. Mr, Parnell, however, was not allowed to pursue his policy. The Govern- ment, afraid that the Land Act would break down, resolved upon a bold stroke. On the morning of Thursday, October 13th, 1881, Mr, Parnell was arrested under the Coercion Act and was placed in prison. Mr. John Dillon, Mr. O'Kelly and Mr. Sexton w^ere apprehended immediately afterward, and Mr William. O'Brien, the editor of United Ireland, soon followed them. The League was suppressed, a •' No Rent " manifesto was issued in reply, and so there began a fierce struggle between coercion on the part of the Government and resistance on the side of the people. CHAPTER X. IN THE DEPTHS. I'^HERE now began a fierce and merciless war between the Irish people and the Brit- ish authorities. Coercion was given full swing, and went on its way from excess to excess till there was scarcely a method of despotism not resorted to. One of Forster's first acts was to employ a number of retired or dismissed military men to be intrusted with the duty of putting down all free expression of opinion. Mr. Clifford Lloyd was the very worst specimen of this gang — a man of violent temper, of ferocity, and of an utter want of scruple. The character of Mr. Lloyd may be estimated from the fact thaj; in spite of his powerful patronage he had afterwards to be withdrawn from Egypt; his manners were too offensive even for the mild Egyptian to endure. This ruffian proceeded to make the most reckless use of the powers surrendered to him. He ar- rested a village almost to the last man ; he insulted women in the grossest manner. If they stood in the street they were accused of obstructing the pathway, or on some other frivolous charge were 345 346 GLADSTONE— PARNELL, haled before a magistrate and subjected to indig- nities which in civiHzed countries are reserved for the abandoned. Gaining audacity as he went along, Mr. Lloyd had brought before him some of the best women of the country who had em- ployed themselves in bringing succor or in inspir- ing courage in the hapless tenants who were now abandoned to the mercy of their landlords. As far back as Edward III. an act was passed the object of which was to put down the vagrancy which then flourished. The act was loose in its terms so as to be able to catch hold of all tramps and prostitutes whom the authorities wished to incarcerate. It was under this obsolete act that some of the most refined and heroic women of Ireland were sent to solitary confinement for periods often of six months. Children twelve years of age and crying after the manner of chil- dren were placed in the dock on the charge of endangering the peace of the queen. There is in Ireland a popular song known as " Harvey Duff" It is a satire of a rather harmless charac- ter directed against the police. The singing of " Harvey Duff" was raised in these days into high treason, and boys and girls who ventured to hum it as they passed the sacred form of a policeman were first brutally ill-treated — in one case a girl twelve years of age was stabbed — and then brought before the magistrates. In the meantime every newspaper that said a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 347 word against these acts was promptly suppressed, and every man who uttered a protest was sent to prison, Man after man was seized who had no hold on public affection. The gaols were crowded, and finally the numbers of persons im- prisoned without prospect of trial reached the enormous total of a thousand and upwards. Evictions at the same time proceeded apace. If the Irish people were a foreign enemy at the gates, they could not have been assailed with a more lavish expenditure of money and force. Foot soldiers, cavalry, artillery, commissariat vans, blue jackets, vessels of war, to say nothing of 13,000 armed policemen — all these were placed at the disposal of the landlords and assisted in driving out starving tenants to the ditch. But this odious system did not even bear the fruits for which it was intended. Crime, instead of de- creasing, doubled throughout the country and became daily of a fiercer and more terrible char- acter. The Irish people, in fact, were at bay, and resorted to those savage methods of reprisal which among all peoples are the answers of impotent despair to the brutal omnipotence of a despotism. In 1880, before coercion came into operation, there were eio-ht cases of murder in Ireland and twenty-five of firing at the person. In 1881, dur- ing the half of which coercion was in existence, there were seventeen murders and sixty-six cases of firing at the person. In the first six months 348 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. of 1882, when the regi77ie of coercion was at Its worst, there were fifteen murders and forty cases of firing at the person. The trials showed clearly that all serious offences were actually twice as many since the introduction of coercion as they were before. Public opinion in England can stand Russian methods of government for only a certain length of time, and the accounts of these various epi- sodes in government at last began to produce a strong reaction. Indeed, the question was taken up b}' the Tory party, and a member of that party, Sir John Hay, brought forward a resolution denouncing imprisonment without trial. Mr. W. H. Smith, an ex-Cabinet Minister, put upon the table of the House a resolution setting forth a peasant proprietary as the only solution of the Irish Land question. Here, indeed, was Nemesis with a vengeance ! The contention of the Land League and Mr. Parnell throughout was that a peasant proprietary was the only solution of the Land problem. It was mainly for preaching that doctrine that Mr. Parnell and a thousand other men had been placed in gaol, and here, now, was one of the leaders of the landlord party coming forward to declare that Mr. Parnell and his colleaeues were rieht. Ministers took alarm. None of them were in real sympathy with Mr. Forster's regime; they were doubtful of its wisdom, and could not help being convinced THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 349 of its want of good result. The consequence was, that Mr. Parnell was released, and that the Government undertook practically to do every- thing that he had demanded before his imprison- ment. It had been declared, as has been seen, by his party, that the Land Act was worthless to the vast proportion of the tenants, owing to the heavy arrears they owed to the landlords. Mr. Gladstone undertook to bring in an Arrears Bill, for the purpose of wiping out their debts and thus bringing them within the compass of his land legislation. Mr. Parnell and his colleagues had complained and clearly shown that the clause of the Land x'\ct with regard to the improvements made by tenants did not sufficiently protect the tenants. Mr. Gladstone undertook to amend the Land Act of iSSi in this regard. Mr. Parnell and the Land League had declared that a peasant proprietary was the only practical and final settlement of the Irish Land question. Mr. Gladstone undertook to establish the principle of a peasant proprietary. Finally, Mr. Parnell pro- tested against coercion as a method of govern- ment. Mr. Gladstone undertook to drop coercion, and began by dismissing Lord Cowper and Mr. Forster. In fact, every single one of Mr. Par- nell's demands was listened to and accepted. He and the British Empire had stood in deadly and merciless conflict, and unarmed and from his gaol he dictated the terms of capitulation. 350 GLADSTONE— PARNELL When Mr. Parnell appeared in the House of Commons everybody came forward to greet him. Treacherous friends and open enemies rushed up to shake his hand, and the House of Commons bowed before him. Everybody felt that almost the last staofe in the Irish conflict had been reached. A leader who had proved his power over the people to such an extent, and had achieved so complete a victory over such tre- mendous odds, might fairly demand that the government of the country should be put into his hands ; and, in fact, everybody felt that the release of Mr. Parnell meant the speedy advent of Home Rule. But the evil fortune that has so often blighted the Irish cause on the threshold of victory in- tervened, and in one day the hopes of Ireland were blasted, and the cause of Irish liberty was thrown back for years. Lord Frederick Caven- dish had orone over to Ireland as the new Chief Secretary, and as the bearer of the new message of peace to the Irish people. He was a man of amiable temper, and of high purpose, and well fitted in every way to be the medium of recon- ciliation. On the very day of his arrival in Dub- lin, he and Mr. Bourke, the Under Secretary, were assassinated in the Phoenix Park. This was on May 6th. It turned out afterwards he was unknown to those who killed him, and that his death was due to the accidental circumstance of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 351 his being- alone with Mr. Bourke. The tragedy created terrible excitement and anger in Eng- land, A cry for vengeance was raised, and the Ministry had to bow before the storm, and, hav- ing dropped coercion, were obliged once more to introduce it. Mr. Parnell was assailed with spe- cial bitterness ; and Mr. Forster was once more elevated to the position and eminence which he had forfeited. In a remarkable passage of his evidence by James Carey, a man who played a prominent part in the conspiracy, and afterwards betrayed his companions, here is an extract from his evidence in cross-examination by Mr. Walsh : O. When you became a member of the Order of Invincibles, was it for the object of serving your country that you joined? A. Well, yes. Q. And at that time w^hen you joined with the object of serving your country, in what state was Ireland ? A. In a very bad state. O. A famine, I think, was just passing over her? A. Yes. Q. The Coercion Bill was in force, and the popular leaders were in prison ? A. Yes. O. And was it because you despaired of any constitutional means of serving Ireland that you joined the Society of Invincibles ? A. I believe so. However, England was not in a humor to listen, and the Crimes Act was passed in the House of 352 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Commons after a vain resistance by the Irish members. This act en?bled juries to be packed and other methods to be adopted by which in despotic countries prisoners are cajoled or ter- rorized into giving evidence true or false. A number of men were put upon their trial before juries consisting entirely of landlords exasperated by the loss of power and by the crimes committed. A number of men were in this way convicted and were hanged. A sickening doubt afterwards arose as to whether these men were innocent or guilty, and this was especially the case with re- gard to a man named Myles Joyce. His case was debated over and over again in the House of Commons, and it is still a question of doubt as to whether he was condemned justly. A man named Bryan Kilmartin was sent to penal servitude on a charge of having shot at a man with intent to murder. The judge declared emphatically that the man was guilty beyond all doubt. Attempt after attempt to have his case investigated failed; but finally the matter was brought before the House of Commons. It was proved that a man who bad gone to America immediately after the crime, and who had on his death-bed confessed to the offence, was the real culprit, and Bryan Kil- martin, proved innocent, had to be released. In Parliament all this time the Irish party op- posed as strenuously as they could the ministry of Mr. Gladstone. They thought that the pro- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 353 ceedings in Ireland were entirely unjustifiable. For a long- time they voted steadily on all critical occasions against the Ministry, with the result that they more than once endangered its exist- ence. The influence which the Irish party was able to exercise over these divisions is worth con- sidering under present circumstances, when the enemies of Ireland seem to be once more In a majority. The Liberal • party at the start num- bered 351, and then, besides, they had the con- stant support of 23 Home Rulers who had de- serted the Irish party. The Tories, on the other hand, had only 238, and the Home Rulers num- bered about '^'j. The Government thus were 374 against 275 — a majority of 99. Yet on a division on the Cloture resolution the Government major- ity was reduced to 39. On one of the votes this majority was reduced to 28; on another it was but 14, and finally, on June 8, 1885, the majority en- tirely disappeared, and the Government was left in a minority and had to resign. Before this time, however, the Government had passed two meas- ures of the utmost importance to Ireland. They had reduced the franchise, and in this way had raised the electorate from a quarter of a million to three-quarters of a million. Tliey at the same time swept away by the Redistribution Bill a num- ber of the small and rotten boroughs. The re- sult of it was that the mass of the Irish people had for the first time an opportunity of making 354 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. their views known, and of returning a really united party to Parliament. The advent of the Conservative Government produced some excellent changes. Shrewd ob- servers say that a weak Conservative adminis- tration is, of all others, the most radical. De- pendent for existence on the mercy of the Liberal Opposition, it brings forward liberal measures, and these measures, instead of being opposed and ob- structed by the Liberal Opposition, are supported and accelerated. Then a Conservative ministry has always the House of Lords at its disposal. Whatever bill a Conservative minister advocates, the House of Lords accepts. On the other hand, a Liberal ministry, desirous of passing any reform, has to have at its back a tide of almost revolu- tionary passion in order to overcome the obsti- nate resistance of the Tory Opposition. And so it happened in 1885 with the Tory Government. The Tory party is the party of landlords and of coercion, yet the moment they came into office they dropped all mention of coercion. They even promised an inquiry into some of the cases of alleged miscarriage of justice. They passed a Laborers' Act, which enabled the laborers of Ireland to obtain better house accommodation. And, above all, they passed a large bill for the purpose of transforming the rent-paying occupier into a peasant-proprietor. The eeneral election came in the November of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 355 1885, and it was the desire of the Irish party to bring into power a weak Conservative government dependent for its existence upon the Irish party. They contended that such a government would be wilHnpf to eive Ireland Home Rule, and that if only it could make up its mind to do this it could pass the measure without any of the friction or passion which would accompany similar proposals on the part of the Liberals. They received abundant proofs that the Tories were disposed to grant Home Rule. Lord Carnarvon, then Tory Lord-Lieutenant for Ireland, sought and obtained an interview with Mr. Parnell, and the Tory minister and the Irish leader were practically agreed that Home Rule was just and necessary. Lord Randolph Churchill gave abundant indica- tions that his views were the same, and expressed in private his firm conviction of both the justice and the certainty of Home Rule. These private expressions of views were confirmed by the omis- sion in all the public speeches of the Tories of any hostility to the claims of Ireland, with occasion- ally a vague hint that these claims should not be summarily dismissed. The result of all this was that at the polls there was an alliance between the Tories and the Irish voters in England. This alliance secured the Tories a large number of seats, but not sufficient to give them a chance of carrying on the government. They were in a large minority, but they had in their own ranks 21 356 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. twenty or twenty-five Orangemen of the nar- rowest type, who would have deserted them the first moment they indicated an intention to deal justly with the claims of Ireland. There was an internal struofsile in the Cabinet, with the result expressed by Lord Randolph Churchill with cynic frankness : " I have done my best for you and have failed; and now, of course, I shall do my best against you." Lord Carnarvon, a conscientious man, resigned office. The Tory party resolved to abandon the hopeless task of keeping a govern- ment together, and on January 26th announced that they would bring in a bill for land purchase, and a bill for suppressing the National League. They knew, when making this announcement, that they would compel a hostile vote that night acjainst them on an amendment brought forward by Mr. Jesse Collings in favor of what is known as the policy of three acres and a cow. Their anticipations w^ere realized ; they were defeated, and Mr. Gladstone was called upon to form a ministry. In the debate on the amendment of Mr. Jesse Collings little had been said about Ireland, but it was very well known that Ireland was the subject which was really under discussion. An extraordinary impetus had been given to the hopes of Irish patriots by certain events. During the re- cess and the election a paragraph appeared in several newspapers to the effect that Mr. Glad- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 357 Stone had come to the conckision that the con- cession of the Irish ParHament should be agreed to, and that he was already engaged in working out the details of a Home Rule scheme. The report was denied with some appearance of au- thority immediately afterwards, but the im- pression remained on the public mind that Mr. Gladstone was ready to deal with the question of Home R.ule. Upon some people this had a most bewildering effect, but to nobody who had closely watched Mr. Gladstone's career was this announcement so startling after all. As far back as 1868 he had declared that Ireland ought to be governed more by Irish ideas ; and Home Rule is really but the logical development of this statement. Over and over again, too, on sub- sequent occasions, he had declared that he was prepared for an extension of self-government to Ireland. On this point he has been assailed with a good deal of coarse and unjustifiable vituper- ation. But Lord Hartino-ton, who, though he has attacked Mr. Gladstone's policy, has always acted towards him with scrupulous fairness, has acknowledged that Mr. Gladstone's mind has evidently been going towards Home Rule for many years, and that his present policy could be fairly inferred from previous utterances The Avords, indeed, of a manifesto which he issued to the electors immediately before the general election contain an e.xact description of the prln- 358 GLADSTONE— PARNELL ciples of the Home Rule Bill which he sub- sequently introduced. During the election he had called upon electors to give him such a large majority as would enable him to be independent of the Parnell party. But really there is no contradiction between the two attitudes. Mr. Gladstone was anxious that Ire- land should get Home Rule ; but at the same time he did not want Ireland to eet such a meas- ure of Home Rule as would be danoferous to the interests or the unity of the Empire. The question was to be dealt with in a spirit of fairness to Ireland, certainly ; but as an En- glishman Mr. Gladstone cannot be blamed for insisting that it should be dealt with in a spirit of fairness to Enorland also, and he thought a strong Liberal government was better calculated to treat the subject with equal fairness to England and to Ireland than a weak Tory government. Mr. Gladstone may have had in his mind the thought that when he proposed Home Rule it would produce a considerable amount of dissent In the Liberal party, and would certainly be op- posed by a considerable number of the members of that body. The larger the party the more obvi- ously he could afford to shed them, and yet be able to carry his bill. It is objected by English opponents that he proposed Home Rule too soon. It is objected by Irish Nationalists that he proposed it too late. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 359 But a minister is not a missionary nor a propa- gandist; it is his duty to take up questions as they arise and to deal with them when they are ripe for settlement; and it was not until 1885 that the Home Rule question was in any degree ready for settlement. The Irish people were always, in their hearts, in favor of Home Rule ; but Ministers can only judge of a people's desires by the representatives they choose. It is quite true he cannot, to use a phrase once popular in America, "go behind the returns." But the re- turns in Ireland had certainly not given anything like a trustworthy account of the feelings of the Irish people. There can be little doubt that for a long time Mr. Gladstone thought that Home Rule was a passing caprice — that a persistence in such good measures as he was willing to give would destroy the desire to be governed by a Parliament in Dublin instead of by a Parliament in Westminster. It is but quite recendy indeed that any English statesman has grasped the central fact of Irish politics — that the desire for self-government is in- destructible and must therefore finally prevail. It is true that in 1874 Mr. Butt came in with his 60 Home Rulers ; but these Home Rulers were most of them what Mr Gladstone would call good Liberals, regarding Home Rule as an extreme de- mand, by the leverage of which more moderate concessions could be obtained. ;)60 GLADSTONE— PARNELL In 1880 a considerable section of that party sat upon the same benches as Mr. Gladstone's own followers, and were as docile to the com- mands of the Whip as any Liberal. Gladstone at the same time might point to the fact that the Parnelhtes were but a small section of the Irish representation ; that at the beginning of the Par- liament of 1880 there were but little above one- third of the full total of 103 Irish members, and that at no time did they exceed more than forty- five, and this was considerably below one-half of the full number of Irish representatives. When, however, they claimed altogether eighty-five out of 103, there could be no doubt that when they demanded to be regarded as the mouthpiece of Irish views, they made the claim good, and thus justified Mr. Gladstone in regarding the de- mand as coming from a united nation. However, the more violent opponents he had made were not prepared to listen to any defence of his con- duct. There came upon him a terrific cyclone of political hatred. All the London journals, with one exception, daily poured upon him a stream of poisonous abuse. He was denounced as a Judas who had sold his country to the dynamiter for a temporary occupation of the Premiership. He found in his own party some of his most bitter assailants. Lord Harting-ton had broken loose from him, and had previously, when the reports of his readiness to concede Home Rule were cir- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. SQl culated, declared diat he would have no part whatever in granting such a boon. Mr. Bright had stood alone for some years, having differed with the Prime Minister on the Egyptian war, and was hostile to Mr. Gladstone's new departure. Mr. Chamberlain was stdl more hostile. At one time he had been regarded as one of Ireland's most vehement supporters, and as ready to go farther than Mr. Gladstone himself on the path of concession. During the long struggle on co- ercion within the Cabinet in the days of Mr. Forster, Mr. Chamberlain was always spoken of as one of those who had resisted those pro- posals to the very last. It came as a startling revelation to the world that Lord Spencer, after his trying personal experiences in Ireland, had joined Mr. Gladstone in the opinion that Home Rule was the only setdement of the Irish difficulty. Mr. John Morley had been known as an out- spoken friend of Ireland for many years, and during the election campaign had used language which clearly proved his favorable attitude to- wards the principles of Home Rule. Mr. Goschen, another prominent Liberal, on the other hand, proved to be a rampant enemy to the Irish cause. It was amid these difficulties with open foes and dissenting friends that Mr. Gladstone assumed office once more, in January, 1886, and started on the greatest, the most glorious enterprise of his life. CHAPTER XI. THE GREAT HOME RULE DEBATE. BEFORE entering on a description of the scenes which took place in the House on the Home Rule Bill in 1886, it will be well to give a rapid sketch of the principal persons en- gaged in the mighty struggle, and first of all let us endeavor to give a portrait of Mr. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone is marked, physically as well as mentally, fpr a great leader. He is about five feet nine inches high, but looks taller. His build is muscular, and but a very short time ago he v/as able to take a hand at felling a tree with young men. There was a time when he was or/e of the most skilful of horsemen. He is still a (jreat pedestrian, and there scarcely passes a day that he is not to be seen walking. He walks with his head thrown back, and a step firm and rapid. His countenance is singularly beautiful. He has large, dark eyes, that flash brilliantly even in his age. Deep set and with heavy eyelids, they sometimes give the impression of the eyes of a hooded eagle. He has a large, exquisitely-chis- elled nose. The mouth also is finely modelled. 362 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 363 The head is unusually large. It was In early youth covered with thick, black hair. The brow is lofty and broad, and very expressive. The complexion is white almost as wax, and gives the face a look of wonderful delicacy. The face is the most expressive in the House of Commons. It reflects every emotion as clearly and rapidly as a summer lake its summer sky. When Mr. Gladstone is angry his brow is clouded and his eyes shine. When he is amused his face beams. When he is contemplative his lips curl and his head is tossed. His air is joyous if things go well, and mournful when thinofs g-o ill ; thouoh when the final trial comes and he stands con- vinced that he must meet absolute and resistless defeat, he looks out with dignified tranquillity. All the passions of the human soul shine forth by his look and gesture. His voice is pow^erful, and at the same time can be soft, can rise in menace or sink in entreaty. Allusions have been made to the vast and heterogfeneous stores of learnings which are in this single man's brain. He has extraordinary subtlety of mind, so that he is able to present a case in a thousand different lights. And it is tliis faculty that has sometimes given him the unpleasant and undeserved repu- tation of sophistry and of duplicity. He speaks as a rule with considerable vehemence and ges- ticulates freely. To speak of him as the first orator of the House of Commons is to give a 364 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. very inadequate statement of his position. Over and over again in the course of his career he has turned a battle, when he was seemingly just beaten, into a victory ; and nobody is ever able to say how things will go until Mr. Gladstone has first spoken. Lord Beaconsfield up to the time of his death presented to the people a contrast and a counter attraction. The late Tory leader was a poor charlatan at bottom, but he was a bril- liant and a strong-willed man that had passed through a romantic and picturesque career. With the death of Lord Beaconsfield passed away the last man who could venture to be brought into rivalry with Mr. Gla.dstonc, and so he stands alone as the last survival of a race of giants. His effect thus upon people outside of Parliament is almost as great as upon those who are inside its walls. There seems to be some- thing so lofty and pure in his purpose that men follow him with somethingf of fanaticism. The restlessness of his energy produces equally earnest work for his followers, and his own exhaust- less funds of enthusiasm and sunny optimism make other men passionate strugglers for the right. The hand of Gladstone has changed the map of Europe, and first really gave birth to the Christian nationalities in the East which are now emerging into freedom and light after ages of dark thraldom under the Mussulman, In addition to these things he is credited with immense parli- amentary skill. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 3^5 He began his advocacy of Home Rule with an extraordinary prestige. The difficulties were felt to be gigantic, dangerous pitfalls to be everywhere around ; but men had faith in the star of Glad- stone, and he had faith in it himself also. His nerve never fails. Physically he is one of the very bravest of men, and he has never been known to show, under any circumstances, the least sign of physical fear. Whatever might take place in the coming contest, one thing was certain : Mr. Gladstone having once put his hand to the plow would not turn back until he had guided it to its ultimate destimation. Mr. John Morley was the most remarkable man of the Ministry, next to Mr. Gladstone, and was regarded as a most important champion of Home Rule. Mr. Morley affords one of the first instances in recent years of great political triumphs won by a literary man. He was in Parliament a little over three years when he was selected for a Cabinet office, a rapidity of promo- tion ahnost unparalleled. He had, however, already given strong proofs of his fitness for high political office. For years he had occupied a foremost place among English writers on po- litical and philosophical questions. The son of a hard worked professional man, he started out with few advantages, was poor, and has remained poor. He was educated at Oxford, and afterwards spent some time on the continent. His first ap- 366 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. pointment of importance was as editor of the Morning Star — a journal of a robust radicalism that taught justice to Ireland at a time when these doctrines were not fashionable ; and he was successor in this position to Mr. Justin McCarthy. After 1867 Mr. Morley was appointed editor of the Fortnightly Review, a periodical which is known all over the world for its extremely high value as a collection of writings from the eminent men on all the profound problems of the present day. Mr. Morley produced book after book, dealing with the prominent figures of the French Revolution, a period that he had profoundly studied. Of those best known are the biog- raphies of Voltaire and Rousseau. There are scarcely any two biographies in the English language more delightful to read. The style is clear, but full of fervor and of glow. The biog- raphy of Rousseau, especially, is more like a brilliant romance tlian a description of a man who really lived and moved upon the earth. Anybody can, even in his busiest or darkest hours, sit down and devour page after page of the splendid narrative. The Fortnightly Revieiu contained occasional essays on economical and other subjects from Mr. Morley's pen. He was one of Mr. John Stuart Mill's earliest disciples, and did much to propagate Mill's philosophy. In 1880 the Pall Mall Gazette changed both pro- pri'etors and policy. From the mouth-piece of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 367 Jingo Toryism it became an organ of staunch radicalism, and Mr. Morley was its first editor in this new character. As long as he held the po- sition the Pall Mall Gazette was the best journal in London. Mr. Morley had been among the first among Englishmen to pierce the heart of the Irish mystery. Years and years ago he had made up his mind that the only possible solution lay in the direction of some acceptance of the de- mand for self-government. He had not expressed this opinion obtrusively, for he is a man of cautious temperament; but he had sown the seed judiciously, and led his readers gradually to the conclusion that Home Rule was just and inevitable. Then he entered the House of Com- mons for Newcastle-on-Tyne — a constituency con- sisting mostly of toilers in great iron-works or in mines. His radicalism exactly suited such a constituency. He was not long in Parliament before he took up a prominent position. He was opposed to the Egyptian expedition, and to the whole Egyptian policy of the late government. He is a man of transparent honesty of purpose, and of a political courage ready to face any emergency, and to attack even his own friends in order to see right triumphant. The definiteness of his opinions on the Irish question naturally suggested him as the best man to carry out the policy which Mr. Glad- stone had now set his mind upon. It was no 368 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. surprise, therefore, to the world that when the Ministry was made up he was chosen for the important post of Chief Secretary. In Padiament Mr. Morley has not yet reached the full height of his abilities. He has all the qualities that make a great debater. His language flows from him smoothly and with perfect clearness. Nobody can ever have the least doubt as to what he means. His diction, too, while it scorns all mere- tricious ornament and seeks out simple and familiar phraseology, shows all the elevation of a great master of style and a fine scholar. The defects of Mr. Morley are those which arise from want of training and experience. He entered Parliament at a comparatively late period of his life. This gives to his style a certain want of that suppleness required in an assembly where men have to learn all the arts of ready fence. Some- times he suffers from over-careful elaboration of his speeches, and this is considered a grave defect in the House of Commons That assembly is not particularly patient of scholars or of philosophers, and loathes professors ; and in any assembly men are most effective when they speak with the greatest spontaneity. Parliament is like journalism ; it wants, above all other things, actuality — the incident, the opin- ion of the hour. The future of Mr. Morley in English politics can be a great future if only he himself will so elect. His honesty is implicidy THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 369 believed in ; no one denies the brilliancy of his in- tellect or the soundness of his judgment. In man- ner he is modest, never capable of being provoked into the insolence of success or the dictatorship of position. The one great obstacle, perhaps, to Mr. Morley's reaching the highest of all positions is himself. He is, like many other literary men, characterized by grave and wholly unjust self-dis- trust, and there is a dash of pessimism in his tem- perament, as there is a good deal of pessimism in his creed. He has none of the keen appetite for power, the proud enjoyment of small triumphs, the joy of a masterful temperament in moving men as pawns on the board. Mr. Morley is about the middle height, and very spare. His face is long, with clearly marked fea- tures, lined here and there, but on the whole re- markably young-looking. His eyes are of a gray- ish-blue, and are calm and thoughtful. Mr. Mor- ley has not a trace of asceticism in his character, but his looks are those of a man who cares litde for the table, but a good deal for spiritual possi- bilities. The mention of Mr. Morley's name suggests that of Mr. Chamberlain. By many events of the last years these two men have been placed in contrast, and, to a certain extent, in rivalry. One of the many motives assigned for the strange vagaries of Mr. Chamberlain is his jealousy of Mr. Morley as a future rival. The feelings be- 370 GLADSTONE— PARNELL tween the two men are more bitter perhaps than those between any other two men of the same party. Mr. Morley and Mr. Chamberlain were for years close personal friends, Mr. Chamber- lain was the person who gained most by the alli- ance. In 1874 he was still in Birmingham ob- scurity — a man successful in business, it was true ; an alderman, afterwards the mayor of the town. But provincial reputations travel slowly to Lon- don, and when they reach there are despised. In 1874 Chamberlain stood for Sheffield as an avowed Home Ruler, and professed sentiments much in advance of general opinion at the time upon the question of Ireland, He was not suc- cessful. He wrote an article in the Fortnightly Review, which was a wild attack upon the mani- festo with which Mr. Gladstone had eone to the constituencies. Mr, Chamberlain probably thought the best way to elevate himself was to attack those more prominent than he. The article sug- gested the subject of a leader to the Daily News, in which Mr, Chamberlain was treated by no means tenderly, and in which his opinions were ridiculed as the outpourings of a pretentious upstart. But Mr. Morley stood by his friend. In time Mr. Chamberlain was elected to Parlia- ment, and started by proposing a ridiculous scheme of licensino'. Then he brouorht himself into prominence by attacks upon the Tory Govern- ment of the day, and by something like an open THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 371 quarrel with the Marquis of Hartington, then the leader of the Liberal party. This was the period when Mr. Parnell was making his crusade against flogging in the army and navy. Mr. Chamberlain at the time was one of Mr. Parnell's warmest ad- mirers, and he was one of the few Englishmen who regarded the policy of obstruction as justified by the circumstances of Ireland. In the agita- tion against " the cat " he saw a good elec- tioneering cry, and he went in for it zealously and vehemently. Meantime he put himself at the head of a great election machine — a con- trivance hitherto unknown in English politics. Up to this time candidates had been allowed to come before constituencies without consulting anybody — or, at any rate, after consultation with a few leading men. The system had its faults, but it also had its virtues, for it safeguarded the ab- solute freedom of the electors and of candidates. Mr. Chamberlain and his friends determined to establish a system of associations throughout the country which had the choice of candidates after the manner of an American convention. These associations were then federated together, and their head-quarters were placed at Birmingham. Mr. Chamberlain was the main spring and the controlling force, and in this way he raised him- self to the position of a great political power. Contrary to the expectations of everybody he was raised to the presidency of the Board of 22 079 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Trade when Mr, Gladstone came to make his Ministry. He did nothing in office to justify his elevation, for he is almost entirely devoid of con- servative statesmanship. He brought in a Bank- ruptcy Bill and passed it, but this was his solitary achievement. Up to the breach with Mr. Gladstone a few months ago he steadily advanced in popular fa- vor. He has all the instincts and all the abilities of the demagogue. He appeals to the greed, to the needs, to the passions of the masses. His gospel to them is a gospel of loaves and fishes. During the struggle between the House of Lords and the House of Commons on the question of the franchise, he openly incited to violence, with the result that a meetinof where Sir Stafford Northcote and Lord Randolph Churchill were to attend was broken up by gangs of roughs. To aofricultural laborers he has offered the bribe known as "three acres and a cow," and to the artisans of the towns he has spoken in vague language of their right to a larger amount of money without taking any trouble to point out the means by which their condition was to be bettered. He has assailed the landlords as men " who toil not, neither do they spin ; " but he has been very merciful towards capitalists, having himself acquired a fortune of nearly ten millions by manufacture. Apart from his well-known methods of gaining popular applause, he has a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 373 fine platform style. His manner is hard, and his language is not particularly elevated, and has a crispness that is very like pertness. But his speeches are clear, and sometimes exciting and full of the suppressed passion. In the House of Commons, too, he is a ready and a powerful de- bater. The very defects of his mind and of his character often lend force to his utterances. He is narrow, and shallow, and bitter; and then he is able to entertain his audience with those merci- less personal hits, those shallow appeals which are nearly ahvays more successful with a popular assembly than statesmanlike observations. Then the fierceness of his temper gives you an idea of a man whom it is dangerous to cross, and this produces a strong impression upon an audience which respects power above everything else. His temper also gives force to his utterances, because his selfishness makes him feel his own view of a case so deeply as to enable him to give it that vehement utterance by which men are moved. It would be hard to say, even in this apparently dark hour of his fortunes, that he has not a great future before him ; but the greatness of his posi- tion will be the danger of his country. He is a combination of the worst qualities that were ever possessed by a Minister. He has a violent tem- per, a masterful will, a shallow judgment, a changeful purpose. Believing himself always right, and yet constantly changing his opinions, 374 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. he forces men to adopt his particular views or openly quarrels with them. His appearance in- dicates to a large extent his character. He is a man of a very powerful frame, and is able to take liberties with it that show immense physical vigor. He eats and drinks generously, though not too much. He smokes all day long, and never takes any exercise. After a heavy dinner he is able to go down to the House of Commons and sit in the sweltering atmosphere for hours without any visible harm. He has a long, thin face, with a large nose slightly turned up. This gives a perky air to the countenance, and the perkiness is largely increased by that single eye- glass which has made the stony British stare an object of dislike to all mankind. Mr. GoscHEN plays an important part in the events that follow and deserves separate notice. He is German, and we believe Hebrew by de- scent. He certainly has an extremely Hebrew cast of countenance — Hebrew of the low and mean and not of the lofty and handsome type. The first impression of his face is certainly very sinister, and suggests a pettifogging provincial attorney rather than a statesman. His features are some- \vhat vulpine. The eyes are small and appear smaller from the nearsightedness that keeps them nearly always half closed. The hair is gray, the side whiskers are gray, and the complexion is a curious gray also — not pallid, not yellow, and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 375 not ruddy, but simply a dull white-lead gray. He usually sits in a crouching position with the side of his face turned to the House, the whole air of the man suggesting pettiness and meanness. The Marquis of Hartington is a typical Eng- lishman, more like the Briton of the drama and of the farce than almost any other living man. His whole air is one of phlegm. He sits for hours in the House without ever changing a look. He rarely smiles, he never laughs, and has not often during thirty years of Parliamentary life been betrayed into losing his temper. His mien is haughty and reserved. He is slovenly in dress, awkward in air, slouching in gait. He enters the House of Commons with the curious knock- kneed walk that distinguishes horsey Englishmen and with his hands sunk to the lowest depths of his pockets. His face is handsome and rather distinguished looking — though a friendly critic describes his profile as singularly like that of a horse. His under-lip is heavy and protuberant, and the face is rather too long. He wears a moustache and beard, and has a full head of hair, in which, though he is upwards of fifty, and though he is said to have lived in the full sense of the word, there is scarcely a gray thread visible. Lord Hartington was a very considerable period in Parliament before anybody thought there was much in him beyond what is called "horse-sense," self-control and a certain dignity. 376 GLADSTONE— PARNELL When in 1875 Mr. Gladstone retired from the leadership of the Liberal party there was a wail of despair among his followers when the suc- cession was handed over to Lord Hartington, and everybody was of opinion that the only thinof to be said in his favor was that he was the son of a duke. For some time after his accession to his new position, Lord Hartington realized the worst anticipations, and the contrast between his lumbering and ungainly style and the bright and epigrammatic agility of Mr, Disraeli opposite was painful and humiliating to the Liberal party. His delivery is certainly most trying. He speaks in a curious falsetto voice, and beo-innino;- his sen- tences at a top note he gradually descends to a deep basso, until in the end it is nothing but in- audible gutturals. This rise and fall goes on with a damnable iteration that makes life a wear- iness. There is a story told that somebody came up to Lord Hartington once and asked him whether it was true that he had yawned in the middle of his own speech. "Well, I suppose I did," answered Lord Hartington. "Wasn't it damned dull?" As time went on, however, he im- proved immensely, and when the days of his leadership were over he certainly had made a fine record. When people manage to get over the trying part of his delivery, it is discovered that he expresses himself very clearly and some- times WM'di great force. For a good, hard-hitting THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 377 speech he is the equal of almost any man in the House of Commons. According to some critics he is a lazy man, who does not care about anything, and regards politics, like most things in life, as a hideous and disgusting bore. Ac- cording to others, this apparent indifference is but a mask for a really keen and eager interest, for a strong feeling upon most debatable' questions, and for an ambition slowly burning but still per- sistent. On the Irish quesdon, unfortunately, he was not without personal prepossessions. He is said to have been very strongly attached to his brother. Lord Frederick Cavendish, the in- nocent and hapless victim of the Phoenix Park assassinadon. Beside this, he is deeply interested in Ireland owing to the possession of property there. The manner in which this property came into the hands of his family is one of the many disgraceful chapters in the history of Ireland. Sir George Otto Trevelyan is a man generally popular among Liberals for courtesy and agree- ableness of manner, and grace, elegance and ami- ability of speech. By Irishmen he is not so well liked, as he is supposed to hide a good deal of personal venom underneath his agreeable ex- terior. He is the nephew of Lord Macaulay, and the heir of a eood deal of his talents. He has the gifts and the deficiencies of a literary man. His speeches are clear and agreeable, but at the same time smell too much of the lamp. He 378 GLADSTONE— PARNELL writes beautifully, and some of his works are among the gems of English literature. He is not a man of much force. His nerves broke down under the strain of the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland ; his face grew haggard and his beard whitened in a few months. This sad experience seems to have soured his nature, and he has ever since been among the most vindictive enemies of Irish rights. The Marquis of Salisbury is undoubtedly en- titled by commanding talents to the position of Prime Minister. He is, next to Mr. Gladstone, the most interesting figure in the political life of England. In intellectual endowments, in culture, in loftiness of speech and of aim, he stands far be- yond most if not all other competitors for public favor. And yet it may be doubted if in any but a country governed by speakers he would be se- lected for the position of First Minister. He has the besetting vice o( parliamentarians: he is the slave, not the master, of words ; and words do not always carry to his mind definite images of facts, and forces, and things. In this respect the Mar- quis of Salisbury is more like Mr. Gladstone than any of Mr. Gladstone's own associates. But the Marquis of Salisbury has a craze for antithesis, and a genius for epigram ; while the man has yet to be born who remembers one epigram out of Mr. Gladstone's oratorv. In dealinor with foreign nations Mr. Gladstone may say and has said some THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 379 terribly imprudent and injurious things about powers who have had the choice afterwards of doinor Enorland and Mr. Gladstone a sfood turn or an ill turn; but Mr. Gladstone's amplitude of language and excess of qualifications have pre- vented his denunciations from being readily and portably remembered. The Marquis of Salis- bury, on the other hand, has the unhappy knack of putting his attacks into a compact form that makes them more difficult to forget than to re- member. The difference in the effect of the im- prudent utterances of the two men is the difference between getting a sousing from a tub and being stabbed by a poisoned stiletto. When the career of the Marquis of Salisbury comes to be considered, it will be found that many of his mistakes as a politician are due to his train- ing as a journalist. The training of the journalist is in many respects the best ; in some, it is the worst for the man who takes afterwards an active part in politics. The writer at his desk Is essen- tially removed from contact with his fellow-men ; and thus it Is that the timid man becomes brave with his pen, the gentle sanguinary, the wavering decided. The journalist, accustom.ed to write in the privacy of his own closet, gets a habit of thought independent of the feelings of other people ; and It is the power of considering, and regarding, and working through the feelings, and sensibilities, and passions of other men that make 330 GLADSTONE— PARNELL up a great part of the equipment of the practical poHtician It is still more unfortunate for the Marquis of Salisbury that the journal on which he received his early training should have been the Sahii^day Review. A man could not be one of the leadingf writers for such a journal for many years w^ithout taking away some distinct traces of its style. Anotlier grave obstacle to the success of the Marquis as a leader of the new and omnipotent democracy is that, in all probability, he has not yet attorned in his heart to the democracy. He belonged for years to the clique of brilliant men who made war on the multitude, the hatUeitr of the scholar and of the writer rather than of the aristocrat v\/as at the bottom ol his political faith. His hostility to the Household Suffrage is well remembered. In the course of debates he made comparisons between the term of residence re- quired for artisans and the term of imprisonment compulsorily gone through by a person convicted of crime. His refusal for years to be reconciled to Mr. Disraeli was due, it may well be supposed, not to personal dislike alone, but because the Conservative leader had lowered the political life of England by admitting the greater part of its citizens to a share in their own government. Lord Randolph Churchill has made advances more rapidly than almost any politician of his time. There was probably not one member of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGJI E 381 the Parliament of Lord Beaconsfield who had the least conception that the meniber for Woodstock would ever have amounted to anything like an important figure in the House of Commons. In that Parliament of nearly six years he spoke three or four times, and the speeches were not promis- inor of a future. On one occasion he made a speech in defence of a hopelessly rotten corpora- tion ; on another he attacked Mr. Sclater-Booth with a freedom that shocked sober men ; and his third notable performance at this period was a speech made in Dublin, which, in the echoes that reached London, seemed to extenuate the ob- struction of Mr. Parnell and Mr, Biggar at the moment when their heads were demanded by the universal voice of England. His political appear- ances, in short, were regarded as part of an eccen- tric and reckless nature, that found everything else in life more interesting than its serious affairs. At this period this was perhaps a not wholly un- just estimate. His ignorance certainly at the tim.e was appalling. The fall of the Beaconsfield Ministry was his rise. Those who can look back at the aspect of the two parties can alone form a fair estimate of the work Lord Randolph Churchill and his asso- ciates have done for the Conservative party. No- body — who, new to Parliamentary life, had his powers of observation fresh and keen — can forget the mournful contrast between the appearance 382 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and the demeanor of the victors and the van- quished after the great electoral struggle of 1880. The Liberals overflowed on their benches ; all the names that had been familiar for years as the leaders of the forlorn hopes of Radicalism had found places In the new Parliament. The great leader of the party stood one day at the bar, his mobile face wreathed in smiles, and with the flush of achieved victory, and greater victories to come; and the whole party rioted in the sense of its omnipotence. On the other side there were benches painfully attenuated, and the universal look was one of despair. The leaders of the party were in worse case than the rank and file. The overwhelming defeat at the polls had come upon them with surprise ; to bewilderment succeeded disgust ; and it was Impossible to get them to turn their faces from the wall and take up their broken weapons. One man suddenly took a fancy to rural pursuits ; the exigencies of his private affairs engrossed the mind of another ; they nearly all kept studiously away from the new Parliament, and shunned the gaze of their triumph- ant enemies. It was In this dark hour that Lord Randolph Churchill and his associates In the Fourth party took up the work of arresting the triumphant chariot of their adversaries. It looked hopeless. The disposition of even their own side was, for a while at least, to let things take their course; and as the country had determined THE GREAT iraSH STRUGGLE 383 that it was best for it to enter on the path that leads to Hades, to let the country have its way. The entrance of Mr. Bradlaugh to Parliament would, in all probability, have been allowed to pass unchallenged had it not been for the vigilance of Lord Randolph ; through his efforts it was that the member for Northampton was refused ad- mission ; that the subject was gradually trans- formed from the contest between the convictions of a single member to a great ministerial ques- tion. Then the bills of the Ministry were op- posed clause by clause, even line by line ; and it soon came to be seen, that by the dexterous use of the forms of the House — by constant attend- ance, by steady, hard work, three or four men could act as a drag on a party with a hundred majority. I am not expressing approval of the tactics of the Fourth party. In carrying on this work Lord Randolph ran great risks. He was exposed to the charge of obstruction ; was howled at by the ministerial rank and file ; denounced by ministerial orators ; laughed at and menaced, and even included in the same category with the fol- lowers of Mr. Parnell. But he took no notice of these attacks, went on his way steadily ; with the result that there came to be confidence where there had been despair ; activity where there had been apathy; brisk and constant attendance on benches that had yawned in horrid emptiness. Nobody took him seriously at this period, not even his own side. 384 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. It may be doubted if he had at this time even in the ranks of the Liberal party enemies more scornful than in his own party. The whole forces of the front opposition bench were arrayed against him. The squires thought him grossly insub- ordinate, and it looked as if he were oroino- to be cast out of the ranks. He has changed all this. His rise in popular favor and in par- liamentary influence has been seen growing before the universal eye, until now he is perhaps the most popular man of his party out of doors, and in its parliamentary arrangements he can dictate his own terms. Justin McCarthy was born in Cork in 1830. When he was a boy the capital of Munster could really lay claim to deserve the traditional reputa- tion of the province for learning. Mr. McCarthy's father was one of the best classical scholars of the day. There was at that time a schoolmaster named Goulding — the name is familiar to many a Corkman still — who was a really fine scholar. Justin McCarthy was one of Goulding's pupils, and when he left school he had the power not com- mon even among hard students of being able to read Greek fluendy and to write as well as trans- late Latin with complete ease. Journalism ap- peared to him the readiest form of making a live- lihood, and, like so many other literary men, he began at one of the low rungs of the ladder. He had taught himself shorthand, and his first em- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 385 ployment was that of a reporter on the Cork Ex- amiJier. It may be an interesting fact to note that his hand still retains its cunning, and that he may often be observed taking down on the margin of the Parliamentary Order Paper the exact words of some important Ministerial statement for quota- tion in his leading article. The first important piece of work, it may also here be mentioned, which Mr. McCarthy was sent to do was to report the trials of Smith O'Brien and his colleagues at Cionmel. There are two other important remin- iscences of Mr. McCarthy's reporting days. He was present at the meeting in Cork at which the late Judge Keogh swore that oath which played so tragic a part in Irish history ; and he was also present, we are informed, at the famous dinner at which the present Lord Fitzgerald, then a rising young lawyer, in the ardor of his patriotism^ bearded a lord-lieutenant and scandalized an audience of Cork's choicest Whigs. It was in 1847 ^^"'^t Mr. McCarthy started his professional life. All that was young, enthusiastic, and earnest in Cork shared the political aspirations of that stormy time. There had been in existence for many years a debating society known as the "Scientific and Literary Society," and one of the many forms in Avhich the new spirit roused by Young Ireland showed itself was the starting of the Cork Historical Societ}^ as a rival to the older and tamer association. Among the members of 386 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. this body were many young men who afterwards rose to importance. Sir John Pope Hennessy, now Governor of the Mauritius, and Justin Mc- Carthy himself were among its first recruits. The Historical Society became a recruiting ground for Young Ireland ; nearly all its members joined the party of combat, and they founded one of the many clubs that were started to prepare for the coming struggle. Justin McCarthy, in his maturity of philosophic calm, can look back to a time when he dreamed of rifles and bayonet charges and death in the midst of fierce fight for the cause of Ireland. To those who know him there is no difference in the man of to-day and the man of '48. He has still the same unflinching courage as then. In this respect, Indeed, McCarthy is a singular mixture of apparent incompatibilities. There is no man who enjoys the hour more keenly. He has the capacity of M. Renan for finding the life around him amusing ; enjoys society and solitude, work and play, a choice dinner or an all-night sitting. He has eminently "a two o'clock in the morning courage" — a readiness to face the worst without notice. With his fifty-five years he is still a man of sanguine temperament; but in '48 he was only eighteen. He naturally, therefore, belonged to the section which had Mitchel for its apostle, and open and immediate insurrection for its gospel. Mitchel was arrested, and the cause failed. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 387 With this revolutionary episode ended for the time McCarthy's political history, and from this period, for many years, his story is that of the literary man. It was in the year 1851 that Mr. McCarthy first tried his fortunes in London. The attempt ended in failure, and he had to return to the reporter's place in Cork. There was at that time a Royal Commission for inquiring into the fairs and markets of Ireland, and the secretary having broken down, Justin McCarthy was taken on as the official shorthand writer. His aptitude was such that some member of the Commission ureed him to aeain o-o to London, and armed him with letters of introduction. This was in 1852. McCarthy again tried his chance, but without success. Before he could continue this fruitless labor he heard of the Northern Times, the first provincial daily of England, which was about to be started in Liverpool, applied for a situation, and was accepted. He was still only a reporter, and even he him- self did not yet very well know whether he was fitted for better things. The presumption always is that the journalist who begins as a reporter should be allowed so to continue. But with persistent energy McCarthy worked on, gave literary lectures, and in the end was allowed the privilege of contributing to the editorial columns. He remained in Liverpool till i860. McCarthy was contended for by several Liverpool journals, 23 388 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. but he declined all offers, fixed in the resolve to make or mar his fortune in London. The young journalist had at this time a coun- sellor who for many years was the chief arbiter of his destiny in all the crises of his life. Miss Charlotte Allman, a member of the well-known Munster family, had come to reside with her brother in Liverpool. The two young people resolved to marry, in spite of the strong opposi- tion of relatives and in the face of frowning for- tunes, and in 1855 they were married. The folly of these young people was more truly wise than the sagacity of their elders, for their marriage was to both the best and the most beneficent event in their lives. To those who knew Mrs. McCarthy there is no need to dilate on the resistless charm of her truly beautiful nature. She never wrote a line ; she did not even pretend to any literary power ; but she had the keen intelligence of sympathy ; she had faith in her husband, and she had indomitable courage. It was she that induced Mr. McCarthy to refuse all the Liverpool offers, and that turned his face steadily to the larger hopes of London ; and the joint capital of the young couple when they landed in London was ^10. McCarthy's first London engagement was as a Parliamentary reporter on the Morning Star. He found time to do other work in the intervals of this hard occupation, and tried his hand at an THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 889 essay for one of the magazines. He had taught himself French, German, and ItaUan ; was famil- iar with the three literatures ; and his first attempt at essay-writing had Schiller for its subject. He next tried the Wesbninster Review, and two articles of his in that periodical attracted the attention of John Stuart Mill. The philosopher was introduced to the young writer, showed a friendly interest in his welfare, and helped to advance his fortunes. In the autumn of i860 he was appointed foreign editor of the Mor7iing Sta7% and in 1865 he became editor-in-chief. Those who remember the journal and the times when it lived will know what splendid service it did to the cause of Ireland, and its tone of energetic advo- cacy of Irish national claims was largely due to the inspiration of the ardent man who was then at its head. It was while he was in this position that Mr. McCarthy became intimately acquainted with Mr. John Bright. In these days the ex-minister was fond of spending some hours in the office of the Star, in which his sister had some shares; and many an hour did the editor and the politician spend together. It is one of the unpleasant consequences of the fierce strug- gles of the last few 3^ears that those two old friends have ceased even to speak to one another. But in 1868, when Mr. Bright sold out his phare in the Morning Star, Mr. McCarthy resigned his position on the staff of that journal. 390 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. He then entered on a new and highly inter- esting experience. He went to America, where an embarrassing choice of offers awaited him. He had, while still editor of the Stm% published his first novel, "Paul Massey," in 1866 — a story which Mr. McCarthy has since suppressed. This had been followed, in 1867, by the "Waterdale Neighbors " — a charming story. One of Mr. McCarthy's first engagements was to write a series of stories for the " Galaxy," a literary maga- zine in America. America has changed greatly since the Irish lecturer went on his first tour, for at that period the Pacific Railway had but just been completed, and the Indians used still to haunt the railway stations in numbers sufficiently large to be sometimes dangerous. Mr, McCarthy was an extremely successful lecturer, and by means of his pen and his tongue found the United States a profitable field of labor. He paid a brief visit to London in the middle of 1870, returned again in the autumn of that year, and finally in the autumn of 1871 came back to England. Meantime his name had been kept steadily before the English reading public. Immediately after his return Mr. McCarthy accepted an engagement on the Daily Nczus as Parliamentary leader wri^^er. For years he was looked up to by most of his editorial colleag-ues as the man who took the most rapid and the most accurate view of a Parliamentary situation. The work of a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 39I Parliamentary leader writer is by no means easy. He has to keep abominable hours ; he has to watch for hours before he can put a pen to paper, and up to a recent period he had to get through his task under circumstances of savage inconven- ience. But Mr. McCarthy has a singularly robust physique, and every night between four and five his spectacled . and tranquilly philosophic face might be seen in Palace Yard with a regularity that premiers never attained. His literary for- tunes, meantime, steadily advanced ; and in " Dear Lady Disdain " he wrote a novel which every- body talked about, and upon which there was a real run. He soon after devoted himself to a very different kind of work, under the title, "The History of Our Own Times," the first two volumes of which were published in 1878. The book took the town by storm. It was, indeed, a model of what contemporary history should be. Equal justice was dealt out to all parties ; the portraits of men were clear-cut and sympathetic, and the style was evenly melodious without one single attempt at rhetoric. The book sold with enormous rapidity, and edition followed edition in rapid succession. Great as was its success on this side of the water, it was still greater in America. But the author gained little from this enormous American sale, for as yet there is no copyright between England and America. His old publishers, the Messrs. Harper Brothers, with 392 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. that fair dealing which characterizes all their trans- actions, did send him voluntarily an occasional instalment, but they told him that if there had been an international copyright they could have well afforded to have given him ^10,000 for his rights. Mr. McCarthy is one of the men who does not owe Mr. Parnell anything — as the Irish leader would himself be the first to acknowledge — but he soon saw that in Mr. Parnell there was the real chief of that honest Parliamentary party for which he had been vainly looking. To Mr. Parnell then he unreservedly gave his support. He was thrown into a prominent position at an epoch of fierce and tempestuous passions ; but nobody was readier to see, when the time came, the necessity for strong action. Occasionally he differed from the counsels of )ounger and less- tramed men, and there are few of these colleagues of his who can look back upon those occasions when they ventured to differ from their wise counsellor without misgivings. But, whatever might be his views, Mr. McCarthy always stood by the rule, that in the face of the enemy the Irish party should be a unit. He has been ready on every emergency to take his share of the unspeakable drudgery to which Irish members have been subjected, and it imposed a greater sacrifice on him than on any other mem- bre of the party to face the odium which a part in these unpopular labors involved. If the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 393 delivery of Mr. McCarthy were equal to his in- tellectual powers, he would be amongst the fore- most speakers of the House. He is ready; he has clearness of head and calmness of temper; and his ideas clothe themselves in language of appropriateness with an unerring regularity. He has in more than one debate delivered the best speech in point of matter and of form. Mr. McCarthy is far superior to any of his party, and probably to any man in the House, as an after- dinner speaker. He bubbles over with wit of the most delicate and playful kind. Just as his long struggle was crowned with suc- cess, and as he became from the obscure reporter the popular novelist, the successful historian, and the member of Parliament, the woman without whom he would have remained, in all probability, poor and obscure to the end, was seized with a lino-erinsf illness and died. It would be unbe- coming to even attempt a description of what this loss meant to Mr. McCarthy. He has one daughter and one son. They share the political opinions of their father, and of their mother, who was a strong Nationalist. It is acquaintance only with Justin McCarthy that can make intelligible the strong hold he has over the affections of his intimates. It is not often that there are found united in the same man modesty and literary genius, a toleration of others with a power of absolute self-abnegation, a sane 394 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. enjoyment of every hour, with the courage of calmly facing, for the sake of the right. For- tune's worst blow. Moderate in advice when the fortunes of his country are at stake, he is always boldest when acts involve only personal risk to himself. It is this mixture of tenderness, shyness, and romanticism with a thoroughly fearless spirit, that make him so beloved. His son, Justin Huntley McCarthy, has won a high reputation for his years, both as a historian and as a member of Parliament, although his efficiency as a worker has been impaired by feeble health. Thomas Sexton was born in Waterford in 1848. He had not yet reached his thirteenth birthday when he entered a competition for a clerkship in the secretary's office of the Waterford and Lim- erick Company. The post was unimportant ; the salary small; but that did not prevent thirty youths entering the lists. Of these Sexton was the youngest, and obtained the place. Meantime Sexton's ideas had been straying towards work more suitable to his tastes than that of the railway office. And when he was twenty-one he at last determined to make a bid for better fortunes. It speaks well, not merely for Sexton, that even at that early period in his career the departure from his native city should have been regarded as an event of some impor- tance. A public dinner was held in honor of the THE GREAT IRISH STRIJGGLE. 395 deparling young citizen. Sexton had become the centre of a group of able young men, of whom two, at least, have since achieved a position of importance — Edmund Leamy, and Richard Dow- ling, the well-known novelist. Sexton went to Dublin with all good wishes, and with the strongest encourag^ement from friends who had faith in his future. His start in the Irish capital was good, for he immediately obtained a per- manent post as a leader-writer in the Nation of- fice, from A. M. Sullivan, at that time the editor. He contributed regularly his leading articles every week to the National youinial, and when Mr. D. B. Sullivan went to the Irish Bar he took up the editorship of the Weekly News. He was, for a while, also the editor of Young Ireland. Busy with his pen, Sexton took practically no part in politics, and had done little to justify those promises of oratorical eminence which had been given in the debating societies. However, when the Home Rule League was formed, he had given public proof of the faith that was in him by joining its ranks. In 1879 he was requested by the council of the Land League to attend a county meeting at Dromore West, County Sligo. The people of the county \vere quick to discern the abil- ities of the unknown young man, and he made, from his very first appearance among them, a profound impression. Indeed, even after he was elected, Sexton was known by Sligo long before 396 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. he was recognized by Ireland generally. Nobody could help remarking that his voice was pecu- liarly melodious ; but few had any conception of the great things that were in this thin, delicate, rather retiring man. He was simply a writer — a clever fellow enough in his way — able to write a pretty article or a nice little story, but, beyond that, nothing. It might be desirable, perhaps, that he should be run because good candidates were so hard to get ; and because his long training in the Nation of- fice was some security that he had the right opinions. Sexton has, however, established a po- sition in the councils of his party and in the esteem of the whole Irish race. One of the first to discern the commandinof abilities of Sexton was Mr. Healy, who urgently and constantly pressed the claims of his friend. When at last Sexton was sent to Sligo his difficulties were not at an end. These petty obstacles, however, did not come from the masses of the people, many of whom had already begun to appreciate the real worth of the man with whom they had to deal ; and the unknown young writer was elected at the head of the poll, above both the Whig and the Tory magnates who had previously sat for the county. Sexton was at last in the arena where his abilities had the opportunity of asserting them- selves. But even in this position, recognition THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 397 came to him slowly. During his first session of Parliament he remained comparatively unnoticed. He was phenomenally constant in attendance ; at almost any hour of the day or night he was to be found in that seat which he had marked for his own, and he was in the habit of putting what was considered a very large number of questions. But nobody yet had any idea that there was any- thing in him above very earnest and very re- spectable mediocrity, nor during the recess which followed did he advance his position to any ap- preciable degree. It was on an evening when Mr. Forster's Coercion Bill was under discussion that Sexton broke upon the House for the first time as a great orator. Mr. Forster did not pro- duce the blue book, in which there were the sta- tistics of increased crime, until weeks after he had committed the Government to coercion, and days after he had introduced his bill into the House. It was in the dissection of the extraordinary details at last produced that Sexton showed his powers. The House was, when he rose, but ill-prepared, indeed, for such a speech, especially from an Irish member; for of the subject it was already sick. The circumstances of the moment tended to increase the prevalent depression, for it was a dull, dark, dismal evening. The House was, therefore, listless, sombre and but thinly filled when Sexton rose. He spoke for two hours, amid chilling silence, interrupted but occasionally 398 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. by the thin cheers of the small group of Irishmen around him; and yet when he sat down the whole House instinctively felt that a great orator had appeared among them. Still, there was no particular notice of this splendid effort in the newspapers ; it was reported in but a few lines. But members talked of it in the lobby and the smoke-room ; and, among members of the House of Commons at least, his reputation was estab- lished. Sexton has always been conspicuous for direct- ness and for good sense. Sagacity is, indeed, the very soul of his oratory. He not only says everything better than anybody else can say it, but he always says the right thing. To think of him merely as the eloquent speaker is to forget the still greater claim to respect he holds as a man of remarkably well-balanced mind, of keen and almost faultless judgment. There are few public men who are less controlled by words than this master of words ; for, in spite of the many speeches he has delivered within the last few years, there cannot be pointed out a single sentence which could give just offence to any sec- tion of patriotic Irishriien,, To say the right thing Is much ; to leave unsaid the wrong thing counts, in politics, even for something more. He can marshal facts; he can discuss figures with the driest statistician, and can balance arguments with the most logic-chopping member of the House ; THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 399 and he can at the same time invest any subject with the glory of splendid language. He is at once orator and debater ; his manner fascinates, his matter convinces. Sexton is a keen observer, and his reading of men's motives is helped by a slight dash of cyni- cism. In ordinary affairs blase and physically lethargic, his political industry Is marvellous. He enters the House of Commons when the Speaker takes the chair, and never leaves it until the door- keeper's cry is heard. He sits in his place dur- ing all those long hours, grudging the time he spends at a hasty dinner, or the few minutes he gives to the smoking of the dearly-loved cigar. He rarely approaches the discussion of any ques- tion without full knowledge of all the facts, care- fully arranged and abundantly illustrated by letters or other documents. He has great mastery of detail. With every measure that in the least degree concerns Ireland he is acquainted down to the last clause, and thus it is that he enters on all debates wdth a singularly complete equipment. Finally, his mind Is extraordinarily alert. His opponent has scarcely sat down when he is on his feet with counter-arguments to meet even the plausible case that has been made against him. This gift, aided by sang-froid, makes him a most formidable opponent, and even the Speaker has had more than once to succumb before the ready answer and the cool temper of Sexton. 400 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. Arthur O'Connor was born in London on October i, 1844. His father was a Kerry man, for many years one of the most eminent physi- cians of London. Arthur was educated at Ushaw; and in the year 1863 began a clerkship in the War Office. There was but one vacancy, and there were thirty competitors ; O'Connor got the place, obtaining a higher average of marks than any Civil Service competitor for many years. For the space of sixteen years the young Irish- man led the monotonous life of the Civil Servant. He was a model clerk in being always accurate, attentive, hardworking. But outside his office Arthur O'Connor was the most unclerklike of men. He had political opinions of the most unpopular, unprofitable character. Then he not only professed Irish National principles, but he was elected a member of the executive of the Home Rule Confederation. Finally, he began to be seen in the lobby in the Hou'se of Commons in earnest and frequent colloquy with Mr. Parnell. O'Connor was by no means anxious to remain in his dingy rooms in Pall Mall. Under a scheme of reorganization, an offer was made to him, as to other clerks, to retire if he chose. He did so chpose, and shook the dust of the War Office from off his feet. In 1879 he was elected member of the Chelsea Board of Guardians, and the main purpose which he had in getting this place was that he might GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 401 look after Catholic interests. For six months not one of the Catholic inmates of the workhouse had been allowed to go out to mass, either on a Sunday or on a holiday ; nor was a Catholic priest permitted to enter the place ; no Catholic prayer-books were given to be read, and the Catholic children were sent to Protestant schools; and, finally, the institution was not stained by havinof a single " Romanist" amono- its officials. On the very first day on which O'Connor took his seat, the most eligible of all the applicants for the humble position of "scrubber" was rejected on the sole ground that he was a Catholic. The board consisted of twenty members. O'Connor was the single Catholic in the whole number. O'Connor was not aggressive in manner, nor violent in language ; he made no speeches either strong or long, nor did he intrigue, or smile, or coax. He first mastered the whole complicated system of the poor-law code. After a while O'Connor had become such an expert in the law of the workhouse that his fellow-guardians found he could take care of himself, and some of them began to seek his aid as an ally whenever there was any proposal which required strong backing. But he had been elected a member of the Gen- eral Purposes Committee — the most important of all the committees. It had the contracts to give and to examine, dealt with accounts and other matters in the economy of the workhouse. 402 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. O'Connor devoted days and weeks to the study of all these accounts, with the result that he knew every item intimately. It became impossible for a penny to pass muster for which full and satis- factory explanation was not given — jobbery trembled beneath the pitiless eyes of this cold and calm inquisitor, and rogues fled abashed. All this could not be accomplished without terribly hard work, and every Wednesday O'Connor was in his place on the Committee or at the Board ; and thoueh this work often extended continuously from ten o'clock in the morning till eight at night with the exception of half-an-hour for lunch, in his place he remained all the time. For even a minute's absence might enable the jobber to rush through his scheme; and not a farthing would O'Connor allow to pass, if criticism were de- manded. O'Connor's part in Parliament has been such as one might have anticipated from his previous career. He devoted himself to the work which was dryest and most uninviting; had acquired in a short time a knowledge so intimate of the rules of the House as to be a terror to the Speaker. All was done with an air of unbroken severity, but of unruffled temper and of inflexible courtesy. O'Connor was the calm, patient, lofty spirit of economy that chided, but pitied, and that spoke in the accents of sorrow rather than of anger. WIXLIAM O'BRIEN. M. P, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 405 Not one man in a hundred would ever guess when he heard him addressing the House of Commons that O'Connor had a drop of Irish blood in his veins. The whole air is rigid, serious, icy. He drops his words with calculated slowness, and the subjects he selects for treat- ment are dry and formal and statistical — the sub- jects, in short, which are supposed to attract the plodding mind of the typical Englishman. The physique of O'Connor suggests the idea of a calmness and unemotional self-control which an Irishman is rarely supposed to possess; he is tall, thin, with a sombre air, and a cold, dark -blue eye. But all these outward presentments are but a mask ; in the whole Irish party there is not one whose heart beats with emotion so profound, with a hatred so fierce. Analysis has divided enthu- siasm into two kinds — the enthusiasm that Is warm and the enthusiasm that is cold. The en- thusiasm of Arthur O'Connor is of the cold, that is of the perilous, type. Sufficient has been here written of Arthur O'Connor to make intelligible the high respect, and even affection, in which he Is held by his friends and colleafrues. The sternness of his faith does not prevent him from being one of the kindliest of companions, one of the most tolerant and even-tempered of councillors. Timothy Daniel Sullivan — the future ballad- writer of the Irish National cause — was born at 24 L 406 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Bantry in 1827. The father of the SulUvans was in but moderate circumstances, but education and refinement descend socially deeper in Ireland than in England ; and the parent of T. D. Sulli- van was a man of considerable culture. The mother was likewise a woman of large gifts, and was for many years a teacher. She seems to have had, besides, a very attractive personality. The home of the SuUivans was thoroughly National, and amid the stirring times of 1848, and the hideous disasters of the two preceding years, there were all the circumstances to make the faith of the family robust. The father was carried away, like the majority of the earnest Irishmen of that time, by the gospel which the Young Ireland leaders were preaching, and, as a reward, was dismissed from his employment. T. D. Sullivan, like his brothers, though brought up in a small and remote town, had a good education. The chief and the best school- master of the town was Mr. Healy, the grand- father of the present distinguished patriot of that name. Under his charge T. D. Sullivan was placed, and it was probably from Mr. Healy that Mr. Sullivan learned the most of what he knows. The ties between the two families were afterwards drawn still closer, when T. D. Sul- livan married Miss Kate Healy, the daughter of his teacher. His younger brother, A. M. Sul- livan, after trying his hand as an artist, ulti- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 407 mately became connected with the DubHn Nation. T. D. Sullivan meantime had also allowed his mind to run into dreams of a literary future. In fact he had filled a whole volume with his compositions ; but, with the secrecy which youth loves, he had not confided his transgression to any one. But two or three of the pieces had even appeared in print, and it was not till he came to Dublin and began to write in the Natio7t that the poetical genius of T. D. Sullivan sought recognition. Into the columns of that journal he began at once to pour the verses which he had hitherto so religiously kept secret, and from .the first his songs attracted attention. Many of his poems became popular immediately on their appearance, and spread over that vast world of the Irish race which now extends through so many of the nations of the earth. A well-known story with regard to the " Son or from the Backwoods " will illustrate the influence of T. D. Sullivan's muse. Most Irish- men know that splendid litde poem, with its bold opening, and its splendid refrain : Deep in Canadian woods we've met, From one bright island flown ; Great is the land we tread, but yet Our hearts are with our own. And ere we leave this shanty small, Wliile fades the autumn day. We'll toast old Ireland I Dear old Ireland ! / Ireland, boys, hurrah ! 408 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. This song, published in the Natioit in 1857, was carried to America by Captain D. J. Down- ing. It rapidly became popular, both among the Fenians and amongr the Irish soldiers in the American army. Every man of the Irish Brigade knew it, and it was often sung at the bivouac fire after a hard day's fighting. On the night of the bloody battle of Fredericksburg the Federal army lay watchful on their arms, with spirits damped by the loss of so many gallant comrades. To cheer his brother officers Captain Downing sang his favorite song. The chorus of the first stanza was taken up by his dashing regiment, next by the brigade, then by the entire line of the army for miles along the river; and, when the captain ceased, the same chant came like an echo from the Confederate lines. The song " God save Ireland " became popular wnth even greater rapidity. It was issued at an hour when all Ireland was stirred to intense depths of anger and of sorrow, and this profound and immense feeling longed for a voice. When " God save Ireland " was produced the people at once took it up, and so instantaneously that the author himself heard it chorused in a railway carriage on the very day after its publication. It has been his invariable rule in composing these sonofs to make them "ballads" in the true sense of the w^ord — songs, that is to say, that expressed popular sentiment in the language of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 409 everyday life, that had good catching rhymes, and that could be easily sung. An immense fillip was undoubtedly given to the demand for abatements of rent by the song, " Griffith's Valuation ; " and still more successful was the ballad of *• Murty Hynes," which was one of the most felicitous compositions that ever came from his pen. T. D. Sullivan was elected, as is known, along with Mr. H. J. Gill, for County Westmeath, at the general election of 1880; and in spite of the ab- sorbing nature of his journalistic duties he has been one of the most active and one of the most attentive members of the party. He has been still more prominent on the platform ; and it is at large Irish popular gatherings that his speech is most effective. He is Irish of the Irish and ex- presses the deep and simple gospel of the peo- ple in language that goes home ; and then his keen sense of humor enables him to supply that element of amusement which is always looked forward to with eagerness by the crowd. More advanced in years than many of his colleagues, he has, nevertheless, been as young as the youngest among them in his energy and in his hopefulness. Mr. Sullivan has shrunk from no work which the exigencies of the situation de- manded, and has been ready to take his share of the talking — whether the House considered his intervention seasonable or unseasonable ; whether 410 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. he spoke to benches that were full or empty, silent or uproarious. Erring, perhaps, as a rule, on the side of over-earnestness, he often lights up his Parliamentary, like his conversational, efforts with bright flashes of wit. " Punctuality," he said once to a colleague who turned up at a meeting with characteristic lateness, "punctuality, in the opinion of the Irish party, is the thief of time." Some of his lighter poems are greater favorites with many people than his more serious efforts, because of this same vein of irrepressible humor. James O'Kelly was born in Dublin, in the year 1845. Among his companions were a num- ber of young men who, in the dark hours, worked and hoped for the elevation of the country ; and he learned in a school in London the scorn that belongs to the child of a conquered race. O'Kelly entered upon political work at an unusually pre- cocious age, and certainly had not reached his legal majority when political aims had become the lode-star of his dreams. These political projects were interrupted in 1863. He had from boyhood longed for the life of a soldier. There was no army in Ireland, he would not serve under the British flag, and he entered the army of France. He had scarcely been enrolled in the Foreign Legion in Paris when he was called upon to enter active service. The Arabs in the province of Oran were in re- bellion, and here O'Kelly had an opportunity of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 411 learninor all the dancrers of Alorerine warfare. When Maximilian was made Emperor of Mexico French forces were sent by the Emperor Na- poleon to win for his nominee his new dominion, and O'Kelly's regiment was one of those which were detailed for this service. He took part in the siege of Oajaca, and after the fall of that town and the capture of General Porlirio Diaz — since President of Mexico — he advanced north- ward, and was present at the various battles which placed Northern Mexico in the power of the French troops. Then the tide turned in favor' of the Mexicans; and at Mier the troops of Maximilian were disastrously beaten. O'Kelly was made a prisoner in June, 1866. But an at- tempt to escape, unless successful, meant death. His guards proved careless, and in the darkness of the night he eluded their vigilance. For days he had to wander about in hourly peril. At one time he took to the river, hoping to cross to the territories of the United States. The induce- ment to attempt this mode of escape was his dis- covery of a rude boat made from a hollowed-out tree ; and in this primitive craft he floated with the stream, for a day, and finally made his way into Texas. O'Kelly had seen too much of real warfare to have any faith in unarmed crowds, and he was one of those who opposed any attempt at insur- rection. These counsels did not prevail, and in 412 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 1865 there came some sporadic risings with their sad sequel of wholesale arrests, imprisonments, and long terms of penal servitude. By-and-by the movement began to be more serious, and in 1867 there seemed some hope. O'Kelly then took his share of the danger and the responsibility, and was one of the chief men of the movement. For years he had to pass through the never-ceasing strain, the strange under-ground life, of the revo- lutionary. O'Kelly passed through it all with that calm courage and that cool-headedness which everybody recognizes, and, through determination, vigilance and prudence, succeeded in coming out unscathed. During the Franco-Prussian war he rejoined the French army, but when Paris sur- rendered he again left the service, and once more went to New York. Up to this time he had not seriously contemplated adopting journal- ism as a profession, and his efforts had been con- fined to occasional correspondence in the National weeklies. He applied for a situation on the New York Hei^ald, and his application — like that of most beginners — was received coolly enough; but at last he got his opportunity. Mr. O'Kelly was gradually advanced, until he became one of the editors of the Herald. In 1873 there arose an opportunity which O'Kelly gladly embraced. The rebellion in Cuba was going on, and it was a movement in which the people of the United States took a keen interest. But what was the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 413 nature and what the methods of the rebels? These were points upon which no trustworthy information could be obtained. The Spaniards had the ear of the world, and the story they told was that there was no such thingr as a rebellion at all. What now remained was simply a few scores of scattered marauders, itinerant robbers and murderers. Cuban refugees in the United States circulated reports that the Spanish troops were guilty of horrible cruelties ; that they gave no quarter to men and foully abused women, and the rebellion, instead of being repressed, was represented as fiercer and more determined than ever. The rebels, few or many, were hidden be- hind the impenetrable forests of the country as completely as if they had ceased to exist. To reach these rebels, survey their forces — in short, attest their existence — was the duty which O'Kelly volunteered to undertake. O'Kelly knew when he set out that his task wac difficult enough, but it was not until he ar- rived in Cuba that he realized to the full the meaning of his enterprise. He asked a safe- conduct from the captain-general ; but that func- tionary plainly told him that, if he persisted in try- ing to get to the rebels, he would do so at his own risk. Throughout all Cuba there was a perfect reign of terror. Tribunals hastily tried even those suspected of treason, and within a few hours after his arrest the "suspect" was a riddled corpse. 414 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Any person who, therefore, was under the frown of the authorities was avoided as if he had the plague. O'Kelly was invited to dinner in the heartiest manner by a descendant of an Irishman, but when this gentleman heard of O'Kelly's mis- sion, he begged him not to pay the visit, and promptly went to the authorities to explain the unlucky invitation. O'Kelly was among a people a vast number of whom would have considered it a patriotic duty to dispose of his person by some quiet but effective method. " It was not pos- sible," writes O'Kelly in 'The Mambi Land' — the interesting volume in which he afterwards re- counted his adventures — "it was not possible to turn back without dishonor, and though it cost even life itself, I would have to visit the Cuban camp." O'Kelly finally accomplished his purpose in full, but only at extreme risks. He afterwards returned boldly to the Spanish lines, and was im- prisoned, barely escaping with his life. He at last was sent to Spain, and then, through the united efforts of General Sickles, Senor Castelar and Isaac Butt, was set at liberty. His next expedition after the visit to Cuba was to Brazil. He returned with the emperor from that country to the United States, and accom- panied him throughout his North American tour. Before the general election of 1880 O'Kelly returned to Europe, without the least intention of entering Parliament. At that time, though THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 415 known to everybody acquainted with the inner Hfe of Irish politics, to the general public he was unknown, except as the adventurous special cor- respondent. And it was some surprise when he succeeded in beating down so formidable an op- ponent as The O'Conor Don. Regarded by the majority of his countrymen as outside politics, and remote from its struggles, its aspirations, and its shaping, O' Kelly had been a force in fashioning the history of his country for many years. In Parliament, too, O'Kelly has, while little known to the public, been one of the most potent forces in shaping the fortunes and decisions of his party. He has brought to its councils ereat firmness of will, world-wide experience, common sense and a devotion to the interests of his country which is absolute. Though he has given proof abundant of courage, O' Kelly's advice has always been on the side of well-calculated rather than rash courses; he has, in fact, the true soldier's instinct in favor of the adaptation of ways and means to ends, of mathematical severity in estimating the strength of the forces for, and of the forces against, his own side. His whole temperament is revolutionary; he chafes under the restraints of Parliamentary life, and hates the weary contests of words ; and, on the other hand, he insists on every step being measured, every move calculated. Again, his large experience of life and the ruggedness of his sense give to his thoughts the mould of almost 416 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. cynic realism, and yet he is an idealist, for through* out his whole life he has held to the idea of his country's resurrection with a faith which no danger could terrify, no disaster depress, no labor fatio-ue. Mr. John Dillon, as often happens, is the very opposite in appearance and manner from what readers of his speeches, especially the hostile readers, would expect. Tall, thin, frail, his physique is that of a man who has periodically to seek flight from death in change of scene and of air. His face is long and narrow ; the features singularly delicate and refined. Coal-black hair and large, dark, tranquil eyes, make up a face that immediately arrests attention, and that can never be forgotten. A tranquil voice and a gentle manner would combat the idea that this was one of the protagonists in one of the fiercest struggles of modern times. The speeches of Mr. Dillon are violent in their conclusions only. The propo- sitions which have so often shocked unsympa- thetic hearers are reached by him through calcu- lations of apparent frigidity, and are delivered "in an unimpassioned monotone. Mr. John Dillon is the son of the well-known John Blake Dillon, one of the bravest and purest spirits in the Young Ireland movement. His father was one of those who opposed the rising to the last moment as imprudent and hopeless; but was among the first to risk liberty and life THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 417 when It was finally resolved upon. John was born in Blackrock, County Dublin, in the year 1 85 1. He was mainly instructed in the institu- tions connected with the Catholic University. He was intended for the medical profession, and passed through the courses of lectures, and took the degree of Licentiate in the College of Sur- geons. It was not until after the arrival of John Mitchel in Ireland, after his many years of exile, that Dillon first appeared in the political arena. He then took an active part in the electoral con- test, and helped to get Mitchel returned. The rise of Mr. Parnell and the active policy brought Mr. Dillon more prominently to the front. At once he became an eac^er advocate of Mr. Parnell and his policy. Edmund Leamy was born in Waterford, on Christmas Day, 1848. Waterford is one of the towns which, amid the terrible eclipse over the rest of Ireland, shone out with something of a national spirit. An influence that made him a combatant in the national ranks was the early companionship of Thomas Sexton. When the election of 1874 came, he was an apprentice in a solicitor's office. In 1880 Leamy was put for- ward by one section of the constituency, and was returned. There is no man in the party whose real abilities and services bear so little resem- blance to his public reputation. A touch of the Paddy-go-aisy spirit, a curious love for self- 418 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. effacement, have hidden him from public view ; but to his colleagues he is known as having one of the keenest and most original intellects, and one of the most stirring tongues of the Irish party. On the first day of the meeting of the Irish party the chair was occupied by the Lord Mayor of Dublin — the distinguished patriot, E, Dwyer Gray, M. P. Mr. Gray is the son of the late Sir John Gray. He was born in the year 1846. Brought up from his earliest youth in the opin- ions of his father, he attained at an early age a correct judgment of political affairs. The mind of the son is even clearer than that of his father, and refuses steadily to accept any doctrine or course until it has been fully thought out. Gray succeeded his father in the management of the Fj^eemans yournal, the chief newspaper of Ire- land. Becoming a member of the Dublin Cor- poration, of which his father had been the guid- ing star for many years, he soon attained to the position of its leading figure. At this period he was Lord Mayor, and had under his control vast sums which had been subscribed for the relief of distress. Gray had been returned to the House of Commons shortly after the death of his father, and though not a frequent, was already, as he is still, one of its most influential debaters. There is no man in the Irish party, and few outside it, who can state a case with such pellucid clearness. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 419 Pre-eminent among the noble band of patriots who have, for years, been battling for Ireland's rights, and ventilating her fearful wrongs; noted for his abilities as a scholar, an orator, and a journalist, stands the Hon. Thomas Power O'Connor, M. P. This brilliant journalist and gifted author was born in the year 1848, in the historic old market- town of Athlone, which is situated in the counties of Westmeath and Roscommon, and stands almost in the geographical centre of Ireland. His early studies were at the College of the Immaculate Conception, at Athlone, where, among his many competitors, he was conspicuous for his aptness to learn and ability to teach others that informa- tion which he himself had just acquired at the hands of his reverend instructors. He subse- quently entered the University of Ireland, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in due course that of Master of Arts also. After his graduation, and having acquired a taste for literary pursuits, he connected himself with one of the most prominent journals of Dublin, and for three years subsequently he remained in that city, and contributed during that period a vast amount of historic and other valuable matter to the literature of the day. Desirous of a wider field in which to display his many talents, he removed to London and accepted a leading posi- 420 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. tion on the staff of one of its most widely known newspapers, the Daily Telegraph. He served afterwards on various other journals, gaining everywhere a well-earned reputation for his versatility, and the force and clearness of his writinors. Among the many attractive and useful works of which he was author the first volume which he published was a "Life of Beaconsfield," in 1880. It attracted considerable attention in Great Britain and Ireland, and later on he recast the work, publishing it in an enlarged form under the title of " Lord Beaconsfield. A Biography." It was an able and strongly written book, and attracted universal attention, not less through the clearness of its style and the accuracy of its statements and quotations, than through the terribly caustic and scathing criticisms which he visited upon the public acts of the great Tory leader. It is not to be wondered at that its contents excited the wrath of Beaconsfield's admirers in England and elsewhere. It was in 1880 that our gifted author began his parliamentary career. In that year he success- fully contested the county of Galway, and before its close he had earned his spurs as an intrepid and fearless debater in the many oratorical contests in which he and other noted Irish, Scotch, and English speakers of acknowledged ability, partici- pated. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 421 The promise that he then gave of future useful- ness for Ireland and Ireland's cause has been carried out to the letter. Let us follow his subsequent career. He has, since 1880, been twice chosen to the House of Commons from the " Scotland District " of the great commercial city of Liverpool, and on each occasion by a large and flattering majority. In 1 88 1 he visited the United States, and made a highly successful lecturing tour, the proceeds of which, amounting to a very large sum of money, he unselfishly devoted to the Irish patriotic cause. In 1883 his high executive ability caused his unanimous elevation to the presidency of the Irish National League of Great Britain, in which trying position his cool, dispassionate judgment carried the League through many dangerous and difficult situations ; dangerous and difificult so far as its immediate prosperity and the success which at- tended its influence, at home and abroad, were concerned. Always a busy man, he found, or rather made, time enough for himself to edit "The Cabinet of Irish Literature," and to write a large number of tales, essays, and review articles. His later articles included "The Parnell Move- ment," which was published in 1885, and the present work, of which he and Mr. Robert M. McWade, a well-known journalist of Philadelphia, are joint authors, 25 422 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Among the leaders in the Old Country, of the great movement for Irish Nationality, he takes, as we have said, a high rank by reason of his great intelligence, untiring industry, and hearty devotion to the cause. During his Parliamentary career his journal- istic labors have not been relaxed, notwithstanding the magnitude and complexion of his other public duties. His voice has never given forth an un- certain sound. He possesses that essential char- acteristic of a great orator — he knows when to speak, and when to be silent. When he strikes, his blows go straight home to the mark, and they never lack in force. Among the younger members of his party in Parliament, his unceasing vigilance and strong de- cision of character have obtained for him a po- sition of tacitly recognized premiership. Though his majorities for the English constituency which he has so long represented in the British Imperial Parliament have largely come from the English masses, he is known on this, as on the other side of the ocean, as being, first, last, and always an Irishman of the most intense type. The men who love Ireland best, and stand highest in the love and affection of her people, have invariably been able to count, without any mental or other reservation, upon the earnest patriotism and the whole-souled fidelity of Thomas Power O'Connor. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 423 Timothy Michael Healy was born in Bantry, County Cork, in the year 1855. He had pecuHar opportunities indeed for becoming famiHar with the awful horrors of the famine, for his father, at seventeen years of age, had been appointed Clerk of the Union at Bantry. He has told his son that for the three famine years he never once saw a single smile. It is no wonder that Healy, whose nature is vehement and excitable, should have grown up with a burning hatred of English rule. Young Healy went to school with the Christian Brothers, at Fermoy ; but fortune did not permit him to waste any unnecessary time in what are called the seats of learning ; for at thirteen he had to set out on making a livelihood. Though he has thus had fewer opportunities than almost any other member of the House of Commons of obtaining education — except such as his father, an educated man, may have imparted to him as a child — he is really one of the very best informed men in the place. He is intimately acquainted with not only English but also with French and with German literature, and could give his critics lessons in what constitutes literary merit. Another of the accomplishments which Mr. • Healy taught himself was Pitman's shorthand; and shorthand in his case was the sword with which he had in life's beginning to open the oyster of the world. At sixteen years of age he 424 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. went lo England and obtained a situation as a shorthand clerk in the office of the superin- tendent of the North Eastern Railway, at New- castle. English contemporary chronicles are not only full of his name, but absolutely teem with par- ticulars of his life, especially in its earliest years. Society journals have, on various occasions, espe- cially busied themselves with him, and, according to these veracious organs, Mr. Healy began life in a rag-and-bone shop, and, after much labor, graduated into a ticket-nipper. In various other journals there have been equally lively accounts. Mr. Healy has been described as ignorant and impudent, as foolish and as crafty, as rolling in ill-gotten wealth and as buried in abysmal pov- erty. There is no man of any Parliamentary party, in fact, of which so many portraits have been painted, and who has had to bear so many of these slings and arrows which the outrageous pens of hostile journalism can fling. This man, before whom ministers grow pale, is the delight and the darling of children, whose tastes and pleasures he can minister to with the unteachable instinct of genius. In 1878 he re- moved to London, partly for commercial and partly for journalistic reasons. After migrat- ing to London he was asked to contribute a weekly letter to the Nation on Parliamentary proceedings, which had just begun to get lively. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 425 From this time forward his face accordingly became famihar in the lobby of the House of Commons. He at once threw all his force on the side of the "active " section of the old Home Rule party, and Mr. Parnell has several times re- marked that it was to Mr. Healy's advocacy of his policy that the active party owed much of its success in those early days. In the opinion of many, his pen is even more effective than his tongue ; mordant, happy illustration, trenchant argument — all these things are still happily at the service of Irish national journalism. Per- haps the most remarkable of all Mr. Healy's qual- ities is his restless industry. From the moment he crosses the floor of the lobby till the House rises, he is literally never a moment at rest — excepting the half hour or so he spends at dinner in the restaurant within the House. He has almost as many correspondents as a minister, and he tries to answer nearly every letter on the day of its receipt. Then he takes an interest in, and knows all about, everything that is going on, great or small, English, or Irish, or Scotch. The extent of his knowledge of Parliamentary measures is astonishing; Healy holds himself at the service of everybody. And he is never absent from the House when anything of importance is going for- ward. He is, like the Premier, distinguished from other members by the fact that even in the division lobbies he is to be seen utilizing the precious 426 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. moments by writing. The characteristics of his oratory are rather peculiar. Often when he stands up first he is tame, disjointed, and in- effective, but he is one of the men who gather strength and fire as they go along; and before he has resumed his seat he has said some thing's that have set all the House laughing, and some that have put all the House into a rage. Finally, Healy has the defects of his qualities. The ardor of his temperament and the fierceness of his convictions often tempt him to exaggeration of language and of conduct. Those who play the complicated game of politics for such mighty stakes as a nation's fate and the destinies of millions ought to keep cool heads and steady hands. A quick temper and a sharp tongue cause many pangs to his friends, but keener tortures to Healy himself. William O'Brien was brought up from his earliest years in those principles of which he has become so prominent and so vigorous an ad- vocate. O'Brien's father was one of the most resolute spirits of the Young Ireland party; but afterwards, like so many of the men who survived that time, was by no means friendly to bloodshed or physical force. In time he had to remon- strate with some of his own offspring for their Fenianism, but his mouth was closed whenever his remonstrances became vehement by an allusion to the days of his own youth. William O'Brien THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 427 was born on October 2, 1852, in Mallow, with which town his family on the mother's side has been connected from time immemorial. He received his education at Cloyne Diocesan College. William from his earliest years had the same principles as he professes to-day. Apart from the example of his father, he had in his brother a strong apostle of national rights. This brother was indeed of a type to captivate the imagination of such a nature as that of his younger brother. Among the revolutionaries of his district he was the chief figure, and there was no raid for arms too desperate, or no expedition too risky for his spirit. He was arrested, of course, when the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and underwent the misery and tortures which were inflicted on untried prisoners under the best of possible constitutions and freest of pos- sible governments. With this episode in the life of the elder brother the brightness of the life of William O'Brien for many a long day ceased. His family history is strangely and terribly sad. The first noteworthy thing which William O'Brien ever wrote was a sketch of the trial of Captain Mackay. This attracted the attention of the proprietor of the Cork Daily Herald and he was offered an engagement upon that paper. There he remained until towards 1876, when he became a member of the staff of the Freeman s Joui'iiaL He did the ordinary work of the re- 428 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. porter for several years, with occasional dashes into more congenial occupation. Whenever his work had any connection with the condition or prospects of his country he devoted himself to it with a special fervor. When the Coercion Act was passed in 1880, he thought the moment had come for him to offer his services to maintain the fight in face of threats of danger. His health, however, was at the time so weak that his friends feared that the imprisonment which was almost certain to follow employment by the League would prove fatal to his constitution, and he was dis- suaded from joining the ranks of the movement. In June, 1881, when the conflict between Mr. Forster and the Land League was at its fiercest, the idea occurred of establishing a newspaper as an organ of the League and Parnellite party, and he was invited by Mr. Parnell to found U^iited Ireland and to become its editor. Great as was his reputation as a writer of nervous English, he had hitherto been unknown as the author of political articles, and few were prepared for the grasp and force of the editorials he contributed to the new journal. O'Brien is the very embodiment of the militant journalist. Though he has keen literary instincts and a fine soul, his work is important to him mainly because of its political result. Fragile in frame and weak in health, he is yet above all things a combatant, ready and almost eager to meet danger. A long, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 429 thin face, deep-set and piercing eyes, flashing out from behind spectacles, sharp features, and quick, feverish walk — the whole appearance of the man speaks of a restless and enthusiastic character. United Irelmid was suppressed by Mr. Forster, but, with the overthrow of Mr. Forster, the paper was apfain revived. It soon became evident that United Ireland was about to enter upon a struggle fiercer than even that with Mr. Forster. It seemed as if the country would lie paralyzed under the regime of packed juries and partisan judges. In the stillness which came over the country under such a regime^ the voice of United Ireland rang out clear and loud and defiant as ever. The partisanship of the judges was ruthlessly attacked, the shameful packing of juries was exposed, and attention was called to the protestations of innocence that came from so many dying lips. In this period it was held that no such criticism was permissible, and Lord Spencer resolved to crush the fearless and bril- liant journalist. Then began that long and lonely duel between Mr. O'Brien and Earl Spencer which lasted with scarce an interruption for three fierce years. The contest was opened by an action against Mr. O'Brien for " seditious libel." The meaning of seditious libel is any attack upon the Admin- istration not agfreeable to the officials then in power. An action of this character is, of course. 430 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. no longer possible in England. In the midst of this trial a vacancy arose in the representation of Mallow. It had been arranged before, that whenever the General Election came, Mr. O'Brien, as a Mallow man, should appeal to the town to join the rest of the country in the de- mand for Irish rights. The opportunity had come sooner than anybody had anticipated. The prosecution of O'Brien by the Government lent a singular character to the struggle, and a further element of significance was added by the Government sending down Mr. Naish, their new Attorney-General, as his opponent. Mallow had been a favorite ground for the race of cor- rupt place-hunters in the period when a place in Parliament was the only avenue to legal pro- motion. The contest for Mallow, under circumstances like these, attracted an immense amount of atten- tion, and all Ireland looked to the result widi eaeer- ness. But the reputation of Mallow had been so bad for so many years that the utmost expec- tation was that Mr. O'Brien would be returned by a small majority. The change that had come over all Ireland was shown when it was found that O'Brien had been returned by a majority of 72. John E. Redmond is one of the orators of the Irish party. He speaks with clearness, cour- tesy and at the same time with deadly vigor. He is the man of all others to put into a difficult THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 431 situation — cool, self-controlled, a perfect master of fence. There is no Scylla or Charybdis through which he cannot steer the barque of his words. He has done enormous service to the cause by speeches in Australia and America, and there is no man who produces more effect in the House of Commons in favor of his own side. Timothy Harrington is the organizer par excellence among the Irish members. He is a man of extraordinary energy of character, men- tal and physical. No amount of work is capable of fatiguing him. He has lived through a half- dozen imprisonments, occasionally with the plank- bed and prison-board, and has come out looking more robust, more energetic and as kindly as ever. He is a curious mixture of the apostle and the soldier — overflowinof with the milk of human kindness and at the same time with an in- satiate desire to " boss," to organize and win — a curious combination of St. Vincent de Paul and General Grant. He is at this moment the prac- tical Governor of Ireland. As Secretary of the National Leao^ue he has that immense oro^ani- o o zation entirely under his control. He rules with a kindly but yet with a firm hand, bullies and cajoles, argues and vituperates, makes long speeches and dictates long letters and all the time beams upon the world and looks for new regions to conquer and to lick into shape. People occa- sionally quarrel with him, but everybody admires 432 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. him and his intimates love him. He has one of the best and kindliest and most sincere of na- tures. He was a newspaper editor until the Land League agitation brought him into public life. He threw himself into the struggle with his whole soul, and was soon one of the most potent mem- bers of the organization. At this point we resume our sketch of the Par- liamentary campaign of 1886. The 8th of April was fixed as the day for Mr. Gladstone to unfold his new Irish policy. Never in the whole course of his great career had he an audience more splen- did. Every seat in evesry gallery was crowded. The competition for places in the House itself had led to scenes unprecedented in the history of that assembly. The Irish members were of course more anxious than any others to secure a good position. The English members were not quite so early as the Irish, but they were not far behind ; and long before noon there was not a seat left for any newcomer. Mr. Gladstone's speech began by showing the state of social order in Ireland. Then he asked the question whether Coercion had succeeded in keeping down crime. He pointed out that exceptional legis- lation which introduces exceptional provisions into the law ought itself to be in its own nature essentially and absolutely exceptional, and it has become not exceptional but habitual. ■ Then he proceeded to give a reason why Coercion THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 433 had failed. Having proved that Coercion was no longer applicable to the case of Ireland he went on to ask whether there was no alternative. He went on to say that he did not think the people of England and Scotland would again resort to such ferocious Coercion as he had described, until it had exhausted every other alternative. He then showed that England and Scotland have each a much nearer approach to autonomy under Parliament than Ireland has. He next discussed the possibility of reconciling local self-government with imperial unity, and after that treated, in a masterly way, the nature of the present union of the kingdoms under one Parliament. He discussed in a summary way several of the solutions which had been proposed for the difficulties which the case involved, show- ing their insufficiency. He then announced his own plan of giving Ireland a local administra- tion and a local Parliament for home affairs, and at the same time gave reasons for rejecting the idea of giving Irish representatives seats in the Houses of the British Parliament, the Irish mem- bers to have a vote on imperial affairs. He gave it as his opinion that the fiscal unity of the empire should be maintained, except as regards moneys raised by local taxation for local purposes. He then showed that Ireland needed administrative as well as legislative independence. He an- nounced the plan of reserving certain subjects with 434 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. which the Irish legislature should have no power to deal, such as the succession, regencies, pre- rogatives, and other matters pertaining to the Crown ; the army and navy ; foreign and colonial relations ; certain already established and char- tered rights ; the establishment or endowment of any pardcular religion ; the laws of coinage, trade and navigation — these subjects being re- served for imperial legislation. He then pro- posed a plan on which the Irish legislature might be organized ; suggested the powers and prerogatives of the Viceroy and of his Privy Council ; and announced a plan by which the financial relations of Ireland to the rest of the Empire might be established. He next criti- cised as wasteful the present expenditure of public money in Ireland, and discussed the Irish ex- chequer and the future of Irish credit. In dis- cussing the financial part of his scheme for Home Rule Mr. Gladstone made some very suggestive remarks : " I will state only one other striking fact with regard to the Irish expenditure. The House would like to know what an amount has been going on — and which at this moment is going on — of what I must call not only a waste of public money, but a demoralizing waste of public money, demoralizing in its influence upon both countries. The civil charges per capita at this moment are in Great Britain 8^. 2d. and in Ireland 16^. They THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 435 have increased in Ireland in the last fifteen years by sixty-three per cent., and my belief is that if the present legislative and administrative systems be maintained you must make up your minds to a continued, never-ending, and never-to-be-limited augmentation. The amount of the Irish contri- bution upon the basis I have described would be as follows : One-fifteenth of the annual debt charge of ;!f 22,000,000 would be ;if 1,466,000, one^ fifteenth of the army and navy charge, after ex- cluding what we call war votes, and also excluding the charges for volunteers and yeomanry, would be ;;/^ 1, 6 6 6,000, and the amount of the civil charges, which are properly considered imperial, would entail upon Ireland ;^ii 0,000, or a total charge properly imperial of ;^3, 242,000. I am now ready to present what I may call an Irish budget, a debtor and creditor account for the Irish exchequer. The customs produce in Ire- land a gross sum of ^1,880,000, the excise ;/^4, 300,000, the stamps ^600,000, the income- tax ;^55o,ooo and the non-tax revenue, including the post office, ;^i, 020,000. And, perhaps, here again I ought to mention as an instance of the demoralizing waste which now attends Irish ad- ministration, that which will perhaps surprise the House to know — namely, that while in England and Scotland we levy from the post office and telegraph system a large surplus income; in Ireland the post office and the telegraphs just 436 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. pay their expenses, or leave a surplus so small as not to be worth mentloninor. "The total receipts of the Irish Exchequer are thus shown to amount to ;^S,2,So,ooo, and against that I have to place an imperial contribution which I may call permanent, because it will last for a great number of years, of ;f 3,242,000. I put down ^1,000,000 for the constabulary, because that would be a first charge, although I hope that it will soon come under very effective reduction. I put down ;^2, 5 10,000 for the other civil charges in Ireland, and there, again, I have not the smallest doubt that that charge will likewise be very effectually reduced by an Irish Government. Finally, the collection of revenue is ;!f834,ooo, making a total charge thus far of ;!^7, 586,000. Then we have thought it essential to include in this arrangement, not only for our own sakes, but for the sake of Ireland also, a payment on account of the Sinking Fund against the Irish portion of the National Debt. The Sinking Fund is now paid for the whole National Debt. We have now to allot a certain portion of that debt to Ireland. We think it necessary to maintain that Sinking Fund, and especially for the Interest of Ireland. When Ireland eets the manaofement of her own affairs, I venture to prophesy that she will want, for useful purposes, to borrow money. But the difficulty of that operation will be enormously higher or lower according to the condition of her THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 437 public credit. Her public credit is not yet born. It has yet to lie like an infant in the cradle, and it may require a good deal of nursing, but no nurs- ing would be effectual unless it were plain and palpable to the eye of the whole world that Ire- land had provision in actual working order for discharging her old obligations so as to make it safe for her to contract new obligations more nearly allied to her own immediate wants. I therefore put down three-quarters of a million for Sinking Fund. That makes the total charge ;^7, 946,000, against a total income of ^^8, 3 50,000, or a surplus of ^404,000. But I can state to the House that that ;!f404,ooo is a part only of the Fund, which, under the present state of things, it would be the duty of the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer of the three countries to present to you for the discharge of our collecdve expenditure." The speech wound up with the following pero- ration : " I ask you to show to Europe and to America that we too can face political problems which America twenty years ago faced, and which many countries in Europe have been called upon to face and have not feared to deal with. I ask that in our own case we should practise with firm and fearless hand what we have so often preached — the doctrine which we have so often inculcated upon others — namely, that the concession of local self-government is not the way to sap or impair, but the way to strengthen and consolidate, unity. 26 438 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. I ask that we should learn to rely less upon merely written stipulations, and more upon those better stipulations which are written on the heart and mind of man. I ask that we should apply to Ire- land that happy experience which we have gained in England and in Scotland, where tlie course of generations has now taught us, not as a dream or a theory but as practice and as life, that the best and surest foundation we can find to build upon is the foundation afforded by the affections, the convictions, and the will of the nation ; and it is thus, by the decree of the Almighty, that we may be enabled to secure at once the social peace, the fame, the power, and the permanence of the Empire." The speech was eminently judicious in its tone. The eagerness of the House to hear its interest- ing details was so great that even faction was silent, and Mr. Gladstone was allowed to proceed calmly to the end. Immediately afterwards, on Friday, the i6th of April, Mr. Gladstone brought in the Land Purchase Bill. It will suffice for the present to say that the main object of that bill was to issue fifty millions worth of stock for the purpose of enabling the Irish tenants to become proprietors of the Irish soil. The Land Purchase Bill played no other part in Parliament ot itself, never having been brought beyond the stage of its introducUon, but it had an indirect influence of a fatal character. The Land Purchase Bill, in THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 439 fact, more than anything else killed Home Rule. The Home Rule Bill was immediately attacked from different points, by Lord Hartington, by Mr. Chamberlain, by Mr. Gosehen, by Sir George Trevelyan. The attacks were not, however, very damaging. Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George Trevelyan met the bill by counter-proposals which were obviously ridiculous. Lord Hartington and Mr. Gosehen were more adroit and confined them- selves to strictly destructive criticism. The for- tunes of the bill rose and fell every day. A large number of the Liberal party were found to be without any settled convictions on the ques- tion. It became evident as time went on that Mr. Gladstone would have to make desperate efforts to carry his bill, and he certainly did make desperate efforts. Grave objection had been taken to the exclusion of Irish members for Westmin- ster. He promised to meet the objection and allow their return to Westnilnster on certain con- ditions. Finally it had been suggested that the bills had come upon the public mind too rap- idly. He agreed accordingly to drop the Home Rule Bill and to reintroduce it in an autumn sit- ting. The Tories and the Whigs accordingly made a final attack on Mr. Gladstone the following day. Mr. Gladstone defended himself with warmth, and practically repeated the same things he had said in the Foreign Office speech. But the waverers among his followers professed to find a difference 440 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. between the two speeches. Mr. Chamberlain called a meeting of his followers on the following Monday, and a resolution was passed pledging the members present to vote against the second reading, and the fate of the bill was sealed. The division took place on June yth amid scenes of intense excitement. Mr. Gladstone wound up the debate in a speech which was universally re- garded as one of the finest he had ever delivered. He went over the whole ground, clearly recapit- ulated and destroyed all objections, and wound up with an appeal perhaps the most noble of any throughout all his magnificent series of addresses on this question. But eloquence and reason were lost upon the dull heads and the malignant hearts that had determined to humiliate the lofty genius whose magnanimity rebuked their petty mean- ness. When the division was taken there were for the bill 311, against 341. Then ensued a scene of wild excitement. The Tories cheered themselves hoarse ; the Irish remained for a time silent, and when the Tory cheers died away they rose to their feet and cheered back in defiance. There were tumultuous scenes meantime out- side the House, and some free fighting, but at last the noise died away and the mad scene had come to a close. A few aays afterwards the ministers announced that they had resolved to dissolve Par- liament, and the battle was now transferred from the House of Commons to the constituencies. CHAPTER XII. THE APPEAL TO THE COUNTRY. WHEN the appeal to the country began the signs were favorable to the Govern- ment. Throughout the whole of the country the Liberal associations founded by Mr. Chamber- Iain had met, and with scarcely an exception had pronounced against the men who refused to do justice to Ireland. Even Mr. Chamberlain him- self had not been spared, and at a crowded meeting a resolution had been carried against him with very little dissent. The working classes gave testimony in favor of the Irish cause. No Irishman, indeed, who has gone through this crisis has failed to be deeply impressed with the attitude of the English, Scotch and Welsh de- mocracy. Whatever misgivings or divisions there were among other secdons of society, there was scarcely any among the masses of tlie people. They were not only favorable to the policy of Mr. Gladstone, but they were enthusiastic in its favor. Opponents of the measure could scarcely get a hearing. Mr. Richard Chamberlain, who had followed his brother in attacking the policy 445 446 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. of the Government, was unable after a time to hold any meetings whatever. But all this time the enemies of Mr. Gladstone were at work. Lord Hartington went from one part of the country to the other, everywhere de- nouncing the policy of the Prime Minister. His speeches were, however, marked by dignity, self- control and perfect freedom from mean or ma- levolent insinuation. Mr. Goschen worked even harder, and spoke in every part of the country. He also, though he spoke strongly, spoke with becoming decorum, except when dealing with the unfortunate Irish members. But Mr. Chamber- lain threw off the mask completely, and attacked the Prime Minister in lanoruaore of most vindictive bitterness. He brought all sorts of charges against him, but the climax was reached in Cardiff, where he suggested that Mr. Gladstone had consulted American revolutionaries before formulating his policy. Of course the charge was utterly untrue ; but it produced a starding and tremendous effect. From all parts of the great hall came shouts of "Traitor! Traitor!" Nor did Mr. Chamberlain fight the batde with honesty on any point, but consummate duplicity was freely employed. Mr. Bright finally joined in the combination against the Prime Minister. He also dealt at great length with the question of Land Purchase, but he was almost as uncandid on this point as THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 447 Mr. Chamberlain. In the Land Act of 1870 there were clauses which are kno-^wn as the Bright clauses. These clauses deal entirely with the question of Land Purchase. They are the first enactments on the British Statute Book in favor of allowing the tenants to become the owners of their holdings with the assistance ol the State, and in fact the idea of land purchase first became a part of practical politics through Mr. Bright him- self. He is the father of the whole policy. Previous to 1880 he made several speeches in Ireland and elsewhere, in which he laid down that the real settlement of the land difficulty of Ire- land was a vast and wholesale scheme of land purchase. He now attacked Mr. Gladstone for carrying out a policy which he himself had been the strongest to advocate. He also took up stronger ground than almost any other opponent of Mr. Gladstone's policy. To any Parliament of any kind whatever in Dublin he declared himself entirely opposed. There were various other causes which con- tributed to defeat Mr. Gladstone. Many people throughout the country were deeply concerned for the safety of the Irish Protestants, ignorant of the central fact of Irish history that National move- ments have, with the single exception of O'Con- nell's, always had Protestants as their leaders, and that the present leader of the Irish party is a Prot- estant, and that in electoral matters many of the 448 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. fiercest struggles have been on the side of a Protestant Nationalist against a Catholic Whig. The " No-Popery " cry has not died out in Eng- land, but represents a force that is not spent. But the thing above all others which proved effective against the Government was the Land Purchase scheme. Under the bill of Mr. Glad- stone there would not have been the possibility of the loss of a farthing to the Bridsh exchequer ; but Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Bright, and a great many others repeated it so often that it was finally believed that the meaning of the bill was that the British taxpayer would have to spend ;^i 50,000,- 000 in paying the Irish landlord. It was a singu- lar Nemesis on the landlords of Ireland that their tyranny and cruelty had become so well known that hatred of them had grown into a passion with the British as with the Irish democracy, and for the working-classes of the country to be called upon to have to pay higher taxes in order that these scoundrels might get a heavy price for their stolen goods was a project against which the workingman's stomach revolted ; and in voting against the Gladstonian candidate, or refusing to vote for him, vast numbers of men were impelled by the idea that they were striking a blow against the hated tyrants of the Irish soil. Finally the Tories and the Liberal Unionists had made a treaty which was carried out with astonishing fidelity in every place in which it was THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 449 made. Every Liberal who voted against the bill was promised by the Tories freedom from all Tory opposition. The result of it was that in a vast number of constituencies, nearly one hundred altogether, the Liberal who opposed Mr. Glad- stone had the solid Tory vote, and it will be clear that it required but a small percentage of his own following among the Liberals to be able to win a seat on a contest of such a character. In this way a number of Liberals were returned to Par- liament by Tory votes, and of course, with this vote, were able in most instances to defy attacks made upon their seats by the honest liberalism of the constituencies. Nevertheless, this union of bitter opponents proved ineffective in some remarkable cases, and several of the most prom- inent enemies of Ireland were defeated. Mr. Goschen was beaten by an immense majority in Edinburgh ; Sir George Trevelyan was routed in the Border Burghs after holding the seat for eighteen years ; Mr. Albert Grey, with all the influence of Lord Grey, a large landed proprietor, and of the Tories and Whigs, was beaten for the Tyneside Division, and Lord Hartington had to rely almost wholly on Tory votes in his own con- stituency of Rossendale. In Ireland, meantime, the Parnellites had been winning their way steadily after the usual fashion. It had been declared over and over again both in the debates in Parliament and during the election 450 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. campaign that tire Parnellite members represented but a minority of the Irish population, and that their return had been brought about by the intim- idation of the loyal portion of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, in the majority of seats the loyalists in the election of 1886 did not even venture upon a contest, the reason of course being that there was no chance whatever of winning seats, and they were afraid of showing their nakedness to the enemy. There was one important victory and there were two important defeats. Mr. Sex- ton renewed his attack on West Belfast and was returned by a startlingly large majority. On the other hand, Mr. Healy was beaten for South Derry, and Mr. William O'Brien for South Ty- rone. Thus the result of these two defeats was to reverse the verdict of Ulster at the previous election to the extent of giving the Orangemen the majority of one which was hitherto held by the Nationalists. This majority, however, is not yet secure. Mr. Justin McCarthy fought again for Derry City ; the majority against him was declared to be three, but a petition has since been presented making charges of personation and unfair rejection of votes, and as all the officials were unscrupulous Orangemen it is more than probable that the petition will prove successful. And thus again the Nationalists would be masters of Ulster. Another registration will probably give them two or three more seats, and the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 451 Orange faction will be reduced to its proper di- mensions. When the elections were over it was found that the following had been returned : Con- servatives, 317; Liberal Unionists, 75; Home Rule Liberals, 191 ; Parnellites, 85; Speaker, i. This does not account for the Orkney and Shet- land Islands, the result of the elections for which were not known until long after the others were disposed of. For those islands, however, a Glad- stonian was returned. It will be well to say a word or two about the number of votes that were given. The figures were as follows : For the Conservatives, 1,106,651 votes; Liberal Unionists, 417,456; Gladstonian Liberals, 1,347,983; Parnellites, 99,669. Total, 2,971,759. Conservatives and Liberal Unionists combined, 1,524,107. Gladstonian Liberals and ParnelHtes, 1,447,652. It will thus be seen that out of a total of nearly three millions of votes in the three countries there was a majority for Unionists of 76,455. If we turn to Wales we find that the vote was : Gladstonian Liberals, 60,- 083 ; Conservatives, 28,897 ! Liberal Unionists, 10,005. Thus in the principality of Wales there was a Ministerial majority of 11,578 of the entire population. In Scotland the total poll was: Gladstonian Liberals, 191,443; Liberal Unionists, 113,222 ; Conservatives, 50,800. And thus there was a majority for Home Rule in the Scotch electorate of 27421. In England alone was there 452 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. a majority against Home Rule. The numbers were in England : Conservatives, 938,487; Liberal Unionists, 264,643 ; total Unionist vote, 1,203,130. Gladstonian Liberals, 1,096,45 7 ; Parnellites, 2,91 1. Total Ministerial vote, 1,099,368; Unionist ma- jority, 103,762. At all events, in England, Wales and Scotland alone 1,347,983 people have voted for Home Rule. A year before the Home Rulers in England were perhaps not more than a few thousand. At this election the Home Rulers were nearly a million and a half. And this is no reason (to say the least) for discouragement. If we look upon the composition of the new House we find equally good reason for satisfaction. The Liberal Unionists are a hopeless party reduced in numbers, incapable of forming an administra- tion, and perhaps incapable of holding together, and Conservatives can only maintain an adminis- tration by the countenance and support of a cer- tain section of the Liberal Unionists, and there- fore by the continuance of the split between the different sections of the Liberal party. A prominent and startling series of events has taken place of late in Belfast and its vicin- ity. There has occurred in that important city a succession of terribly bloody riots between the Protestant and the Catholic portions of the pop- ulace. The overwhelming majority of the re- ports confirm the truth of the statement that the Protestants in almost if not quite every case have THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 453 been the aggressive party, and it appears that they have surpassed their adversaries in cruelty and bitter zeal. The friends of Ireland have not forgotten the recent speech of Lord Randolph Churchill, in which he appeared to advise his loyalist hearers to take just exactly the course that these misguided bigots have taken. The opinion very generally held by well-in- formed Home Rulers, that Ireland has more reason to expect favors from the Conservative leaders than from a party so divided as is the so- called Liberal party of to-day, finds considerable support from the present aspect of public affairs in Great Britain. Already the air is full of rumors of grand and generous movements to be executed under Conservative auspices. One Conservative project is said to look to the speedy concession of Home Rule to England, to Scot- land and to Wales, as well as to Ireland— the united kingdom to be by this process transformed into a Federal Union of autonomous states. This project is at present a crude one ; and the an- swer to the question as to whether Ireland would be willing to become a member of such a federa- tion must depend largely upon the details of the scheme. These details, however, are as yet un- known to the general public, and it is enough to say that even those who may favor this plan have not as yet given to it any definite shape. AMERICA'S PART. "THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE." By ROBERT M. McWADE, Esq. WITH INTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR ROBERT E. THOMPSON, D.D.. LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. (465) AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. I ACCEPTED the invitation of my friend Mr. Robert M. McWade to write something by way of preface to his able and authentic account of the Irish National League in America, not as hoping- to add anything to its interest, but be- cause there were some things which ought to be said to American readers of this book, and which I may be in a better position to say than he is. As an economist, an Irish. Protestant, and not a member of the League, although I have worked with it with voice and pen in behalf of Ireland, I can speak as a somewhat disinterested observer of its labors and its achievements. And for the same reason I can speak freely of some American prejudices which stand in the way of the re- coo^nition of Ireland's riofhts. The educational work of the Irish National League in America has been more effective in moulding public opinion than probably its own representatives are aware. By reason of the absorption of Americans in questions of home rather than foreign politics, and the general 27 (457) i58 AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. diffusion of English books and newspapers in this country, there has been and there still is a great amount of both ignorance and prejudice on this subject in America. But both are dissipating rapidly, and for that thanks to the League mainly. The dignity, the sincerity, the mingled sobriety and enthusiasm of the annual conventions, and the ample self-sacrifices made by the League at large in behalf of Ireland, have produced a deep and growing impression for good. It is an Encrlish delusion that Ireland has no American friends except among the politicians who want Irish votes. My own associations are very slight with that class of Americans, and very intimate with those whose opinions are formed on better grounds ; and I can testify that it is becoming rarer with every year to find an American who wishes the continuance of British rule in Ireland, or who does not believe in "Ireland for the Irish." There still are a few who object to this ques- tion being brought into prominence in America. They say it should be fought out at home, and that Irishmen who become American citizens should leave their old-world questions behind them, as do the Germans or the Norwegians who come to America. But the American people generally recognize a great difference in the case of the Irish. They know that this people have been driven by millions from their native land by the misrule of an alien government, and are in effect exiles as well as immigrants. And they AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. 459 know that the Irish people in America have to spend millions every year out of their wages and earnings to save their kindred at home from eviction, and that every few years they have to add largely to those millions to save their country- men from the famines produced by alien rule. With some patriotic Americans there is a shrlnkinof from ownino- the riofht of Ireland to con- trol her own affairs, because of a fancied anal- ogy between Home Rule and Secession, on which Ireland's enemies — Prof. Goldwin Smith and others — have insisted very skillfully. There is no 7'eal analogy between the two things. The Amer- ican States which attempted to secede in 186-1 had given their full and free consent to the Union of 1 789, in the face of the warning that if they entered it they could not withdraw without the consent of three-fourths of the States. Ireland — as Mr. Leckey and Mr. Gladstone both remind us — never o-ave her consent to the Union of 1801I. "The whole unbought intellect of Ireland re- sisted it," Mr. Leckey says. Before i860 — as Mr. Alexander Stephens reminded the people of Georgia in discussing the proposal to secede — the South exercised a controlling influence on the policy oi the country, and had not a single substantial grievance to plead. Ireland since 1 801 has been a hopeless and powerless minority, ofoverned accordino- to Enoflish ideas and in- terests rather than her own, and in defiance of pledges contained in the Treaty of Union itself. 460 AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. The secession movement was a spurt of excited passion, which experience has shown not to have destroyed the patriotic attachments of the Soutli- ern people. Ireland's hostiHty to English rule has been age-long, unrelenting, ineradicable. It is true that the one hundred and five mem- bers secured Ireland in the Imperial Parliament have made a kind of representation of the coun- try. But what avails this number against four times as many English and Scotch members who know and care nothing about the needs and prejudices, the political and social ideas of the Irish people, and who are alien to them in blood, religion and historical traditions ? Take but one instance of the workings of the arrangement. The Irish people, like Catholic peoples generally, think the relief of the poor is a matter for indi- vidual charity and church oversight. Yet England forced her poor-law upon Ireland, lev^^ing a rate for the public relief of the destitute, and build- ing workhouses, on whose inmates alone this relief is bestowed. And she enacted it for Ire- land with a seventy unknown even in Great Britain. She forbade out-door relief even in times of the most general distress, requiring every recipient to become an inmate of the workhouse. As hardly anything could be more disgraceful in the eyes of the Celtic peasant, there have been many cases in which the people la)' down and died of hunger sooner than enter " the house." And this is why the Irish in every year of famine AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. 461 turn to appeal to the chanties of the world at large, rather than ask help of the government of their country. With some Americans the objection derived from religious differences has weight. They have so little reo^ard for their Protestantism that they are willing to saddle it with a great national injustice, rather than see Ireland controlled by a Roman Catholic majority. Let me ask their at- tention to two points: The first is, that Ireland is the one country of Europe which has no re- ligious establishment, and that it is going to have none. The national party avow their readiness to accept Home Rule on a footing which forbids government favors to any church or sect. The second is, that the only religious question left to fight over is the education question, and that on that the majority of the Protestants — and espe- cially the Orange party among the Protestants — are in complete agreement with the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. They both wish the abolition of the national schools, in which religious instruction is both vague and scanty. They both wish to substitute for it denominational schools, to be aided by the government in pro- portion to the work each school is doing. It is only the Presbyterians and some Roman Catholics who will offer any resistance to their proposal : and their combined forces will not suffice to make the resistance either prolonged or vigorous. But, even were it otherv^'ise, there would be no 462 AMERICAN INTRODUCTION, danger in leaving the Irish people to settle the religious problem among themselves. To sup- pose that the temper of the Roman Catholic majority is intolerant is to ignore the plainest facts, and to transfer the ideas of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into the nineteenth. Has the Protestant minority of Belgium suffered from the overthrow of the alien Protestant gov- ernment, whose existence made that creed offen- sive before 1830 to the great majority of the Belgian people ? As a matter of fact, the Prot- estants of Bel2:ium have not a single substantial grievance. The Roman Catholics of Belgium, instead of sinking all other questions and uniting for their extermination, have divided upon other questions, and each party seeks the Protestant vote. And so it would be in Ireland. On every question, notably on that of education, the Roman Catholics would be found to differ among them- selves, and the old line of cleavage between Orange and Green would disappear in the new line between Liberal and Conservative. Mr. Parnell probably would be found leading the Liberal ** centre," with Mr. Davitt on the Radical "left ; " and a Conservative party, Roman Catholic even more than Protestant, would form the "right" in a National Irish Parliament. Nor is it any compliment to the Protestants of Ireland to suppose that they are not equal to the task of taking care of themselves, and of making their alliance courted. The element which gave AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. 453 to Great Britain such men as Burke, Canning, Castlereagh, Croker, Wellington, Palnierston and Cairnes may be presumed to have some polit- ical capacity. It has inherited political experience and wealth in excess of its numerical ratio. It has had the best opportunities for general and hieher education. It has oriven Ireland leaders — from Swift and Grattan to Davis and Parnell — whose names are a national possession. It has contributed its full share of the martyrs for the cause of Irish liberty. And when the soreness attending the readjustments of our generation are over, when the agrarian and the political problems are settled, the people of Ireland will say — as Mr. Parnell has said already of the Protestant minor- ity — " We want them all ; we do not mean to do without a man of them." A few Americans still cherish the delusion that the character of the Irish people is naturally law- less and disorderly, and that this constitutes one of the difficulties of maintaining good government there. On the contrary there is no country in the world in which crimes against life, person, chastity and property are so rare. This is ad- m.itted even by those English statists, who are unfriendly to the national aspirations of the Irish people. It has been shown by a comparison of Ireland with our New England States — the most orderly part of our national Union— by the Rev. Charles F. Thwing. The contrary impression has been created by collecting carefully every re- 464 AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. port of crime and outrage committed in Ireland, and sending it by telegraph to England and to the United States. These despatches are compiled in the office of The Irish Times, a Dublin paper, which has nothing Irish about it except its tide. Mr. John Murdock, of Inverness, a hearty friend of the Irish people, attended the sessions of the Peace Society in this city when he was visiting America. He found it about to adopt resolutions deploring ** the prevalence of outrage and blood- shed in Ireland," and calling upon the Irish party and Mr. Parnell to put a stop to this. Mr. Mur- dock asked the Society to look at the official statis- tics of Irish crime as compared with those of Penn- sylvania, and showed it that Ireland had about a score of murders to commit before New Year's day — it was then November — if she was to catch up to the Pennsylvania average. The society withdrew its resolutions and adopted instead of them an address calling the attention of Queen Victoria to the recent stabbing and shooting of women by soldiers and police on the streets of Irish towns. There are very few Americans so ill-informed as to repeat the stock argument that " Ireland is wretched because it is over-populated, and no English government can find a remedy for that." Ireland, like India, produces far more food than her people can consume. Like India, she suffers from the periodical famines which fall upon coun- tries which are producing nothing but food, and AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. 465 which have nothing to fall back on when the har- vest fails. By the export of food Ireland pays not only the rents of her army of absentee-landlords, but buys nearly every article of manufacture that, is used by either rich or poor in the island. Accord- ing to the testimony collected from experts by Sir Eardley Wilmot's Committee of the House of Commons in 1885, almost every hat and cap, boot and shoe, chair and table, knife and fork, shovel and spade used in Ireland comes to her from other countries. The people are clad for the most part in the products of the cotton and shoddy-mills of Northern England, although plenty of good wool is produced in Ireland and the country has abundant supplies of both coal and water-power. No iron is smelted in Ireland, although her great peat-beds could be used for that purpose, and Antrim produces iron ore which is exported to America. And what manufactures still remain are decaying visibly. Ulster is losing her manufacture of linen, and is exporting linen yarn to be worked into fabrics by the German weavers, whose government has given them the technical training that enables them to outdo their Irish competitors. Every census shows a decrease In the number of the Irish people who are living by anything else than farming. It has been among the especial services the Irish National Leao-ue of America has rendered to Ireland, that from the first it has Insisted that the restoration of Irish manufactures — de- 466 AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. stroyed by the infamous Union of 1801 — is a question of equal importance with the readjust- ment of land-ownership. To this Mr. Parnell re- sponded in his Cork speech in the spring of 1886, in which he recognized that even a peasant pro- prietary would not make Ireland prosperous in the absence of other occupations than farming. Indeed it is the want of such occupations which has vested the Irish landlords with that excess of power over their tenants, which so many of them have abused shamefully. It is the want of such occupations which in the past made farming in Ireland a losinof business to freeholders as well as tenants, and which ruined that great army of land- lords, who were swept away by the Encumbered Estates Court in 1 847-1 857. And the fact that whatever an English Parliament may do to amend the land system, it will do nothing to meet this want, is one of the many circumstances that make Home Rule for Ireland indispensable. In the plan of Home Rule proposed by Mr. Gladstone and accepted in substance by Mr. Par- nell, the new Irish Parliament would be debarred from dealing with this problem in the usual way, — that to which Americans are accustomed. That Parliament could lay no duty on imports or exports, nor could it collect any but direct taxes. But there are many roads to the same goal ; and Dr. Sullivan, the able and patriotic President of Queen's College, Cork, seems to have anticipated AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. 4g7 this difficulty in his testimony before Sir Eardley Wilmot's Committee by pointing out others for the revival of the manufactures of the country. It is notable that he does not sugfofest afresh trial of the plan of voluntary agreement to use the products of Irish manufacture only. That has been tried repeatedly in the last fifty years, and it always has proved a failure. Voluntary agree- ments do not furnish the degree of security on which a capitalist will risk his money. And their purpose is very easily defeated by the fraud which labels English goods with Irish trade-marks. This is a case in which the judgment of the peo- ple as to their own interest can be enforced only through their collective action, using their govern- ment as an oroan. And as the alien ofovernment of England will not serve as the organ of the popular will in this matter, the establishment of a national government for Ireland must be the first step towards the establishment of Irish prosperity. What effect the restoration of Irish prosperity will have on the relations of the nation to the British Empire is a question which must be left to the future. Ireland's dependence has been se- cured by her poverty 9.nd her internal dissensions, more than by the power of her oppressor. And Ireland united and prosperous will be able to choose for herself. Those who think her discon- tent has had its root in her misery merely, will expect to see her settle down into a comfortable 468 AMERICAN INTRODUCTION. and untroLiblesome member of the United King- dom. Those who believe that its deepest root is Irish nationaHty — the collective will to be one people in distinction from all other people — must look for a different result. Time will test these two estimates and this saves us the trouble of prophesying. Of one thing I am sure, that in the not distant future the choice between the two destinies will lie absolutely in the hands of the Irish people. Not only the civil and criminal law of the island will have that "Irish source," which Mr. Gladstone says it must have if the people are to give it a hearty acquiescence ; but the consti- tutional law which defines the relations of the country to England and the re^st of the world will have an "Irish source" also, and will be of such a character as the Irish people may elect to give it. It is remarkable that so keen a logician as Mr. Gladstone should not have seen this in- ference from his own premise as to the proper source of law. If he should be spared long enough to complete his education in the matter of justice to Ireland, he may be convinced that something very different from his Home Rule Bill is what his own reasoning would suggest for that misgoverned and unhappy country. ROBERT ELLIS THOMPSON. University of Pennsylvania, January, 1887. ROBERT M McWADE CHAPTER XIII. THE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA. TOWARDS the close of the year 1879, when Ireland was in the midst of the dark events which clustered so thickly around that memorable period in her history, the Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, determined to appeal on behalf of his suffering country, not merely to the Irish at home, but to the Irish abroad, especially to those exiles and their descendants who had set- tled in America. He placed himself in communi- cation with leading Irish-American citizens, and after a lengthy correspondence finally determined, in 1880, to visit this country. The establishment of the Irish National League of the United States was one of the chief and most important results of that visit. Immediately after his arrival, ac- companied by John Dillon, he delivered addresses in many of the large cities of the Union, and, wherever they went, his cool argumentative and dispassionate discourses gained hosts of influ- ential American friends, who contributed freely and liberally to the Irish cause. Notable among the first contributions he received at this time, 471 472 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and which he forwarded at once to Treasurer Egan in Ireland, was a gift of ^1,000 from Mr. George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, who, with his friend, Mr. A. J. Drexel, the head of the widely known banking firm of Drexel 81 Co., has since then made orenerous donations to the Irish National League and Irish Parliamentary Funds. Before leaving New York for his home in Ire- land Mr. Parnell held a conference with several prominent men from various parts of the Union. The result of their deliberations was a conference, lasting two days, which was held in Trenor Hall, New York, on May i8th and 19th, 1880, at which the Hon. Patrick A. Collins, of Boston, presided. Appropriate resolutions were there drawn up and agreed to, a provisional constitution adopted and the following elected as national officers: J. J. McCafiferty, President; Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Treasurer ; Michael Davitt, Secretary. Almost immediately after the meeting the presi- dent resigned, and the patriot, Michael Davitt, went home to Ireland to face threatened impris- onment. The conduct of the entire executive business of the Land League was thus thrown upon Father Walsh. Feeling the necessity for prompt and energetic work, that patriot priest used every exertion to further the success of the movement. Branches were formed in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and other great cities and centres of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 473 population, and contributions to the League funds were transmitted to Ireland throuo^h the Irish o World, Boston Pilot, and other journals, as well as througrh the reofular treasurer. Father Walsh found, after laboring incessantly and unwearyingly for several months, that more concerted action and a more effective organization were absolutely necessary. Hence, he issued a call to the delegates of the various branches to meet in convention at Buffalo, N. Y., on the 12th and 13th of January, 1881. This was really the first Land League Con- vention held in the United States of America. Though in point of numbers its roll-call of dele- gates was not very large, yet it is safe to say that there never before assembled in this country a more intelligent, patriotic or representative body of men to take counsel together on the welfare of Ireland. A series of resolutions expressive of the objects of, as well as the necessity for, the ex- istence of the Land League was adopted, the bonds of unity and fraternity among the friends of Ireland throughout this country were cemented and strenorthened, a Central Council was chosen, and the followino- national officers were elected : Hon. Patrick A. Collins, Boston, Mass., Presi- dent; Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Waterbury, Conn., Treasurer; Thomas Fladey, Esq., Boston, Mass., Secretary. Those three officers at once instituted a com- 474 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. plete system of organized activity and effective energy, and raised the Land League In America into a powerful organization, containing nearly one thousand branches and contributing In one year about three hundred thousand dollars to Treasurer Egan, then in Ireland. In the light of subsequent events, the following address, Issued on February 7, 1881, by President Collins to the members of the League and the American public, possesses conside/able Interest, aside from Its historical value, as being the first declaration made by the first National President of the League : " Irish National Land League of the United States. Central Office, 198 Washington Street, Boston, Mass., " To the Members of the League mid the A7nerican Public : It Is but a few months since the people of Ireland ended a struggle for existence on the soil of their fathers. They fought Death itself, in the gaunt form of famine, and by the great charity of mankind were enabled to conquer It. To the wail of Irish distress America responded with noble generosity. "But had not the Land League in Ireland ex-> isted, with its forecast and warning of the famine, its timely appeal, wise organization, and machinery for distribution. In the judgment of the best In- formed, death by starvation would have been the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 477 fate of vast numbers of the people. The scenes of 1846-7-8 were averted by prescience and orofanization. " The Land League in Ireland continues its ex- istence for the purpose of removing the cause of famine — landlord robbery of the people ; for the purpose of compelling such changes in the law as will make every Irish peasant the owner of the soil he cultivates. "In their movements to attain this grand re- sult — a result attained by the people of almost every other country in Europe — the Irish have the sympathy of every free people on the planet. " But they need more. The Ireland we speak of has been richly dowered by nature, but cruelly robbed by man. By fire, sword, law and famine the island has been swept and scourged for seven centuries in an effort for the conquest of the land and the extermination of the people. Manu- factures have been depressed, commerce has been swept from the ocean ; agriculture is the chief industry of the people. "The area of Ireland is 20,327,764 acres; 4,643,986 acres are in bog, waste and water. From the 15,683,778 acres of arable land and some 5,000,000 people living on it, the landlords claim the right to wring ^90,000,000 a year in rents — half of which to spend abroad — and the Government ^60,000,000 more in local and impe- rial taxes ! 28 478 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " In so-called ' good years ' Ireland staggers under this enormous burden; in 'bad years' she starves or begs. "Says the London Times: 'Property is there ruled with savage and tyrannical sway. Land- lords exercise their rights with a hand of iron, and disregard their duties with a forehead of brass.' " Feudal law, with a mountain of abuses piled upon it, is mercilessly administered by a landlord class whose titles rest upon confiscation, and who are sustained in their excesses and exactions by the whole power of the Government. " Nearly 80 per cent, of the cultivators are ten- ants at the landlords' will. But 3 per cent, are owners in fee. " Rent is based, not upon the humane, economic principle that the soil is first to repay the tiller for his toil and outlay, but upon a calculation of what can be squeezed out of the ragged, wretched tenant, and out of his friends abroad. " Not less than ^3,000,000 annually, during the past thirty years, have been forwarded to the peasantry of Ireland by their friends and kindred in other lands ! Not less than two-thirds of this goes from the United States. Hence this becomes an American economic question. "With such a merciless system in vogue, what wonder is it that the people are described as ' the worst housed, the worst fed and the worst clad of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 479 any in the world?' Two hundred and twenty- five thousand families live in cabins of one room each. In ' good years ' they exist. In * bad years ' they starve, unless succored by foreign charity. " Nine-tenths of the landlord titles to the soil of Ireland rest upon confiscation. Morally, against the rights of the true owners, no statute of limitations runs. Legally, what the Crown or Parliament gave it can take away. " If the Irish people had the power to rid them- selves at once of Crown and landlords, they would use it, and the moral sense of mankind would justify and applaud it. " But in the Land League programme there is no sueofestion of resort to armed force. Irish discontent and agitation are to run their course within the limits of the British law and Constitu- tion. "To lift the people of the island up from mis- ery, to educate them into a full realization of their condition, rights and power, to organize them in solid mass against the authors of their wrongs, to force by lawful means such changes in the land laws as will make the people the owners of the soil they till — this is the mission of the Land League in Ireland. "The effort has already borne fruit. Rents have been reduced, evictions have diminished, the people have ' stuck to their holdings.' The ques- tion is on the fair road to settlement. 480 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " England yields only to force. During the past year the force of the Irish people has been wisely, ingeniously, admirably exerted. Hence, the concession in the Queen's speech of Home Rule and the rights of the tenant in the land. The logical extension of these principles lifts Ireland up to a plane of prosperity. " In dealing with Irish grievance, however, England deals a blow before she applies the rem- edy. Coercion precedes concession. " Ireland is about to be subjected to a tension unwonted even for her. It will require the exer- cise of all the leaders' skill and the marvellous patience of the people to avert an explosion. "That they will succeed, their conduct during the past year is an earnest and a guaranty. " In this crisis, and in their supreme effort to rid themselves of the incubus of landlordism, the people of Ireland need the aid of their friends in other lands. "Against them are the prejudices of ages, the power of a dominant and arrogant class, the very wealth wrung from their toil and misery — the Crown, the aristocracy, a subsidized press. On their side are justice, numbers, patriotism and the light of the nineteenth century. "The Land Leaofue in the United States is an organization auxiliary to that in Ireland. It has no part in shaping the policy of the Irish body. Its functions are to make the case of Ireland fully THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 481 understood in America, so that the public opinion of this republic shall be intelligently and forcibly expressed on the side of justice and liberty in Ireland ; and to aid, by our sympathy and means, the splendid march of the Irish people on to jus- tice, prosperity and self-government. " In this work we ask the co-operation of all just men of whatever color, race, creed or condi- tion. Combine everywhere in branches of the League.' Report to us, so that in the mass we shall be united. Let us have before St. Patrick's Day, such an organization in existence as the Irish race has never seen — an organization that can create Ireland's opportunity, and be ready to take advantage of England's difficulty. " P. A. Collins, Presidents Hon. Patrick A. Collins, the writer of that admirable document, in addition to being the first president of the national organization, has the proud honor of being the first president of the first branch of the Land League that was formed in America. At its organization in Faneuil Hall, Boston, in the presence of the Hon. John Dillon, M.P., whose fervid eloquence aroused the crowded meeting "to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, was sown the seed which fructified a few months later in the establishment of many others, and aided largely in the formation of the Central Council. 482 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Mr. Collins was born near Fermoy, in the County Cork, Ireland, on March 12, 1844. Four years later we find him in this country in Chelsea, Mass., where he attended the public schools until he was twelve years of age. For three years sub- sequently he worked on a farm, in the coal mines, and in a grindstone mill in Ohio. In his sixteenth year he came to Boston, where he learned the upholstering trade, at which he worked for seven years in tlie successive positions of apprentice, journeyman and foreman, holding the last position when he was only nineteen years old. For four years he read law in a Boston office, and with the money he had saved was able to finish his studies at the Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in April, 1871, and has practised in Boston since that date. Loving his native land, with whose history and traditions his mind was stored, with the passionate fervor of the Irish-American he threw himself at an early age into the Irish movement in this coun- try and devoted his best energies to organize and build up a society or association of clubs that would aid in Ireland's emancipation. He became an active member of the Fenian Brotherhood, and was on its rolls from 1862 until 1870. He served as Secretary of the Philadelphia Convention and as Chairman of a subsequent one, and for upwards of nine months in 1865 ""^'^^ recognized every- where as one of the most able and energetic THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 483 organizers in that powerful confederation of clubs or circles. The trusted friend and confidant of the lamented Fenian chieftain, John O'Mahony, he gained and has always retained the esteem and confidence of the Irish Nationalists in this country as well as " at home." From his earliest years he took a deep interest in the affairs of his adopted country, and connect- ing himself with the Democratic party, he became one of its most ardent supporters. In 1868 and 1869 he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and of the Massachu- setts State Senate in 1870 and 1871. He was dele^ate-at-larofe to the Democratic National Conventions of 1876 and 1880, and declined that honor in 1884. His remarkable executive abili- , ties were admirably displayed in 1873 and 1874 during his Chairmanship of the Boston Demo- cratic City Committee, and in 1884, 1S85, and 1886, whilst he was Chairman of the Democratic State Committee of Massachusetts. After serv- ing two terms in Congress as a representative of the Fourth Massachusetts district, he retired early in 1886, publicly declining further political honors. In the same year he was re-elected to Congress. Of all the able officers of the national organi- zation few are better known than Thomas Flat- ley, Esq., the genial secretary, whose untiring industry and earnest patriotic labors enabled Pres- ident Collins to perfect his plans of forming the 484 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. various branches of the Land League into one grand cohesive organization. A tinge of romance colors his early Hfe " in the old land." About diirty-five years ago he was born in Claremorris, a pretty little town in the west of Ireland. Grad- uating from a private classical school, he matricu- lated in the Queen's College, Galway. While here he heard echoes of the agitation that pre- ceded the intended insurrection and left his alma mater to take part in " the rising." Being very popular in his native place he soon raised a battalion of gallant young patriots, re- ceived a commission, and mapped out an active plan of campaign in that section of the country. Tom's troops were well drilled, but badly provided with such " fighting materials "■ as arms and ac- coutrements ; so he promptly devised a plan to , supply the deficiency. About twenty or thirty of " the boys " were to ** get up a sham fight " in the square of the town, and while the entire police force would be engaged in trying to quell the dis- turbance and makinor arrests the remainder of the battalion were to capture the police arsenal. As soon as this was accomplished, with Tom at their head, they were in turn to attack the police, and after taking them prisoners to offer them the alternative of being court-martialled or donning the ofreen cockade and swearing alleo^iance to the Irish Republic. Fortunately for Ireland, on the eve of the ap THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 485 ♦ pointed day, March 5, 1867, the order for "the rising" was countermanded. A sUght skirmish, however, took place near DubHn. The oiher outbreak, a mihtary speck on the horizon, was in Kerry, where brave Captain O'Connor, on learn- ing the true state of affairs, disbanded his men in the mountains. The English commander sent flying columns through the provinces with instruc- tions to take the " centres " and suspects pris- oners. Most of them, warned of the fate that was intended for them, fled from Ireland to this coun- try, and our friend, ex-Secretary Flatley, was one of their number. Immediately after his arrival he engaged in mercantile pursuits, but feeling that he needed a more thorough equipment for the battle of life, he entered Georgetown College in 1868. In course of time he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts and a diploma after passing a most suc- cessful examination in the law department. He subsequently became a member of the college faculty, and though something of a martinet in discipline, he never lost the suave temper, riant humor, and irrepressible buoyancy that marked his earlier days. Shortly after his admission to the bar he associated in practice with his brother, P. J. Flatley, Esq. In politics he is a pronounced Democrat. Almost twelve months ago he was appointed Deputy Collector of the Port of Boston, a position which he still holds. 486 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. The work of stirring up the people to do their whole duty by the home leaders of the move- ment, received a fresh impetus in October, iSBi, when the cable flashed the news across the Atlantic Ocean of the determination of William Ewart Gladstone's government to put down the Irish National League by force. The first step in that direction was sufficient of itself to set aflame the hearts of Irishmen all over the civil- ized world. Mr. Parnell, the President of the League, was arrested on the 13th of that month, and within two days afterwards Thomas Sexton, John Dillon, J. J. O'Kelly, William O'Brien, and others were imprisoned as " suspects." The Executive of the League now felt the necessity to take some strong steps to thwart the Irish land- lords, and to show the British Government by absolute proofs that the Irish people would not tamely submit to this unjustifiable incarceration of their representatives. As a last resource the Irish Executive called on the tenants to " pay no rent." They did so in the following document, which, as will be seen by its date, was issued on the 1 8th of October, 1881. Many enemies of the Home Rule movement, in America and else- where, in their attempts to justify the arrest of Mr. Parnell, assert that '* he was imprisoned because he issued the No-Rent Manifesto." The exact converse is the truth. The manifesto was issued because the leaders of the national organic THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 487 zation were deprived of their liberty. As a his- toric interest is attached to the .document, and, as its alleged contents have been the cause of, at times, bitter contention, I append it, verbatim, as it was issued from the patriots' prison : *' To the Irish People. " Fellow Countrymen : The hour has come to test whether the great organization, built up during years of patient labor and sacrifice, and consecrated by the allegiance of the whole Irish race the world over, is to disappear at the sum- mons oi a brutal tyranny. The crisis with which we are face to face is not of our making. It has been deliberately forced upon the country, while the Land Act is, as yet, untested, in order to strike down the only power which might have extorted any solid benefits for the tenant-farmers of Ireland from that Act, and to leave them once more help- lessly at the mercy of a law invented to save landlordism and administered by landlord minions. "The Executive of the Irish National Land League, acting in the spirit of the resolutions of the National Convention — the most freely elected body ever assembled in Ireland — was advancing steadily in the work of testing how far the admin- istration of the Land Act mio-ht be trusted to eradicate from the rents of the Irish tenant- farmers the entire value of their own improve- ments, and to reduce these rents to such a figure 488 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. as should forever place our country beyond the peril of periodical famine. At the same time they took measures to secure, in the event of the Land Act proving to be a mere paltry mitigation of the horrors of landlordism in order to fasten it the more securely on the necks of the people, that the tenant-farmers should not be delivered blind- folded into the hands oi^ hostile law courts, but should be able to fall back upon the magnificent organization which was crushing landlordism out of existence when Mr. Gladstone stepped in to its rescue. In either event the Irish tenant-far- mers would have been in a position to exact the uttermost farthing of their just demand. " It was this attitude of perfect self-command — • impregnable while there remained a shadow of respect for law, and supported -with unparalleled enthusiasm by the whole Irish race — that moved the rage of the disappointed English Minister. Upon the monstrous pretext that the National Land League was forcing upon the Irish tenant- farmers an organization which made them all- powerful, and was keeping them, by intimidation, from embracing an Act which offered them noth- ing except helplessness and uncertainty, the English Government has cast to the winds every shred of law and justice, and has plunged into an open reign of terror, in order to destroy by the foulest means an organization which was confess- edly too strong for it within the limits of its own English constitution. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 489 " Blow after blow has been struck at the Land League, in the mere wantonness of brute force. In the face of provocation which has turned men's blood to flame, the Executive of the Land League adhered calmly and steadily to the course traced out for them by the National Convention. Test cases of a varied and searching character were, with great labor, put in train for adjudication in the Land Courts. Even the arrest of our Presi- dent, Mr. Charles Stewart Parnell, and the excited state of popular feeling which it evoked, did not induce the executive to swerve in the slig-htest from that course ; for Mr. Parnell's arrest might have been accounted for by motives of personal malice, and his removal did not altogether derange the machinery for the preparation of the test cases which he has been at much pains to per- fect. But the events which have since occurred — the seizure, or attempted seizure, of almost all the members of the executive and of the chief officials of the League, upon wild and preposterous pre- tences, and the violent suppression of free speech — put it beyond any possibility of doubt that the English Government — unable to declare the Land Leacfue an illegal association, defeated in the attempt to break its unity, and afraid to abide the result of test cases, watched over by a powerful popular organization — has deliberately resolved to' destroy the whole machinery of the Central League, with a view to rendering an experi- 490 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. mental trial of the Act impossible, and forcing it upon the Irish tenant-farmers on the Government's own terms. "The brutal and arbitrary dispersion of the Central Executive has so far succeeded that we are obliged to announce to our countrymen that we no longer possess the machinery for ade- quately presenting the test cases in court accord- ing to the policy prescribed by the National Con- vention. Mr. Gladstone has, by a series of furious and wanton acts of despotism, driven the Irish farmers to choose between their own organ- ization and the mercy of his lawyers — between the power which has reduced landlordism to almost its last gasp and the power which strives with all the ferocity of despotism to restore the detestable ascendency from which the Land League has delivered the Irish people. "One constitutional weapon alone now remains in the hands of the Irish National League. It is the strongest, the swiftest, the most irresistible of all. We hesitated to advise our fellow-country- men to employ it until the savage lawlessness of the English Government provoked a crisis in which we must either consent to see the Irish tenant-farmers disarmed of their orofanization and laid once more prostrate at the feet of the land- lords, and every murmur of Irish public opinion suppressed with an armed hand, or appeal to our countrymen to at once resort to the only means THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 491 now left In their hands of bringing this false and brutal Government to its senses. " Fellow-countrymen, the hour to try your souls and redeem your pledges has arrived. The Executive of the National Land League, forced to abandon the policy of testing the Land Act, feels bound to advise the tenant-farmers of Ire- land from this forth to pay no rent under any cir- cumstances to their landlords until the Govern- ment relinquishes the existing system of terrorism and restores the constitutional rights of the peo- ple. Do not be daunted by the removal of your leaders. Your fathers abolished tithes by the same method widiout any leaders at all, and with scarcely a shadow of the magnificent organization that covers every portion of Ireland to-day. " Do not suffer yourselves to be intimidated by threats of military violence. It is as lawful to refuse to pay rents as it Is to receive them. Against the passive resistance of an entire popu- lation, military power has no weapons. Do not be wheedled Into compromise of any sort by the dread of eviction. If you only act together in the spirit to which In the last two years you have countless times solemnly pledged your vows, they can no more evict a whole nation than they can imprison them. The funds of the National Land League will be poured out unstintedly for the support of all who may endure eviction in the course of the struQfale. Our exiled brothers in 492 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. America may be relied upon to contribute, if necessary, as many millions of money as they have contributed thousands, to starve out landlordism and bring English tyranny to its knees. You have only to show that you are not unworthy of their boundless sacrifices in your cause. No power on earth except faint-heartedness on our own part can defeat you. Landlordism is already staggering under the blows which you have dealt it, amidst the applause of the world. "One more crowning struggle for your land, your homes, your lives — a struggle in which you have all the memories of your race, all the hopes of your children, all the sacrifices of your impris- oned brothers, all your cravings for rent-enfran- chised land, for happy homes and national freedom, to inspire you — one more heroic effort to destroy landlordism at the very source and fountain of its existence — and the system which was, and is, the curse of your race and of your existence, will have disappeared for ever. The world is watch- ing to see whether all your splendid hopes and noble courage will crum^ble away at the first threat of a cowardly tyranny. You have to choose between throwing yourself upon the mercy of England and taking your stand by the organiza- tion which has once before proved too strong for English despotism ; you have to choose between all-powerful unity and impotent disorganization ; between the land for the landlords and the land THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 493 for the people ! We cannot doubt your choice. Every tenant-farmer of Ireland is to-day the standard-bearer of the flag unfurled at Irishtown, and can bear it to a glorious victory. " Stand together in the face of the brutal and cowardly enemies of your race ; pay no rents under any pretext ; stand passively, firmly, fear- lessly by while the armies of England may be en- gaged in their hopeless struggle against a spirit which their weapons cannot touch; act for your- selves if you are deprived of the counsels of those who have shown you how to act ; no power of legalized violence can extort one penny from your purses against your will ; if you are evicted, you will not suffer ; the landlord who evicts you will be a ruined pauper, and the Government which supports him with its bayonets will learn in a single winter how powerless is armed force against the will of a united, determined and self- reliant nation. " Signed : Charles S. Parnell, President, Kil- mainliam Jail; A. J. Kettle, Honorary Secretary, Kilmainham Jail; Michael Davitt, Honorary Secretary, Portland Prison; Thomas Brennan, Honorary Secretary, Kilmainham Jail; John Dil- lon, Head Organizer, Kilmainham Jail ; Patrick Egan, Treasurer, Paris. *'\%th October, 1881." The manly and determined spirit with which 29 494 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the Irish nation took hold of their leaders' advice and followed it up in almost every section of " the old land," aroused the enthusiasm of their fellow- countrymen in America. Meetings were held in almost every city and town in the United States, and preparations were made to raise whatever funds might be thought necessary to aid "the men in the gap." Every one recognized the fact that a crisis had now arisen in Irish affairs which demanded liberal, square-toed action on their part, if the tenant-farmers were to be supported in the stand they had taken. The attempt of the Glad- stone Government to wipe out the Irish National Land League must be resented, at the same time, in language the import of which must be unmistakable. Patrick Ford, P. A. Collins and John Boyle O'Reilly, on behalf of the American Irish, and T. P. O'Connor, T. M. Healy and Rev. Eugene Sheehy, representatives from Ireland, united in a public appeal to the branches of the Irish National League, and to all organizations in America friendly to the Irish cause to send delegates to an Irish National Convention to be held in McCor- mack's Hall, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, on the 30th of November and the ist and 2d of Decem- ber, 1 88 1. The appeal urged the branches and societies to " select as delegfates the wisest and ablest in your respective communities, so that the convention may be thoroughly representative." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 495 President Collins and the other national officers at the same time issued an official call for the con- vention. Among other things it said : "This is a summons to the entire race and all its friends in America ; and in that spirit It is hoped and expected it -will be answered. Ireland is darkened with troops, her people are disarmed, her chosen leaders are in prison, her voice Is stifled. " These worse than Asian methods of repression have been tried before and have failed. They will fail now also, but It depends upon us to make the failure so complete that the methods will never again be applied. " In all her ages of trial Ireland has never shown among her people so much courage and fortitude, linked with patience and wisdom, as now. " It is because her people never before were so thoroughly instructed as to their rights, or so well trained In methods for their enforce- ment. It Is because we have promised them that when the hour of tension arrived they could rely upon us and upon all their scattered kindred. " The time has now come to keep that promise, and to show to mankind how a people can fight a battle without guns and win a victory without bloodshed. "The gravity of the situation In Ireland de- mands instant, intelligent and sober action here. 496 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " Let the convention at Chicago be the greatest and most representative body ever held to discuss the Irish question or aid the Irish cause. Let it show to the world that all our people here demand for the people of Ireland justice and self- gbvernment, and will sustain them in efforts to that end." The convention was C2tlled to order by the Hon. John F. Finerty, of Chicago, journalist and Congressman, in a lengthy and fiery address. Hon. Wm. J. Hynes, of Chicago, was its Tempo- rary Chairman. A Committee on Credentials was appointed, consisting of one delegate from every State and Territory in the United States and Canada. The Committee on Permanent Or- ganization Avas as follows : New York, Judge Rooney ; Illinois, Hon. Richard Prendergast ; Michigan, Rev. Dr. O'Reilly ; Ohio, Hon. W. J. Gleason ; Pennsylvania, Mr. Patrick Dunlevy; Iowa, Hon. M. V. Gannon ; Massachusetts, Hon. Edward Lynch. The convention numbered 845 delegates. They admitted no proxy representatives, and by a de- cided vote declined to recoofnize as deleg-ates three Socialists from an organization called " Spread the Light Club," by this decision placing themselves squarely on record at the outset as law-abiding citizens. To emphasize that position, Hon. Francis Agnew, of Illinois, the Chairman of the Committee on Credentials, declared that " the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 497 applicants had not been recognized as delegates because it was the opinion of the committee that the club they claimed to represent was of a po- litical nature, and besides thei^e had been strong op- position from all quarters to their ad77tission as Socialists." A cursory glance at the list of the permanent officers of the convention will give the reader some idea of the representative character of its members. Among them were clergymen, jour- nalists, lawyers, physicians, bankers and repre- sentatives of the commercial and industrial inter- ests of the country, many of them differing in their religious views, but all of them animated with the single desire and purpose of aiding Mr. Parnell in his plans of constitutional agitation. Here they are : President — Rev. George C. Betts, of St. Louis, Missouri. Vice-Presidents — Hon. Wm. J. Hynes, Illinois ; Rev. Maurice Dorney, Illinois ; Dr. William Car- roll, Pennsylvania; John Boyle O'Reilly and Hon. Patrick A. Collins, Massachusetts; Patrick Ford, New York ; Patrick Smith, Ohio ; James Gibson, New Jersey; James J. Kelly, Minnesota; P. H. McManus, Indiana; James Reynolds, Connecti- cut ; Miss Davitt, Pennsylvania ; Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Connecticut; Rev. P. Cronin, New York; Rev. W. J. Dalton, Missouri; J. J. Linahan and Hon. M. V. Gannon, Iowa ; Mrs. Parnell, New 498 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Jerse}^ ; J. B. Mannix, Ohio ; Rev. Dr. O'Hara, New York ; Dr. John Guerin and Bernard Cal- laghan, lUinois ; Miss E. A. Ford, John Devoy and John C. Maguire, New York ; Hon. Thomas A. Moran and Hon. Alexander SuUivan, Illinois; Col. Michael Boland, Kentucky ; Rev. D. O'Con- nell, New York ; Rev. M. C. McEnroe, Pa. ; Henry F. Sheridan, Illinois ; J. D. O'Connell, District of Columbia ; Col. John Atkinson and John R. Cof- fey, Chicago; John S, Burke, Wisconsin; Dennis O'Connor, Chicago ; Dr. William Wallace, Hon. John G. Rogers and Thomas Casey, New York ; James Mooney, Buffalo, New York ; George D. Plant, Illinois; Mr. Sanderson, New Jersey; Marcus Kavanaugh, Iowa ; Rev. J. McDermott, Maryland ; Thomas J. Sheridan, E. S. Murphy and T. J. Dennehy, New York ; John V. Crozier, Pennsylvania ; M. W. Ryan, William Condon and Andrew J. O'Connor, Illinois; Mr. Brown and Joseph Judge, Missouri ; Wm. Stapleton and Rev. John A. Fanning, Illinois; John O'Donnell, Penn- sylvania; M. J. Costello and J. N. Mullahey, Col- orado ; Mr. Kavanaugh and Hon. J. G. Donnelly, Wisconsin ; David Sullivan, Illinois ; W, Kenne- dy, Wisconsin; N. F. Dunlevy, Pennsylvania; F. Gavin and P. Sheahan, Indiana ; P. J. McGuire, Canada. Marshal — Frank Agnew, Chicago, Illinois. Secretaries — J. D. Ronayne, Massachusetts ; Hon. T. V. Powderly, Pennsylvania; Thomas THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 499 Flatley, Massachusetts; Martin I. ]. Griffin and C. Horgan, Pennsylvania ; D. J. Haltigan, New York ; George Sweeney, Ohio ; Timothy Crean, Illinois ; Jeremiah Galvin, Canada. Despatches were received from prominent Americans all over the country wishing the con- vention " God-speed in its good work," and ac- companied by liberal donations ranging from <^5o up to $ 1,000. Notable among the despatches was the following from the lamented Wendell Phillips: " Boston, Mass., November 2,0th. " Congratulate all our friends on the blunders of Ireland's enemies and on the serene patience and stubborn courage of her friends. "Wendell Phillips." It is unnecessary to say that the name of that illustrious man was cheered again and again. To perpetuate his memory and show to the world their loving appreciation of his noble efforts on behalf of Ireland's independence, the Irish race in nearly every large city in the Union has named some of its strongest branches after him. Wher- ever they assemble, in convention, at a public " celebration," in mass-meeting, at their clubs, or at their banquets, they will always hold in grate- ful remembrance the whole-souled support and the tender sympathy so unstintedly given them 500 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and their country by this great and gifted Ameri- can. Sit tibi te7'7'a levis^ Following steadily in the line of conduct so ably marked out by the preceding National Con- vention, the Chicago assemblage adopted a series of incisive, clear-cut resolutions, which told in no uncertain words or phrases exactly the sort of platform on which that body stood. They read as follows: ''Resolved, That as, in the words of the Ameri- can Declaration of Independence, ' the consent of the governed is the only power from which a government justly derives its authority,' and as, in the words of one of Her British Majesty's present Cabinet Ministers — Mr. Joseph Chamber- lain — 'after loo years of English rule in Ireland, English rule there can only be maintained by fifty thousand bayonets,' this convention declares English rule in Ireland to be without either lecral or moral sanction, and demands the establishment in Ireland of a national government based upon the will of the Irish people. ''Resolved, That as the English Government has avowed the resolve to subjugate the Irish nation by wholesale eviction, by the arrest of every friend of the popular cause, the suspension of every popular right, and the terrorism of military force ; and as the Irish people have shown an equal determination to meet these, and by pas- * Light lie the earth upon thy grave. ' THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 501 sive resistance defeat this attack on their Hberties, this convention, representing the Irish-American race, pledge the people of Irish birth and Irish descent in this country to stand by the people at home in this momentous struggle, to the full extent of their power and resources. ""Resolved, That this convention thoroughly endorses the policy of the Irish leaders at home in the present crisis ; that we have entire confi- dence in their patriotism and statesmanship ; and that we tender to them, and the Irish people at large, the expression of our sympathy and the assurance that in every struggle against British rule they will be fully sustained by their kindred in America. ''Resolved, That we heartily endorse the ' No> Rent ' Manifesto of the home executive of the Irish National Land League, at once as the best avail- able weapon to strike their landlord jailers, and as a swift and smiting instrument to abolish utterly the bad and hateful system, and as the fitting answer of the Irish people to the attempt of the Coercion Ministry to force the acceptance of defective legislation at the point of the bayonet. ''Resolved, That with the view of giving prac- tical effect to the foregoing address and resolu- tions, the convention recommends that a special levy of ^250,000 from the organizations here represented and all other organizations friendly to the Irish cause, and from the friends of such 502 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. organizations, be forwarded as an instalment be- fore the first day of February, 1882, to the Central Treasurer of the Irish National Land League." It was General Patrick Collins who proposed, and Hon. Patrick Ford who seconded the resolu- tion pledging by the first of February, 1882, that contribution of a quarter of a million of dollars — equal to fifty thousand pounds. Let it be remem- bered that this was on the last day of the conven- tion, December i, 1881, and the reader will be able to form an intelligent idea of the sterling stuff of which its members were composed. That they really " meant business " their words and subsequent actions frankly told. This promise, it may be added, was kept, except in one particu- lar. It was about the 2d or 3d of April of 1882 when the full amount was subscribed. The money, however, arrived on the other side of the ocean in ample time to aid the home executive in their battle for the right ; so that the intentions and pledges of these patriotic delegates were, of a verity, substantially carried out. And, at this point, I feel it to be my duty to note that this characteristic of faithfully carrying out to the letter every syllable of its pledges has been a distinctively marked feature of every convention of the Irish race in America since the keynote of the movement was first sounded in Ireland and the United States by Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. §03 Just as the hearty chorus of full-throated "ayes" ratifying and endorsing the pledge rang out through the convention hall, a reverend delegate, turning hastily to General Collins, said : "Why did you say ^250,000? You ought to have put in ^500,000! " "Oh, Father," replied the General, "I didn't want to go beyond the mark. Our people will, I'm sure, subscribe every penny of that quarter of a million." "Subscribe it? Of course they will ; ay, and as much more when they know that it's going into the right hands and to be applied to a proper purpose. I'll tell my people, of the branch of which I am president, that I have pledged my credit to you for ^1,000. I pledge it now. They will see that my word is kept." They did see that his word was kept. Their contribution was among the earliest, although their branch was, comparatively speaking, a small one. I cite the foregoing conversation and its result as an instance of the manner in which the different branches went to work with a will and raised their quota. Among the most earnest and energetic laborers " in the cause, the ladies of Irish birth or Irish descent have always been found in the fore-front. The Ladies' Land League of Montreal, Canada, in their telegraphed greeting to the convention said: 504 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " Make no terms with the land thieves. . . . The ' No-Rent ' Manifesto receives our unquaHfied support, and we are prepared to stand by it. The land of Ireland for the people of Ireland. No half-way measures. Convey to the people of Ireland the assurance that, remaining loyal to their leaders, they will receive our hearty and earnest support. . . . God save Ireland. " Anne McDonnell, President " Ellen Hayes, Secretary y The Ladies' Land League of Buffalo, N. Y . sent their greeting and best wishes, and unquali- fied endorsements of the " No-Rent" declaration were received from Land League branches and other Irish organizations at Little Rock, Arkansas; Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Portland, Oregon ; Hot Springs, Arkansas ; Arnold, Pa. ; Winoski, Vt. ; Ishpem- ing, Mich. ; Mobile, Ala. ; Eureka, Nev. : Colusa, Cal. ; Williamsport, Pa. ; Halifax, N. S. ; Ottawa, Ont. ; Philadelphia, Pa. ; Helena, M. T. ; Los Angeles, Cal. ; Johnstown, Pa. ; Lebanon, Ky. ; Lynn, Mass. ; Concord, N. H. ; San Francisco, Cal. ; Elmira, N. Y. ; Chattanooga, Tennessee, and very many other places in all quarters of the country. The convention adopted and officially pub- lished an eloquent address to the American people and all friends of liberty, which was presented by the Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, of Massachusetts, and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 505 a carefully selected committee. It arraigned the then Gladstonian policy, endorsed Charles Stewart Parnell and the " No-Rent " policy, and concluded with the following spirited declaration : " In whatever efforts the Irish people may now, or in the future, make to rid themselves of alien domination, and to regain the highest privilege that a people can enjoy — that of self-government — we pledge ourselves to be their faithful allies, subject to their calls upon us for aid, so far as our power and resources may permit, but dictating to them no policy, and demanding from them no conditions. "We believe and declare that Ireland cannot be happy, prosperous or contented under the rule of an alien Parliament, and, furthermore, we have no sympathy with any government in any country that has not its strono-est foundations in the love of the people governed. It is patent to the whole world, outside of Great Britain, that the British Government in Ireland is the child of injustice and the creature of coercion. "We applaud, with most heartfelt pride, the indomitable spirit of the Irish people at home who have never acquiesced in the fraudulent destruc- tion of their autonomy, and we hope with them to see Ireland restored to her rightful position among self-governed nations." The Irish envoys or delegates, Hons. T. P. O'Connor and T. M. Healy, although they man- 506 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. ifested a lively and active interest in its delibera- tions, did not address the convention. At the conclusion of its sessions a reception was tendered to them and their co-laborer, Rev. Eugene Sheehy, at which Judge Moran presided. From their speeches that evening were subsequently culled by those loyal-hearted priests, Revs. James A. Bre- hony and Thomas Barry, Philadelphia, and other Irish orators and leaders, pithy selections that made some of the texts of their eloquent discourses on Irish affairs for several years afterwards. At the present day their force and applicability to the existing condition of affairs are still equally appa- rent. Take a few instances : O'Connor — " Coercion is sfrowinor more useless and less powerful in the hands of its employers." O'Connor — "The heart and soul are the reali- ties of man, and these have not been crushed." Sheehy — " We wish to destroy landlordism only as the stepping-stone to a greater and higher end." Sheehy — " Nothing good — nothing great has been purchased without sacrifice. No birth — above all that of Freedom — has been without pain." Healy — " Our policy is not to be bought or sold." Healy — "The Irish policy is not shaped by American dollars or British g^old." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 507 THE league's second NATIONAL GATHERING. The Second Annual Convention of the Irish National Land League of America was held four months later, on April 12, 1882, in Washington, D. C. Here General Collins, the President, and Secretary Flatley, resigned their respective offices, both of them declining a unanimously proffered re-election. Two hundred branches of the League, represented by two hundred and fift}^- two delegates, composed the convention. As usual, the utmost harmony characterized their proceedings. The resolutions, etc., adopted by them were fully in line with those presented at the Chicago gathering. ^ The delegates, recognizing the eminent fitness of James Mooney, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the position of President of their national organization, selected him for that posi- tion unanimously, and, as he was at that time in Buffalo attending to his professional pursuits and for that reason unable to be present at the con- vention. Rev. Father Patrick Cronin was instructed to notify him by telegraph of the action of the convention and request a favorable response. Mr. Mooney telegraphed acceptance as follows : "Buffalo, April 13, 1882. "I accept the trust and pledge my best efforts to further the good work inaugurated by Michael Davitt. It must not be relinquished till the soil of Ireland shall be as free as that of America, " James Mooney." 508 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. John J. Hynes, the ardent, high-souled Nation- alist, of Buffalo, was elected National Secretary, and Rev. Lawrence Walsh was re-elected National Treasurer. Of President Mooney it has been truthfully said that " no friend of Ireland, in America, has done more to make her cause respected." Popular with his fellow-townsmen of all races and creeds, it was no wonder that the delegates from Buffalo in speaking of him declared their honest convic- tion that his election would add new life to the Irish movement, and that the good will enter- tained towards him in that city " would not be a circumstance to the popularity that would attend him wherever he went through this great country, attracting to the Irish cause through his courtesy, talents and versatility, all who would hear his elo- quent tongue pleading for the oppressed and down-trodden natives of Ireland." James Mooney was born in Ardetegal, Queen's County, Ireland, on June 29, 1838. His parents were of the prosperous farming class, and his family were always of patriotic impulse, one of his ancestors being executed as "a rebel" in 1798, When James was five years old his parents decided to seek a new home in America, and set- tled in Dundas, near Hamilton, Ontario. Here he was educated at a private school, and here he received his first lessons in the sad history of his native country. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 511 Dundas was "something of an Irish settlement," and from constantly arriving immigrants the young lad heard many a tale of cruel eviction, and his tender heart was wrung with sorrow and pity as he listened to the tearful recitals of the sufferinofs and hardships of the exiles. It will thus be seen that amid such surroundings he could not fail to imbibe a love of his mother-land and a hearty detestation of the infamous system of misgovern- ment under which she w^as suffering. He com- pleted his education in the public schools of Buf- falo, and, with the laudable purpose of assisting his parents to raise and educate the younger members of the family, he engaged as an account- ant with a lumber firm at Tonawanda. For a short time he held a position in the office of the Receiver of Taxes of Buffalo, after which he read law in the office of the Hon. Chas. D. Norton. When he was twenty years of age he engaged in business as a real estate and insurance broker, in which he has since continued, winning his way to affluence by industry and integrity. He is a large real estate owner, a man of high social po- sition, and has always been honorably prominent in the public affairs of his native city. He is one of its leading Roman Catholics, and has three times successively been honored with the position of President of the Younof Men's Catholic Asso- elation. While always contributing to every movement that had in view the emancipation of 80 512 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. his race or the elevation of its children, Mr. Mooney never joined any Irish organization until Charles Stewart Parnell and John Dillon visited Buffalo in 1880. Desirous that these distin- guished Irishmen should receive an ovation worthy of them and honorable to Buffalo, he entered zealously into the work of preparing for their visit. To his influence and exertions was mainly due the splendid success of the meeting which they addressed, and at which nearly seven thousand dollars were subscribed. Shortly before this meeting was held Mr. Mooney joined the Buffalo branch of the Land League. Always an enthusiast, he has worked constantly and ear- nestly to keep that prosperous city in the van in everything that helps the Irish cause. John J. Hynes was one of the most efficient National Secretaries of the Land League. He was born in Buffalo, N. Y., of Irish Catholic par- ents, who arrived in this country in 1847. ^^ attended the public schools until he was fourteen years old, when he entered Bryant and Stratton's Commercial College, where he remained for one year. He was only fifteen years of age when he began work as clerk and accountant, continuing as such until he began his law studies in 1877. For seven years he held the important position of Chief of the Engrossing Department in the Erie County Clerk's Office. He resigned that situation after his admission to the bar by the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 513 Supreme Court of the State of New York and began the practice of law. During 1879 and 1880 Mr. Hynes represented his ward (the largest in the city) in the Board of Supervisors, being elected by a constituency for the most part opposed to him politically, but cordially recogniz- ing his fitness for the office. He has had much experience in what are usually known as "society affairs," possessing notable organizing abilities, and having an immense capacity for serious and intelligent work. He brings to the discharge of the duties entrusted to him tact and promptness. He was one of the organizers of the " McMahon Corps," a crack Irish-American military organi- zation attached to the National Guard of New York, serving with it eight years, the last two as its commander. He is a charter-member of the Catholic Mutual Beneficial Association, which now numbers 15,000 members in the United States and Canada, and is a member of its Supreme Council. Mr. Hynes has always been an earnest, inde- fatigable and sincere exponent of the cause of Irish freedom and was one of the litde band who first organized the Land League in his native city, fulfilling faithfully the duties of Correspond- ing Secretary, first in Branch No. i, later in Branch No. 2 (St. Bridget's). He represented the latter branch in every Irish national conven- tion held in this country since the organization 514 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. of the Land League. He was married in 1878,10 Miss Anna M. McCarthy, an estimable young lady of his native city, who at that time was principal in one of the departments of the Buffalo public schools. When James Mooney was elected President of the Land League its constitution at that time pro- vided for a Central Council, consisting of the three national officers — the President, Secretary, and Treasurer — who had full charge and man- agement of the National Land League of Amer- ica, and through whom all moneys raised in this country for the Land League in Ire- land were transmitted to Patrick Egan, the Irish National Treasurer. At the meeting of the Central Council, in Buffalo, April 18, 1882, it was ascertained from the roll of the previous council that over nine hundred branches were affiliated with the national organization. Owing 10 the condition of affiairs at that time and the very small number of branches represented at the late convention, the new Council believed that many branches had ceased to exist or had severed their coonection with the national body. It was deter- mined to find out as soon as practicable how many branches were in actual existence. Ac- cordingly Secretary Hynes mailed a circular let- ter of inquiry to every branch secretary whose address was on the national rolls. After the ex- penditure of much valuable time and considerable THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 51 5 fabor it was ascertained that only about five hun- dred branches in America were, at that date, affil> iated to the national organization. About this date Mr. Parnell and his associates were released from Kilmainham Jail, and the news was received in this country with joy and hope for better times for the people at home. On the part of the National League, President Mooney promptly cabled, on May 3, 1882, his congratu- lations to " Mr. Parnell and the Irish people on the destruction of coercion." The release of the Irish patriots gave the new officers here an inspiring impulse, in beginning their work of increasing and strengthening the American auxiliary organization. Everything seemed bright for Ireland. Success was appar- ently at last about to crown the efforts of her struggling sons. Encouraging reports were com- ing in daily and hourly from all sections of the country of branches re-organizing, of new ones being established, and of old ones recruiting their ranks rapidly. Suddenly came flashing across the Adantic the dreadful announcement of the Phoenix Park murders, filling many with dismay and dishearteninor others from whom substantial aid and sympathy were confidently anticipated. President Mooney, writing of the situation at that time, says: "The news cast such a shadow upon everything connected with the Irish national cause, that it was only by immense effort that the friends 516 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. of Ireland were rallied and the League was kept ' from total dismemberment. For a time we were in almost daily receipt of letters from branches that had disbanded or were about to do so. One of the greatest trials of this perplexing time was differences of opinion and advice among friends whose counsel was entitled to respectful attention. Some were clamorous that the Central Council should denounce the crime. Some even advo- cated the offering of a reward from the Leao-ue funds for the apprehension of the murderers ! Others advised that we had enough to do to de- nounce the crimes of landlordism and the cruel- ties done in the name and under the guise of English law." The Central Council held many sessions, but were unanimous in the decision that, deplorable as the crime was, the Land League of Ireland or America had no hand or part in it, and, therefore, it would be unwise and unbecomine to denounce it officially, or otherwise take cognizance of it as being a matter in which they were in any way concerned. To this resolve they adhered firmly, turning all their efforts to strengthen and increase the American organization, and to bear it safely over the waves of misfortune that seemed about to overwhelm it. The League passed through the crisis safely and began to flourish as it had never done before ; but this was the darkest and most precarious hour of all its life. Through all THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 517 this excitement the national officers were able to do their duty, and to keep within the lines in which the Land Leao^ue had been vvorkinor since its organization. With the design of encouraging the lukewarm, strengthening the weak-kneed, and bringing to the aid of the Home Executive the moral, physical, and financial support of which they were in sore need, the Central Council issued the followine o official circular to every branch in the United States and Canada : "Irish National Land League of America. Central Office, Arcade Building, Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y., May 27, 1882. "At no time since the beginning of our good work has the Land League found itself in so criti- cal and trying apositionasnow. Justwhen success seemed about to crown its patient and unselfish labors, the dark deed of the assassin was planned to rob Ireland of the benefits of justice and peace that seemed at last to promise. The infamous plot is successful, and Ireland is to be subjected to a new code of misrule, so oppressive that what has gone before seems almost just and gen- erous by comparison. A whole people are to be punished for a crime in which they have neither interest nor sympathy ; which everything points out to be the work of that class who will now reap its reward in these new acts of oppression. 518 ' GLADSTONE— PARNELL. That Enofland has withdrawn the hand held out in meagre and tardy justice does not discourage nor disappoint us, for she has never taught us to look to her for honor or good faith. We have but one duty in this trying hour, and it is to meet her renewal of oppression by redoubling our ef- forts and increasing our generosity towards those who look to us from across the sea for aid and comfort. We shall not fail them in their renewed struggle; and in view of the fact that 25,000 evicted tenants are now said to be dependent on the Land League, and that the number is increas- ing, some special effort seems to be necessary. We therefore recommend to every branch in the United States to make an extraordinary effort to meet the emergency, that by the ist of October, 1882, at the very latest, we may have ready for transmission to the General Treasurer, a special fund, which should not be less than ^250,000. This would be the most eloquent, the most fitting answer we could give to the new tyrannies now being prepared for our unhappy fatherland. "As enemies are busy at work, trying to cast discredit upon our noble leaders, we should also give the strongest and most unanimous expres- sion to our undiminished faith and confidence in Parnell, Davitt, Dillon and Egan. We well know their sacrifices and their labors. We should pledge them anew our support and sympathy, express our firm belief in their good judgment, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 519 and in their knowledge of what is best in this critical hour. " Let us all labor to increase our numbers. We have an organization that we may well be proud of, that every Irishman in America can and should join. Let every Land Leaguer bring in his friends, let new branches be formed through the aid and influence of those already established. Above all, let there be union of labor, of zeal and of sejttiment. A good example has been set by large and influential branches in New York City, and in Monroe County, N. Y., which, heretofore, transmitted their moneys direct to Paris, but who now, to further union and to avoid confusion, have commenced to transmit through the appointed Treasurer for the United States, Rev. Lawrence Walsh, of Waterbury, Conn. We trust all other branches will soon follow their wise example. " If we stand united, if every member will show his loyalty by making individual efforts to in- crease our numbers, and to replenish our treasury in view of the greatly increased tax upon it, our organization will be invincible, and its beneficent work will keep pace with the tyranny of our he- reditary enemy. The people of unhappy Ireland must resist now as never before the power that strives to crush them. The struggle maybe long and bitter, for there must be no compromise ; no half-measure of justice will suffice. In this hour the spirit grows strong, that nothing but a resto- 520 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. ration of our lost nationhood can satisfy Irishmen in the old land. United with those who do not for- get their wrongs, though living here in freedom and peace, they must boldly and manfully claim the right — not sue for it — to live as freemen — not as serfs — on the soil where God has planted our race. "James Mooney, Pi'esident. "Lawrence Walsh, Treasurer. "John J. Hynes, Secretary. "Central Council, Irish National Land League of America." On the 6th of July, 1882, the Central Council visited the City of New York by invitation of Michael Davitt — who had returned to America — to meet him and the Chicago Committee of Seven "for the purpose of consulting together and discussing the advisability of a union of all the organizations in America who were working for the interests of Ireland." The conference was held at the Astor House and the following gentlemen participated in it: James Mooney, President I. N. L. L. of Amer- ica, Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Treasurer I. N. L. L. of America, John J. Hynes, Secretary I. N. L. L. of America, Hon. P. A. Collins, Col. Michael Bo- land, Patrick Ford, James Reynolds, Dr. W. B. Wallace, and Michael Davitt and William Red- mond, of Ireland. TK£ GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 521 Mr. Davitt submitted a plan of a proposed Gaelic Union, which, after an informal discussion, was referred to the national officers in Ireland. Four days after the conference Secretary Hynes issued his first quarterly report showing that since the Washington Convention ^'6,457.50 had been received by Father Walsh, of which ^7,017.50 had been transmitted to Treasurer Egan In Paris. During that three months only six new branches had been organized, yet Secre- tary Hynes was of the opinion that this " exhibit was not very discouraging, considering the trying ordeal throuqrh which the Land Leag^ue had just passed." About the latter end of this month, by the death at Bordentown, N. J., of Miss Fanny Parnell, the Irish cause lost one of its most fearless, able, and outspoken advocates. Young, beautiful, and ac- complished, she united all the charm and tender- ness of a true woman with the stern determi- nation and decision of character that are the marked attributes of her illustrious brother — worthy children of a noble race. Her memory will live for generations embalmed in the hearts of the Irish people whom she loved so well. Among the last of her thrilling appeals to the patriotism of her countrymen was the following bold and striking poem addressed to the Irish tenant farmers : 522 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Hold the Harvest. Now are you men, or are you kine, ye tillers of the soil ? Would you be free, or evermore, the rich man's cattle, toil? The shadow on the dial hangs that points the fatal hour — Now hold your own ! or, branded slaves, forever cringe and cower, Tl\e serpent's curse upon you lies — ye writhe within the dust ; Ye fill your mouths with beggar's swill, ye grovel for a crust; Your lords have set their blood-stained heels upon your shameful heads, Yet they are kind — they leave you still their ditches for your beds! Oh, by the God who made us all — the seignior and the serf — Rise up! and swear this day to hold your own green Irish turf! Rise up ! and plant your feet as men where now you crawl as slaves. And make your harvest fields your camps, or make of them your graves ! The birds of prey are hovering round, the vultures wheel and swoop — They come, the coroneied ghouls ! with drum-beat and with troop — They come to fatten on your flesh, your children's and your wives' ; Ye die but once — hold fast your lands and, if ye can, your lives. Let go the trembling emigrant — not such as he ye need ; Let go the lucre-loving wretch that flies his land for greed; Let not one coward stay to clog your manhood's waking power; Let not one sordid churl pollute the Nation's natal hour. Yes, let them go ! — the caitiff rout, that shirk the struggle now — The light that crowns your victory shall scorch each recreant brow, And in the annals of your race, black parallels in shame. Shall stand by traitor's and by spy's the base dcserier''s name. Three hundred years your crops have sprung, by murdered corpses fed— Your butchered sires, your famished sires, for ghastly compost spread; Their bones have fertilized your fields, their blood has fall'n like rain ; They died that ye might eat and live — God ! have they died in vain ? The yellow corn starts blithely up; l)eneath it lies a grave — Your father died in " Forty-eight" — his life for yours he gave; — He died that you, his son, might learn there is no helper nigh Except for him who, save in fight, has sworn he will not die. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 523 The hour is struck, Fate holds the dice ; we stand with bated breatli ; Now who shall have our harvest fair ? — 'tis Life that plays with Death ; Now who shall have our motherland? — 'tis Right that plays with Might; The peasant's arms were weak indeed in such unequal fight ! But God is on the peasant's side — the God that loves the poor : His angels stand with flaming swords on every mount and moor; They guard the poor man's flocks and herds, they guard his ripening grain — The robber sinks beneath their cuise beside his ill-got gain. O pallid serfs ! whose groans and prayers have wearied Heav'n full long, Look up ! there is a Law above, beyond all legal wrong ; Rise up ! the answer to your prayers shall come, tornado-borne, And ye shall hold your homesteads dear, and ye shall reap the corn ! But your own hands upraised to guard shall draw the answer down, And bold and stern the deeds must be that oath and prayer shall crown ; God only fights for those who fight — now hush the useless moan, And set your faces as a flint and swear to Hold Your Own. The sorrow that was felt in every branch and at every fireside at her untimely death found ex- pression at every meeting of any Irish organiza- tion that was held at or near that time in Ireland and America. Here letters poured in thick and fast upon the Central Council from branches and municipal councils, and hundreds of prominent workers in the Land League, urging the council to take charo-e of the arrangements for the inter- ment of the remains of Erin's gifted daughter. After consulting with Mrs. Parnell the council decided that "it would be eminently proper for the national organization to assume the charo-e and expense of removing the remains of the la- mented Fanny Parnell from Bordentown, N. J., to 524 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the family vault in Boston, Mass." This was accordingly done. President Mooney and Secre- tary Hynes represented the national organization in the cortege, Father Walsh being absent owing to the death of his brother. GLOOMY DAYS FOR THE LEAGUE. In almost all great movements, like this one of the Land League, there comes a time when for a brief space a dangerous sort of lethargy or list- lessness pervades not only the rank and file who form its main strength, but also it3 chiefs or lead- ers to whom the 6i nox-Koi look for inspiration and encouraofement. It is dangerous from the fact that, unless prompt and energetic measures are set about to counteract its effects, an apathy fol- lows that paralyzes and destroys the vitality of the subject of its attack. Disturbing rum.ors, some of them groundless, others with a slight founda- tion of truth to support them, conspire to aid in the apparently impending ruin. So it was in October, 1882, with this grand organization that promised so well at its outset and that contrib- uted so freely and liberally at all times and on all occasions when " the men in the gap " called on it for pecuniary or other assistance. Notwith- standing the patient and arduous labors of the national officers, many of the largest and most influential branches disbanded — mostly, however, diose located in the Western States. Some of the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 525 staunchest and most enthusiastic "workers" at the Chicago Convention in 1881 became luke- warm, and those who were looked upon as their adherents, followers or supporters — call them what you may — failed, firstly, in attendance at the meetings of their respective branches ; secondly, allowed their "dues" or contributions to fall in arrears ; and thirdly and lastly, manifested an evi- dently utter indifference to the prosperity of the League that was as dishearteninor to the Central Council as it certainly must have been to the Home Executive. Public attention was directed to the situation, and statements were made by a number of leading journals to the effect that " the Land League was dead." Undismayed by these reports and rumors, the council bravely continued their work of organiz- ing new branches, " giving heart " to the branches that had remained true to the League, and dis- tributing circulars and also weekly copies of United Ireland, a newspaper that was one of the best recruiting agents they could have used at this crisis. By persistent work they were finally successful in stemming the tide which had set in and was imperilling the life of the organization. The following address tells its own story of the necessity that existed for the council to speak out plainly to the American people and to those " at home," in explanation of the gloomy aspect of affairs : 526 gladstone— parnell. "Irish National Land League of America. Central Office, Buffalo, October 9, 1882. "A public statement has been made that ' the Land League is no longer in existence,' which calls for our emphatic protest. The Land League does exist, and is doing just as good work for Ire- land as at any time since it was organized. We should deserve the contempt of every one whose sympathy we have won ; should deserve the ex- tinction of every hope that has been enkindled, if we were now to grow discouraged, or to withdraw when the work is but fairly begun. Our plan, in all that has been done on this side of the Atlantic, has been to follow those whom we recognize as guides — the leaders in Ireland — who, being on the scene of action, know what is best to be done. We have repeatedly pledged ourselves to uphold their hands, to acquiesce in their plans — not to dictate their policy; to furnish cheerfully and generously the aid without which they would be powerless to carry out their designs. ** It would gratify our enemies if we were now to abandon the struggle, to wantonly throw away the fruit of so much sacrijfice and labor. This no true friend of Ireland will for a moment think of. No ! With Parnell at its head the Land League . still lives — still promises hope and help for Ire- land. Rally to its support. Irishmen, everywhere, who have ever believed in its purposes or gener- ously helped on its struggle. Let no one mislead " THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 527 those who love Ireland into despondency or faint- heartedness. Only those who sow disunion and distrust can retard the final triumph. Hopeful and united, success is assured. "James Mooney, President. "Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Treasurer. "John J. Hynes, Secretary. " Central Council, Irish National Land League of America." The publication of "that address gave, for the moment, some ground for the statements of malicious falsifiers that the leaders and members of secret societies of one sort or another were uniting in a general conspiracy to sow dissension in the ranks of the Leaguers and thus disrupt the organization when its substantial support was most needed to aid Mr. Parnell and his compa- triots in their gallant battles in the British House of Parliament and elsewhere for Ireland's auton- omy. I am in a position to know that there was not a particle of truth in any of those reports. The secret society men were, within my own knowledge, frank and outspoken in their more than friendly interest both in the welfare of the Land League and of its objects. "We have," said they, "one common end in view, although we are trying to reach it by differ- ent means. We believe in physical force. You believe in constitutional amtation. The indica- 81 528 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. tions are that possibly, in a few years, success will crown your efforts. In Parnell you have a great leader, the ablest since Daniel O'Connell's time. His lieutenants are all men of acknowledgfed ability, purity and patriotism. The civilized world looks on and applauds them in their good work. Go on. Do your part. If we do not join hands with you, we will 7iot iiiterfere with you! ^ This spirit was shown on all sides, and there ought to be, there can be no hesitation in assert- ing that these secret-society men thus proved themselves to be true friends of Ireland. True in this, also, that they thus freely gave up what to them was a principle — physical force. If some among them were desperate men who preferred violent measures to more pacific ones for the purpose of nationalizing their native land, the suf- ferings which, by eviction and the prison-cell, they and their relatives and friends had endured had made them so. Their wrongs and those of their country had fired their hearts, and they had made up their minds to retaliate. To them "physical force " seemed the only proper means to use. They had felt its effects themselves, and, as they grimly remarked, " they were only too willing to try a litde of its effects on their nation's oppress- ors." With them vengeance was a fixed purpose, and " physical force " the means of accomplishing that purpose. They wanted, however, above all things, to see Ireland resume her place among THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 520 the nations of the earth. When they saw a pros- pect of that glorious event through the Land League, they sheathed the sword, and gave the Leaguers their hearty support and countenance in very many notable instances. On the 24th of October, 1882, Secretary Hynes issued his second quarterly report, acknowledging contributions amounting to ^13,81 2.71. With the balance from the previous quarter and this amount Father Walsh transmitted ^20,000 to Patrick Egan in Paris, who took especial care that all funds intrusted to him for the Irish cause were most judiciously used. The Dublin Convention, which met on October 17, 1882, gave renewed hope to the friends of the Land League in America. The organization of the National League at that conference led to many inquiries as to whether the same change should take place in the United States and Can- ada. The office of the Central Council was flooded with letters from branch officers and others relating to this matter. Father Walsh was summoned to Buffalo, N. Y., and after a long consultation with his colleagues, it was decided to issue the following proclamation : "Irish National Land League of America. Central Office, Buffalo, N. Y., November 14, 1882. "In answer to inquiries received from many of 530 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the Land Leaofue Branches as to whether we would call a special convention to rearrange the plan of our organization, and adopt the changes made by the recent National Conference held in Dublin, we would state that, in our opinion, such a call is unnecessary, as the time for our annual meeting is not far off, and as the changes made in Ireland, and rendered necessary by the strin- gent laws in operation there, do not materially affect the plan or spirit of our league here — save to give it a new impetus and a more definite pur- pose — the programme marked out, especially the imperative demand for self-governmentfor Ireland, meriting the sanction and approval of all sympa- thizers. Feeling that our organization is in entire accord with the new plans of the Irish leaders, it seems useless to incur the expense of an extra convention, or to put members to the incon- venience of travelling long distances to attend one; whatever changes are necessary can be easily deferred until the time of our annual meeting. "We have communicated with Mr. Parnell, as to whether there is any necessity of changing our organization, and if so, what it would be desirable to alter. There has not been time to receive his suggestions as yet, but if he makes any of impor- tance, they will be submitted to the branches at an early date. "The leaders in Ireland have expressed their THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 531 firm reliance upon our continued support, and their hope that we will still generously uphold them, as we have done in the past. We must not, therefore, relax our efforts, nor let our interest flag; by keeping up the zealous and enthusiastic spirit that has made the Land League so great an organization, it will be an easy matter at all times to fall into line with our brethren in Ireland, in whatever efforts they are making to bring pros- perity and justice to that oppressed and misgov- erned land. "James Mooney, President, "Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Treasurer. "John J. Hynes, Secretary. " Central Council, Irish National Land League of America." The winter of 1882-83 was a sad and miser- able one for unhappy Ireland. Famine ravaged the west and extreme north of the island, and the pitiful petitions of the wretched inhabitants for relief were unheeded by the British Govern- ment. The cry of distress reached America, and the Central Council determined to make one more appeal to their fellow-countrymen on this side of the Atlantic Ocean for the famine sufferers. Accordingly the following address was issued to the Irishmen of America: 532 gladstone— parnell. "Irish National Land League of America. Central Office, 19 Arcade Building, Buffalo, N. v., February, 12, 1883. '•'To the Irish National Land League of America — to all Irish-A7nericans : It was the intention of the Central Council of the Land League of Amer- ica to call a convention of that body during the present month ; but at the request of Mr. Parnell, the time for holding the convention has been postponed until the latter part of April. At that time Mr. Parnell, as well as Mr. Sexton, the brilliant orator of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and probably Mr. Egan, the late faithful Treasurer of the Land League, will be with us. We desire to welcome these distinguished patriots with all the honors they so justly merit ; and it is our earnest hope, therefore, that the convention, at which they are to be present, may in point of numbers, of intelligence, of enthusiasm, be a truly creditable assembly of those who are best and most worthily representative of our race in America. "The call for the convention will now be Issued about the 17th of March next. We ask the co-operation of all Irishmen in our efforts to make the occasion an ovation worthy of our honored guests. To such as are not already members of the League we extend a cordial invitation to join the branches now established, or, where none exist, to form new ones, and communicate with THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 533 the National Secretary, John J. Hynes, No. 19 Arcade Building, Buffalo, N. Y., as soon as fifty members have been secured, when they will be entitled to send a delegate to our coming conven- tion. We exhort every branch already formed to labor zealously to increase its membership, so as to be entitled to send more than one represent- ative. Let us demonstrate to our brave leader and his confreres that our sympathy in their noble struggle has not grown cold. "We have likewise a plan to offer to all whom, this circular may reach — a plan for the relief of the suffering Irish of the famine-stricken west — that, it seems to us, must meet the approval of all. Day after day the wail of their misery reaches us, the old, sad story is retold, history repeats itself in unhappy Ireland. Deadly famine ravages the west and north, the tyrant government turns piti- lessly from the petition for relief, to spend its diabolical energy in demoralizing the east and south, hatching conspiracies, bribing informers, rewarding perjurers, immoladng the innocent. It has been said that ' the hat would never ag^ain be passed for Ireland,' and we do not wish to break the promise, nor do we deem that in addressing ourselves to the men and women of our own race alone, we are doing anything contrary to its spirit. " Our plan is that between this date and that of St. Patrick's Day, every Irish man and woman in America, and every descendant of such, shall 534 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. contribute the sum oi 07ie dollar to a special fund for relief purposes only. To make this a truly popular subscription no one shall be allowed to contribute more than one dollar, and none less. Lists will be opened immediately at the different Land League Branches, and moneys received by the treasurers ; the name of each contributor shall be published in the Irish-American papers. These moneys shall be entirely separate from the Land League Fund, and shall be transmitted by the Rev. Lawrence Walsh, of Waterbury, Conn., the General Treasurer of the Irish National Land Leaeue of America, to the famine-stricken districts of Ireland, for relief purposes only. Contributors can, if so minded, forward their money direct to Father Walsh. We ask each branch to hold a final meeting on St. Patrick's Day, to close the subscription to this fund. Each person paying one dollar can, if he or she desire It, be enrolled as a member of the Land League, said contri- bution beinor received in lieu of initiation fee. " By this plan a very large sum can easily be obtained, such a sum as will be an inestimable blessing to the famine sufferers, and surely no one will feel the giving of so small a contribution. We cannot, in this happier land, be unmindful of our starving brethren in Ireland, but as we give v»re can resolve to do all In our power to render this constant alms-giving unnecessary, by lending our aid to those at home who fight the good fight THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 535 against accursed landlordism, and its train of evils. li we cannot soften their hard hearts, we can agi- tate and organize against those alien rulers, whose unrighteous laws bring on this misery, and who answer the prayer of the starving subject by pointing the way to poverty-stricken exile, or the degrading workhouse. "James Mooney, President. "Rev. Lawrence Walsh, Treasurer. "John J. Hynes, Secretary. " Central Council, Irish National Land League of America." The response to this appeal was generous. Father Walsh being able to remit ^23,652.06 to the famine districts. This amount, it must be remembered, was exclusive of what was sent through the Boston Pilot, Irish World, and other channels. On January 2, 1883, Secretary Hynes' third quarterly report showed that Father Walsh had received and transmitted to Paris Leagj^ue funds amounting to the sum of ^8,743.88. In the beginning of March, 1883, President Mooney and Secretary Hynes held a conference with Hon. Alexander Sullivan and Col. Michael Boland, of the Committee of Seven appointed by the Chicago Irish National Convention of 1881, and Patrick Egan, ex-Treasurer of the Irish Na- tional Land League, who had arrived in this 536 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. country a few days previously, relative to the pro- priety of calling a convention of representatives from all Irish societies in the United States and Canada for the purpose of forming one organiza- tion, similar to the new National League of Ire- land, and auxiliary to it. The result of that conference was the issuing of two " calls " — the first one by the Central Council, and the second by Mr. Egan, of the League of Ireland, Mr. Mooney, of the Irish- American Land League, and Col. Boland, of the Chicago Committee : " Irish National Land League of America. Central Office, 19 Arcade Building, Buffalo, N. Y., March 24, 1883. " In accordance with our annual custom, and complying with the provisions of our constitu- tion, we hereby issue a call to the several branches composing the Irish National Land League of America, for a General Convention of that body, to be held in Horticultural Hall, in the city of Philadelphia. The convention will open on Wed- nesday, April 25, at II A. m. " Referring to our constitution it will be seen that it provides that : ' The convention shall con- sist of delegates from the several branches of the oro'anization in jjood standing at the time of the report next preceding the call for such convention. Each branch numbering fifty or more members in THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 587 good Standing at the time of such report shall be entitled to one delegate ; and each branch having three hundred or more members at the time of such report shall be entitled to an additional member for each two hundred members. Each delegate shall be provided with credentials, signed by the president and secretary of the branch which he represents, on blanks to be furnished from the Central Office.' " It is now decided that the distinguished Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, with one or more of his colleagues, and Patrick Egan, the ex-Treas- urer of the Land League, will honor us by their presence. To give them such a welcome and reception as they deserve will alone suffice to call out the fullest strength of the Land League organization, and insure its best efforts. " Important business will come before this con- vention, on which the future usefulness of the League will depend, and its closer union with the broader and more definite aims of the new Na- tional Leaoue in Ireland. " If anything more were needed — the manifold woes and miseries of the times in Ireland, the famine visitation, the cruel mockery of law, the heartless emigration schemes, the persistent effort to break the spirit of the unhappy people, to thwart, by means which outrage civilization and humanity alike, everything that promises any hope for their uplifting — furnish such incentives 538 GLADSTONE— PARNELL, for a grand rally of the friends of Ireland, that it is needless for us to urge all members of the Land League to be active and earnest, to be ready with their ablest representatives to make the comine convention the most memorable and imposing in the history of the organization. "James Mooney. " Rev. Lawrence Walsh. "John J. Hynes. ** Central Council, Land League of America." the second " CALL." "Buffalo, N. Y., March 24, 1883. "The undersigned, representing the National League of Ireland, the Irish National Land League of the United States and Canada, and the Com- mittee of Seven appointed by the Irish National Convention held at Chicago, hereby call an Irish- American National Convention, to be held in Horticultural Hall, in the city of Philadelphia, at II o'clock a, m., on April 26, 1883, for the follow- ing and other purposes : ''First, To express our sympathy with the suf- fering people of our race, who, reduced to pov- erty by iniquitous laws and bad harvests, are of- fered by the government which claims their al- legiance only the alternative of the degradation of the workhouses which Thomas Carlyle called 'human swineries,' or exile to foreign lands, ''Second, To voice the horror which freemen of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 539 every race feel on beholding a peaceable, indus- trious and virtuous nation despoiled by force of all vestiges of constitutional liberty ; the lives of her citizens ruthlessly sacrificed on the paid and perjured testimony of self-confessed villains; her jury-box packed by political and religious bigotry ; the ermine of her judicial bench thinly concealing Castle conspiracy and partisanship ; the functions of government within her confines administered by her enemies ; and all her national and political rights obliterated by a ferocious coercion act, whose tyrannous provisions shock civilization, engender and reward crime, and justify every legitimate effort of an exasperated people in resistino; its enforcement. ''Third. In the city where Irishmen helped lay the foundations of American liberty, in perpetua- tion of which the blood of their sons has been freely poured, to declare, on behalf of the exiled millions of our race, that we will never cease our efforts to recover for our motherland the God- given and inalienable right of national independ- ence ; and, that these efforts may be guided, under the blessings of Heaven, by the best coun- sels of all our people, and be made powerful by their combined strength, to blend into one organi- zation all the Irish societies of the United States and Canada, the new organization to be affiliated with the Irish National League of Ireland, of which Charles Stewart Parnell is the President. 540 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " The basis of representation will be one dele- gate for each society having a bona fide member- ship of fifty, and not more than one hundred per- sons ; and two delegates for each society whose membership exceeds one hundred. All Irish- American temperance, mutual benefit, charitable, literary, military, musical and patriotic organiza- tions are eligible to representation. " Patrick Egan, " Of National League of Ireland. "James Mooney, "President Irish-American Land League. •' Michael Boland, " Chairman Committee of Seven." Here comes in a point in the history of the Irish movement in this country that has, through a want of accurate knowledge on the part of some, been the cause of many discussions — all of them, I am glad to be able to say, of a friendly character. I refer to the merging of the Land into the National League, and for the purpose of settling forever all doubts on that topic I quote President Mooney's memoranda: "As the Land League in Ireland," he writes, " was now changed to the Irish National League, and as a great many Irish associations in this country wished to join in organizing an Irish Na- tional League of America to be affiliated to the League in Ireland, the Central Council were THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 541 urged on all sides to make the call for a conven- tion broad enoucrh to take in all who wished to o come, but as officers of the Irish Land League of America they felt it a bounden duty to resign their trust into the same hands by which it had been confided to them, and to allow the Land League to decide by ballot whether to merge in the Irish National League of America or to retain an independent existence. So the Land League Convention was called, as was customary, and held its sessions, voting to become a part of the new and larp^er organization. " It had been hoped and expected that Mr. Parnell would be present at this convention, but, at the last moment, to the great disappointment of everybody, he was unable to attend, owing to pressing Parliamentary duties. Rumor was rife of discord and dissension that was to mark the convention, and it was falsely said that Mr. Par- nell feared to come lest something misrht be said or done to weaken his position at home. "When the Central Council reached Philadel- phia they found quite an excitement prevailing, and could only with difficulty allay the fears of some timid ones or the forebodings of others that 'all was to be strife and discord,' " END OF THE LAND LEAGUE OF AMERICA. The last Convention of the Irish National Land League of America met on the morning of April 542 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 25, 1883, in Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., and was the largest that this organization ever held. There were present 468 delegates, repre- senting 562 branches. An unprejudiced literary man, whose official duties called him to the convention, wrote thus of its personnel: "The composition of the conven- tion was rather striking to the casual observer. Its appearance indicated a popular make-up ; but the average of intelligence and respectability was high, owing in a great measure to a large clerical and professional representation among the dele^ gates, comprising a large number of Roman Catholic priests and gentlemen M^ell known as journalists or literary men in various parts of the country." The bench, the bar and the medi- cal profession had their representatives, who stood shoulder to shoulder with cattle-kings and extensive farmers from the far West and the hard-working element of the Irish-American peo- ple from every quarter of this great nation. The intermingling of the " Orange and Green " colors in tasteful decorations in the interior of the hall was the silent, yet significant warning of the Leaguers to all outsiders that nevermore did they intend to allow relisfious differences to enter into any of their deliberations or to mar the success of the sublime cause in which Irishmen of all creeds were unitedly straining every energy to foster and advance. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 543 President Mooney opened the proceedings with a well-digested address, delivering it with a clearness and emphasis that gave It full force with his hearers, and roused the warmest enthu- siasm : The permanent officers of the convention were President Mooney, Secretary Hynes, and William F. Sheehan, of Buffalo, N. Y., and J. D. O'Con- nell, of Washington, Assistant Secretaries. A Committee on Credentials was appointed, consist- ing of Judge Rooney, of New York ; Rev. Luke V. McCabe, Philadelphia, Pa. ; John J. Power, Con- necticut; Timothy H. O'Donovan, Georgia; M. T. Maloney, Illinois; P. J. Sullivan, Indiana; M. V. Gannon, Iowa; John Fitzpatrick, Kentucky; Dr. W. H. Cole, Maryland ; M. J. Dawson, Michigan ; C. M. Carney, Minnesota ; Chas. O'Brien, Mississippi; Thomas Flatley, Massachu- setts ; John A. Gallagher, Maine ; W. H. Gorman, New Hampshire ; Hon. John Fitzgerald, Ne- braska ; Hon. W. J. Gleason, Ohio ; B. J. Patton, Rhode Island ; W. Mullen, Vermont ; Hon. M. F. Kennedy, South Carolina ; Thomas Moffit, Ten- nessee ; Patrick McGovern, Virginia ; Dr. Lytton Flynn, Wisconsin ; Hon. Thomas Fitch, Arizona. After that body had reported through its big- hearted chairman. Judge Rooney, the following remarkably representative committee was ap- pointed to consider and formulate a plan for re- organization as the National Irish League : Arl- 32 544 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. zona, James Redpath ; Connecticut, James Rey- nolds ; Georgia, Col. James F. Armstrong ; Illi- nois, Rev. Maurice J. Dorney ; Indiana, James H. Allen ; Iowa, M. V. Gannon ; Kentucky, Matthew O'Doherty ; Louisiana, Timothy Maroney; Mary- land, Col. E. T. Joyce ; Michigan, Rev. Dr. Charles O'Reilly; Massachusetts, Rev. Father T. Conaty; Maine, John A. Gallagher; New Hampshire, William H. Gorman ; Minnesota, C. M. McCart- ney ; Missouri, Dr. Thomas O'Reilly ; New Jersey, John H. Sanderson; New York, D. C. Feeley; Nebraska, Hon. John Fitzgerald ; Ohio, Major John Burns ; Pennsylvania, Rev. Thomas Barry ; Vermont, William Mullen ; Rhode Island, Col. F. L. O'Reilly; South Carolina, Hon. Michael F. Kennedy; Virginia, Patrick McGowen; Wiscon- sin, Joseph G. Donnelly ; District of Columbia, Arthur Rooney. The annual reports of Secretary Hynes and of the Treasurer, Father Walsh, as they were read before the convention and unanimously adopted after having been scrutinized by an auditinor committee, consisting of Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, Michigan, Dr. Casey, of New York, and Thomas H. Doherty, of Massachusetts, are valuable as historic documents, showing, as they do, the payments made by the treasurer for cer- tain expenses that were some time previously dis- puted by a few mischief-makers, the actual number of branches in existence in each State, and the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 547 amount of money credited to each State and Ter- ritory during the last year of the life of the Land Leaorue. Secretary Hynes read his statement in loud, clear tones,giving short explanations of the details where they seemed to be necessary. He said that if the list of the branches and their officers was not absolutely correct or complete, it was not the fault of the central officers, but was because of the failure of the various secretaries to keep them posted as to the details of the work of the branches. In his record the secretary stated that he had received official reports from 608 branches, 105 had disbanded during the year and 8;^ new ones had been formed. The previous roll con- tained nearly 900 branches, of which number 298 had failed to make any report to the central office. "There are now on the roll 559 branches of the existence of which the secretary has official knowledge. These are divided up as follows : Colorado, i; California, i; Connecticut, 49'; Georgia, 2; Illinois, 11; Indiana, 5; Iowa, 23; Kansas, I ; Kentucky, 8 ; Louisiana 2; Maryland, 7; Mississippi, i; Missouri, 13; Michigan, 13; Minnesota, 8; Massachusetts, 140; Maine, 30; New York, 130; New Jersey, 19; New Hamp- shire, 10; Nevada, i; Nebraska, 2; Ohio, 14; Pennsylvania, 44 ; Rhode Island, 13; South Car- olina, I ; Texas, i ; Virginia, 2 ; Vermont, 3 ; Wisconsin, 5 ; Tennessee, i ; District of Colum- 548 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. bia, 3 ; Prince Edward's Island, 9 ; New Bruns- wick, i; Nova Scotia, i: Total, 559. Of the 298 of which the secretary had no official knowledge, 69 were accredited to Massachusetts, 30 to New York, 29 to Pennsylvania, 25 to Connecticut, and 10 to New Jersey." The secretary's financial statement showed that the receipts from the Land League Branches had been ^61,976.27, of which ^45,251.70 was for Land League purposes, and ^16,724.57 for the relief fund. The amounts from the States, etc., were as follows: Connecticut, ^6,306.10; California, ^140; Colorado, $200; Georgia, ^836; Illinois, ^263.75 ; Indiana, $107.02 ; Iowa, $1,354.27 ; Kan- sas, $12.60; Kentucky, $1,520.50; Louisiana, $66; Massachusetts, $15,721.52; Maine, $351.98; Maryland, $1,047 ; Michigan, $383.50; Missouri, $261.30; Mississippi, $12.30; Minnesota, $126; New York, $19,892.71; New Jersey, $1,916.73; New Hampshire, $321.99; Nebraska, $43; Ne- vada, $200; Ohio, $1,253.35; Pennsylvania, $6,384.25; Rhode Island, $1,499.40; South Car- olina, $376; Texas, $70; Vermont, $62.55; Vir- ginia, $140; Tennessee, $29.35; Wisconsin, $234.80; District of Columbia, $234.50; Prince Edward's Island, $235 ; New Brunswick, $326.90, and Canada, $45.90. In addition to this sum $4,182.12 was received from lectures, donations, etc., and $6,004.49 from the " dollar subscription," which, with the balance THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 549 of ^6,876.02 from 1882, made a grand total of ^79,038.90. Of this sum Patrick Egan received ^27,102; C. S. Parnell, 1,12,903.10, and Alfred Webb, $3,000. There was sent to the famine dis- tricts $23,652.06. Miss Parnell's funeral required an expenditure of $1,335.09, which was paid to J. J, Nolan, and $4,291,24 was expended for the running expenses of the Land League, and $1,875 went to pay the expenses of the lecturers, Messrs. Michael Davitt, A. M. Sullivan and Wil- liam Redmond. The total disbursements were $74,123.40, leaving a balance of $4,915,50. In reply to a question for information as to the expenditure for lectures. Secretary Hynes stated that the gentlemen had given their services with- out char/re, and that it was no more than right that their expenses should be paid. Father Walsh gave substantially the same report as given above, with the addition of the information that he had remitted to Ireland $62,754.06, of which $39,102 was for the Land League, and $23,652.06 for the Relief Fund. Of the latter sum, $17,475.97 came from the Land League Branches, and the balance from the " dollar subscription." A detailed statement showing to whom in Ireland such payment for the Relief Fund was sent, was also submitted. The reading of the following telegram at this point in the deliberations was received with applause: {i50 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. "James Mooney, President Land League Con- vention : Greeting from Halifax. Let your de- liberations be for the good of Ireland, and we will endorse you." After an address from Thomas Brennan, of Ireland, in which he urged the delegates to "let self-effacement rule and personal predilections be sacrificed to-night, as they will be to-morrow, on the altar of Irish unity," Father Conaty made a verbal report from the Committee on Organiza- tion. He said it had decided not to recommend any plan to the convention, but, as a Committee on Resolutions, recommended the adoption of the following: ''Resolved, That we heartily endorse the princi- ples and objects adopted and declared by the National Conference held in the Ancient Concert Rooms in Dublin, on the 17th day of October, 1882, and pledge our earnest support to the Irish National League there established. "That, in response to the call for an Irish-Amer- ican National Convention, to be held in this hall to-morrow, and, in view of the prospect that the deliberations of that convention will result in the union of all patriotic Irish bodies on the continent which favor the present Irish policy, in a new organization supporting the National League of Ireland, the delegates to this convention attend in a body the sessions of said Irish-American THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 551 National Convention, and assist in promoting tlie union." A lengthy debate ensued, and while the mover of a resolution providing for the appointment of a Committee of Seven to act upon the dissolution of the Land League of America and the amalga- mation with the Irish National League was placing his motion on paper, Patrick Egan was introduced. The appearance of the Land League's treasurer was the signal for the most enthusiastic demon- stration that had been seen since the oro^anization of the convention in the early morning. The majority of the delegates jumped to their feet, threw their hats in the air and continued the cheering and applause for several minutes. After expressing his gratification at meeting so many members of the American Land League and being able to thank them in person for the help they had given the people "at home" in their fight against the landlord garrison, he said the land movement had been carried on on purely constitutional grounds; nothing had been used but moral forces, and no weapon except the organized power of public opinion. The English journals had repeatedly charged that the Land League was responsible for crime in Ireland, and a good many well-dis- posed Americans had accepted this statement as true. In refutation of this, he quoted some figures. In 1879 homicides in Ireland numbered 4; in 1848, a period of distress also, there were 171. In iSSo 552 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. there were 5; in 1849, 203. Referring to the Land League funds, Mr. Egan said: "Since the formation of the League there have passed through my hands, for the rehef of distress, $245,- 000. I have received from all sources, for Land League purposes, ^985,000, making in all ^1,230,- 000. Of that sum nearly a million dollars came from the Irish in America. That of course includes the amount received for distress, the amount received from Father Walsh, from the /^■'is/i World and other sources. Whatever benefits the Land League had produced for the country, and, as Mr. Brennan had said, it had brought about a reduc- tion of twenty million dollars per year in rent, it had also given some security to the farmers, and consequently immunity from landlord tyranny. With regard to the expenditure of that amount of money I am proud to say that no man, woman or child, who ever subscribed one penny to the fund, has ever raised any question. Some avowed enemies of our race and some disappointed black- mailers have attempted to make themselves heard, but without avail. After the Chicago Convention I addressed a letter to a member of the Commit- tee of Seven appointed by that convention, sug- gesting that if you, here in America, would appoint an auditing committee of two or three, in whom you here and we at home would have implicit confidence, then I and my co-trustees of the fund would o-ive to that committee most entire THE. GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 653 satisfaction with respect to the outlay of every penny of that fund. The committee decided that they would not act on that proposal. Before I left Paris, however, I insisted, for my own protec- tion, that an auditing committee should be appoint- ed, consisting- of Rev. Father Sheehy, Mr, John Dillon and Mr. Matthew Harris, that committee auditing every item in my account, and to nobody outside of that committee did I feel bound to give any satisfaction. I refer now to the newspapers which are so anxious to get at our affairs, and who are our enemies in England." A hot debate on the motion to appoint a Com- mittee of Seven was ended by Rev. Father Thomas Barry having the roll called to decide the matter. The result was the appointment of the following: Andrew Brown, of Missouri; General Patrick A. Collins, of Boston; Rev. Patrick Cronin, of New York ; Hon. M. V. Gannon, of Iowa; Rev. Dr. Chas. O'Reilly, of Detroit; Rev. Maurice J. Dorney, of Chicago ; and Col. John F. Armstrong, of Georgia. This virtually was the end of the Land League in America, and the con- vendon adjourned at 25 minutes past i o'clock on the morning of April 26, after having been in continuous session, with the exception of two very brief recesses, from 1 1 o'clock on the pre- vious mornine. Here, it seems to me, is the proper place in which to speak of the life and services of the 554 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. faithful treasurer of the Land League, Rev. Law- rence Walsh, whose death occurred on Thursday, January 3, 1884. A zealous, efficient and worthy priest of God, the cause of Irish emancipation and of temperance lost in him a prudent, disinterested and earnest champion. Priest and patriot, all who knew him revered and loved him. Rev. S. Byrne, O. S. D., one of his closest friends, writing his panegyric, says: "The 3d of January, 1884, will be long remembered in the grateful and sorrowful hearts of the Irish race on both sides of the Adantic. One of their truest, bravest, most persistent and successful leaders and friends was called from among them on that day. Father Lawrence Walsh is now known very generally as the late treasurer of the 'Land League of the United States;' but his intimate friends and his hosts of honest admirers knew him besides as one of the most religious, intelligent and gifted priests in these States or in the world. " Endowed by nature with a splendid physical frame and a bright intellect, he early In life con- ceived the happy thought of consecrating to his Maker's service the elfts with which he was so liberally provided. In this sentiment he entered the Seminary of the Sulplclans, in Maryland, and was ordained a priest of his native diocese of Hartford in 1S66. The first interview between him and the writer of this brief notice was In the spring of 1868, and the writer is glad to say that THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 555 a friendship was then formed which death alone could break. Father Walsh was then young in the priesthood, and a young man, too, counting his years. But his serious and exact views of all questions to which he turned his attention, his deliberate method of weig^hinof his reasons for convictions, his enthusiasm in clinging to what he beHeved to be right, were even then prominent traits of his character. He soon became pastor of St. Peter's Church, Hartford, and, after a few years, of the important and spirited congregation of Waterbury, in the same State of Connecticut. Early in 1880, a deep wail of sorrow and want was wafted across the Atlantic wave to our gen- erous shores from the native island of Father Walsh's ancestors. It failed not to awaken in his brave heart an immediate and sympathetic response. Few men on this continent were better acquainted with the history of Ireland than Father Walsh. He knew by heart the long record of her bitter grievances, the history of her greatest men, and especially of St. Lawrence O'Toole, the sainted bishop who boldly raised the standard o^ armed resistance against the robbers of his nation's honor and the murderers of her life. The good and holy priest of New England was deeply moved at the idea that even in this nine- teenth century, an age, they say, of civilization and mercy to the poor, the peasantry of Ireland should be again the victims of artificial famine, which 556 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. their rulers could readily have prevented or remedied. He threw himself, therefore, with his whole soul into the movement inaugurated by Ireland's honored son, Charles Stewart Parnell, thinking it to be the best thing for Ireland, under all the circumstances of the case, that had been started in this second half of the nineteenth cen- tury. How the dear, good and noble priest labored and toiled to unite in this noble and grand movement the purest and best spirits of his race on this side of the Atlantic, is a very important part of its history. Father Walsh's unselfish and gallant part in it will stand out through all time as a bright beacon-light to guide the footsteps of all honest lovers of Ireland and haters of her task- masters, whether lay or clerical. But he lies in the grave in his native city of Providence — a city founded on the principles of resistance to bigotry and wrong in 1635 — and the children of Erin at home and abroad will build his monument and breathe over his grave a deep and fervent prayer for the eternal rest of his blessed soul ; and, in thinking of his life-work, they will become braver, more united, and better men. May the rest of the saints be his portion forever." BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE IRISH NATIONAL LEAGUE OF AMERICA. In the Spring of 1883 a new era in the history of the Irish cause in America was inaugurated at THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 557 Philadelphia, Pa. The Land League had been suppressed in Ireland. The national spirit, more alive in consequence of the tyranny of the Coer- cion Act, had organized the National League as the successor of its formidable and hard-working, but now extinguished predecessor. The fore- going pages of this work have shown how the Irish-Americans, resolved to stand by Charles Stewart Parnell in the new move which he and his able compatriots in Ireland had determined upon, had taken the decisive steps of dissolving the Irish Land League of America, and appointing a committee empowered to merge it into a new and more vigorous organization, bearing the same title and with the same aims and objects as the newly created body " at home." The body of men and women who formed this new confedera- tion met in Hordcultural Hall, Philadelphia, on the morning of April 26, 1883, ^^""^ so representa- tive were they, that the newspapers of the country by common consent styled the assemblage THE IRISH RACE IN CONVENTION. More than twelve hundred delegates were present, representing thirty-two States and Terri- tories and Canada. Australia w^as also repre- sented in the person of two delegates, Revs. William Slattery and John Gallagher. It was undoubtedly the largest body ever assembled on this continent for any political purpose, and its 558 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. personnel was equally as high as that of the smaller body which met on the previous day in the same hall. The deliberations of the conven- tion concentrated the attention of the country at large upon it from the opening of its first session to the end of the last one. The leading news- papers of England, Ireland, Scotland and France had a corps of intelligent correspondents, noting its transactions for the information of their read- ers, and cabling the discussions and actions of the delegates. Every journal of any prominence in the United States, and many in Canada, had lengthy and detailed reports telegraphed of the proceed- ings of every session. Some of them anticipated " a ruction " among the delegates, under the impres- sion that O'Donovan Rossa or some of his friends would *' raise trouble," and their managing editors in several instances telegraped to their reporters or correspondents instructing them to " write up the shindy at length." At no time was there any " trouble," or even any likelihood of it, and the American press, without exception, passed the highest encomiums upon the convention after its adjournment. The keynote of the convention and of the new era was struck b}^ the Hon. Alexander Sullivan, of Illinois, in a short but singularly comprehensive speech, calling the gathering to order. Slender of frame, a spare and youthful-looking man with a quiet, strong face that would attract attention to THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 559 itseirin any assemblage of distinguished men, the leader of his race in America, sensitive as a woman, brave as the most gallant and soldierly of his race, his appearance was received with a storm of applause. "The duty of formally open- ing this convention," said he, " has been assigned to me by the distinguished gendemen whose names are appended to the call. When we behold the personal magnitude of this assem- blage ; when we consider the geographical area from which it has been spontaneously drawn ; when we contemplate ijie intensity of the passion which animates it for the sole object we have in view, and the diversity of honest opinion concern- ing the methods by which that object may be ac- complished, it is meet that we should, on the very threshold of our debates, invoke Him in whose hands are the destinies of the nations, that our proceedings may be characterized by wisdom, toleration and prudence ; that they may result in that actual unity which alone will insure sub- stantial progress in securing justice for our motherland. "We hold the anomalous position of being the only fairly and freely chosen Parliament which may assemble to consider the welfare of a wretchedly oppressed, plundered and misgov- erned people ; and we are restrained at the same time from stepping outside the functions of auxil- iaries to the patriots who are heroically struggling 560 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. at home, and in an alien and hostile legislature, in the vain hope of awakening the long-suspended conscience of a powerful and brutal foe. How great are the possibilities, how great the respon- sibilities of this convention ! We have met, neither on the one hand to dictate to our breth- ren in Ireland in anything, nor on the other hand to apologize to their and our common enemy for anything. We have met to organize and con- centrate all the forces of our race, that their united strength shall be made potential in our national struggle. W^e have met to solidify all the ele- ments of our national sympathy, that hereafter there shall be an authorized body to speak, not for a party, not for a man, but for united, exiled Ireland. We have met to tell our brethren in Ire- land that it is theirs to choose the road which leads to liberty, and ours to march with them upon it. The racial blood that flows in our veins shall feel the same pulse-beat as theirs ; and that beat shall be as firm and as steady as the tap of the drum on the morning of battle. "That we may have upon our deliberations the approval of Almighty God, and of all just men who love liberty, we must show In this, the Par- liament of our race, assembled in the City of Brotherly Love, that every party Is less than the cause, that every Individual Is esteemed below our country, and that every Irishman is a brother." On the motion of Rev. Dr. George C. Betts, a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 561 Protestant Episcopalian rector from St. Louis, Mo., Rev. M. J. Dorney, a Roman Catholic pastor of Chicago, III., was elected temporary chairman. Committees on credentials, resolutions and per- manent organization were appointed, a delegate from each State and Territory serving on each committee. While these committees were de- liberating in different ante-rooms addresses were made by Rev. Dr. Betts, Fathers Cronin, Gal- lagher and Slattery, and the following telegram was read from William McCready, of Louisville, Ky.: " Sons of Erin — Patriots : Ireland's hopes are centred in you ; sink all differences for her sake ; unfurl a stainless banner with 'Irish-American National League ' inscribed thereon, and Erin's deliverance will soon be won." The permanent officers of the convention were: President, Hon. M. A. Foran, Cleveland, Ohio. Secretary, John J. Hynes, Esq., Buffalo, N. Y. Assistant Secretaries : John J. Enright, Michi- gan ; Edward Fitzwilliams, Massachusetts ; Cor- nelius Morgan, Pennsylvania; J. D. O'Connell, Washington, D. C. Vice-Presidents : Patrick Egan, Ireland ; Rev. M. J. Masterson, Massachusetts ; M. D. Ryan, Colorado ; Edward Tobin, Montreal, Canada ; James Reynolds, Connecticut; John H. Parnell, 33 562 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Georgia ; John Carroll, Indiana ; Dr. William B. Wallace, New York ; C. J. Smyth, Nebraska ; Rev. J. M. Mackay, Ohio ; Hon. T. V. Powderly, Pennsylvania; Joseph Mullen, Rhode Island; W. J. O'Connor, South Carolina ; Hon. Thomas Fitch, Arizona ; Patrick McGovern, Virginia ; Hon. J. C. Corrigan, Wisconsin ; Captain E. O'Meagher Condon, District of Columbia ; C. J. Wheeler, Vermont ; William Condon, Delaware ; John McAteer, Kentucky; Timothy Crean, Illi- nois ; John Fitzpatrick, Louisiana ; James Doyle, Maryland; Hon. M. V. Gannon, Iowa; Rev. Charles O'Reilly, Michigan; C. M. McCarthy, Minnesota; Dr. Thomas O'Reilly, Missouri; John Hayes, New Hampshire ; John J. Berry, New Jersey ; Rev. Wm. Slattery, Timora, Australia ; Rev. John Gallagher, Australia ; Mrs. Delia T. S. Parnell, Ladies' League of America. Declarine that " it is time we had a unification of Irish societies," Chairman Foran opened the real business of the convention with the asser- tion ; " We never shall be satisfied so long as the meanest cottager in Ireland has a link of the British chain clanking on his limbs. He may be in rags, he shall not be in irons." At the conclu- sion of his address the following cablegram from. Mr. Parnell was read: " To James Mooney, President of Irish Con- vention^ Philadelphia. London, April 26: My THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 663 presence at the opening of the most representa- tive convention of Irish-American opinion ever assembled being impossible, owing to the neces- sity of my remaining here to oppose the Criminal Code Bill, which re-enacts permanently the worst provisions of the Coercion Act, and which, if passed, will have the effect of placing the consti- tutional movement at the mercy of the British Government, I would ask you to lay my views before the convention, and would advise that a platform shall be so framed as to enable us to continue to accept help from America, and avoid affording any pretext to the British Government for entirely suppressing the national movement in Ireland, In this way only can unity of move- ment be preserved in both Ireland and America. I have perfect confidence that by prudence, moder- ation and firmness, the cause of Ireland will con- tinue to advance, and that, though persecution rests heavily upon us at present, before many years shall have passed we shall have achieved those great objects for which for so many years our race has struo-^led, " Charles Stewart Parnell." Stirring addresses were made by Rev. Fathers Agnew, of Scotland (Father Agnew is now sta- tioned in Chicago, Illinois), and John Boylan, of Ireland. The latter's speech, full of fire and ring- ing eloquence, aroused his hearers to the highest 664 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. pitch of enthusiasm. He said he felt proud to be called upon by such an assemblage, representing the rank, intelligence and public spirit of his race in this land, and composed of men who had learned the language of freedom, knew the power of free speech, felt that there was a glorious future dawning for Ireland, and appreciated the fact that it is only by sincere unity and indomita- ble bravery that victories are won. The past emigration from Ireland had been productive of good. The exiled sons of Erin, whom the Lon- don Times once declared to have ** gone with a vengeance," were present in the enjoyment of " life, Hberty and the pursuit of happiness." Their numbers had swelled forth until they had become a mighty factor in this great republic. It was pleasing to reflect that the emigration that drained from Ireland the elements of wealth, power and greatness flowed in life-giving streams of energy and valor into another country, and that country the powerful and jealous rival of England. Every pang of the national heart of Ireland seemed to be but a pulsation that drove to the remotest arteries of the world the life-blood of Irish patriotism, and caused Irishmen to stretch to each other the right hand of fellowship, forming around the wide world a mrdle of national love and patriotism that extended from the east to the west, and coupled the north and south poles with the wide circle of exiled but glorious affections. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 665 At present Catholic and Protestant were heart to heart and hand in hand moving together and assuring each other that on the present question of Ireland's resurrection they have one common ground to stand upon, one common ground to fight for, and one common enemy to oppose. " I hope that this great republic, that has afforded such a magnificent asylum to my exiled countrymen, will be with us in this great question. America can say to us: 'I gave you employment, I opened my doors to your homeless, and gave land to your landless ; ' but the Irishman can reply: 'Yes; but I have been the instrument of your hardest toil, the willing architect of your civil and military renown ; the fiery blood of my exiled countrymen swept like a torrent over your vast continent, pouring its fresh streams into the onward current of American nationality; and, whilst treacherous England, which now, by fawn- ing sycophancy and by wily arts, endeavors to secure your confidence, made that never-to-be- forgotten attempt to drive the assassin's dagger into your bleeding heart when you were stagger- ing under a terrible internecine war, Irish blood flowed freely into the fraternal current that sanc- tified the statue of liberty and anointed the down- trodden slave.' " It was during the afternoon of the second day's session that the convention adopted the pream- bles and resolutions that formed the subject of so 5GG GLADSTONE— PARNELL. much favorable comment afterwards on the part of the American press and people. Rev. Dr. O'Reilly read them in a tone of voice that rang throughout the spacious hall, and gave to certain portions of them an emphasis that aided their effectiveness and helped to give heartiness, if any- thing could have been needed beyond the words he read, to the applause by which he was fre- quendy interrupted. Here are the preambles and resolutions : "The Irish-American people, assembled in con- vention at Philadelphia, submit to the intelligence and right reason of their fellow-men that the duty of government is to preserve the lives of the gov- erned, to defend their liberty, to protect their property, to maintain peace and order, to allow each portion of the people an equitable and effi- cient voice in the legislature, and to promote the general welfare by wise, just and humane laws. We solemnly declare, and cite unquestioned his- tory and the universal knowledge of living men in testimony thereof — " First. That the English Government has ex- isted in Ireland not to preserve the lives of the gov- erned, but to destroy them. Entire communities it has wantonly massacred by the sword. To the asylums of terrified women it has deliberately applied the blazing torch. Into helpless towns it has discharged deadly bombs and shells. Through consecrated crypts, where age and infancy sought THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 567 shelter, it has sent its bloody butchers. The sacred persons of venerable priests it has stretched upon the rack or suspended from the gibbet. Puling babes have been impaled on the points of its bayonets because, in their own words, its emis- saries ' liked that sport.' Its gold has been folded in the hand of the assassin, and has rewarded the infamy of the perjured traitor. Its treacherous falsehood has lured patriots to unsuspected death. As if the sword, the cannon, the torch, the scaffold, the dagger and the explosive were not enough, it enjoys the unique infamy of being the only Gov- ernment known to ancient or modern times which has employed famine for the destruction of those from whom it claimed allegiance. Forcibly rob- bing the Irish people of the fruits of their own toil, produced by their own labor, it has buried not a hundred, not a thousand, but more than a million of the Irish race, unshrouded, uncoffined, in the grave of hunger. It has mercilessly com- pelled other millions, in compulsory poverty, to seek in alien lands the bread they were entitled to in their own. There is no form of cruelty known to the lowest savage which it has not prac- tised on the Irish people in the name of the high- est civilization. There is no device of fiendish ingenuity it has not adopted to reduce their num- bers. Within two years it has massacred chil- dren, and woman's body has been the victim of its licensed ruffians. There is no species of de- 568 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. structive attack, however insidious or violent, an- cient or modern, rude or scientific, whether directed against life or matter, in any portion of the globe, for which its barbarities in Ireland have not furnished the example. There is no form of retaliation to which despair or madness may resort for which English cruelty in Ireland is not exclu- sively responsible. " Secondly. We declare the English Govern- ment in Ireland has not defended the liberty of the people, but has annihilated it. The statutes enacted since the invasion amount to a series of * coercion laws, framed to deprive citizens of all vestiges of personal freedom and reduce them to outlawry, in order to confiscate their property and compel them to flee to foreign lands. Since the beginning of the present century, when the Irish Parliament was abolished, the laws for Ireland have been made in England ; and during that period habeas corpus and the right of trial by jury have been suspended more than fifty times, hordes of soldiers have been loosed upon a people forbidden to bear arms, and a state of war, with all its attendant horrors, with occasionally those of retaliation, has been maintained. To-day rep- resentatives of the people are in prison, guiltless of crime. Freedom of speech is abolished ; free- dom of the press is abolished. The right of peaceable public meeting is annulled. No man's house is secure, night or day, from armed ma- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. §69 rauders, who may insult and harass his family. Without a warrant the citizen may be thrown into prison ; without counsel he may be put on mock trial before a prejudiced judge and a packed jury. On the lying averments of purchased wretches his liberty may be sacrificed or his life taken in the name of law. " Thirdly. Instead of protecting the property of the people, the English Government in Ireland has been a conspiracy for its injury and ruin. Of 20,000,000 acres of food-producing land, 6,000,000 have been allowed to lie waste. The ownership of the remainder, generally acquired by force or fraud, has been retained in the hands of ravenous monopolists, who have annually drained the country of its money in the form of rents, no portion of which goes back to the Irish people. In addition to this, an iniquitous system of taxation imposes on the people a gigantic bur- den for the sustenance of a foreign army, for an oppressive constabulary, for salaries to super- numerary officials and placemen, for pensions to English favorites, for blood-money for informers, and for a vulgar court, whose extravagance is equalled only by the sham of its pretentions. The naturally created capital of the country is sent to England, on one pretext or another, and brings no exchange except articles of English manufacture, which the Irish people, under self- government, would produce for themselves or 570 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. purchase in America. Irish manufactures, de- liberately destroyed by England in the last cen- tury, are still dormant. Her immense water- power turns no wheels. Her canals are all but impassable. Her rivers are obstructed. Her useful clays and valuable minerals are untouched. In her beautiful harbors are few ships except those of her enemy. English law for the protection of property in Ireland has been a lance to make Ire- land bleed at every pore for the benefit of the heartless landlord and the English manufacturer. " Fourthly. The English Government in Ire- land has not maintained peace and order, but has, for seven hundred years, broken her peace and destroyed her order. " Fifthly. The English Government in Ireland does not allow that portion of the empire an equi- table and efficient voice in the legislature. In England one-twelfth of the population votes for members of Parliament ; in Ireland one-twenty- fifth of the population votes for members of Parliament. In England the registration laws are favorable to the voter; in Ireland they are inimical to the voter. In England all classes of the population are fairly represented ; in Ireland the poor law is employed to secure to landlords and place-hunters a prepon- derance in the national delegation. In England the judiciary is independent of the executive and sympathizes with the people ; in Ireland the judi- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 571 ciary is the creature and a part of the executive, and appointed exclusively from the enemies of the people. In England the magistracy is chosen without regard to creed ; in Ireland ninety-seven per cent, of the magistrates, having jurisdiction over personal liberty, are selected from a creed rejected by seventy-eight per cent, of the people, and the detestable spirit of religious bigotry is thus legalized and perpetuated. In England the laws creatinof civil disabilities on account of re- liofion have lono- been dead. In Ireland laws made under Edward III., Queen Elizabeth, the Earl of Strafford, Charles II., Queen Anne, and their successors are still vital to torment a people for whose oppression no statute is found too hoary by venal and truculent judges. Every measure of legislation proposed by an English member re- ceives courteous consideration. Any measure, however just, necessary or humane, proposed by patriot Irish members is certain of contemptuous rejection by a combined majority of both the great English parties. Thus the educational sys- tem of Ireland is notoriously inadequate. Thus it is that evictions, unknown in England, and de- clared by Mr. Gladstone to be almost equivalent to death sentences, are of daily occurrence in Ire- land, and have nearly doubled in five years, in spite of the boasted benefits of the Gladstone land laws. Thus it is, that, although, according to government returns, the criminals are twenty- 572 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. seven in 10,000 of English population, and only sixteen in 10,000 of the Irish population, in spite of the exasperation to which they are subjected ; yet England enjoys constitutional liberty, and Ire- land is under worse than martial law. The in- trepid and persistent attempts of a patriot Irish deputation to obtain in the English Parliament just and humane laws for Ireland has always been, is, and, in our belief, must continue to be, a a failure. " Now, therefore, in view of these facts, be it ''Resolved, by the Irish-American people, in convention assembled, that the English Govern- ment in Ireland, originating in usurpation, per- petuated by force, having failed to discharge any of the duties of government, never having ac- quired the consent of the governed, has no moral right whatever to exist in Ireland ; and that it is the duty of the Irish race throughout the world to sustain the Irish people in the employment of all legitimate means to substitute for it national self- government. ''Resolved, That we pledge our unqualified, and constant support, moral and material, to our coun- trymen in Ireland in their efforts to recover national self-government, and, in order the more effectually to promote this object, by the consolidation of all our resources and the creation of one responsible and authoritative body to speak for Ireland in America, that all the societies represented THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 573 in this convention and all that may hereafter comply with the conditions of admission, be organized into the Irish National Leas^ue of America, for the purpose of supporting the Irish National League of Ireland, of which Charles Stewart Parnell is President. ''Resolved, That we heartily endorse the noble sentiment of Bishop Butler, of Limerick, 'that every stroke of Forster's savage lash was for Irishmen a new proof of Parnell's worth, and an additional title for him to the confidence and gratitude of his countrymen.' ""Resolved, That we sympathize with the labor- ers of Ireland in their efforts to improve their condition ; and, as we have sustained the farmers in their assault upon the landlord garrison, we now urge upon the farmers justice and humane consideration for the laborers. In the words, for the employment of which an Irish member of Par- liament was imprisoned, we demand that the farmers allow the laborers * a fair day's wages for a fair day's work/ ''Resolved, That as the manufactures of Great Britain are the chief source of her material great- ness, already declining under the influence of American competition, we earnestly counsel our countrymen in Ireland to buy nothing in England which they can produce in Ireland or procure from America or France; and we pledge our- selves to promote Irish manufactures by encour- 574 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. aging their import into America, and to use our utmost endeavor, by plain statements of fact and discrimination in patronage, to persuade American tradesmen from keeping English goods on sale. ''Resolved, That an English Ministry, ostenta- tiously 'liberal,' has earned the contempt and de- testation of fair-minded men throughout the world by imprisoning more than a thousand citizens of Ireland, without accusation or trial, a number of whom were noble-hearted women, engaged in works of mercy among the evicted victims of landlord rapacity and English law. ''Resolved, That this convention thanks Rt. Rev. John Ireland, Bishop of St. Paul, Rt. Rev. John O'Connor, Bishop of Omaha, Rt. Rev. John Lan- caster Spalding, Bishop of Peoria, Most Rev. John Williams, Archbishop of Boston, Rt. Rev. S. V, Ryan, Bishop of Buffalo, Most Rev. Patrick A. Feehan, Archbishop of Chicago, Rt. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, Bishop of Little Rock, and their co-la- borers, for their efficient efforts in providing homes for the Irish immigrants into the United States. The people of Ireland are, by the laws of God and nature, entided to live by their labor, in their native land, whose fertile soil is abundantly able to nourish them ; but, since a brutal government compels large numbers to emigrate, it is the duty of their countrymen to warn them against the snares of poverty in large cities and assist them in the agricultural regions. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 57g ''Resolved, That the policy of the EngHsh Gov- ernment, in first reducing the Irish peasantry to abject poverty and then sending them penniless to the United States, dependants on American charity, is unnatural, inhuman, and an outrage upon the American Government and people. We respectfully direct the attention of the United States Government to this iniquity, protest against its continuance, and Instruct the officials who shall be chosen by this convention to present our pro- test to the President of the United States, and respectfully, but firmly, to urge upon the President that it is the duty of the Government of the United States to decline to support paupers whose pauperism began under and is the result of Eng- lish misgovernment, and to demand of England that she send no more of her paupers to these shores to become a burden upon the American people. ''Resolved, That this convention welcomes the sturdy and undaunted patriot and the prudent custodian, Patrick Egan, who, to protect the Land League funds from the robber-hands of the En or. lish Government, voluntarily abandoned his pri- vate business, and accepted a long exile in a foreign land ; the integrity of whose guardianship has been certified, after a minute examination of his books, by the distinguished and independent patriots, John Dillon, Rev. Eugene Sheehy, and Matthew Harris. Grateful for his invaluable ser- 576 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. vices, his countrymen rejoice that they possess on this important occasion the advantage of his wise and experienced counsel ; and are proud to welcome him to their hearts and their homes." "As the chairman was announcing the adoption of tlie resolutions, the hall became," writes Mr. John J. McKenna, of Philadelphia, Pa., " a scene of the wildest enthusiasm. The delegates rose 671 masse and waved their hats over their heads, as they sent up cheer after cheer, and the ladies on the stage arose and waved their handkerchiefs." By a unanimous vote the following was adopt- ed as the platform of the organization : *^ Whereas, in the opinion of the citizens of America and Canada, Irish and of Irish descent, it is needful, for the purposes hereinafter set forth, that, sinking all private prejudice and creed dis- tinctions, they do unite to secure this common end, do band themselves together under the name and title of the Irish National League of America. ARTICLE I. "The objects of the Irish National League of America are : "I. Earnestly and actively to sustain the Irish National League in Ireland with moral and material aid, in achieving self-government for Ireland. "2. To procure a clearer and more accurate THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 577 understanding, by the American people, of the political, Industrial, and social condition of Ireland, that they may see for themselves that her poverty Is the result of centuries of brute force and destructive legislation ; and that, if permitted to make her own laws on her own soil, she will demonstrate the possession of all the essentials, natural ^nd ideal, for political autonomy, bene- ficial alike to Ireland and the United States. "3. To promote the development of Irish man- ufactures, by encouraging their Import into the United States, to promote the study of Irish his- tory, past and present, and to circulate carefully prepared literature* in schools and societies, that the justice of the cause may be thoroughly defend- ed against ignorance, malice, and misrepresen- tation. "4. To encourage the study of the Irish lan- guage, the cultivation of Irish music, and an enlightened love of the art characteristics which made the past of our race bright amid darkness, and have always secured for the Celt success and renown in every country in which he has had an equal opportunity with his fellows. "5. To hurt the enemy where he will feel it most, by refusing to purchase any article of Eng- lish manufacture and by using all legitimate influ- ences to discourage tradesmen from keeping Enollsh manufactures on sale. " 6. To abolish sectional feeling, to destroy 84 578 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. those baleful animosities of province and creed which have been insidiously handed down by the enemy, to weave a closer bond of racial pride and affection, and to keep alive the holy flame of Irish nationality while performing faithfully the duties o-f American citizenship. "Section 2. The officers of the League shall be a President, Vice-President^ Treasurer, and Sec- retary. "Section 3. The President shall preside at all meetings of the League and perform such other duties as may hereinafter in these articles be imposed upon him. " Section 4. In the absence or inability to serve of the President, his duties shall be discharged by the Vice-President. "Section 5. The Treasurer shall properly ac- count for all moneys paid to him by the Secretary on behalf of the League, and make explicit reports thereof annually to a convention of this League. "Section 6. The Secretary shall keep correct records of all meetings of the League, receive all moneys for its use from subordinate branches and affiliatlno; organizations in States and counties, and pay the same over to the Treasurer, taking his receipt therefor, and all moneys so paid to the Secretary shall be by draft or post-office order in favor of the Treasurer. "Section 7, The governing body of the League shall consist of the President, Vice-President and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 579 Council, which shall be composed of one member from each State, Territory, the District of Colum- bia and the Dominion of Canada, and which shall be elected by the National Convention, and shall meet at least once annually, the time and place for which shall be designated by the president. " Section 8. The governing body shall meet at least once annually at the time and place hereto- fore provided, and shall frame an organization similar in character for each State and Territory and the Dominion of Canada. They shall pro- vide for the general welfare of the organization, and they shall have power necessary to promote the interests and extend the organization and influence of the League. "Section 9. The Council shall appoint of its number an executive Committee of Seven, to be centrally located, for the more effective adminis- tration of the affairs of the League, of which com- mittee the president shall be ex-officio chairman. They shall make such rules, regulations and by- laws as they shall deem best for the management and control of the finances of the League and their general correspondence, and shall provide for the establishing of branch leagues and the reception of societies desiring to affiliate with the League, and shall make and publish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the form- ation, government and control of branch leagues, and for the admission of such other organizations 580 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. as may desire to affiliate with the League, and such council shall make such provision as may be in their judgment necessary for the formation of State organizations. " Section lo. The Central Council shall provide an equitable assessment of dues for each society, league or branch affiliating with this League, and such ordinary or extraordinary assessments as may become necessary by the exigencies of the situation. "Section ii. All American, Irish and Irish- American societies, military, benevolent, social, literary, patriotic and charitable, may be enrolled ^s subordinate branches or affiliating societies of the National League, and they shall pay to the treasurer of the League a sum not less than one dollar per annum for every member in good standing in such league, branch or affiliating soci- ety, payment to be made quarterly. " The National Conventions of the Leaorue shall be composed of delegates duly elected by the various branches and societies affiliated with the League, and the basis of representation shall be as follows : One delegate for every one hun- dred members, and one delegate for societies of less than one hundred and more than fifty; but no society shall have more than two delegates. " No branch or affiliated society shall be enti- tled to representation that has failed or neglected to make its regular quarterly report and, paid Its assessment up to the date of the convention." THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE, 581 Hon. Alexander Sullivan, of Chicago, Illinois, was elected President; John J. Hynes, Esq., of Buffalo, New York, Secretary, and Rev. Dr. Chas. O'Reilly, of Detroit, Michigan, Treasurer of the new organization. Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, it should be stated, was selected for the responsible posi- tion of the Treasurer of the League by the cleri- cal deleofates. When Colonel Boland nominated Mr. Sullivan for President, the mention of his name elicited enthusiastic applause. Before the vote was taken Mr. Sullivan refused to be a can- didate, but in spite of this action it was found upon the calling of the roll that he had received the all but unanimous vote of the convention. Upon being permitted to speak, after his election, he repeated his declination. Young at the bar, without income except as he earned it, he felt that he could not, in justice to the cause and to him- self, afford to devote his time to the arduous and continuous duties of such an important position. The convention, however, was not disposed to consider any man's private interests at such a time. A motion M^as unanimously carried to "lay his declination on the table." He remained firm In his refusal, however, and at length only yielded to the private and public entreaties of the leadino- men in the convention, and after eloquent appeals delivered from the platform by Rev. T. J. Conaty, on behalf of the old Land League; by Patrick Eo-an and Thomas Brennan on hehalf of Ireland ; 582 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. by Mrs. Parnell for her son, and by James Red- path " in the name of America," Major John Byrne, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was elected Vice-Pres- ident, and the delegations from each State and Territory announced as their respective repre- sentatives in the National Council: California, Judge M. Cooney ; Connecdcut, James Reynolds ; Colorado, J. J. O'Boyle ; Delaware, James A. Bourke ; Georgia, J. F. Armstrong ; Illinois, John J. Curran ; Indiana, D. J. Sullivan ; Iowa, M. V. Gannon ; Kentucky, Wm. M. Collins ; Louisiana, John Fitzpatrick ; Maryland, Rev. M. J. Brennan; Michigan, John C. Donnelly ; Massachusetts, Rev. P. A. McKenna; Minnesota, C. M. McCarthy; Missouri, Dr. Thomas O'Reilly; Maine, J. A. Gallagher ; Nevada, U. S. Senator James G. Fair ; Nebraska, P. J. Smith ; New Hampshire, John Hayes ; New Jersey, William F. O'Leary ; New York, Dr. William B. Wallace ; Ohio, William J. Gleason ; Pennsylvania, Maurice F. Wilhere ; Rhode Island, John McElroy ; South Carolina, Hon. Michael F. Kennedy; Tennessee, C. J. McCarty ; Vermont, C. J. Wheeler; Virginia, Patrick McGovern ; Wisconsin, J. G. Donnelly; Arizona, Thomas Fitch; District of Columbia, Peter McCartney ; Canada, John P. Whelan, At the instance of Mr. E. Fitzwilliam, of Water- town, Mass., the convention adopted a resoludon declaring that "the United Irish League of America hereby extends, to the father of the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 533 Land League, Michael Davitt, incarcerated the third time in a British dungeon, the heartiest expressions of our unabated love, esteem and confidence, and send him this message of greet- ing, in this the hour of the triumph of the prin- ciples which he so wisely inaugurated in Irish- town." The formal declaration of the amalgamation or merging of the Land and Irish National Leagued was made by Rev. P. Cronin, of Buffalo, N. Y., who, by authority of the Conference Committee of Seven, of which he was a member, appointed on Wednesday, April 25, 1883, reported that "it was the committee's decision, in view of the unity and harmony of the new National League, the Land League would cease to exist as a separate organization." *' It was not dead or dissolved," he added, "but endowed with a more vigorous life in the new National Leao^ue which we have this day established." Miss Alice Gallagher, of the Anna Parnell Branch of St. Louis, Mo., presented on behalf of that organization a check for ^850, "to be dis- tributed by Charles Stewart Parnell for the bene- fit of the destitute poor of Ireland." Miss Mary E. Callaghan, also of St, Louis, Mo., presented $500 for the same purpose. " The women of the League," said she, " propose to do what they can to keep the wolf from the door. Let the men keep the lion away." 584 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Before the adjournment of the convention, Mr. John F. Kerr, of New Jersey, had a resolution adopted, pledging to Mr. Parnell and his trusty lieutenants, the hearty support of the delegates and of the Irish race in America. Of the very many telegrams and letters from all sections of the United States to the conventioni congratulating it on its course, and sympathizing with its objects, a large number are worthy of reproduction here, especially those from distin- guished Americans. Congressman Cox, of New York (since United States Minister to Turkey), wrote : "Washington, D. C, Ap^?/, 24, 1883. "Dear Sir: Philadelphia is a fitting place for your assemblage. It is full of revolutionary and constitutional memories. In those memories Ire- land has a large part. In Philadelphia that con- cordant League for Liberty was illustrated which made the great * Declaration,' and after it was sealed with blood, crystallized the courageous effort and sagacious statesmanship of seven years by the ordination of our matchless Constitution. By unity our cause was won. "Amidst such associations Irishmen will find encouragement to harmony. Here they will find inspiration in the struggle to better the condition of their compatriots, to give autonomy to Ireland, or, as the inevitable tendency, aim and end of all humane and effective effort, to make Ireland free and independent. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 585 "There is a dose parallel between the circum- stances which justified our independence and those which would justify the independence of Ireland. It is not possible for Ireland to have contentment and freedom under the British flao-. Even with a local lemslature and self-o^overnment of a mild type assured it is problematical. It is no more possible than it was for this country to remain under the British yoke with its commercial restrictions and insolence of office. As the spirit of Washington, of Jefferson, of Adams, and of Hancock, in the name of human nature, forbade our union with Great Britain, so the spirit of Wolfe Tone, of Robert Emmet, of Thomas Davis, and of Charles Stewart Parnell forbids the su- premacy of British rule over Ireland. "The commerce and manufactures of Ireland, not to speak of its farming interests, are decaying under the blight of bad government. It is said that there are 68,242 able-bodied men governing and keeping the peace, according to the refine- ment of British civilization, while there are but 21,382 persons engaged in teaching. While three times as many persons are engaged in thus keeping the Green Isle ' to its propriety,' as are engaged in forming and disciplining its chil- dren by education, what else can be expected but anarchy and chaos? Chronic starvation, constant evictions, uncertainty of land tenure, perpetual unrest, mocking of justice, and a stand- 586 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. ing army of spies, informers, police and soldiers — truly Ireland is the worst governed country in the world ! There is no peace to be found under such conditions. "Revolution is not to be justified for 'light and transient causes.' True. Are not these causes of sufficient gravity and of adequate duration? Is it said that a reasonable probability of success is necessary to justify a change of rule ? True, and this is the problem about which the best judgment is necessary. No one can justify the attempt to destroy British rule in Ireland if the attempt will add fresh fetters and additional misery. God help a people in such extremity. Whatever you may decide to be best, this agita- tion for liberty will go on. It is the order of nature, of reason, and of God. Faith in the final enfranchisement of Ireland will never die. Irishmen in other lands, and notably in this, are content, prosperous, open-handed, brave and gen- erous. They are faithful and self-contained in the land which they have adopted. Why should those of the same race be made exceptions in their own loved Isle ? " Whatever may come out of the conflict so courageously waged by Parnell, Egan, and their associates, one thing may be affirmed : that this country, as an asylum of freedom and free thought, bestows, with no stinted heart, its best sympathy upon the cause of the oppressed. If it THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 537 become necessary in the progress of the contest, when questions of extradition, citizenship, bellig- erent right and nationality become involved, there are lessons for our guidance already taught us by Great Britain which we have been very apt to learn ; lessons which a free people and a defiant Congress, recently reinforced by Celtic pluck and intelligence, will not willingly let die. "Trusting that harmony may prevail In your councils, that every Irish organism may be blended indissolubly into compact unity, so as to energize the endre Irish force, and that the cause you represent may be elevated to the highest plane of humanity, " I am very truly yours, etc., " S. S. Cox." Hon, Samuel J. Randall, the great Democratic protectionist apostle, a prominent and able mem- ber of Congress, and for several terms its honored Speaker, a gentleman to whom the Irish heart goes welling out in gratitude for his manly and determined stand on behalf of an oppressed people, wrote to the convention : " If, as Americans, we owe gratitude to any people on earth, it is to the Irish, for they were our friends during the Revolutionary War, the War of 181 2, and during our recent great civil strife, when England and nearly everybody else were against us. Besides, It is consonant with 588 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. our political history to recognize and encourage all peoples seeking freedom and nationality, as In tlie instance of Greece and the South American Republics, and more recently in the case of Hun- gary, when Webster, as Secretary of State, spoke with a truth and courage which our representa- tives in our day seem to have forgotten. 1 wish you success in every honest effort in behalf of the liberty and welfare of the Irish people." Rev. George W. Pepper, one of the most elo- quent and popular Methodist Episcopal clergy- men of Ohio, addressing the president of the convention, wrote : " I deeply and sincerely regret that I cannot be present with the friends of Ireland in their con- vention. Be assured that my earnest and warm- est sympathies are with you in every sensible effort to secure contentment, happiness and pros- perity to that beautiful land for whose indepen- dence Grattan plead and Emmet died. I was there eighteen months ago, and I travelled over hill and dale, over mountain and bog, and every- where I saw laziness and aristocracy rolling in splendor, and honest poverty dying by starvation. Hunger and despotism were doing a wholesale business. In the County of Down, notorious for Its bigotry and landlord supremacy, I saw hun- dreds of miserable huts, over which hunger had crept with deadly horror. In that very part where Toryism reigns rampant, and where the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 580 British officials tell us there is happiness, I found destitution, suffering and death. One word ex- plains the cause — landlordism. I found two political parties — the party of the government embracing landlord spies, police, preachers paid by the Crown to pray for the Queen, snobs, par- venus, and the brutal aristocracy. The second party is that of the people, commanded by that splendid captain whose courage has never failed, and whose white plume, like that of Henry of Navarre, has ever flashed in front of battle. I mean Charles Stewart Parnell. I frankly and joyously confess that every impulse of my heart is with the oppressed many, and I am longing to hear the lion-roar of the people demanding in thunder tones the immediate and eternal exter- mination of landlordism, monarchy, bigotry and periodical famines from Ireland forever. Mr. Patrick Egan, that large-souled, wdde-minded and patriotic Irishman, \\n\\ tell the convention in the city of William Penn what he has already said in the presence of power and of tyranny, that to-day the fieht is acrainst landlordism, but to-morrow it will be for independence. Let the friends of Ire- land never despair, let there be no drooping, but let the leaders take up the mantle which martyred patriots have left us, and deem it no mean honor to perpetuate the noble trust bequeathed them by Emmet and Tone. Ireland has the support of the best part of the American population, the 590 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. only exceptions are the tuft-hunters and the cowards who took refuge under the British flag during the late war. Thanks be unto Heaven, the cause of Ireland is advancing. Despite the powerful malignity of a despotic oligarchy, despite the vast and oppressive burdens of landlords, our country shall yet rise from her dark disasters, and the Catholic priest and Protestant minister will unite in writing upon her escutcheon, Resurgain, Res2iro-am, Resiirp-am — I shall rise aofain." From Fort Dodge, Iowa, came the telegram, sent by Michael Healy, Owen Conway, William Ryan, R. P. Furlong, and J. H. Ryan: " Greetiitg: You have the sympathy and support in your deliberations of ten thousand Irish-Ameri- cans of north-western Iowa political refugees, to be protected by the American flag forever." Chairman Timothy Foley and Secretary Daniel Sexton wired from Leadville, Colorado : "Irish citizens of Leadville send you greeting. Give our people the best advice and basis of action to abolish their sufferings, and the Dome City will heartily respond." After the convention had adjourned the new National Council met, Dr. William B. Wallace acting as chairman, and M. V. Gannon as secre- tary, and elected from its number the following working committee of seven : Rev. P. A. McKenna, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 591 of Massachusetts ; Dr. Wm. B. Wallace, of New York; James Reynolds, of Connecticut; M. V. Gannon, of Iowa; Judge J. G. Donnelly, of Wis- consin ; Col. John F. Armstrong, of Georgia, and U. S. Senator James G. Fair, of Nevada. It also adopted a resolution requesting every Irish society in the United States and Canada, willing to co- operate with the new organization, to communicate with the national secretary. As Mr. John J. Hynes, the secretary, was a resident of Buffalo, and it was found necessary that the person holding that posi- tion should be in close communion with the presi- dent, Mr. Hynes resigned at the first meeting of the Committee of Seven held a few weeks subse- quently in Detroit, to allow the selection of a secretary who could make his head-quarters in Chicago. He was succeeded by Mr. Roger Walsh, who brought to the position his experience as a capable journalist and shorthand writer. HON. ALEXANDER SULLIVAN's ADMINISTRATION. Heavy as was the burden laid upon the new president, he entered heartily upon the discharge of his duties. He had, largely, to create the policy of his administration. Circumstances had so changed that the chief task of his predeces- sors — the collection of funds to avert famine — was, happily, not the task which he had to face. The danger of famine was apparently over. He undertook a responsibility not less serious, but, as 592 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the world goes, much more difficult — the educa- tion of American opinion on the political rights of the Irish people. It is never difficult to pro- cure money to save human beings from starva- tion. The ghastly spectacle which had been pre- sented in Ireland during the years of famine had disappeared before the devotion of the exiled Irish race, reinforced by the substantial aid of American sympathy. The duty of the British Government in Ireland had been thus performed by America. A greater task remained — the re- covery of the legislative independence of the Irish people by the moral and material co-operation of the race in exile. Mr. Sullivan had laid out the route of Mr. Par- nell through the West on his visit in 1880 and 1 88 1, and had accompanied him over a consider- able portion of it. He was familiar with Mr. Parnell's hopes, plans and calculations. Mr. Par- nell's original purpose, it will be remembered, in coming to this country, had not been to solicit alms for his suffering countrymen, but to submit to the people of America the claims, and expound the political condition and social misery of the Irish people. The famine, looming up suddenly, however, compelled him to completely alter his course. Now, in 1883, that the danger was past, the original purpose might easily be taken up It was manifest on all hands that a struggle THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 593 was approaching, for which money in large sums would be required for political purposes. It could not be expected to be forthcoming unless, meanwhile, opinion on this side of the vyater became so clear as to solidify American sympathy with the political aims of the Irish people. While it was comparatively easy to obtain money to avert famine, or to succor those who suffered from its effects, it was recognized that it would be difficult to obtain it to promote what even well- disposed Americans would call "foreign politics." The wise counsel of the Father of the Republic aeainst "entansflingf alliances" has created in the American mind a conservative tradition against any form of what might seem American inter- ference in foreign affairs unless for clearly defined, legitimate, and humane purposes. Moreover, it was felt by Mr. Sullivan, that it would be indis- pensable for the success of the struggle in Ireland that the movement should have the solid and ear- nest sympathy of enlightened American public opinion. If, therefore, the alms era was happily over it was essential that the educating era should beo^in. Mr. Sullivan devoted almost his entire time to the carrying out of this idea. He delivered addresses in about forty of the principal cities, speaking in many of them several times, for he was generally invited to return, so well pleased were the promoters of the Irish cause with the 35 594 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. effects of his speeches. He wrote continually for the press, was interviewed on almost innumer- able occasions, and furnished abundant materials for others to use in lectures or magazine articles. His travels covered fifteen States, and his own business was thus suffered to fall into neglect. One of the first objects to which he addressed himself was the dissipation of the prejudice that the Irish question is a "foreign question" in the United States. He boldly declared it "an Amer- ican question." In his first speech, after the Philadelphia Convention, delivered before an immense audience in Cooper Institute, New York, he demonstrated the accuracy of that designation. He cited Lord Dufferin, that vigilant servant of the British Empire, to prove that the Irish in America had sent, during the period between 1848 and 1863, no less than ^13,000,000 to their suffering kindred at home. Moderately assuming that the annual remittances compelled by land- lord brutality, enforced by English law, had not increased (when he might with certainty have assumed that they had done so), he showed that up to the time he was speaking, not less than ^175,000,000 had been extorted from labor in America to maintain landlordism in Ireland. He declared that by the instincts of nature, divinely planted, this colossal imposition would have to be borne by the Irish in America until landlordism in Ireland is abolished, for, no matter under what THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 595 circumstances they might themselves live, what self-denial they might endure, the Irish in Amer- ica would not .let their kin die of want in Ireland. To keep American earnings in America was assuredly "an American question." He recalled the aid sent from Ireland to the New England Col- onies after King Philip's War; and, in order to show that it is not food, but liberty, that Ireland needs to prevent famine, he reminded his generous American countrymen that the American ship; which carried food into Queenstown, in 1849, encountered three English ships carrying out of Ireland the abundant harvests which might have fed the people whose industry had produced them. He also recalled the debt of the Colonies and of the Republic to Ireland ; he recalled the forgotten pledge of Franklin, that, if the Irish aided the Americans in shaking off the tyranny of England, the Americans would aid them in the same duty. He cited a report made by a committee of the House of Commons, in which the statement was made that " more than half of the continental army who won American independence was Irish." By these and other arguments and cita- tions equally practical, he enlightened that class of the American people, who opposed political agitation for Ireland on the plausible ground tnat the Irish question is a " foreign " one. He conclu- sively established in the intelligent and reflecting mind of America that it is an American question, 596 GLA.DSTONE— PARNELL. and his facts and logic supplied a host of writers and orators with effectual material for its success- ful advancement. DISCUSSING THE EMIGRATION QUESTION. It was during Mr. Sullivan's presidency that an important event occurred in the history of the international relations of Great Britain and the United States. One of the most frightful and infamous of the evils of English misrule in Ire- land has been the enforced emigration of the Irish people. The heartlessness of a govern- ment, driving from their own land, uncharged with crime or misdemeanor, tens of thousands of penniless people, to encounter the misery and hardships of a new world, a severe climate and keen competition in all fields of employment — a competition for which they were almost utterly unprepared — has been practised by English rulers in Ireland since the days of the " Great Famine." At first it took the form of clearances of " noble- men's " estates. " It is stated that the Earl of Bessborough," so ran the Tipperary Vindicator one day in 184.8, "is about sending some hun- dreds of the population of his estates to America this season. We do not know how true this statement is, but as the rumor prevails, we deem It our duty to mention It." What was then com- paratively rare became a common occurrence later. The example set by the landlords was THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 597 taken up by " the Government." The helpless victims were crowded into the poor-houses, and as soon as the excess over the accommodations furnished a seeming warrant, they were forcibly expatriated. From those days to ours protest after protest went up against this barbarity, but the falsehood of " over-population " was kept up, and the people continued to be driven out of their native land. The National party resorted to every device to arrest this arterial bleeding ; they employed all available resources to stop it, but no heed was paid to their appeals. Mr. Sul- livan devised a way by which the enforced emigra- tion was effectually stopped. The Philadelphia Convention, on the motion of the gallant Col. O' Meagher Condon, repeated the frequent protests of the Irish people, of their bishops, and of their leaders in Parliament, and instructed President Sullivan to bring the matter to the attention of the Chief Executive of the United States. Mr. Sullivan at once associated with himself a number of prominent gentlemen who were eminently fitted to discuss the " com- pulsory emigration," or rather extermination, question in its various aspects. These were: John O'Byrne, Cincinnati, Ohio ; Eugene Kelly, James Lynch and Henry Hoguet, of the Irish Emigration Society, New York ; William B. Wallace, M. D., New York ; John Rooney, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; John C. McGuire, Brooklyn, 598 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. N. y. ; James Reynolds, New Haven, Conn. ; Bernard Callaghan, Chicago, 111. ; John F. Arm- strong, Augusta, Ga. ; Michael Doyle, Savannah, Ga. ; Edward Johnson, M. D., Watertown, Wis. ; Hugh McCaffrey, Philadelphia, Pa.; William Mul- hern, Augusta, Ga. ; T. R. Fitz, Boston, Mass. ; John Fitzgerald, Lincoln, Neb. ; John Fahy, Rochester, N. Y. ; P. Smith, Cleveland, Ohio ; John Roach, Chester, Pennsylvania; and O. A. White, M. D., New York. Accompanied by them Mr. Sullivan met Hon. Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States, by appointment, in the library of the Executive Mansion, at Wash- ington, D. C. It was aptly remarked at the time that " Mr. Sullivan used his opportunity to discuss the entire matter at issue in the hearinof of the entire American people." The correspondents of the leading newspapers of the country were there, and within an hour after the interview had wired his speech to their respective journals. The address he made was universally printed, and caused an international sensation. The rich- ness of its economic and statistical material insured its being filed in newspaper offices as an enduring and authentic source of information. At the close of his remarks Mr. Sullivan intro- duced Mr. H. L. Hoguet, President of the Emi- grant Industrial Savings' Association of New York, who said that the inmates of poor-houses, and dependents who have been receiving out- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 599 door relief in Ireland, have been aided by the British Government to emigrate to this country. " It is," he continued, " a matter of general knowl- edge that Parliament has voted ;;^i 00,000 to serve that purpose, and that agents of the British Gov- ernment have come to this country to perfect arrangements for the reception of those aided emigrants. Application was made by Major Gaskell to the Immigration Society at New York for that purpose, and the society declined to have anything to do with such business ; but he pro- ceeded to Boston, where he met better success. The ' aided emigrants ' consist largely of people unable to work, old women and young children. They have been aided to the extent of having their passage paid, and are given a miserable pittance of ten shillings upon their arrival here to enable them to ofo to their friends. Of course that sum is entirely inadequate, and the conse- quence has been that they were compelled to seek aid in New York, Boston, and elsewhere. If regular affidavits in regard to these facts are required, they can be furnished. We respect- fully request you to use your influence to prevent the recurrence of this state of things. It is to the interest of American municipalities to have the progress of this aided emigration scheme stopped. "At the proper time," he concluded, " you will, doubtless, make appropriate recommendations to Congress on this subject." QQQ GLADSTONE— PARNELL. He was followed by Mr. James Lynch, of New York, President of the Irish Emigration Society, who read an extract from a letter on " aided emi- o-ration." He asserted that the charo^e of main- taining the poor of Ireland falls upon the Poor-law Guardians, a body who, at a meeting at Limerick, " resolved that no more aid could be given to these emigrants." He said that such "aided emigration," if not stopped, will result in the shipping of paupers from all the poor-houses in Ireland. Many of this class of emigrants, after their arrival here, have applied to be sent back to Ireland. As an instance of the able-bodied paupers sent out here, he cited the recent arrival of seven- teen emigrants, only jive of whom were able to work. Mr. James Reynolds, of New Haven, Conn., handed to President Arthur a letter of introduc- tion from ex-Governor Bigelow of Connecticut, and said that eiorhteen " forced " or " aided emi- grants " were now in New Haven in destitute cir- cumstances, and only five of them were able to work. Mr. Reynolds gave those five temporary employment, so as to enable them to bridge over present difficulties, and to prevent them from becoming American paupers. He urged that the citizens of every municipality and community in America have as much interest, financially and otherwise, in putting a stop to this system of im- migration as the Irish-American has. Everybody, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 601 he contended, looks upon this thing as an iniquity that should not be tolerated by the American people. Mr. Patrick Smith, of Cleveland, Ohio, spoke of cases within his own personal experience which compelled his fellow-citizens " to insist that he should come here and lay the matter before the President, so that the trouble might be remedied." "As an evidence of the utter helplessness of many of these unfortunate people in a strange land," added Mr. Smith, " I recall the recent arrival in Cleveland of seventy-three 'aided emigrants,' and that entire party had only two dollars in their possession." After thanking the delegation for their thought- ful courtesy in waiting on him and complimenting them on the cogrent and concise manner in which they had presented the case of " enforced emigra- tion," President Arthur said : "The subject will re- ceive my careful consideration. It has already been under consideration by the Secretary of State. Correspondence in regard to it has been had with our diplomatic and consular representatives, and an investigation into the facts is now being made by them. It is, of course, proper that this Government should ascertain whether any nation with which it holds amicable relations is violating any obligation of international friendship before calling attention to any such matter. It is well to follow the old motto, ' Be sure you are right, and then go ahead.' " 602 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Mr. Sullivan suggested that it would be more satisfactory to the delegation and to those whom it represented, if the investigations and reports were made by officials on this side of the Atlantic. President Arthur: "The law now provides that the officers of the Treasury shall examine into the condition of the passengers arriving as immigrants at any port of the United States, and if there should be found any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself with out becoming a public charge, they shall report the same in writing to the collector of such port, and such person shall not be permitted to land." Mr. Bernard Callaghan, of Chicago, 111. : " It is manifest, from the statement made by Mr. Rey- nolds, that some of those whose immigration is prohibited by the statute from which you have quoted, Mr. President, are already landed; namely, those who are likely to become a public charge." President Arthur ended the interview with the remark that " the investigation will be thorough and exhaustive on this side of the Atlantic and on the other, and in the meantime the law will be strictly enforced." The effect of that memorable interview — one of the most important chapters in the history of the great Irish movement in the United States — • was felt on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Parnell pronounced it "the best slap England had had from America since the War of 1812." > -:• ?3 :?: ? ^i^M THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gQS Mr. Davitt, in a powerful speech in Dublin, thanked Alexander Sullivan " in the name of the Irish people." The press of Ireland rejoiced over the check at last imposed on the detestable policy of extermination. President Arthur kept his promise that the statute should be applied. A number of test cases were made as soon as practicable, and, although the Irish Chief Secre- tary, Trevelyan, had himself smilingly acquiesced in the deportation of the unfortunate inmates of poor-houses into compulsory exile in the same year, the officials of those poor-houses were instructed from the Castle at Dublin that " the business would have to be stopped." As the phrase "The Casde" was litde under- stood here, Mr. Sullivan requested Mr. T. P. Gill, now M. P., then residing in this country, to pre- pare a pamphlet to be endded " What is Casde Government?" and answer the question com- pletely. Mr. Gill complied with the request with the ability which marks all his work, and the pamphlet was widely read, doing everywhere good work in clearing away misapprehensions and supplying facts to take their place. IRISH-AMERICAN LEADERS. The men who have taken a leading part In the Irish movement in this country have, as a rule, "made their mark" on the dmes and in the com- 606 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. munities in which they Hved, as men of integrity and ability. Prominent among them is stalwart John Frederick Finerty, of Chicago, 111., who was born in Galway, Ireland, on Sept. lo, 1846. His father was Michael Joseph Finerty, a staunch "Young Irelander," who was editor of the Gal- way Vindicator from 1841 to 1848, when he died. John was adopted by a childless uncle, and was mainly educated by private tuition. His early life was spent about equally in the Counties of Galway and Tipperary. In the latter county he became a parishoner of the famous Father John Kenyon, the bosom friend of John Mitchel. Father Kenyon took a great interest in young Finerty, and delighted to discourse with him on the men and the transactions of 1848. The patriot priest threw his fine library open to John F., who there revelled to his heart's content in the fascinating "Rebel" literature of the United Irishmen and the Young Irelanders. In December, 1 862, he be- came a member of the Nenagh Branch of the National Brotherhood of St. Patrick, and delivered his first public speech on that occasion. His next utterance, which w^as favorably commented upon by Smith O'Brien and John Martin, was at a banquet given at Nenagh, at which Father Ken- yon presided, on March 17, 1863. On Aug. 15, 1863, he addressed a mass meeting on the sum- mit of Slievenamon, in company with the late Charles J. Kickham, who was chairman, Peter THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 607 E. Gill, of the Tipperary Advocate, and others. The sentiments uttered by him at that meeting called forth angry comments in the London Times and Standard, the Dublin Daily Express, and other Tory and Whig organs. Punch made his speech the subject of an epigram. While return- ing from the Slievenamon meeting, on Aug. i6, 1863, Finerty was sworn a mem»ber of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood by the late James Cody, of Callan, County Kilkenny, whom he had met on Meagher's Rock. In October, 1863, he addressed, in company with some others, a mass meeting at Ormond Stile, a famous " pass " in the Slieve Bloom mountains, through which many an Irish chief and clan, in ancient times, marched to victory or death. Young as he was — a mere boy in years — Finerty had now become an object of dislike to the neighboring landlords, with whom his uncle did business. They made false repre- sentations about him to the Castle Government, and his relatives were greatly annoyed on his account. Not wishing to injure his uncle, and disgusted with the petty malignity of the English " shoneen " garrison, he determined to go to America, and there fit himself for what he be- lieved would be a war for Irish liberation. In New York he met the late John O'Mahony, who ofave him cfood advice and encourasfement. He became a member of the Ninety-ninth New York Militia, and when the regiment volunteered 608 GLADSTONE— PARNELL, for the United States' service, he went with the command, and served until it was mustered out. Soon afterward he moved west and made Chicago his head-quarters. He was a delegate to the Cin- cinnati and Philadelphia Fenian Conventions held in 1865. When the Roberts-Sweeney, or Canadian Invasion, wings of the Fenian Brother- hood seceded from O'Mahony, Finerty, although he held the latter in high respect, sided with Roberts, because he believed it was much easier to annoy England in her American Provinces than in Ireland. He became a member of the MacManus Guards' Company of theChicago Feni- an regiment, and was selected as an aide-de-camp by the late Gen. W. F. Lynch, who had command of the Illinois Brigade in the Canadian Invasion of 1866. That raid resulted, as is well known, in Col. John O'Neill's brilliant victories at Ridge- way and Fort Erie, but the interference of the" American Government prevented reinforcements from crossing to his aid, and he was finally com- pelled to retreat across the Niagara river to the American side. When John O'Neill became President of the American Fenian Brotherhood, he persuaded Finerty to act as an organizer and to enlist men for a new raid on Canada. This, in connection with journalism, he did for a year or two, but finally, owing to some difference on policy with O'Neill, he resigned, and became per- manently connected with the Chicago press. As THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 609 correspondent for the' Chicago Republican he witnessed O'Neill's lamentable failure on the Malone, N. Y., and St. Albans, Vt., frontiers, in May, 1870, and, when all the leaders were arrested or had disappeared, he got Gen. H. J. Hunt, com- manding the United States troops, and Gen. Quinley, U. S. Marshal for Northern New York, to induce the State Government to send the dis- appointed and digusted Fenian soldiers to their homes. During the succeeding five years Mr. Finerty devoted himself strictly to journalism, and was mostly employed by the Chicago Tribune and the Evening Post. In the winter of 1875 he became a member of the Chicago Times staff, and, in the capacity of war correspondent for the paper, ac- companied Gen. Crook's Big Horn and Yellow- stone Expedition against the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, in the spring of 1876. That campaign, during which the troops had many severe conflicts with the Indians, and in which Gen. Custer and his command lost their lives, lasted six months, and was marked by tragedies and privations almost unparalleled in Indian war- fare. The famous "Sibley scout" also occurred during that campaign. Finerty was the only cor- respondent who accompanied Sibley, and his ac- count of the affair was copied in almost every paper of that time. In 1877 Mr. Finerty wrote up for the Chicago QIQ GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Tz?nes the Pittsburg riots, and made a tour of tht Rio Grande frontier to ascertain the causes of the border troubles with Mexico. He also wrote up Louisiana politics, and particularly the Nichols- Packard gubernatorial quarrel during the early portion of the year. In 1878-9 he accompanied the American Commercial Expedition to Mexico, and made an almost complete tour of that repub- lic, returning overland, by way of Queretaro, Zacatecas, Chihuahua, and Paso del Norte to the United States. He reached Chicago late in April, and early in May he was detailed to make a tour of the Indian Territory and write up the "boom- ers' " invasion. In June, he accompanied a scien- tific expedition to the Bad Lands of Dakota, and, in July, he joined Gen. Nelson A. Miles' expedi- tion against Sitting Bull at Fort Peck, M. T. He witnessed the last battle, on Milk river, between that savage chief and the United States soldiers, on July 17, 1879. He visited Sitting Bull's camp at Woody Mountains, N. W. T., soon afterward and sent an account of his experience to the Times. In October of the same year, he accompanied Gen. Merritt on his Ute compaign, which lasted late into the season. In the fall of 1880 he made a complete journalistic tour of the Southern vStates, and became the Times editorial correspond- ent at Washington during the sessions of the Forty-sixth Congress. In May, 1881, he was de- tailed by the Chicago Times to write up the Cana- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 611 dianand Northern Pacificrailroads, which were then very far from completion. He reached the Pacific coast, via the Northern Pacific route in August, having travelled several hundred miles on horse- back, through an unbroken wilderness, with a single guide or packer. After writing up the re- sources of Washington Territory, Oregon, and Vancouver's Island, he proceeded to San Fran- cisco, and from there was ordered to join Gen. E. A. Carr in his campaign against the Apache Indians In Arizona. At the close of that campaign he returned to Chicago, and, having conferred with some of the leading Irishmen of that city, proceeded to New York and Boston for the pur- pose of organizing the first great Irish National Convention of all the Irish societies of the United States in aid of Parnell and his friends, who were then in prison. After some difficulty Mr. Finerty succeeded in having the call for the convention signed by Messrs. Patrick Ford, of New York; P. A. Collins and John Boyle O'Reilly, of Boston; and Messrs. T. P. O'Connor and T. M. Healy, M. Ps., and the Rev. Eugene Sheehy, of Lim- erick; all of whom were then in America. The result was the magnificent convention which assembled at McCormick's Hall, Chicago, on Nov. 29th and 30th, and Dec. ist, 1881. From it resulted that splendid fund of ^250,000, afterwards swelled to ^500,000, which placed the old Irish Land League financially on its feet. In January, 86 gl2 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. 1882, Mr. FInerty established The Citizen, a weekly paper devoted to Irish interests, which he still edits. In 1882-3 he inaugurated the Parnell Indemnity Fund, which afterwards became so suc- cessful in both Ireland and America. After the appearance of Cardinal Simeoni's circular de- nouncing the Parnell Fund, Finerty wrote an edi- torial, headed " Boycott the Pope," which produced quite a sensation in Rome as well as in the United States and Ireland. Yet his paper did not suffer by it as the people were indignant at England's repeated and shameless interference against Ire- land at the Vatican. Mr. Finerty was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress, from the Second District of Illinois, in Nov., 1882. He went in as an Independent, on broad American principles, including protection to home industries, the reconstruction of the navy, the extension of commerce, etc., and spoke ably on those subjects in the House of Representatives. He fell out with the Democrats, toward whom he had a leaning, on the question of Free Trade, and, after Cleveland's nomination in 1884, he espoused the cause of James G. Blaine. This led to Mr. Finerty's defeat, by foul means, in his dis- trict. He has not since sought re-election to Conofress. He has been twice married and has two chil- dren surviving. In Irish politics, Mr. Finerty, although a staunch supporter of Parnell, is what THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 615 is generally called "an extremist" — that is, he be- longs to "the extreme left" — and believes that anything done to injure or annoy England by Irishmen is perfectly justifiable. He came into conflict with Michael Davitt at the latest National League Convention in Chicago, and since that time has declared himself sceptical of success against England by unaided "moral force." He, however, has thrown no obstacle in the way of the Parnell movement, and is with it "as far as it goes," although he is unalterably a separatist, or Mitchellite, in principle. Michael J. Redding, of Baltimore, Maryland, was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, July 14, 1853. His parents were natives of the County Clare, but removed to Limerick in 1847. At the age of five years young Redding was placed in a private school, where he remained until 1864, when the family came to this country, settling in Baltimore. For several years he at- tended the Christian Brothers' school, connected with St. Peter's Parish, and was afterward ap- prenticed to a carpenter. He spent twelve years at this business, utilizing his spare time for study, often remaininof at his books until midnig-ht. In 1880 he became identified with the Land League movement, using all means available to make it a success in Baltimore. Mr. Redding was at the head of the movement to get Henry George to lecture to the people of Baltimore, after his tour 61 g GLADSTONE— PARNELL. through Ireland, that they might hear from an unbiased American the true condition of affairs in the mother-country. He has been a delegate to all the National League Conventions, and was in- strumental in getting the Knights of St. Ignatius, of which he is the Chief Knight, to give, for the benefit of the Parliamentary Fund, what proved to be one of the most successful entertainments ever held in Baltimore. He is strictly temperate in all his habits, and ever on the alert to turn everything he can to benefit his native land, and free her from the yoke of thraldom, Mr. Redding married Miss Ella F. Flaherty, who was born In Albany, New York, of Irish parents, and is blessed with five children, in whom he is inculcating the spirit of Irish nationality. Miles M. O'Brien, one of the most enterprising and popular business men of New York, was born at New Castle West, County Limerick, Ireland, in 1846. His father. Dr. Miles O'Brien, was a "Forty-eight" man, and his sister, during the "Forty-eight" movement, wrote several stirring poems under the nom-de-plume of "Josephine," for the Munster News, for which she was threatened with arrest, because of the patriotic sentiments they contained. Mr. O'Brien came to America in 1S64, and has .been identified widi every Irish patriotic organization of note since 1865. He was treasurer of the fund raised In New York to defray the expenses of the Tipperary THE GJIEAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 617 election, of a celebrated Irish "felon," then in an English prison, to represent Tipperary in an English Parliament. The fund, amounting to ^2,500, he forwarded to that sterling patriot, the late Charles J. Kickham. Mr. O'Brien was selected by the Irish Nationalists of the West to take charge of and forward to Congress appeals from all over the United States, asking the inter- cession of the Anierican Government in behalf of Captain Edward O'Meagher Condon, who, at the time, was serving a sentence in England for his connection with the rescue of the Manchester Martyrs. Petitions from nearly every State in the Union, containing the names of over 300,000 citizens, were forwarded, and aided materially in the release of Condon. Miles was one of the oro-anizers of Parnell Branch, No. i, formed at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York. In organiz- ing this branch, he was assisted by the Misses Fannie and Annie Parnell, and from it have sprung the many branches now in New York, which have done so much Qrood for the national cause. Mr. O'Brien was one of the oriorlnal committee of seven to call the meetinof at the Hoffman House, New York, when the Irish Parliamentary Fund was started. He was elected secretary of the committee, and the contributions at the first meeting amounted to upwards of ^10,000. Since that tinie the collections of the committee have 'glS GLADSTONE— PARNELL. amounted to over $150,000, at which figures the fund closed. While Mr. O'Brien has taken such an active part in the interest of Irish freedom, he has never been identified with any American political organization. He was a prominent figure at every convention of the Land League, and at the famous Philadelphia Convention fought hard In conjunction with Father Thomas J. Conaty, of Massachusetts, and Major John Byrne, of Ohio, to keep the Land League intact and, as he then fearlessly and frankly declared, "free from all en- tanolino- alliances." Col. W. P. Rend, of Chicago, Illinois, whom one of the leading journals o{ tliat go-ahead city holds up to its young commercial men as an ex- ample of a successful and honorable career, was born near Longford, County Leitrim, Ireland, in 1840. When William was only seven years old his father, Ambrose Rend, emigrated to America and settled in Lowell, Mass., where the young lad's education was begun. After graduating at the local high school he began teaching, first at home, then in New Jersey, and finally in the South. All this time he had been preparing for a collegiate course, but was doomed to disappoint- ment, for at this time the Civil War broke out. He was just twenty-one years of age when he en- listed in the Fourteenth New York Regiment. He was enofao-ed in eleven Qfeneral battles. When he was mustered out of service he moved to THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 6I9 Chicago with less than twenty dollars in his pocket and looked about for something to do. He immediately joined a surveying party, having a knowledge of civil engineering, and with the surveyors helped to locate a railroad from Madi- son to Winona. He returned to Chicago, intend- ing to remain only a short time, and then join another surveying party, but circumstances altered his plans. He entered the service of the Chicago 81 Northwestern Railroad Company as a clerk, and was promoted rapidly until he became foreman of the railroad shops. While in this position Mr. Rend and the cashier of the company started a line of transportation wagons for hauling freight from depots on contract. This enterprise, he and his partner, Edwin Walker, are still connected with. He speedily built up the largest individual coal trade in the West. He is owner of three mines, and with Edwin Walker, one of the oldest and most highly respected members of the Chicago bar, owns three other mines in Pennsylvania and Ohio. He is also the principal owner of the roll- ing-stock of the firm, some 1,200 private cars. The firm gives employment to 1,500 men, and handles annually 700,000 tons of their own mine products, in addition to selling large quantities of anthracite coal. During the troubles between the miners in the Hocking Valley and their employers, two years ago, Colonel Rend took sides with the men, and, as a consequence, found arrayed against 620 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. him forty coal operators, backed by certain rail- roads. The Hocking Valley Railroad Company, the principal railroad entering the field, failing to join with the other operators against the men, refused him cars, advanced his rates of freight, and' placed such restrictions on his business as it was thought would make it impossible for him to operate his mines. He resolutely met the attack, however, and entered in the federal courts an appeal for a mandatory injunction, compelling his adversaries to furnish him cars and transportation at the usual terms. The subject of this sketch attributes the greater part of his good fortune to the faithful observance of the temperance pledge which he took from Father Matthew when eight years of age. It was at Colonel Rend's suggestion that Bishop Ireland, of St. Paul, sent the eloquent Father Cotter to preach a temperance crusade through Ohio and Indiana, the result of which was that 1 7,000 names were added to the total abstinence pledge in three months. The entire expenses of that cru- sade were paid by Colonel Rend. In Irish affairs he has always shown himself desirous of advanc- ing the cause of his native land. In 1865 he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Barry, an amiable and accom- plished lady. They have had a family of eleven children, of whom five are now alive. The first time that I met Michael V. Gannon, the eloquent District Attorney of Davenport, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGI E. 621 Iowa, I was Impressed with his earnestness, the clearness with which lie expressed liis views, and his open, sunny countenance. Tall and erect in figure, with black hair and eyes, Mr. Gannon is a man of striking personal appearance. Like many leading Irish-Americans, he is what is usually termed a self-made man. He was born in Dub- lin, Ireland, on February 14, 1846. He hved for sixteen years in the County Westmeath, attend- in^r the best schools that the neig^hborhood af- forded, and emigrated to America when he was twenty years old. He first settled in Rock Island, Illinois, where some of his friends had gone before him, and, being totally without means, earned a livelihood by teaching school. He taught there for one year, and then went to Iowa, where he pursued the same occupation. While he was en- gaged in teaching he spent his leisure time in studying law, and after a year spent in Iowa he returned to Rock Island, where he continued his leofal studies with P. T. McElherne, now a well- known lawyer in Chicago. After finishing his legal education he was admitted to the bar, but did not at once enter Into active practice, prefer- ring to spend another year in teaching, Mr. Gannon then removed to Davenport, of which city he was Alderman in 1877 and 1878, and in the latter year opened a law office, taking into partnership the scholarly A. P. McGuirk. In the same year Mr. Gannon was tendered the Demo- 622 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. cratic nomination for Clerk of the Supreme Court, but declined it. He was in the same year nomi- nated by the Democrats of the Seventh Judicial District for District Attorney. This nomination he accepted, but was defeated at the polls. In 1882 he was tendered the nomination for the same office, accepted, and, although he lived in a Republican district, he was elected over his former competitor by a very flattering majority of 4,364 votes. He received the unanimous nomination of the Democratic party for Attorney-General in 1884, but was defeated with the rest of the Democradc State ticket. After the Buffalo Convention Mr. Gannon, In conjunction with Hon. M. H. King, of Des Moines, Iowa, organized the Iowa State League, and was elected Its first President, a position which he held until the middle of 1886, when he resigned. He was also Chairman of the National Executive Committee from the close of the Philadelphia Convention until 1886. He Is an orator of singular force and power, a ready talker on almost any topic, and in private conversation entertaining and agreeable, with all the wdt that Is Inherent in an Irishman. Mr. Gan- non has been married twice, his second wife dying on November 9, 1884. He Is the father of six children, five girls and one boy, the latter, four years of age, being named after Mr. Gannon's beau ideal of an Irish patriot, John Dillon. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 623 Another self-made man, whose words in the councils of the Irish race have always been lis- tened to with respect, and whose business enter- prise has been rewarded with an abundant pros- perity, is Patrick Martin, of Baltimore, Maryland. He was born in the County Mayo, Ireland, on March i6, 1846. His family removed to England in 1849, remaining there until 1855, when they removed to America, arriving in Baltimore in June of that year. When quite a lad he went to work in a factory, to assist his family in earning a livelihood. At the age of seventeen years he began life's battle in earnest, and for a time was employed in different public works. For some time also he acted as porter in a store, and through his earnest labor and strict attention to business he was advanced to the position of salesman. By economy and perseverance he succeeded in ac- cumulating a small amount of money, and in Jan- uary, 1873, he started in the wholesale liquor business in company with Bartholomew McAn- drews. In business Mr. Martin has been very success- ful, and has secured for himself a comfortable home and the old homestead at Elkridge Land- ing, where his aged mother still resides. Since boyhood he has taken a, great interest in the af- fairs of the land of his birth, and he has for a number of years been closely identified with Irish oro-anizations. He was an active worker in the 624 GLA.DSTONE— PARNELL. Irish National League Convention in Boston, in 1884, and was there elected as the Maryland State Delegate of the League. He also attended the convention in Chicago in August, 1886,. and was elected Third Vice-President of the National League. On September 1 1, 1886, after his return from the Chicago Convention, Mr. Martin was presented with a handsome gold watch and chain by a committee representing the Irish-Arnerican citizens of Baltimore, Among the most gifted of the many eminent clergymen in this country who have espoused the cause of Ireland is the Rev. George Charles Betts, of Louisville, Kentucky. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, July 18, 1840. His early life was spent in the County Donegal, where he received his preliminary education, which was completed in Dublin and in Belfast — the Northern Athens. He came to America in i86i, and studied for the ministry, being ordained in Nebraska in 1865. He remained in Omaha, as rector of a parish, until 1872, when he went to Kansas City, where he was also in charge of a large parish until 1876, when he was transferred to St, Louis. He re- mained in charge here until the early part of 1886, when he assumed charge of Grace Protes- tant Episcopal Church at Louisville, Kentucky, where he now is. Mr. Betts is the editor of The Church Militant, and is known as an ad- vanced churchman. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 625 He has been engaged, heart and soul, in the cause of Ireland since 1868, lecturing in her be- ha:lf in almost every large city and in hundreds of small ones in the United States. Wherever he went his words bore good fruit. He has organ- ized many clubs or societies in nearly every State and Territory of the Union, all of them having for their object the promotion of Irish independence. Some of these societies are "beneficial" — ^that is, they pay to members and their families sick and burial benefits — and one of them, at least, is very powerful both in its widespread influence, the number of its members, and the spirit of unity which pervades its ranks. Mr. Betts was Chairman of the first National Convention, and has been a del- egate and served on the most important commit- tees of every National Convention since that time. Unfalterincr in his devotion to the cause of Irish o liberty, he has at all times freely and frankly ex- pressed his belief in its ultimate success. Another gifted and patriotic clergyman, a famil- iar and welcome fio-ure at the meetings of the branches and conventions of the National League, is the Rev. P. A. McKenna, of Marlboro', Mass. He was born in Boston, Mass., in the latter part of 1847. H^ received his preliminary education in the public schools of his native city. In 1862 he entered the Holy Cross College at Worcester^ Mass., from which institution he graduated with first honors, in 1867, with the degree of A. B., 626 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and later secured the degree of A. M. In the same year he went to Paris and entered the Seminary of St. Sulpice, where he studied in the theological course until 1870, when he was ordained in Bossuet's age-crowned Cathedral, at Meaux. Since his ordination, both as curate and pastor, Father McKenna has been settled in the same district, Marlboro', in Massachusetts. He was, for a number of years, pastor of a church in the adjoining town of Hudson, and is now pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Concep- tion at Marlboro's to which he was promoted in March, 1886. Father McKenna was the only priest present from Massachusetts when the first convention of the old Land League was held in Trenor Hall, New York. He has been identi- fied with the cause of Irish liberty since that time, and intends to fight for it until the Promised Land of Ireland's territorial, social, political, and in- dustrial hopes is reached. The whole-souled Treasurer of the Parnell Testimonial Fund in the United States, Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, was born in Kilnaleck, County Cavan, Ireland, on August i, 1847. I" ^^51 his parents emigrated to America and settled in Taunton, Mass. After receiving a preliminary education in the schools of that town, he entered Montreal College in 1863, and four years after- wards "passed" to the Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., where he graduated in 1869. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 627 After a course of theology in the Montreal Sem- inary, he was ordained a priest in December, 1872, and assigned to St. John's Church, Worcester, where he spent seven years as the assistant of Rev. Thomas Griffin, Chancellor of the Diocese of Springfield. In January, 1S80, a portion of the old parish was erected into an independent parish under the title of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Father Conaty was assigned to the charge, which demanded a new church, residence and parish appointments. Father Conaty was among the first to enlist in the cause of the Land League, and at the Buffalo and Chicago conventions was Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions. He is prominent as an exponent of Irish rights, and an unflinching advocate of total abstinence, occupying to-day the position of Vice-President of the Total Abstinence Union of America. Father Conaty is a magnificent specimen of the Celtic race ; is over six feet in heip'ht, and as stai- wart mentally as he is physically. Roger Walsh, the successor of John J. Hynes as Secretary of the Irish National League of America, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 18, 1859. He is the youngest son of Patrick Kieran Walsh, who died in July, 1886. His father's entire life was spent in the work of advancing his coun- try's cause, and elevating the position of her chil- dren in America. He was born in Dundalk, .g28 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. County Lowth, Ireland. Leaving the " old land " with the Young Irelanders in '48, he no sooner reached this side of the Adantic than he identified himself Avith the cause for the support of which he was compelled to emigrate. Although a young and helpless family depended upon his efforts for support, he found time to gather about him the exiled of his race that were scattered about in his locality and organize them for the preservation of the national spirit and the main- tenance of a dignified position before the Ameri- can people. In Cleveland, Ohio, where he finally settled, his name is known but to be loved, and his memory but to be revered. His nationalism was a part of his nature, and like it sincere, un- compromising and ever active. He repelled attacks on his country and her children, no matter whence the source, and with such vigor, backed by a wealth of historical research and logic, that his opponents have invariably retired, discomfited by the telling thrusts he knew so well how to direct. His tongue and pen were ever ready. The oppressed never called upon him in vain for help. In every movement that looked to the betterment of his people he was found active. The League owes much to his intelligent efforts and ability as an organizer. Although he believed in sterner methods than those advocated from the League platform, he did not intrude his own views, holding to the policy of obtaining all that was THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 629 possi-ble for Ireland with the aid of the League, and demanding more, if necessary, by more vig- orous measures. His pubHc life was an exempli- fication of honest purpose sternly pursued. In his home life he was tender, loving and true. His home was his Paradise ; his wife, Susan, was his ardent supporter in every undertaking. Her nationalism was not less strong than his own, and her influence was a wonderful aid to her husband in the dark hours when Ireland needed the help of men as good and true. It is not to be wondered at, that with such parents the son was a nationalist by instinct. He imbibed his spirit from earliest infancy. At about the age of seventeen years he began his apprenticeship as a printer in the office of the Cleveland, Ohio, Herald, now de- funct, and two years afterwards was promoted to a position on its city staff. Later on he con- nected himself with the Cleveland Leadei^, which he left to enter into commercial life. In 1883 he was called to the Secretaryship of the League, and fulfilled the duties of his position under Presidents Sullivan and Egan, resigning at the National Executive Committee meeting, Aug. 14, 1885. He then established himself in the printing busi- ness, but the building in wdiich he had invested his capital was destroyed by fire within a month, and since that time he has devoted himself to journalism. He is now a member of the city 37 g30 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Staff of the Recoi^d of Philadelphia, Pa. He has been ardently engaged in Irish matters since his seventeenth year, and, largely through his father, has a wide knowledge of men and events in the history of American movements for Ireland's wel- fare. In manner he is quiet and reserved, and has no predilection for oratory. His taste lies in the direction of literary work, and believing that every opportunity should be utilized for the cause he holds so dear, has used his influence in news- paper life whenever and wherever he found it was possible to advance the national principles of his people. An earnest and faithful auxiliar}?', when the Land League most needed help in the City of Brotherly Love, was Martin I. J. Griffin, of Philadelphia, Pa. He was born in that city on the 23d day of October, 1842, and from his earliest youth evinced great interest in the affairs of the Catholic Church, and in the movements of Irish societies generally. In 1859, at the age of seventeen years, he entered upon an active career of usefulness which has not been abated by the lapse of time. In 1867 he became the editor of the Guai^dian Angel, a position which he retained until 1871. In August, of that year, he was instrumental in introducing into Philadelphia the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, and in the following Septem- ber organized the "Young Philopatrians" — the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. Q21 first Total Abstinence Society in Philadelphia under the present movement. At the same period, and during the subsequent year, 1872, he was also en^jao-ed as an associate editor of the CatJiolic Standard, and thus with his voice and pen was working diligently to further the multiplied interests of the church. In the month of March, 1873, he established the /. C. B. U. JournaL and has remained at the head of that paper up to the present time as its editor and proprietor. In April, 1879, he founded Branch No. 56, Catholic Knights of America, this being the first branch of the order established in this city. During the following year, on the 24th of November, 1880, a meetine was called at the business office of the /. C. B. U. Journal, No 71 1 Sansom street, when a branch of the Irish Land League was formed. Mr. Griffin, with his usual zeal, manifested con- siderable interest in the oro^anization of this the first branch of the Land League in Philadelphia, and when the first public meeting was called in Philopatrian Ha]!, on Sunday, December 4, 1880, he was honored by being chosen as the secretary and treasurer of the branch, Mr. Charles Fay being elected its president. He afterwards at- tended several of the conventions of the Land and National Leagues, and in the great conventions of the Land League, and of the Irish Race, held in Philadelphia, in April, 1883, he was made the Chairman of the Press Committee,a position which. 632 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. from his peculiar attainments and his thorough knowledge of the duties required, he was emi- nently qualified to fill. Undaunted with very many other projects on hand, some of them of a business and others of a religious and patriotic nature, the month of July, 1883, found Mr. Griffin engaged in compiling a " Catholic History of Philadelphia," selected portions of which have, from time to time, appeared in the column^ of the /- G. B. U. Journal, much to the edification of the adherents of the church and to the public in ofeneral. He was also one of the oroanizers, on July 22, 1884. of the Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, and has since been elected its first vice-president. He is also the author of "The History of Old St. Joseph's," together with a " History of St. John's Church," and of an ably written treatise on "William Penn, the Friend of Catholics." Among his other literary productions are : " The Irish in Philadelphia," " Catholicity in Philadelphia," and other works. Mr. Griffin Is a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Buffalo, N. Y., and of the Linnsean Society of Lancaster, Pa. Human liberty, in O'Neill Ryan, of St. Louis, Missouri, has always found a stalwart advocate. He was born in St. Louis, on the 5th day of January, i860, and came from good old Irish stock. His father, who died in 1866, was from Tipperary, while through his mother, who still survives, he THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 633 traces his ancestry to Oliver O'Neill, a "rebel of '98." Although still a young man, Mr. Ryan has already shown those qualities which belong to a maturer manhood, and has achieved consid- able success in his profession as a lawyer. In his boyhood he attended the public schools of his na- tive city, but at the age of thirteen years was obliged, like many others who have since risen to eminence, to do battle in the world for a liveli- hood. About eight years ago he entered the law office of G. Campbell, Esq., a man who, in the prime of life, is ranked among the leaders of the bar in the West. In Mr. Campbell he found a sympathetic and kindly disposed friend, and as he was unable to take a collegiate course, he worked under his crenerous Guidance, and studied hard to fit himself for the profession of his choice. In June, 1880, he passed a successful and creditable examination in the Circuit Court at St. Louis, and was admitted to practice at the bar. Mr. Ryan had the usual up-hill task of a young lawyer, but with a firm determination to succeed, he has overcome all obstacles, and is now in a position to look back with pleasure upon the conflicts and discouragements of other years. He is now as- sociated in business with his friend and preceptor, Mr. Campbell, and is engaged in practice in the State and Federal Courts. Mr. Ryan is thoroughly familiar with Irish his- tory and an enthusiast on all matters connected g34 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. with Ireland. In 1881 he entered the Land League movement and has been actively con- nected with Irish national affairs ever since, hav- ing at various times been president of local Leaeues, attended the national conventions and delivered numerous addresses. In 1884, at the Boston Convention, he was elected first Vice- President of the Irish National League of Amer- ica, and held that position during Mr. Egan's administration, and until the Chicaoo Convention of the summer of 1886. Another self-made Irish-American who has risen to high social position in his adopted country, and whom I have met at every con- vention, is William John Gleason, of Cleveland, Ohio. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, on June 2, 1846, and the following year his parents came to the United States and shordy afterwards settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where he has since continued to reside. He acquired his early edu- cation in the parochial and public schools, but at the aoe of twelve years was obliofed to o-o forth and battle with the stern realities of life, to earn a subsistence for himself, and to aid his parents. He commenced his career as a newsboy, and two years later entered the office of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he learned the trade of printing, mastering all the branches of the art preservative, and working at the "case" for nearly eight years. Upon the breaking out of the Civil THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 635 War in 1861, altliouL;!! not ytt fifteen years of age, he purchased a drum and entered the service of his adopted country as a drummer-boy, in Camp Taylor, at Cleveland, Ohio, where he continued until his parents, thinking him too young for a military life, took him out of the service. Two years subsequently, in July, 1863, he shouldered a rifle and became a member of the Twenty-ninth Regiiri^nt, Ohio National Guard, and remained with that organization until May 5, 1864, when he enlisted in Company E, of the 150th Regiment Infantry, Ohio Volunteers. He immediately accompanied his regiment to Washington and was detailed for duty in the forts surrounding the National Capital. At the close of the term of enlistment of the regiment, he received an honor- able discharge, when he re-entered the office of the Plain Dealer and worked at the " case " until Nov. I, 1869, leaving the latter position to accept that of City Circulator, and taking entire charge of the city edition until the year 1882, officiating in the meantime, also, on the reportorial staff While connected with the Plain Dealer, from which he graduated as its sub-proprietor, he was Secretary of the Typographical Union for three terms, and for a similar period was Secretar}^ of the Trades Assembly. In the year 1882, he resigned his position in the newspaper office to enter the business of fire insurance. In matters pertaining to the Church and the g36 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Irish cause, Mr. Gleason has always been in the foremost rank. In 1865, when nineteen years of age, he became a member of Tara Circle, Fenian Brotherhood, and was an active worker in that organization until its disbandment. He also joined the Irish Nationalists Society when the latter was organized, and with his pen, purse, and voice, from his earliest youth to the present time, has been unceasing in pushing the battle for Irish freedom. For seven consecutive terms he was President of the Irish Literary and Benevolent Association, an organization embracing within its ranks the best materials of Irish society in Cleve- land ; and for two years he was the Librarian of the same association. Frequently, after a day of hard work, Mr. Gleason would devote himself to reading the history of his native land, in order that he might carry out a resolve, made in youth, that he would do everything within his power to elevate his race at home and abroad, to bring freedom to his long-oppressed but ever defiant countrymen. This resolve he has since been carrying into effect whenever opportunity pre- sented. His steadfast loyalty to the cause of Ireland has been abundandy shown by his active work. In 1878, he called a meeting of the Irishmen of Cleveland to make arrangements for celebrat- ing the Robert Emmet Centennial. As chairman THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 637 of the committee he made a stirring appeal to his fellow-countrymen, and the result was one of the grandest demonstrations ever held in the Academy of Music of Cleveland. Mr. Gleason grave a sketch of Emmet's life, closing his address by reading, with much feeling, the farewell speech of Ireland's martyr. When the Land League was formed in Ireland, Mr. Gleason shortly afterwards organized a branch in Cleveland and was elected its President. On the occasion of the visit of Charles Stewart Par- nell and John Dillon to America, in 1879, they were invited to visit Cleveland, which they did in January, 1880, when Mr. Gleason was again at the head of the committee of arrangements, and so perfecdy were the details carried out that Mr. Parnell said : " It was the grandest and most sat- isfactory demonstration he had witnessed since his arrival in this country." A monster proces- sion was organized, ending with a gathering of over four thousand people in the evening, when, at the meeting then held, a large sum was realized for the national cause, as well as for the famine- stricken people of Ireland, while public opinion in Cleveland was strongly moulded in favor of the Irish cause. When Mr. Parnell was about leav- ing the United States, he wrote a list of names, and handed them to his sister, with the request to submit them to the leaders of the Land League as additions to the American branch of the League 638 GLADSTONE-PARNELL. Executive. The list as published in the Boston Pilot at the time was as follows: John Boyle O'Reilly and Patrick A. Collins, Boston ; Thomas A. Kinsella, Brooklyn ; E. M. Stone, of the Chi- cago Evening yoitrnal ; J. J. McCafferty, Lowell, Mass.; P. M. McGlynn, Fall River, Mass.; J. W. Mahone, Brookton, Mass. ; James J. Nolen, Lynn, Mass. ; William J. Gleason, Cleveland, O. ; Rev. T. Walsh, Waterbury, Conn. ; Captain Lawrence O'Brien and James Reynolds, New Haven, Conn. ; Hon. Robert Liddell, Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pa. ; J. H. Mellen, Daily Times, Worcester, Mass. ; James Doran and Rev. H. P. Lalor, Danbury, Conn. Mr. Gleason was a delegate to the Irish Land League National Convention at Chicago, in 1882, and a member of its Committee on Permanent Organization. He was also a deleofate to the Irish Race Convention in Philadelphia, in 1883, and was one of its secretaries, besides being chosen the executive member for Ohio. He was a delegate to the Irish National League Conven- tion at Boston, in 1884, ^"^ acted as its Chief Secretary, and was also Chairman of the Ohio Deleeation at the National Land Leao^ue Conven- tion in Chicago, in 1886, His State elected him its executive member, and subsequently President John Fitzgerald appointed him a member of the " Council of Seven," or, as it has been aptly termed, " The Irish-American Cabinet." He has THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 639 been President of Parnell Branch, No. 38, of the Irish National League, Cleveland, Ohio, since its organization, and very few, if any, branches have raised more money for the nadonal cause than No. ^S. In season and out of season he has held the banner of Irish nationality aloft in Cleve- land, and has vigorously aided in forming public opinion favorably towards Ireland's right to self- crovernment, and in orcranizinof men and collect- ing money for her help. The cause of Irish Nationality udll never die out in Cleveland while William J. Gleason or any of his patriotic sons live. Since the days of Feni- anism to the present, he has been continually on duty working for the cause of Ireland. Scarcely a week has passed in all of the past twenty years that he has not written or made speeches to mould public opinion in favor of Ireland's right to self- government. He has been a faithful adherent to the leaders and principles of the Land League and the Nadonal League, and his numerous writings and speeches have always been loyal and patriotic to his native land. Several extracts from his public addresses have already been given, but this sketch of his active and busy life would not be complete without quoting from some of the other utterances which have come from him at various times. While makinof arranoements to celebrate the Robert Emmet Centennial, in 1878, he issued an appeal to the Irishmen of Cleveland^ 640 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. in which he said : " Robert Emmet sealed his de- votion to Ireland by offering up his gallant and pure young life as a sacrifice on the altar of his country, for the principle of establishing a free and inde- pendent republic in his native land, in which ail of his countrymen would enjoy liberty and stand upon an equality. As Emmet died for all Ire- land, so all Irishmen, irrespective of creed or clan, ought to unite in a fitting demonstration in honor of Ireland's illustrious patriot. Turn out wear- ing the tri-color — the emblem of Irish Nationality, or wearing our own immortal green." His writ- ings all through show the promptings of a patriotic heart and mind to secure, what was always upper- most in his thoughts, the independence and wel- fare of Ireland. The history of the Irish cause in America can never be fully told without reference to the activi- ties and practical interest that have been shown for the past two decades by James Reynolds (known as " Catalpa Jim"), of New Haven, Conn. A staunch and uncompromising believer in the right of universal freedom, he has always come to the front in any practical movement for the weal of his native land. Never faltering, even when the sacrifice of his worldly resources was demanded, the voice of his country has dom- inated all his being, and next to the love of his Maker comes the reverent devotion that he has for the land of his birth. James Reynolds is a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 641 pure, unselfish patriot ; around his name breathes a lustre undimmed by a single thought of personal ambition, the faintest breath of self-interest or in- dividual aggrandizement. Other men have given greater intellectual gifts to the service of Ireland; others have told her wrongs with a sublimer magic of eloquence, and waked the sympathies of men in the sweep of their mighty oratory, and still others, perhaps, have braved a larger measure of personal danger ; but none has devoted his whole energies, his entire worldly fortune with a loftier patriotism, a more generous spirit of sacrifice than James Reynolds has for the little isle that gave him birth. James Reynolds comes naturally by his patriot- ism, for he springs from a noble and patriotic strain. His ancestry dates back over fourteen hundred years to the noble sept Mac Raghnaill, v;hich the Irish historians tell us was a branch of the tribe called the Conmaie, whose founder was Conmacni, third son of Fergus Mac Roigh, by Meive, the celebrated Queen of Connaught, in the first century of the Christian era. The ancient territory of the Mac Rannells (of which the surname Reynolds was a corruption) was called Conmacni Moy Rein — otherwise Muinter Eois ; it lay in the County of Leitrim, and was co-extensive with the modern baronies of Leitrim and Garrycastle, all bordering upon Annally, in the north of the County of Longford. The 642 GLADSTONE— PA RNELL. Mac Rannells had castles at Rinn, Leitrim and Lough Scur. James Reynolds himself is a native of the County Cavan, where he was born on the 20th of October, 1831. He was but sixteen years of age when, during the memorable famine that peopled the cemeteries of Ireland, he bade adieu to his native heath and sailed away to the distant shores of America, bearing with him a freight of precious memories that were to bear fruit In after- years of patriotic endeavor. On his arrival in this country he at once apprenticed himself to learn the brass-founding trade, and In 1850 he settled In Connecticut which has ever since been his home. For twenty years and more he has been a resident of New Haven, where he has received repeated political honors at the hands of his fellow-citizens. He served three years as Alderman, during two of which he was President of the Board, and in that capacity was at various times acting Mayor of New Haven. For seven years he has been at the head of the town govern- ment, being elected town agent every year since 1879 with increasing majorities; the only Irish- man who has ever been elevated to this position In a city where Puritanic influences and prejudices have not yet wholly passed away. Nothing could indicate more forcibly the high regard In which he Is held by his fellow-townsmen. In November of the present year he was the Democratic nominee for Sheriff of New Haven County, the first and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 643 only Irishman ever honored thus, but owing to race prejudices and internal dissensions in the party he was defeated by a small margin. In addition to his official duties as town accent of New Haven, Mr. Reynolds conducts a lucrative and somewhat extensive business as a brass-founder. A born patriot, James Reynolds early espoused the cause of his country, and brought to its ser- vice all the energies of an active and impulsive nature. When in the years following the Ameri- can Rebellion Irish patriotism was directed in an active movement ao^ainst Eno-land througrh her colonies in America, we find him foremost among those whose financial resources flov^^ed freely into the common treasury. Not when his practical mind told him that not here lay the channel to Ireland's freedom did he close his purse-strings; not even when a prudent judgment convinced him that here lay a waste of Irish blood and hu- man treasures did he say nay to the appeal for funds. It was enough for him to know that even one blow was struck at England, one thrust was made in the great cause of Irish freedom. James Reynolds never believed that the liberation of Ireland was to be effected through the conquest of Canada. His strongr native sense and sajja- cious foresight taught him the folly of such a hope. Yet when the movement was inaugurated he entered into it heart and soul, with all the en- th.usiasm of his noble nature, hopeful that even g44 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. one blow might be struck at the shackles that bound his country. But it was in the Catalpa movement that his great patriotism found its highest opportunity, and the name of James Reynolds gained the im- perishable splendor of immortal fame. The his- tory of that memorable expedition is still fresh in the memory of Irishmen : how the little barque with its gallant crew sailed into Australian waters, and bore away its precious freight, bringing to freedom and glory those patriots who were expi- ating in exile their efforts for Ireland, bidding bold defiance to the British man-of-war, who gave her chase, and riding safely into the harbor of New York — all these details are still green in the Irish memory. And while the fame of this daring rescue shall last, while the name of Catal- pa shall wake and fan the fires of Irish enthusi- asm, so long will the name of James Reynolds be held in fond and loving remembrance. For it was he who mortgaged his home, who placed a chattel upon his household goods, who beggared himself for the time that the sinews might be forthcoming to inaugurate and sustain the expe- dition. Other choice spirits lent him their coun- sels and their fortunes, but James Reynolds gave his all that the Catalpa rescue might be consum- mated. True, the success of the expedition re- compensed him in a measure for his financial sac- rifices ; it brought back some of the litde fortune THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 645 he freely gave in the cause ; but his chief reward, the glory of his great heart and the pride of his noble life, is the memory which he treasures, which his children and his children's children will carry in their hearts, that his sacrifices were not in vain — that they brought humiliation to Eng- land, liberty and happiness to the rescued patri- ots, and eternal fame and glory to Ireland. When the Land Leao^ue movement was inau- gurated James Reynolds at once actively inter- ested himself, and was one of the leading dele- gates at its first National Convention. He has been a member of every succeeding one, and served in every one of these gatherings as a mem- ber of the Committee on Resolutions. He was for several years a member of the Executive Council, the Committee of Seven, and took active control of the League in Connecticut. He in- fused much of his own enthusiasm into the move- ment, and during his administration the Land League of the Nutmeg State was well to the front in point of numbers and the character and influence of its work. Mr. Reynolds is now, and has been for years, a leading member of the Clan- na-Gael Society, and is a strong adherent of its national creed. Personally, he is a man of genial temperament, frank, guileless and companiona- ble, unaffected in manners or speech, open-handed and generous ; a man whose friendships are firm and lasting ; a citizen whose activities are always 38 646 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. beneficial. His patriotism and love for Ireland is pure as the spotless lily ; with hope springing eternal in his breast he looks for the morn when the sunburst of freedom shall illumine his native land, and the minstrel shall sine once aofain the glories of a free and united Ireland. Edward Johnson, of Watertown, Wisconsin, was born in the Parish of Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland, in 1822, and emigrated to the United States in the year 1836, being then fourteen years old. Like the great majority of Ireland's sons and dauo^hters, he labored under a lono- train of difficulties entailed on the people by the policy and action of the British Government, and hence acquired and inherited a dislike for that Government which has grown in intensity with the lapse of time. He was educated in the Cath- olic faith, and learned the business of a druggist and pharmacist. After numerous severe trials, unknown to many of the youth of the present day, in the spring of 1844 he commenced business in the village of Watertown (now a city of eight thousand inhabitants), Wisconsin, at a time that tried the courage and perseverance of men. The remnant of Black Hawk warriors were beinof run down by United States Cavalry; the wolf was looking in at the door, and the land covered with a dense forest. After eight years of fruitless ef- fort, on account of the sparseness of people, he sold out his business, and in the summer of 1852 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 647 crossed the plains, the party with which he was travelling being a number of times attacked by Indians and many lives lost. The adventures left a terrible impression on his mind of hardship and danger. In the fall of 1854 he returned to Watertown, and commenced the practice of his profession under brighter prospects, and contin- ued it until 1874, when he retired to a suburban residence of comfortable pretensions. Mr. Johnson has always been enlisted in the Irish struggle for liberty, and now that his once strong arm is no longer able to respond to the will, he deems his life but half-filled because the time had not come to make it felt in paying Eng- land back with interest for the wrongs heaped upon his countrymen. He was in sympathy with the men of '48, and in 1866 invited Thos. F. Meagher to Watertown, where he lectured before an audience of nearly three thousand people. He also raised considerable money for the famine- stricken people of Ireland, and organized the first branch of the Land League in Watertown, which is still in active service. He was a delegate to the two National League Conventions in Chicago, and also to the Milwaukee Convention, wdien, by a unanimous vote, he was elected State Treasurer of the National League, a position which he still retains. He was also a member of the committee to visit Washington and lay before President Arthur the action of the convention in opposing g48 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. forced emigration by England of her pauper- made subjects. He is a believer in the doctrine that Irishmen everywhere ought to put them- selves in active force against England if they would save the remnant of the people from extermination. Judge James W. Fitzgerald, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was born in Queenstown, Ireland, about the year 1837, ^"^ received a good collegiate educa- tion before leaving his native land. While still a young man he came to the United States and settled in the West, selecting the city of Cincin- nati as his home, where he continues to reside. From his earliest youth Judge Fitzgerald has taken an active interest in Irish affairs, and from his boyhood has been connected with Irish na- tional organizations. Before the breaking out of the Civil War he was a pronounced Abolitionist, and from 1861 to 1872 took an active interest in the Republican party. When Horace Greeley ran for the Presidency he found in Mr. Fitzgerald an earnest worker, and since then he has been identified with the Democratic party. He was elected to the Cincinnati City Council several terms by both parties, and for three different terms was its President. In 1864 he w^as elected County Commissioner, and in 1866 was honored with a seat in the State Legislature. In the mean- time he had commenced the study of the law, and in 1868 graduated from the Cincinnati Law THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. g4Q College and was admitted to the bar. He made a specially of criminal law, and in the following year was appointed assistant to Major Blackburn, County Prosecutor, where he made for himself a fine reputation. In 1884, at the solicitation of friends, he accepted the police judgeship, a posi- tion which he has since held with credit to him- self and the community. Judge Fitzgerald is an able speaker and is considered the leading repre- sentative Nationalist of Cincinnati. He is a de- voetd adherent of Mr. Parnell and his associates, and has done effective work throughout the country in makinof Home Rule addresses. Besides, he is one of the best Parliamentarians in the country, and has few equals as a presiding officer. John Groves, of Omaha, Nebraska, one of the best known and most respected Irishmen in the ' West, was born in Clough, County Down, Ire- land, in the year 1S45, ^^^ "^^'^-^ raised in the Episcopalian faith. He left home in i860, when fifteen years of a^je, and went to London where he entered the office of a merchant. At that early age lie became an advocate in the cause of Irish freedom, and while in the capital of the British Government he associated with his own countrymen and was imbued with the same patriotic spirit. He was a Sergeant in the Lon- don and Irish Volunteers, and in 1867, just after the Mancliester Rescue, lie was arrested for his connection with the Fenian movement. The arrest 550 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. caused considerable excitement, and, after a tedious trial, the Go.vernment was obliged to give up some of its witnesses, a detective swearing that he would not believe them on their oath. The principal witness, however, was the notorious Corydon, the informer, and as a result of the trial. Groves was sent to prison where he re- mained eight months. Upon being released he came to America and remained for some time in New York. He then went to the West and located in Omaha, Nebraska, where he entered the service of the Union Pacific Railway Company, and was soon advanced to the position of chief division clerk. After serving in that capacity for some time he left the railroad service, and accepted the important position of Deputy County Treasurer, at Omaha. A broad-guage, level-headed Nationalist is John F. Armstrong, the widely known member of the firm of Daly & Armstrong, wholesale and retail dealers in dry goods, in Augusta, Georgia. He was born near Tubbercurry, County Sligo, Ireland, in September, 1845, and came to America in 1865, setding in Georgia, where he has since resided. From his earliest years he has been an Irish Nationalist in sentiment, and now might be fairly described as an advanced Nationalist. Although the city of Augusta, in which he resides, has not a large Irish population, yet, through his efforts and those of kindred patriodc spirits, it "j^&i THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE ^53 has done well for the Irish cause. Before the org-anization of the Land Leag^ue in Aucrusta, in 1880, and of which Mr. Armstrong was the first president, the people contributed the sum of $3,500 to the Irish Relief Fund, and have since given $3,000 to the Land League and the Irish National League of America. He was a delegate to the convention of the Land League held in Philadelphia, in April, 1883; and to the Irish National Convention, held in the same city, and since then his leadership, among the Irish people of Augusta, has been recognized by sending him as a delegate to every convention of the Irish National League of America. At the Land League Convention in 1883 he participated in the debate on the question of settling what ought to be done by the League, pending action by the Irish National Convention which was to meet immediately afterwards. He favored the action, which was finally taken, to place the affairs of the Land Leagrue in the hands of a Committee of Seven, with power to dissolve it if the platform and proceedings of the Irish National Convention met their approval. He was honored with an appointment on the committee, which declared the Land League dissolved and merged into the new organization, the Irish National League of America. He was also elected by the National Committee one of the Executive Committee of Seven, and re-elected to the same position after the convention in Chicago, in January, 1886. 654 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. After attending a meeting of the National Committee, Mr. Armstrong made a brief visit to Ireland, and was authorized by the officers and National Committee of the Irish National Leao^ue to seek an interview with Mr, Parnell for the purpose of laying before him certain matters relating to the welfare of the Irish cause, and gave him proper credentials for that purpose, In regard to that Interview the most ridiculous statements were made, both at home and abroad. It was said that Mr. Armstrong was sent to dictate and to force upon Mr. Parnell a more aggressive policy, threatening him, in the event of non-compliance, with a withdrawal of the support of the Irish National League of America. The facts of the case, however, were, that Mr. Armstrong- first met Mr. Parnell at the Broadstone Station, Dublin, on the morning of Feb. 8, 1886, and not at the House of Commons, as reported. Mr. Parnell was then going to Galway to adjust some trouble that had arisen in consequence of T. M. Healy and J. G. BIggar supporting Michael Lynch, a local Nationalist, for Parliament, against Capt. O'Shea, whom Mr. Parnell was anxious to see elected. Mr. Armstrong informed him that he had some funds for the organization, (Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, the Treasurer, had made him the bearer of ^2,000,) some letters to present, and some other matters to lay before him, and asked that a day for an Interview be appointed. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 655 This was done by Mr. Parnell, by naming Friday, February ist, at Morrison's Hotel, Dublin. At that time a most pleasant interview of two hours was held, at which no allusions were even made in reference to dictation or aggressiveness, and, at its conclusion, Mr. Parnell, in a most friendly manner, pressed his hospitality upon his visitor, and entertained him in a most gratifying manner by detailing his expectations and hopes for the future of Ireland. Mr. Armstrong parted with the Irish leader on the most friendly terms, and shortly afterwards returned to the United States Mr. Armstrong has also been engaged in other positions of trust and honor. He was one of the committee to wait upon President Chester A. Arthur, at the Executive Mansion, in Washington, to present to him the resolution passed by the Philadelphia Convention in regard to assisted emigration. He was married some years ago, and has had seven children, four of whom are livincr. Michael J. O'Brien, of Chattanooga, Tennes- see, was born in County Cork, Ireland, near the city, in 1844. His parents came to America when he was an infant and resided for some years at New York'. When he attained his majority Mi- chael concluded to try his fortune in the South, and removed to Tennessee and settled in Chat- tanooga in 1867. He embarked in business in that city in 1869 in a very modest way, but by 856 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. close application and by the exercise of the in domitable energy which characterized him in after- life he built himself up, step by step, until to-day he is recognized as one of Chattanooga's most successful wholesale merchants. His marked abilities were keenly appreciated by his fellow- citizens, and he has served a term as President of the Board of Trade of that flourishing city and also as President of the Iron, Coal and Manufact- urers' Association, the most successful industrial organization in the South. He is closely identi- fied with the commercial and industrial interests of his city and enjoys public confidence to the fullest extent. The popular regard in which he is held by his fellow-citizens was demonstrated on two occasions when he came within a few votes of being elected Mayor of Chattanooga, and re- duced the usual opposition majority seven-eighths. In 1883 he was elected Supreme Treasurer of the Catholic Knights of America, and his administra- tion of the affairs of that body met with such hearty indorsement that in 1885 he was unani- mously re-elected. He was the delegate from Chattanooga to the National League Conven- tions, and has been for several years President of the local branch. Mr, O'Brien is an ardent pa- triot, loves the land of his birth as he loves his life, and has always been quick to respond to every appeal of his countrymen. His liberal purse and eloquent words have ever been at the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 557 service of his country, and he has been universally regarded as one of the ablest and most influential champions of Irish emancipation in the South. Thomas H. Walsh, Executive Officer of the Irish National League for the District of Colum- bia, the subject of this sketch, was born near Kil- sheelan, in the County of Tipperary, Ireland, on the 26th day of May, 1844. His father was one of the most independent and extensive farmers in that county, and many times proved his devotion to his native land, notably at the batde of Carrick- shock (Tithe War), in which he received a severe bayonet wound while fighting side by side with seven of his brothers. Mr. W^alsh emio^rated to this country when a mere boy and settled in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, where he studied and prac- tised the profession of pharmacy. At the early age of fifteen years he joined the Fenian organi- zation and later became a member of other kin- dred Irish societies, with some of which he is still connected. In the latter part of 1865 he went South and settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, from which place he went to Savannah, Georgia, succeeding his uncle. Dr. Walter M. Walsh, in the wholesale and retail drug business. Later he went to New York City, where he married, and soon after left for Washington, D. C, to accept a position under the Government. He is at present employed in the War Department. Mr. Walsh was one of the committee that received Mr. Par- 658 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. nell on his arrival in Washington, i8So, and aided in procuring for the Irish leader the rarely accord- ed privilege of addressing the members of the House of Representatives while in session. He helped to form and was elected President of the first branch of the Irish Land Leagfue of Wash- ington, D. C. In 1884 he was elected a delegate to the Boston Convention of the Irish National League, the successor of the Irish Land League, when he was chosen its Executive Officer for the District of Columbia, and was in January, 1886, appointed by President Patrick Egan one of his Executive Council. He was a^ain elected a dele- gate to the Chicago Convention held in August, 1886, and for a second time was chosen an Executive Officer of the League for said District, which position he still holds. AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AND THE OWNERSHIP OF AMERICAN SOIL. At a meeting of the National Executive Com- mittee held in Chicago in April, 1884, the Hon. M. V. Gannon, of Iowa, one of its members, drew attention with startling clearness to the encroach- ments being made on American soil by foreign " land-grabbers." As a result of his remarks and of the proofs with which he backed up or sup- ported his assertions, a committee was appointed to wait upon the approaching national convention of each of the great political parties and request THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 659 the insertion of a plank in each of their platforms pledging its party to such legislation as would make American citizenship indispensable to the possession of American soil. The committee con- sisted of Hon. Alexander Sullivan, of Chicago, Illinois, as chairman ; Rev. Charles O'Reilly, D. D., Detroit, Michigan ; Thomas O'Reilly, M. D., of Missouri; William M. ColHns, of Ken- tucky, and James Reynolds, of Connecticut. To the proper committee of each convention the com- mittee presented carefully prepared papers replete with facts, historical and argumentative, drawing attention to the stealthy growth of foreign land- lordism on our soil and asking the committee to take such cognizance of and action upon the sub- ject as its importance demanded. Mr. Sullivan and the committee were heard with great respect and their request complied with. The key-note that Alexander Sullivan struck at the Philadelphia Convention he continually re- peated throughout his Presidency of the League, that the Irish race in this country is only the auxiliary, not the dictator, of the race in Ireland. " It is for them to choose the road which leads to liberty; it is for us to march with them upon it," was re-echoed in all his utterances, public and private. When the circular of Cardinal Simeoni against the Parnell Fund appeared, Mr. Sullivan resisted strong pressure from various quarters to bring the organization into apparent conflict 660 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. with the Roman Catholic Church. With delicate tact and unfailino- discretion he carried the in- flamed feelings of the time safely past the danger that was so apparently imminent, and won still greater confidence in the soundness of his judg- ment and the dignity and wisdom of his public conduct. He officially inaugurated the American contribution to the Parnell Testimonial Fund, and was the first to send a subscription to its worthy official treasurer, Rev. T. J. Conaty. When the time of the general election ap- proached in Ireland, Mr. Sullivan called the Na- tional Committee together and advised that steps be taken forthwith to create a Parliamentary Fund to meet the expenses in Ireland of car- rying every seat which the Nationalists might hope to win. This aroused the highest enthusi- asm in Ireland, and Mr. Parnell wrote to Mr. Sullivan: "Your action and that of the Council of the League assure me that so far as the exer- tions of our countrymen in America can affect the issue, we shall not be left at the next appeal to the constituencies to fight alone and without ma- terial resources, but that everything will be done on your side that is possible to insure us those big battalions so favored by Providence." To Mr. Sullivan can be truthfully and aptly ap- plied the quotation so appropriately used with reference to Daniel O'Connell by Lord Charle- mont, in 1838, at a public banquet in Dublin; THE GREAT IRISH. STRUGGLE. gg; *" Justum et tenacem propositi virum, Non avium ardor prava jubentium ; Non vultus instantis tyranni Mente quatit solida '' Alexander Sullivan was born in Maine, in 1847. ^^ began the study of law in the ofifice of the Hon. Algernon S. Sullivan, of New York, was admitted to the bar of Illinois in 1879, and began the practice of his profession in the city of Chi- cago, where he now resides. Of slender figure, as he stood at the famous Philadelphia Conven- tion, and of medium height, his appearance is cal- culated to attract attention. A large intellectual head is rounded with a forehead expressive of unusual reasoning faculties. His eyes are a keen gray. His features have the delicacy of sculp- ture, and indicate a refined, proud and sensitive nature. The expression of his face is gentle and winning, and his manners are quiet and elegant. In social intercourse he is reserved and a good listener, but when disposed to talk is found rich in story and anecdote, and habitually avoids bringing politics or other public affairs into pri- vate society. In the breadth and firmness of his jaws, in the thin lips and well-set chin, his face being clean-shaven, in the breadth and solidity of his head, and the frank and penetrating glance of * " The man of firm and righteous will, No rabble clamorous for the wrong , No tyrant's brow, whose frown may kill. Can shake the strength that makes him strong." 662 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. his eyes, is easily discerned a character in which extraordinary mental capacity is combined with courage, tact and persistence. The most superficial observer would see in him a man whose convictions would be reached by logic, who would hold them with the grip of hon- esty and maintain them with inflinching firmness and determination. He spoke frequendy during the convention, and the characteristics of his oratory were at once apparent. His style, like himself, is "clear and clean-cut." He employs no verbiage, and his speeches can be neither cut nor condensed, so compact are they, so free from mere literary ornamentation. He is argumenta- tive and reasoning in speaking and writing, and aims straight at men's common-sense — not at their imaginations or passions. Unlike many of his countrymen also endowed with the gift of the orator and capable of delivering with apparent spontaneity the coldly elaborated efforts of the closet and the midnight lamp, Mr. Sullivan is said to be unable to memorize even a paragraph, and is at his best if interrupted when speaking. Except in thorough study of his topic he makes no other preparation for occasional speaking. Indeed, nearly all of his finest speeches have been born of questions or interruptions — inci- dents which discompose other orators, but always bring his fine debative powers into bet- ter play. He gesticulates very little, stands THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gg3 solidly on both feet when speaking, apart from table or desk, and is to all outward appearance calm and composed himself, although the temper of his oratory is intense and passionate. He has been known to hold thousands in rapt attention in great halls and in vast open air meetings for more than two hours at a time without a muscu- lar change on his own part beyond the rare but graceful use of his right arm and hand. His voice, while not heavy, is surprisingly far-carrying, and clear as a bell. He began his political life before he was old enough to vote as an advocate of equal rights for all men, without distinction of race, creed or color, and "stumped" the State of Michigan in support of a constitutional amendment giving suffrage to the emancipated negroes before the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Mr. Sullivan supported Horace Greeley for President on the National Demo- cratic ticket, but has generally voted with the Republican party. His services to the Irish cause were given freely and without price. He never would accept even the smallest return for his expenses. To recompense him for them, even in a slight way, as well as in some measure to express their admiration of his character and services, General Michael Kerwin, of the New York Tablet, and a number of leading men of the Irish race, quietly subscribed a considerable sum for a testi- 39 664 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. monlal to him. Only after the movement had made considerable progress did it come to his knowledge, and he at once directed that the checks should be returned to the subscribers. PATRICK EGAN TAKES THE REINS. The Second Annual Convention of the Irish National League of America began its sessions in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, on the morning of Wednesday, August 13, 1884, and continued until the afternoon of the following day. Over eight hundred delegates were present, representing branches of the League in vigorous existence in every part of the United States and Canada, as well as in Nova Scotia. Thomas Sexton, M. P., and William Redmond, M. P., represented Mr. Parnell and the League in Ire- land. General McAdaras, of Paris, France, (at one time erroneousl}^ supposed by the press of this country and England to be the justly cele- brated "No. I," for whose capture and welfare the authorities of Great Britain showed them- selves to be most affectionately solicitous,) Uni:ed States Senator Jones, Mrs. Delia T. S. Parnell and other distinguished persons were on the stage. The convention was called to order by President Sullivan. The President's opening address was a stirring one. He set forth the present attitude of the Irish question with great force, and closed as follows : THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gg5 "Fellow-countrymen, the only credentials rec- ognized on this floor are the credentials of the Irish National League. On yonder threshold we dropped our character as members of American parties. The only demand the Irish National League makes in American politics is the demand for the elevation of American citizenship at hoaie and abroad. It makes that demand of all parties, and it makes it so determinedly that every party must respect it. It makes that demand not in the name of the distant island whence we sprang; it makes it in the name of the American Repub- lic, of which we are a part. It makes it not for the man of Irish blood alone ; but for every American, native and adopted, whether Celt or German, Scandinavian or Russian. In mutual respect and fervent brotherhood, manfully uncon- scious of those matters whereon we rightfully dif- fer as Americans, let our debates be so conducted that all parties shall fear and respect us, and that our highest title to their fear shall be our devo- tion to the republic and our respect for ourselves. "We meet in the historic city of the republic, hallowed by the earliest struggles of the Ameri- can people against the foe whom Ireland shall yet win to terms of peace — struggles in which our race was valiant in arms and discreet in council. We meet in the hall over which the Ge- nius of Liberty presides ; whose walls have re- sounded to the inspired words of him who stands 666 GLADSTONE— PAKNELL. to all lands and all races and all ages as the ideal of American citizenship — the lover of Emmet, the friend of O'Connell — Wendell Phillips. The proudest name to which we aspire we accept as he realized it, with its highest and fullest signifi- cance, with all its responsibilities and all its duties — the name of American citizen. To ennoble it by our character as a race, and conduct as indi- viduals, is the resolve of every man who is deter- mined to aid his countrymen in the achievement of national self-government for Ireland." The temporary officers of the convention were: President, Hon. James Mooney, of Buffalo, New York ; Secretaries, Charles McGlave, of Philadel- phia, Pa. ; M. J. Griffin, of Iowa, and Thomas J. Flatley, of Massachusetts. At the suggestion of Alexander Sullivan, Messrs. Sexton and Red- mond were added to the Committee on Resolu- tions for two reasons : first, because nothing should be expressed which might embarrass the gentlemen considering the intent of the coercion act, which made it an offence for an Irish subject to be affiliated with people in any act which might be construed as an unlawful act ap'ainst the Gov- ernment ; and second, because the utterances of the convention, which represented the Irish of America, should have the hearty approval of Messrs. Sexton and Redmond, as, when the Irish spoke, they meant to speak as a unit. Addresses were made by Mrs. Parnell, Thomas THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 667 Sexton, William Redmond, M. V. Gannon, U. S. Senator Jones, and others. As Mr. Sexton, one of the most eloquent orators of the Irish Parlia- mentary party, especially represented Mr. Parnell, and as his remarks were very much misrepre- sented and distorted by interested and malicious falsifiers in England, I quote the speech which he made on that occasion : "The chairman has just introduced me to you," said he, " as * Mr. Sexton from Ireland,' but as I listened to the generous cheers with which you received our introduction, I found it hard to be- lieve that I was not Mr. Sexton in Ireland, because nowhere upon the soil of Ireland to-day would the appearance of any public man — not even in Connemara, nor upon the plains of Tipperary — be greeted with a cheer more evidently sprung from the bottom of the Irish heart, more obviously uttered by the Irish tongue, more clearly proof of that indestructible adhesion to one another of the scattered fragments of all the Irish race, which neither time, nor circumstance, nor calam- ity, nor disaster, has ever been able to break down. Ladies and gentlemen, it is this solidarity of the Irish race — it is this obstinate adhesion of men and women, our kith and kin, to the cause, to the hopes, to the rights of their race and their country — it is this obstinate and indestructible spirit of union and perseverance — that are making us in Ireland feel that it is no longer with hope. 663 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. but with absolute confidence, that we regard the future, because the oppressor is made to feel, as the world feels to-day, that he has no longer to deal merely with a small and isolated island, with 5,000,000 of weak and disarmed people, but that he has to grapple with the intellect, the force, the public opinion of 25,000,000 of the Irish race scattered by his own evil policy all the world over, affecting by their intelligence, their organiza- tion, their union, the policy and the conduct of the greatest governments upon the surface of the earth. Ladies and gentlemen, in the name of the Irish people and of the Irish National League and of the Irish parliamentary party and its illus- trious leader, I salute this great convention of our race upon the American continent — this con- vention which, by the good order and the pro- priety of its deliberations, by the discretion and judgment of the conclusions at which it shall arrive, will prove to all observers, in defiance of all calumniators, that capacity for deliberation on important questions, and for self-government which our enemies would fain deny us. In pay- ing my first visit to this great country, which I have long wished to visit, both as a lover of na- tional liberty and also as an Irishman, I count myself peculiarly fortunate in that I am able to condense into an experience of a few hours in this city of Boston what otherwise I could not hope to gain by even years of travel. For here, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. QQQ in this historic hall, here in the very cradle where American liberty was nursed, here in the heart of this illustrious city of Boston, rich in traditions of heroism and of bravery, rich in traditions of pa- triotic self-sacrifice and of devotion to liberty — I say it is my peculiar good fortune to meet in this inspiring arena an assembly of men representing every State and party of this Union — an assembly of men the natural leaders of the Irish race upon the continent of America — n;en qualified by public service, by character, by capacity, by devotion, to interpret the thoughts and to utter the sentiments of the Irish race upon this great continent of America. I also congratulate the convention in that it is the first assembly graced by the presence of the gifted lady who in your presence here to- night verifies, emphasizes and enriches the tradi- tion of the devotion of her family to the cause of liberty. For, as in this very town relatives of this distinguished lady have asserted themselves in the cause of American liberty, so she is here to- night with a sympathy as noble as theirs is, and with a soul as high, to prove the steady continuity of her devotion to the cause of the people of Ire- land. To this lady, the holder of a name which has won the affection of the people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean ; to this lady, great as a wo- man and illustrious as a mother, we tender — I am sure I may say I can tender on behalf of all of you — our most respectful and cordial welcome 370 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Ladies and gentlemen, before I resume my seat — for I have promised not to intrude upon your time and your patience to-night — I will say that I am here as a delegate not only of the Irish Par- liamentary party, but of the Irish National League; that I am here to speak to you and to speak to the people of America, not only on behalf of that party which faces the oppressor of our country on the floor of the English House of Commons, but also to utter the sentiments of that organiza- tion which trains and organizes the resolution, the ingenuity and the strength of the Irish people for struggle upon the soil of Ireland. I am here as the representative of United Ireland. I am here to show that there is no difference in prin- ciple — that there is no difference in intention — between the men who front the oppressors of our country in the legislative arena and the men who conduct the public cause at home. And, while I declare that there is at this present moment per- fect identity of action, perfect unity of principle, between the people in Ireland and us who struggle for them on the floor of the English House of *■ Commons, I believe I may add — and I think ex- perience will verify my words — that it will be found that no man who at this moment commands the confidence and the love of the Irish people, that no man who, by suffering or by service, has endeared himself to their hearts, will be found, in the critical future which is soon approaching, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 671 and which will decide not only the social rights, but the political claims of our race — I believe I may say with confidence that no such man will be found to interpose any personal view or prefer- ence of his own if he finds that the intervention of any such personal view would have the effect of injuring the unity of the people, or endanger- ing the success of their cause. Speaking to you, then, gentlemen, as the spokesman of a united Ireland, I would say that I have confidence that you will prove on this occasion that the Irish race, long schooled in political adversity, have learned to extract from it sweet results that, looking back upon the past of our country disfigured along the hideous track of oppression and of suffering by many an evil landmark of disunion — looking back upon that past, I say, you will resolve that the historian shall not have it to say that you added to those landmarks of disunion — you will resolve to reflect in your conduct, and in your conclusions here, that unity to which the Irish people at home have been driven by long ex- perience and by bitter suffering ; that, whatever conclusion you may come to, it will be the conclu- sion of you all ; that, whatever step you may de- cide to take to advance the programme of the National League and to help the cause of the land which you love with a love undeviating and changeless ; that, whatever step you may take to strike down the power of the oppressor, you will 672 GLADSTONE— PARNELL Strike down all together, and that there shall be no disunion in your ranks." The permanent officers of the convention were: President, Hon. M. V. Gannon, of Iowa; Vice- Presidents : Hon. Thomas Sexton, M. P., and Wil- Ham Redmond, M. P., of Ireland ; J. J. Sheehan, of California ; James Reynolds, of Connecticut ; P. McCartney, of District of Columbia ; J. F. Arm- strong, of Georgia ; John M. Smyth, of Illinois ; John Lamb, of Indiana ; M. H. King, of Iowa ; John Wallace, of Louisiana ; Rev. M. A. McFeely, of Kentucky ; Thos. J. Fladey, of Massachusetts ; S. Jordan, of Missouri ; Patrick Martin, of Mary- land ; Col. J. Atkinson, of Michigan ; Patrick Egan, of Nebraska ; M. B. Holmes, of New Jersey ; Dr. W. B. Wallace, of New York ; Col. John O'Byrne, of Ohio ; James O'Sullivan, of Pennsylvania ; Patrick McGovern, of Virginia ; H. W. McGettrick, of Vermont ; J. J. Hayes, of New Hampshire; D, F. Powers, of Nova Scotia; H. J. Carroll, of Rhode Island ; Col. M. Boland, of Colorado (and now of New York) ; M. Dono- van, of Canada. Secretary, W. J. Gleason, of Ohio; assistant secretaries: Charles McGlave, of Pennsylvania; J. J. Sheehan, of Massachusetts ; M. L. Biggane, of New York; Dr. W. H. Cole, of Maryland. The treasurer. Dr. Chas. O'Reilly, presented the following statement of receipts and disburse- ments, which the auditing committee, after exami- nation, pronounced "correct:" THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 673 STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS Charles G' Reilly, Treasurer, in account with Irish National League of America. Amounls received from National League Branches, from individual con- tributions, proceeds of lectures, donations to Irish National League, and Parliamentary Fund, from May i, 1883, to August il, 1884. States Branches Donations Par Fund Arkansas $ 16 50 California 1399 3° $ 6-j6 So Colorado 22336 79 So Connecticut 1085 51 95 00 $ 240 14 Dakota Territory 8 00 Delawaie 4985 Georgia 188 50 Iowa 18740 5065 21600 Illinois 3337 55 18 14 200 Indiana 113 58 29 25 Kansas 8 75 19 25 Kentucky 331 20 10800 72000 Louisiana 192 50 629 05 Maryland »7I 75 Massachusetts 317796 116652 86912 Michigan 17425 49035 Missouii 564 75 28 00 450 00 Minnesota 325 16 25 00 Montana 13 70 Nebiaska 21200 50000 New Hampshire 35 00 158 00 New York 610660 1744 18 83500 New Jersey 105255 145 32 10300 Ohio 34877 125365 32000 Oiegon 38 25 loS 30 16 79 Pennsylvania 3204 77 2020 05 369 00 Rhode Island 603 00 65 80 South Carolina 5° 00 Tennessee 23600 Vii ginia 86 00 Wisconsin 349 90 II94 25 lOI OO District of Columbia 196 00 Canada 235 00 Nova Scotia 62 50 Total iS24372 21 ^10093 76 ^767 05 DISBURSEMENTS, Amount remitted to Alfred Webb, Dublin Expense — Postage, printing, stationery, and clerical assistance treasurer's office from May i, 1883, to August i, 1884 . . . Rev P. A McKenna Rev P A McKenna Rev. Chas. O'Reilly 524,397 50 871 42 145 >5 175 70 82 00 g74 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. J.G.Donnelly $ 75 50 P. A, Collins ) ^„ ^ T F.Doheityl ^o oo Rev P. A. McKenna, trip to Westerly, R. I lo oo David Healy, expense from Albany to Columbus, O., to fill Redmond lect. engagement 37 60 Rev. P A McKenna ... 74 25 John G. Healy, expenses Connecticut Convention 73 68 Chicago Office — ■ Secretary's salary, 14 months ;?I,750 CX) Requisites for general expenses 1,010 65 -,,760 65 Cameron, Amberg & Co 369 48 Buffalo Catholic Publication Co 422 58 Settlement John J. Hynes, L. L. Secretary 198 70 $29,734 21 RECAPITULATION. Total amount from Branches ^24,372 21 Total amount from Donations, etc. . . 10,093 7^ ^34-465 97 Total amount for Par Fund $4,767 05 Remitted to Alfred Webb 24,397 50 Paid for salaries 2,450 00 General expenses 2,886 71 29,734 21 Expense Par. Fund, cables, etc 28 00 Balance on hand August 9, 1884, League and Par. Funds $4,731 76 $4,739 ^5 SUPPLEMENTARY August 12 — Received m Boston from executor of Father Walsh, late Treasurer of Land League, the following financial statement of balance : Apiil 9, 1883, Philadelphia Convention, bal on hand. $5,093 82 Rent of hall, Philadelphia Convention . $465 00 Rent of executive head-quaiters. Continental Hotel . . 50 00 Cablegram to Mr Parnell 300 24 Remitted to Mr. Parnell 903 lo Stamps, printing, etc 25 00 Expenses clerical labor in treasurer's office 200 00 1,943 34 Balance turned over to Rev Chas O'Reilly, D D , Treasurer Irish National League, Aug 22, 1884 3»I5° 4^ Received in Boston League dues of Branches leport- ing on floor of convention .. 145 5° Received from treasure) 's office, Detroit, after depart- ure of treasurer to convention 266 25 Reliable assets guaranteed 20000 Received for Parliamentary Fund m Boston 1,1 1 1 00 $4,873 23 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 675 Secretary Walsh's report was similar in its figures and other important features to that of the reverend treasurer. Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, Treasurer of the Parnell Testimonial Fund, re- ported that he had received contributions amount- ing to $17,517.38, which he had remitted to Alfred Webb, the celebrated Quaker treasurer of the League funds in Ireland. Several amendments were made to the constitution, the most note- worthy being section 7, which provided that " an amount not to exceed $3,000 shall be annually appropriated out of the general funds of the League, to indemnify the president of the Na- tional League for his time and services in the interest of the cause." Branches, where a mu- nicipal council exists, were instructed to remit to the national treasurer through the treasurer of the municipal council ; and the basis of represen- tation in future national conventions was fixed at one delegate for every fifty members in good standing, " provided, however, that in country dis- tricts, where the number of fifty members cannot easily be reached, any number from twenty-five to fifty shall be entided to one delegate." Rev. Dr. George C. Betts, editor of The Church Militant, and rector of Grace Protestant Epis- copal Church, St. Louis, Missouri, presented the report of the Committee on Resolutions, which was unanimously adopted. He said: " I do not intend to introduce the reading of g76 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the resolutions by making the chairman's usual speech, further than to say that in the delibera- tions of the committee the utmost harmony pre- vailed, and that the judgment which is here expressed is decidedly the judgment of the whole. I will say for the benefit of one or two members of the committee not present at this morning's session, that a very few changes, mainly verbal, have been introduced into the first resolution upon the suggestion of our delegates from Ire- land. Therefore, if the language which they hear now is unfamiliar to their ears, they will know it has not been placed without authority in the body of the resolutions. "The representatives of the Irish National League of America, in convention assembled, affirming the principles adopted at the Philadel- phia Convention, congratulate the people of Ire- land and their able leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, on the heroic efforts and untiring zeal which have so signally marked the history of the past year, abounding in evidences of gratifying progress in placing the people of Ireland on a higher plane, and securing for them, and their natural rights, a more adequate consideration from the intellio-ence of mankind. "We renew the protest, which for seven centu- ries has been uttered with every heart-throb of our race, against the cruel and unjust usurpation of power by a government alien to our people in THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 677 all that distinguishes one nationality from another, and we pledge our moral and material support to every legitimate means for re-establishing the God-given rights of the people of Ireland to the possession and government of their native land. "To this end we are firmly purposed to direct all our efforts to the creation in Ireland of a com- plete national life, and the development of all the diversified industries which render a people self- sustaining and prosperous, not merely by the reduction of rents, nor a change from idle proprie- tors to working proprietors, but also by the revi- val of Irish manufactures to the exclusion of English goods and the promotion of an economic and civil life by the development of a sincere, noble and effectual cohesion of all her people for the common welfare. " Now, therefore, in view of these facts, be it ''Resolved, First, That the Irish National League of America hereby expresses its unqualified ap- proval of the course pursued during the past year by Charles Stewart Parnell, and the Irish Parliamentary party under his leadership, and pledges itself to support them by every moral and material aid in the contest which they are wapfine aeainst Landlordism and on behalf of Irish national independence, and to this end we com- mend the Parliamentary Fund, recently opened by our executive for such purposes, to the gener- osity which characterizes our countrymen. g78 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. "Second, That we congratulate the Irish Na- tional League of America on its success in stem- ming the tide of the forced emigration of the artificially impoverished, and in causing the United States Government to compel England to take back those whose poverty is the direct result of her misorovernment. "Third, That we record with satisfaction that the opposition of this League to land-grabbing in America by non-resident aliens has been, by the efforts of our Executive, adopted as the doctrine of the American people in their political platforms, and we recommend that the efforts of this League to end this evil do not cease until a complete remedy be enacted in the laws of the land. "Fourth, That we congratulate William O'Brien, of United Ireland, upon the victory obtained by him in his struggle against immorality, the abomi- nations of which are a consistent outcome of English misrule In Ireland, and we commend him for tearing the mask from Castle officialism in bringing its hideous practices under the execra- tion of mankind, notwithstanding governmt-ntal resistance. " Fifth, That we note with approval the revival of the study of the Irish language as one of the elements in the general progress of the race, and encouraore the efforts of those eng-aeed in its cultivation. "Sixth, That we indorse and encourage the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 679 work of the promoters of Irish colonization In their efficient efforts to provide homes in the United States for Irish immigrants, who would otherwise be compelled to toil without hope of competence in the larger cities. "Seventh, That the gratitude of the Irish race is due in a pardcular manner to the Executive of the League, Alexander Sullivan, for his unselfish devotion to the cause of Ireland, and that in his course he has shown consummate skill and ex- alted patriodsm. We also express our commen- dadon of the conduct in office of Rev. Charles O'Reilly, D. D., Treasurer; Rev. Thomas J. Con- aty, Treasurer of the Parnell Fund, and the other officers of the oro^anization. "Eighth, That the death of Rev. Lawrence Walsh gives us occasion to record our high esteem for his marked fidelity during the years of his service as an official of the Land League, and causes us to lament in him the loss of a sterling patriot, whose voice never faltered in denouncing English misrule, and whose life was spent in advocating the cause of Irish nadonal independ- ence." The convendon, at the instance of Alexander Sullivan, decided to transmit ;^i,ooo to William O'Brien, M. P., to be applied on the legal expenses incurred by that gentleman, the motion including the words: "It is fitdng that this our greedng to our brother should pass through the clean 40 680 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. hands of our reverend treasurer, Dr. Charles O'Reilly, to the equally worthy hands of the National Treasurer for Ireland, who has worshipped God at a different altar, but stands by his side for our mother-land — the intrepid Quaker, Alfred Wefeb." Despite his positive refusal to accept re-election, President Sullivan was unanimously chosen his own successor. He, however, adhered to his decision, although Sexton and Redmond, in speeches of great earnestness, besought him, in common with the entire body of delegates, to remain at the post in which he had rendered Ire- land such inestimable service. Rev. Dr. O'Reilly also declined re-election as treasurer, but the con- vention emphatically refused to select another man for the position, so he had, perforce, to remain in office. The national officers elected were: President, Patrick Egan, Omaha, Nebraska. Vice-Presidents : O'Neill Ryan, St. Louis, Mis- souri; Thomas F. Doherty, Boston, Massachu- setts; Maurice F. Wilhere, Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. Treasurer, Rev. Charles O'Reilly, D. D., Detroit, Michigan. Secretary, Roger Walsh, Chicago, Illinois. The various States, through their delegates, selected the following members of the National Executive Committee: P. Devany, Fort Smith, Arkansas; Judge M. Cooney, San Francisco, California; Peter W. Wren, Connect- icut; Col. M. Poland, Denver, Colorado; E. P. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 681 Kane, Wilmington, Delaware; John F, Armstrong, Augusta, Georgia; Daniel Corkery, Chicago, Illi- nois; F. M. Ryan, Indianapolis, Indiana; Hon. M. V. Gannon, Davenport, Iowa; John J. Barrett, Louisville, Kentucky; Timothy Maroney, New Orleans, Louisiana; Patrick Martin, Baltimore, Maryland ; William J. Dawson, Michigan ; Thomas J. Fladey, Boston, Massachusetts; J. R. Corrigan, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Dr. Thomas O'Reilly, St. Louis, Missouri; John Fitzgerald, Lincoln, Nebraska; Patrick A. Devine, Manches- ter, New Hampshire; M. B. Holmes, Jersey City, New Jersey; Dr. Joseph F. Fox, Troy, New York; Hon. J. W. Fitzgerald, Cincinnati, Ohio; P. H. Lynch, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Hugh J. Car- roll, Pawtucket. Rhode Island; Hon. F. L. McHugh, Charleston, South Carolina; R. A. Odium, Mem- phis, Tennessee; Dr. J. D. Hanrahan, Rutland, Vermont, Richard F. Curran, Richmond, Virginia; Hon. J. G. Donnelly, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Thomas H. Walsh, Washington, District of Co- lumbia; William O'Mulcahy, Grafton, Dakota; Jeremiah Gallagher, Quebec, Canada. Before it adjourned, the convention, at the instance of Mr. Peter A. Hogan, of Brookline, Massachusetts, adopted a resolution recording its "deepest regret at the death of that eloquent champion of every oppressed and suffering peo- ple, Wendell Phillips, whose voice was ever raised in behalf of Ireland, and whose whole life 582 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. was one unceasing protest against tyranny in every land and every form." On the day following the adjournment of the convention the National Committee of the League met in Boston, Mass., and President Egan appointed as the Executive Council of Seven : Hon. M. V. Gannon, of Iowa; Col. Michael Boland, of Colorado; Timothy Maroney, of Lou- isiana; Thomas J. Flatley, of Massachusetts; M B. Holmes, of New Jersey; Hon. J. G. Donnelly, of Wisconsin ; and Hugh J. Carroll, of Rhode Is- land, The new president, Patrick Egan, handed in the following letter, bearing date August 15, 1884: " Gentlemen of the National Committee : When accepting the position of president of the Irish National League of America, I was not aware of the amendment to the constitution passed in the earlier part of the day, to the effect that *an amount not exceeding ^3,000 shall be annually appropriated out of the general funds of the League to indemnify the president of the National League for his time and services in the interests of the cause.' " I desire now to say that in the future as in the past, my services shall be given to the cause of Ireland gratuitously, and that on no condition will I accept any indemnity or remuneration from the League." The committee were determined to pay the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE ggS salary ultimately, but President Egan was deter- mined in his refusal to accept no remuneration and returned into the treasury t\yo checks for ^3,000 each ; one for the annual appropriation to August, 1885, and one to August, 1886. On the eveninof after the convention there was an immense demonstration in the Institute Build- ing, Boston, Mass., at which some of the news- paper writers asserted there were 20,000 persons present. Addresses were made by Governor Rob- inson, of Massachusetts, Mayor Martin, of Boston. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, of Boston, Hons. Thomas Sexton, M. P., and William Redmond, M. P., of Ireland, Mrs. D. T. S. Parnell, Alexander Sullivan, of Illinois, and United States Senator Jones, of Florida. The English press, both Liberal and Conserva- tive, had leading editorials on the convention, in which they directed the attention of the British statesmen, then in power, to the strength of the movement in America. The S^a7zdar£/ s2Lid,a.mong other thinsfs : " Englishmen cannot afford to be indifferent to the proceedings of the National League Convention just concluded at Boston and it is an ominous sign that Davitt's name was greeted with applause. Ireland would long since have been quiet were it not for the spasmodic pulsations of this character in the United States and the sinews of war which the • vast Celtic crowds there are able to furnish." 684 GLADSTONE— PARNELL DARK DAYS AGAIN DAWN FOR THE LEAGUE. On September i, 1884, President Egan and the other national officers issued an address to the officers and members of the League notifying them of the removal of the executive offices of the Leaofue to Lincoln, Nebraska, statino- that the treasurer's office would still remain at Detroit, Michigan, and for the purpose of inspiring a love of Irish nationality and a more accurate knowledge of Irish history In the hearts and minds of the rising generation of the Irish-American race, advising the use of musical and literary exercises at all branch meetings, and the appointment of a special committee on Irish music and literature for every branch In this country. It said : " There should also be a committee on Parliamentary Fund appointed In everybranch. Where there are sev- eral branches in a town or city, a joint committee should be selected ; and where there Is a munici- pal council, that body should organize and go to work immediately. A general Parliamentary elecdon is now possible at any time and may reasonably be said to be among the certainties of the ensuing ten months. We received the bril- liant representatives of the Parliamentary Party, Messrs. Sexton and Redmond, with cheers. Shall not these cheers be followed by deeds ? After telling them and their colleagues to go on and be assured of our support, shall we give that THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE, 685 support promptly and generously ? We rely upon your patriotism for the responses to these ques- tions." As the wise minds that heretofore directed the affairs of the League dreaded the introduction of American politics into the discussions of the branches, under the well-founded apprehension that It would be the cause of dissension amongfst the members, and as about this time the American people were beginning to feel the first throes of political excitement over the approaching Presi- dential campaign, Mr. Egan felt the necessity of adding to the address a few words of monition. " In the local branches," said he, " as in the Na- tional Convention of the League, we drop our character as members of American political parties when we cross the threshold of the League hall. During the coming political can- vass, let no excitement or difference of opinion concerning political affairs either decrease our enthusiasm or influence our actions in the League. Happily we have lived to behold our people at home able to bury creed and provincial distinctions. Let us show that we are able to bury political distinctions in our League work, and to tolerate the widest differences of opinion in American politics among our members." It will be seen later on that his words of warn- ing were really necessary, and if his sagacious exhortations failed of their intended effect, the fault, certainly, did not lie at his door. 636 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. For some time subsequently the contributions to the Irish Parliamentary Fund languished. An urgent appeal came over the waste of waters from Charles Stewart Parnell for " renewed exertion in support of the Parliamentary Fund." As a spur to the people it was thought advisable to have a delegation of the most eloquent of the Irish mem- bers brought to the United States to deliver ad- dresses on the situation. Mr. Parnell was ad- dressed on the subject, and in reply came the following letter, giving the hopes and plans of the great Irish leader : " Offices of the Irish National League, 39 Upper Sackville Street. Dublin, Jamiary 27, 1885. " Patrick Egan, Esq., President Irish National League of America: " My dear Mr. Egan : Mr. Parnell desires me to write to you and place before you the difficulty he has in acting upon your suggestion to send over two members of the party during the Spring. He had been in hopes that two members of the party might be able to undertake the journey; but the immense labor that will be thrown upon our small number in the forthcoming session of Patliament in fighting- the Redistribution of Seats Bill and the Renewed Crimes Act will render the absence of even one man of our party a serious loss. If we can show sufficient strength in the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 687 House during the approaching session, we will be able to amend the Redistribution of Seats Bill in such a manner that it will enable us to take pos- session of eighty-five seats in the new Parliament, while, at the same time, upon the energy and power we display in discussing the bill will depend the fate of the Crimes Act, which the o^overnment intends to renew. " Under these circumstances Mr. Parnell desires me to say that you and our friends in America will have to leave us our full Parliamentary strength during our approaching session, and you may rely fully upon his desire and that of the party to send you a delegation as soon as at all possible. " Our organization is making splendid progress and doing great work. To the activity which our Irish branches displayed in working up the regis- tration of voters during the past two years we owe the fact that Ireland is to receive the benefit of the extended franchise, for we showed that with energy and perseverance we could secure under the Innited franchise nearly every seat which the new franchise brings within our easy grasp. A very large propoition of our funds was expended on thib part of the struggle, and even yet our expenses in attending Boundary Commissions and preparing schemes and evidence for them are very large. If, however, we had not to sus- tain a large number of evicted tenants who have come to us as a legacy from the Land League, our 688 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. organization at home would be able to meet Its own working expenses. But this Evicted Ten- ants' Fund is a first charge upon us and forms the largest part of our expenditure. We have received from our Irish branches during the year £6,ooOy while we have had to vote over £j\6oo in erants to these evicted tenants. " I have seen a statement in some of the Ameri- can papers, attributed to Mr. Parnell, that no funds were needed in Ireland until the general election. He tells me he never made such a statement. On the contrary, it is with a view to preparing for the general election that we mainly want funds. We shall have to put forward about ninety candidates at the eeneral election in Ireland, and we must have local machinery prepared to work every one of these elections, as all the constituencies will be split up into single-member constituencies, and every man will have to fight his own corner with the local aid he may receive. " Mr. Parnell has directed me to request that any Parliamentary fund at present in hand might be forwarded, as a large proportion of the present expenditure of the National League falls within the line of a Parliamentary Fund ; such as the preparation of bills for the Parliament, the rent and expenses of Parliamentary office, and the ex- penses of members delegated to attend meetings, as well as tlie preparation of pamphlets on the Crimes Act, and the supplying of other such in- formation to Parliament. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE ggg "To remove these off our limited resources would leave us free to devote a larger propor- tion of our funds to organization. Under all these circumstances Mr, Parnell urgently requests that you will point out to our friends In America the necessity for renewed exertion in support of the Parliamentary Fund. Yours sincerely, " T. Harrington, Honorary Secretary." President Egan circulated that letter in every branch in the Union, and as a result, was able within almost six weeks afterwards to forward, through the hands of the Reverend Treasurer O'Reilly, the sum of ^2,000. On March 23, 1885, the Hon. T, Harrington wrote, acknowl- edging its receipt. " Coming at a time," he said, " when it will be the duty both of the Par- liamentary Party and of the Irish National League to engage in perhaps the most extensive work undertaken by any organization in Ireland for a long time past, this generous subscription will be to us not only a means of strengthening our hands in the struggle in which we are about to engage in connection with reijistration and oreneral election, but will also be an encouragement to the many members of our organization working in their own local centres to redouble their efforts and prove themselves worthy of the generous con- fidence reposed in them by our friends abroad, "A large proportion of the funds contributed to 690 GLADSTONE— PARNELL the National League organization was devoted, during the past two years, to strengthening the position of our party at the Registration Courts ; and it is to the judicious use of those funds for this practical purpose, we, in a large measure, owe the extended franchise, of which we are now to reap the benefit. By putting forth the whole strength of our organization at the approaching registration of voters, we shall be able to make the position of the National Party supreme in three out of the four Provinces of Ireland, and shall not leave in the hands of our opponents one single constituency in those Provinces, except, of course, the University of Dublin, which is beyond our control. But it is in the fourth Province, namely, Ulster, that the struggle of the general election will chiefly lie. Our power, even if disputed in the other Provinces, cannot be injured ; but in the Province of Ulster the struggle between the National Party and the West British is sure to brinor forth the full strength of the different parties in this country. Of several of the seats created in Ulster by the new bill we are perfectly sure, and the result o( the general election, if proper advantages be taken at the Registration Courts of the extended franchise, will show that in Ulster the National Party possesses the majority of seats. " In all, then, we hope to have represendng Ire- land in the next Parliament at least eighty-five THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. ggi followers of Mr. Parnell ; while we do not intend to leave the Tories or Whigs undisputed posses- sion even of the remainder, but to contest almost every seat closely with them. " I am very glad to be able to assure you — and I have no doubt the intelligence will be gratifying to our friends abroad — that the national spirit was never stronger or more hopeful in Ireland than it is at the present time, and that our people have, tc a very great extent, learned to rely upon themselves, and are contributing, even notwith- standing the great depression in agricultural prices, very generously towards the support of the National League organization here." Shortly after receiving that communication, and whilst he was still coneratulatino- himself on "the good work well begun," President Egan was sud- denly confronted with a new difficulty, which re- quired all his tact, prudence and decision of char- acter to overcome. The political campaign had waxed hot, and some of the leaders of the Irish race, notably Alexander Sullivan and Col. Michael Boland, arrayed themselves on the side of "James G. Blaine and Protection for American Industries." They delivered political addresses in every section of the country, preferring to speak before Irish Democratic audiences rather than Republicans. Thousands of Irish voters almost everywhere followed their lead into the Republican camp and cast their ballots for the " Plumed Knight," who 692 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Still, I firmly believe, remains their idol, chiefly, how- ever, through the oratorical reasonings of Messrs. Sullivan and Boland. The action of these gen- tlemen created a vast amount of dissatisfaction, especially among that class of Democratic citizens who "vote the straight ticket all the time." There are very many thousands of Irishmen, who, mind- ful of the Know-Nothing excitement, could not be induced by any arguments to desert the Demo- cratic party. They have, too, a multitude of other reasons, which to them are all-sufficient, why they should not " turn their coats " and cast their lot with the Republican party. Many of them viewed with some distrust, and became exceedingly wrathy over the defection of Mr. Sullivan. They could not and would not believe that Mr. Blaine would inaugurate such an active foreign policy as Mr. Sullivan asserted his honest conviction would fol- low his election to the Presidency of the United States. Even if they did believe that such would have been the result, I am positive that it would not have changed their " political complexion." As the campaign progressed the dissension which President Egan feared at the outset of his administration made its appearance in nearly nine-tenths of the branches of the League. In some branches there was always found some man or men who were angry and dissatisfied. This anofer and dissatisfaction increased to such a degree that in some places men were found who THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 593 impugned Mr. Sullivan's motives in such a mean way as to cast a doubt on his honor. With him, they included the entire national officers of the organization, and charges of "treachery " and " sell- ing out the organization " were freely made and bandied about at political and other meetings and elsewhere. The attendance at the meetino-s of the branches and municipal councils fell off at an alarming rate. Roger Walsh, the Secre- tary, aided Mr. Egan in his work, night and day, of attempting to counteract the effects of the sinister influences that were threatening the very life of the National League in America. Circu- lars and addresses, full of burning and patriotic words, and bristling with appeals for all to stand by the old land in her fight for freedom, were sent out broadcast to the presidents, secretaries and delegates of every branch in the United States. Every proper and legitimate attempt that the mind of man could devise was made, to stem the torrent of discord that was sweeping everything irresistibly before it, and to restore the harmony and unity so essential in a great movement of this kind. At last President Egan after mature thought decided to place the exact facts of the situation squarely before the whole country and thus appeal to the sense of justice and fair play attributes — in which his countrymen stand pre-eminent. A fair opportunity of doing so presented itself when he received the following 694 GLADSTONE— PA RNELL. letter from one of the most honored members of the organization, Dr. J. D. Hanrahan, State Delegate of the Irish National League of Vermont: "Rutland, Vt„ May 4, 1885. "My Dear Sir: Havincr received several com- munications both from yourself and Mr. Walsh 1 thought it was but right that you should receive some kind of an answer. "When I first made an effort to organize a branch of the League here, I was met with the assertion that the officers had sold out to the Rupublican party. I have not been able to remove that impression yet, and at present I have litde hope of being able to do so. " However, I can assure you that my heart and soul are in the cause, and whatever personally I can do shall be done, and I yet hope by making a supreme effort that I may be able to make some kind of a showing previous to your National Convention. I am very truly, etc., "J. D. Hanrahan." As soon as he had read the foregoing com- munication President Egan sat down and penned the following response: " Executive Office of Irish National League OF America, Lincoln, Neb., May 9, 1S85. " My Dear Dr. Hanrahan : Your esteemed letter of the 4th inst. has reached me and I have THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 695 to thank you not only for your promise to forward the League movement in your State, but also for the manly candor with which you inform me of the slanders that are in circulation reorardinof the officers of the League. The fact that such a charge as that of having * sold out ' to the Repub- lican party — or any other party — being made against the respected Treasurer of the League, the Reverend Dr. O'Reilly, of Detroit, against my predecessor, Mr. Alexander Sullivan, and, I may add, against myself, is proof of the utter unscrupulousness of a certain set of political bummers, and of the lamentable ignorance and prejudice of a certain other class of our country- men who believe them — if indeed any there be who do believe them. " The Reverend Dr. O'Reilly and Mr. Alexander Sullivan need no words of mine in their defence. Their antecedents, their pure and devoted patri- otism, their utter unselfishness of character — so different from that of the creatures who attempt to malign them — are so well known throuorhout the length and breadth of this land, that no man of ordinary intelligence, no Irishman worthy of the name, could be got to give ear to their slanderers. "For myself, I took no part in the Presidential campaign beyond casting my individual vote. I did write a letter, replying to attacks directed against me by the Democratic organ of this city, 41 g9o GLADSTONE— PARNELL, attacks, too, which were entirely unwarranted, in- asmuch as I had up to the time of their appear- ance made no pubHc announcement of my poHti- cal views whatsoever. This letter I submitted, before sending it to the press, to one of the most prominent Democrats in this State, and he con- sidered that the circumstances justified its publi- cation. In the letter I stated in correction of the published misrepresentations, the reasons why I, as an individual, preferred Mr Blaine to Mr. Cleveland, but I also stated distinctly my posi- tion in the following unmistakable words : 'When, however, at Boston, I accepted the Presidency of the Irish National League, I considered that what- ever my private opinions might be, I was thence precluded from taking any active part In American politics. Accordingly I have abstained from tak- ing any part, nor shall I take any so long as I hold the office. This is my position.' "That position I stricdy adhered to throughout the entire campaign. I never by word or writing attempted to influence a single vote, but on the contrary, when again and again I was asked for my advice, I invariably, declined to give it. "The fact, however, that I, an Irishman, dared to have an opinion of my own, and that that opinion was not the regulation pattern, dictated by certain conventional party bosses, was suffi- cient to bring down upon me the venomous ma- lignity of a class of Irish-American politicians and THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. (J97 of certain prints that call themselves Irish-Amer- ican, solely that they may trade in Irish votes. But for that spirit of resistance to tyranny and dictation which is ingrained in my very nature I would not to-day be an exile from home and friends. Without egotism, I think I may say that I have made sacrifices and incurred risks in my opposition to English tyranny and dictation in Ireland that few persons have faced — sacrifices and risks that those who go around slandering the workers for Ireland are by nature incapable of un- derstanding — and whateverpart I may take in pub- lic affairs on this side I shall, I trust, always be found an uncompromising enemy of tyranny and dicta- tion from whatever quarter they may be attempted. "For men who honestly differ from me on ques- tions of politics, whether Irish or American, men like my friends Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly, Hon, P. A. Collins, Hon. M. A. Foran, Hon. M. V. Gan- non, my townsman, Mr. John Fitzgerald, your good self and many others I could name, I trust I shall always entertain the most profound respect ; but for those who would by their unscrupulous intolerance dragr the cause of Ireland in the mire and deliberately belie and defame the good name of their countrymen when they venture to exer- cise, honestly and independently, their legitimate rights as citizens of this free country, I have no other sentiment than that of contempt and loathing. I remain, my dear Dr. Hanrahan, "Yours, faithfully, Patrick Egan." g98 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. This declaration of his position, and of that of his colleagues, did more than anything else at that time to enable President E^jan to brino back to their allegiance many of the Leaguers and rebuild the organization. When the rehabilitated League had begun to do its work, fresh appeals were issued urging, above all, the presidents of branches and the state delegates to push forward the movement with redoubled energy. The tide turned, but it took a long time before it resumed its wonted channels and before the National League in America could fill up the fearful gaps that had been made in its old-time crowded ranks. On June 19, 1885, President Egan issued an appeal for the Parliamentary Fund, from Lincoln, Nebraska, marked " urgent ; " it was addressed to the presidents of the branches. In it he said : " In view of the momentous events of the past few days we deem it a duty to address you for the purpose of pointing out the urgency that exists for at once calling your branch together and taking steps to push the collections for the Parliamentary Fund. Mr. Parnell, with his band of thirty-nine followers (and not even all these reliable) has suc- ceeded in defeating and driving from power the strongest government that ever ruled in England, banishing from Ireland in disgrace Earl Spencer and his brutal and loathsome minions, and caus- ing such an awakening in public opinion at home and abroad on the subject of English misrule in THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 699 Ireland, that the attainment of self-o:overnment is now brought almost within our grasp. "The new ministry in England, representing a minority in the House of Commons, can only govern on sufferance during the balance of the, session, and a general election in September oi' October is now assured. "With a moderate amount of the 'sinews of war' at his command, Mr. Parnell can secure at the general election the return of eighty reliable followers, and with that number and the balance of power in the hands of an honest Irish National party, the next two or three years will, we believe, bring forth results which few of us hoped to see accomplished in our time. "We are at present in communication with Mr. Parnell on the subject of fixing a time for our an- nual convention, and hope to be able to lay his views before you at an early date. Meantime, we urgently appeal to you to do all that lies in your power to push on the organization, and particu- larly to aid in raising for the Parliamentary Fund such a sum as will enable Mr. Parnell to take advantage of the all-important opportunity now so near at hand." Prompt and substantial responses from all quarters, some of them, indeed, from unexpected sources, reassured Mr. Egan that all differences of opinion, political and otherwise, had been thrown to the winds, that the members of the 700 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. National Leasfue had a^ain buckled to their work with an earnestness of purpose that showed their hearts were in it, and that until the end of his administration he would have plain sailing and no rou^h waters to encounter. Numerous inquiries from all sides as to the date of the next national convention, and an im- pending crisis in Irish affairs in the British Parlia- ment, impelled the national officers to issue a call for a meetine in Chicao^o of the national execu- tive committee, to be held on August 15, 1885. The session was a long one, and the reasons given for the holding of the convention at an early date and of postponing it, at the request of Mr. Parnell, were dispassionately considered. It was finally decided to issue an address to the officers and members of the League, as well as to all who were interested in the welfare of Ireland. At this session of the National Executive Committee, Roger Walsh presented his resigna- tion as National Secretary. His resignation was accepted with sincere regret, and John P. Sutton, of Quebec, Canada, was selected for the vacancy. Mr. Walsh, however, continued to act as secretary for several months. His successor, Mr. Sutton, has proved himself a most capable and energetic officer, and the golden opinions which he gained among the patriotic Irishmen of Canada as an oro-anizer have been considerably enhanced by the unstinted praise which he has received from THE GREAT IRIStr STRUGGLE. 701 all with whom his official duties bringr him In contact. On October 24, 1885, President Egan issued a call for the Third Annual Convention of the Irish National League of America, to be held in Central Music Hall, Chicago, Illinois, on Wednes- day and Thursday, 20th and 21st January 1886. This convention, he said, would be attended by Mr. Parnell and a strong delegation of his col- leagues. About six weeks afterwards he learned that Mr. Parnell could not possibly attend the convention, and in December, 1885, he, in con- junction with the other national officers, addressed a circular note to the members of branches, in which he said : " In compliance with the instruc- tions of the National Committee of the League, held in Chicago, in August last, the Executive, after full consultation with Mr. Parnell, fixed the 20th January, 1886, for the holding of the National Convention of the League, as the time most suitable to the convenience of Mr. Parnell and his colleagues. It is now ascertained that, owinof to the momentous result of the oreneral election just completed, which places the balance of power between the two English parties in the hands of the national representatives of Ireland, and which has brought, at one bound, the ques- tion of the restoration of our native Parliament directly 'within the range of practical politics,' it will not be possible for Mr. Parnell to absent him- 702 CLADS'lONE— PARNELL. self from the post of duty at home for a suffi- ciently long time to enable him to attend the con- vention. Mr. Harrington, M. P., Secretary of the National League in Ireland, cabling on this subject, on behalf of Mr. Parnell, says, ' I am inclined to think it best to postpone the conven- tion until after the meeting of Parliament in Feb- ruary.' Taking into consideration this suggestion, the unfavorable time of the year for persons obliged to travel long distances, and the disap- pointment that would be occasioned to delegates by the absence from the convention of the man whom we are all so anxious to greet — the great and eifted leader of our race — we deem it our duty to postpone the convention to a time to be hereafter determined upon between the Executive and Mr. Parnell. "The Executive will call a meeting of the National Committee of the League (consisting of one delegate from each State and Territory and from Canada), to assemble in Chicago on 20th January next, and by that time we hope to have information from Ireland that will enable the committee to fix a time for the convention. At that time the Executive Committee found, after mature deliberation, that, owing to the con- dition of affairs in Ireland, it would be impossible to fix a suitable date for the meeting of the con- vention, and it was unanimously decided to leave the entire matter in the hands of the national offi- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 703 cers — President Egan, Secretary Sutton, and the treasurer, Rev. Dr. O'Reilly — and to clothe them formally with full power. In some public prints, in England, Scotland, and America, it was hinted that " Mr. Parnell had very good reasons for staying away from an American convention." These reasons, according to the writers, were in effect that he was afraid, if he came to this country, that some of his speeches and public addresses might imperil his safety when he should return home. Insinuations of this kind, while they did not hurt the great Irish leader, sorely wounded the pride of his country- men, both at home and abroad, and they were repelled with honest indignation. His courage had already stood severe. tests, and they were not at all apprehensive of a want of prudence in his speech or deportment. When these slanders had been silenced, other ones took their place and occupied men's minds for some time before it was thought necessary to show their falsity. It was reported, on the alleged authority of men whose love for Ireland was as undoubted as their integrity was, unquestioned, that the " physical force " men in the secret socie- ties had become tired of " the peace policy," had kicked over the traces, and had given their leaders to understand that the National League leaders in Ireland had had a fair trial and a full opportunity to carry out their aims ; that they had failed in 704 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. their plans, and "sterner measures" must now be resorted to. These statements orathered streno:th and force as they were repeated in some of the public journals and at numerous meetings, until finally it was asserted that Alexander Sullivan and Patrick Eg^an had threatened Mr. Parnell that they would cause a revolt in the National League in America and the organizations which were said to be aiding and supporting it. This falsehood was wired over the Atlantic cable and published in very many of the most prominent English newspapers. Its publication, as might be expected, created consternation among the Irish Parliamentary Party and dismay among all classes of the people in Ireland. Inquiry suc- ceeded inquiry, by cable and by letter, from nearly every part of the civilized world. The lie, growing as it travelled, soon reached rather por- tentous proportions, and a comprehensive and em- phatic denial on the part of the American Execu- tive was imperatively demanded. To ignore it any longer would have been sheer folly. In order that the lie should be stamped out thor- oughly, and that its authors should not have even the slightest qhance of thereafter revivifying it, it was determined that the denial should be compre- hensive and circumstantial. In April, 1 886, the fol- lowing document was mailed to the members of the League, and a summary of its contents given to the newspapers by means of the Associated Press: the great irish struggle. 705 " (confidential.) "Executive Office, Irish National League OF America, Lincoln, Neb., April 20, 1886. " To the Officers and Members of the League : We regret to say that now, on the very eve of the final struggle for our country's rights, when every true lover of Ireland should sink his per- sonal ambition, jealousy and vanity, a few unscru- pulous, designing men are trying by the most maliijnant falsehoods and insinuations to damage the League, provoke dissension in its ranks, and create misunderstanding and distrust between the Leaofue in America and the League in Ireland. As will be seen from the following cable, the plotters have utterly failed : ''To Egafi, Lincoln, Neb.: English papers pub- lished cables from America saying Egan and Sulli- van condemn Parnell's peaceful policy, and threaten a revolt. This is done to prejudice Gladstone's statement Thursday. Wire authority to contra- dict. " Harrington. "Secretary of League in Ireland and M. P. Dublin. "■To Harrington: Statement that Sullivan or I condemned Parnell's peaceful policy is an unqual- ified falsehood, which could only have emanated from an enemy to the League and a traitor to Ireland. "Patrick Egan. 706 GLADSTONE— PA RNELL. " London, April 8. "7b Egan: Gladstone's scheme for Irish legis- lature, amended on Parnell's lines, is worthy the acceptance of Ireland. "Dillon, " Davitt, "Dp. Kenny. " Detroit, April 8. "7o 697232 Missouu 289 00 10012 00 Minnesota 516 00 4869 57 Mississippi 4000 100 00 Nebraska '93 5^ 654130 New Hampshire 5000 1075 20 New York 688000 6614452 New Jersey ^S7 7° 16414 64 Nevada 925 5" Ohio 50175 785387 Oiegon 1500 715 oo Pennsylvania 228447 6685657 Rhode Island 737 97 4221 21 South Carolina 339 00 Tennessee ^ 598 00 2S24 42 Texas 24800 182925 Vermont 24 ^O Virginia 152 50 422 85 West Virginia 875 00 Wisconsin 134 65 ^' 916695 District of Columbia 23000 1S97 "io Montana 69 00 1S02 85 New Mexico ^ 68 00 Utah ^ 30 00 405 90 Washington Territory 1 1 00 Canada and Manitoba 57400 713700 Nova Scotia 80 00 1 1 5 00 Donations 3904 05 Total $2564558 $31425752 Mr. Brady, of Massachusetts, handed Rev. Dr. O'Reilly a check for $3,000 from Boston. Presi- dent Egan gave him a check for $2,000 from Patrick Ford, of the Iiish World, and $443 from THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 749 Father John Shanley, of St. Paul, Minn. As a mat- ter of public interest I give, herewith, a complete statement of the treasurer's receipts and dis- bursements, from the day on which Rev. Dr. O'Reilly accepted office until the close of this convention. They were procured for me by Roger Walsh from Rev. Dr. O'Reilly's secretary, J. B. McDowd : NATIONAL LEAGUE FUND — STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS. From May i, 1S83, to August 11, 1884: From Branches $24,372 21 From Donations 10,093 76 Additional Boston Convention 3.562 23 From August 11, 18S4, to August 13, 1886: From Branches 21,741 53 From Donations 904 05 From Patuck Egan (Salary Returned). 6,000 00 $66,673 78 DISBURSEMENTS. From May i, 1883, to August 11, 18S4: Remitted to Alfred Webb, Ireland . . . ;?24,397 50 Salaries and general expenses 5t336 71 From August 11, 1884, to August 13, 1886: Remitted to Wm O'Brien, Iieland. .. 4,847 50 Salanes and general expenses, 2 years 10,036 23 Salary Pres. Egan, 2 years 6,000 00 50,618 04 Balance on hand $16,055 74 PARLIAMENTARY FUND — STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS. From May i, 1SS3, to August 11, 1884: From all sources $4,739 05 Additional Boston Convention . . I,lil 00 From August 11, 1S84, to August 13, 1886 : Interest on deposits 175 00 From all sources 314,257 32 '- $320,282 57 DISBURSEMENTS Transmitted to Chas. S Parnell and Trustees of the Par- liamentary Fund 314,452 53 Balance on hand $5>830 04 750 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Rev. Dr. Geo. C. Betts, of St. Louis, Mo., Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, presented the following report as the platform of the League : "Gentlemen of the Convention: Your Com- mittee on Resolutions respectfully submit the fol- lowing report: " We, the delegates of the Irish National League of America, in convention assembled, firmly believing in the principles of human free- dom and in the right of a people to frame their own laws — a right which lies at the foundation of the prosperity and greatness of this republic, and which has been advantageously extended to the -colonial possessions of Great Britain — do hereby ''Resolve, i. That we express our heardest and most unqualified approval of national self-govern- ment for Ireland. "2. That we heardly approve of the course pursued by Charles Stewart Parnell and his Par- liamentary associates in the English House of Commons, and we renew the expression of our entire confidence in their wisdom and in their ability to achieve Home Rule in Ireland, "3. That we extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Gladstone for his great efforts on behalf of Irish self-government; and we express our grati- tude to the English, Scotch and Welsh democracy for the support given to the great Liberal leader THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 751 and his Irish poUcy during the recent general elections. • "4. That this convention hereby returns its thanks to the American people and press for the generous support which they have given to the cause of self-CTovernment in Ireland. " 5. That we record our sense of the remark- able forbearance and self-restraint exercised by our people in Ireland in the face of a cruel and dishonest system of extortion to which they are being subjected by rack-renting landlords, and in view of the license scandalously extended to or- ganized lawlessness in the north of Ireland by partisan officials ; and we commend the laudable desire of the people of Ireland to manage their own affairs in their own way. " 6. That we hereby thank the President, Treas- urer, and Secretary of the Irish National League, for the faithful and efficient manner in which they have discharged the arduous duties of their re- spective stations. " 7. That the following cablegram be forwarded in the name of the Chairman of the Convention to Charles Stewart Parnell : ' Delegates to the Irish National League Convention of America send greeting from our body, which embraces representative citizens from every State and Ter- ritory in the Union, and also from Canada, and assure you of a cordial indorsement of your pol- icy by a united and harmonious convention.' All of which is respectfully submitted." 752 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. The report was unanimously adopted, and after a number of excellent speeches by John Devoy of New York, Alexander Sullivan of Chicago, John F. Finerty of Chicago, Dr. William B. Wal- lace of New York, Wm. J. Hynes of Chicago, John F. Armstrong of Georgia, and Michael Davitt, the resolutions were unanimously passed by a rising vote. Chairman Fitzgerald here in- troduced John E. Redmond, M. P. for Wex- ford, with the words : " I have now the honor to present to you one of the old fighting-stock of Ireland, who will thank you for passing the reso- lutions which he and his colleagues have ap- proved." Speaking in a deliberate and impressive man- ner, and enunciating every syllable distincdy, the young Irish representative's address elicited storms of applause. " I rise," said he, " in the capacity of a representative of the Parliamentary and National League to thank you for the reso- lutions reported by the committee just unani- mously carried. The duty which devolves upon my colleagues and myself of representing the Irish nation at home at this great gathering of the Irish nation abroad is one in which the honor is great and the responsibility heavy. Perhaps the greatest glory of our nation is to be found in the fact that our people, driven by misfortune and misrule from the land of their fathers, and coming to this land rude and ignorant and poor, have yet THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 75'> been able to bear an honorable part in building up the fortunes of America, and to give to the world undeniable proof that, in addition to the qualities of fidelity and honesty, Irishmen, under a free constitution, can be worthy sons and good citizens of their adopted country. The Irish peo- ple in this great republic, no less American citizens than Irish Nationalists, have arrested the attention and commanded the admiration of the world. The assembly of this day is a proof of devotion to a great cause, perhaps unparalleled in history. The hardships, the oppressions, and the miseries which drove you or your fathers from Ireland have wedded your hearts to Ireland's cause by ties which neither prosperity nor dis- tance nor time can destroy or weaken. No sel- fish interests urge you to support the old cause, devotion to which brought ruin and death upon your forefathers and exile upon yourselves. Sel- fishness and worldly interests all point to another course as the best; but it is the undying glory of Ireland that her exiled sons, in the midst of pros- perity and in light of liberty, have yet found time to absent themselves from felicity awhile to tell her story, and have made it part of their daily life and nightly dream to help in working out her redemp- tion. The Irish soldier, whose sword was conse- crated to the service of America, dreamed as he went into battle of the day when his arm, skilled in the service of his adopted country, might strike 754 GLADSTONE— PARNELL a blow for Irish liberty. The Irish business man, who found in one of your gigantic cities scope for his enterprise and his industry, looked forward to the day when from his store help might go across the Atlantic to sustain Ireland's champions on the old sod. " The Irish laborer, whose brawny arms have built your railroads and reared your stately pal- aces, in the midst of his labors laid aside his daily and weekly mite to help those who were fighting, time after time, with one weapon or another, in the old cause against the old enemies of Ireland. Rich or poor, high or low alike, the Irish in America have never forgotten the land from whence they sprung, and our people at home, in their joys and their sorrows, in their hopes and in their fears, turn ever for help and encourage- ment and confidence to this great republic upon whose fortunes and whose future rest to-day the blessino-s of the Irish race. To assist at this oreat convention of the Irish nation in America, espe- cially to stand here, as we do, as the ambassadors sent here to represent the Irish nation at home, is indeed a supreme honor which we can never over- estimate, and can never forget. But it is also an honor which bears with it indeed an overwhelm- ing sense of responsibility — the responsibility of showing to you that we who are conducting this movement at home are worthy of your confi- dence, and have a n'j,ht to claim your continued THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 755 support; the responsibility also of clearly placing before you the conditions upon which alone we can accept that support or value that confidence. " Let me dwell a moment upon these two points. Are we worthy of your confidence, and have a right to claim your continued support? [An- swer: 'Yes!' 'Yes!'] In order to answer this question satisfactorily we must show first that we are guided by the same principle and ani- mated by the same hopes as yourselves : and in the second place that our movement is conducted on a wise and honest policy. What is the princi- ple underlying this movement? It is the unques- tioned recognition of the nationality of Ireland. We are working not simply for the removal of orievance or the amelioration of the material con- dition of our people. Nothing, I think, is plainer than, if Ireland had in the past abandoned princi- ple, she could easily have bartered her national rights to England, and in return have obtained a certain amount of material prosperity. If only our forefathers had meekly accepted the yoke of an alien rule, Ireland's fetters would have been gilded, and the hand which for centuries has scourofed her would have o-iven her as a slave in- dulgences and favors which would have perhaps saved her from sufferino-s which are without a parallel in the history of oppression. If, at the biddinof of Eno-Iand, Ireland had ao-es since aban- doned her religion and consented to merge her 756 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. nationality, we might to-day be the sleekest slaves fettered by the bounty of our conquerors, Scot- land, by even a smaller compromise of her na- tional existence, has secured for herself compara- tive prosperity. But Ireland has preferred rags and an unconquered spirit of liberty to favors won by national dishonor. "The principle embodied in the Irish move- ment of to-day is just the same principle which was the soul of every Irish movement for the last seven centuries — the principle of rebellion against the rule of strangers, the principle which Owen Roe O'Neill vindicated at Beuburb, which ani- mated Tone and Fitzgerald, and to which Emmet sacrificed a stainless life. Let no man desecrate that principle by giving it the ignoble name of race hatred. Race hatred is at last an unreason- ing passion. I for one believe in the brotherhood of nadons, and bitter as the memory is of past wrongs and of present injustice inflicted upon our people by our ahen rulers, I assert the principle underlying our movement is not the principle of revenge for the past, but of justice for the future. When a question of that principle arises there can be no such thing as compromise. The Irish leader who would propose to compromise the national claims of Ireland, who would even incline for one second to accept as a settlement of our demand any concession short of the unquestioned recognidon of that nadonality which has come THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 757 down to US sanctioned by the blood and tears of centuries, would be false to Ireland's history, and would forfeit all claims upon your confidence or support. Such a contingency can never arise, for the man who would be traitor enough to propose such a course would find himself no loneer a leader. No man can barter away the honor of a nation. The one great principle of any settle- ment of the Irish question must be the recogni- tion of the divine right of Irishmen, and Irishmen alone, to rule Ireland. This is the principle in support of which you are assembled to-day; this is the principle which guides our movement in Ireland. But consistendy with that principle we believe it is possible to bring about a settlement honorable to England and Ireland alike, whereby the wrongs and miseries of the past may be for- gotten ; whereby the chapter of English wrongs and of Irish resistance may be closed, and where- by a future of freedom and amity between the two nations may be inaugurated. "Such a settlement we believe was offered to us by Mr. Gladstone, and quite apart from the in- creased strength which Mr. Gladstone's pro- posals, even though temporarily defeated, have given to our cause, we have, I think, reason to rejoice at the opportunity which they afforded to our suffering and exasperated people to show the magnanimity of their natures and the un- alloyed purity of their love of liberty. What a 758 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. spectacle Ireland afforded to the world when, at last, one great Englishman arose bold enough and wise enough to do justice to her character! Ages of heartless oppression and bitter wrong, hundreds of thousands, of martyrs to Irish freedom, ages of stupid religious persecution, ages of de- population and state-created famine, never-ending insult and ruthless calumny — all, in that one mo- ment, were forgotten ; and the feelings uppermost in the hearts of the Irish race at home and abroad were gratitude to the aged stateman who simply proposed to do justice, and anxiety for a 'blessed oblivion of the past.' Who, in the face of the re- ception given to the bill of Mr. Gladstone, cramped and deformed as it was by humiliating safeguards and unnecessary limitations, will dare to say that the principle of our movement is merely race hatred to England? No! Last April Ireland was ready to forget and forgive. She was ready to sacrifice many things for peace, so long as the one essential principle for which she struggled was conceded. She was willing, on the day when the portals of her ancient senate-house were reopened, to shake hands with her hereditary foe and to proclaim peace between the democracies of the two nations, whom the Almighty placed side by side to be friends, but who had been kept apart by the avarice, the passions, and the in- justice of the few. What centuries of oppression had failed to do seemed about to be accomplished THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 761 by one word of conciliation, by one act of justice. Almost one hundred years before a similar opportunity arose. Wolf Tone and the Society of the United Irishmen demanded Catholic eman- cipation and Parliamentary reform, and in 1795 Lord Fitzwilliam came to Ireland to carry out a policy of justice. Then, just as last April, the Irish question was on the very brink of settlement, the passion of revenge died out, ancient wrongs were forgotten, faction faded at the approach of liberty, and for one brief moment the clouds lifted over Ireland. But the moment was brief. Lord Fitz- william was recalled, and Lord Camden went to Ireland and deliberately commenced the policy which culminated in the rebellion of 1 798. Fatally like, in almost all its details, was the crisis of that day to the crisis of to-day. Once again the policy of conciliation has been cast aside by England. The English viceroy who represented the policy of liberty, and who for the first time since 1 795 was greeted with the acclamations of the popu- lace in Dublin, has left our shores, and in his place has come one bearing the hated name of Castlereagh. Once again all thoughts of amity with Eno-land have been banished from the minds of Irishmen, and to-day we are once more face to face with our hereditary foes. The same cloud has descended once more upon our land, but we have a right to call on the world to remember, when by and by it perhaps shudders at the dark- 45 7g2 GLADSTONE— PARNELL, ness and gloom and horror of the scene, how brighdy and peacefully the Irish landscape smiled during the brief sunshine of the last few months. The duty of the moment is clear. We have given England the most convincing proof that on the concession of liberty we can be trusty friends; it now remains for us to prove for the thousandth time that as slaves we can be formi- dable foes. "I assert here to-day that the government of Ireland by England is an impossibility, and I be- lieve it to be our duty to make it so. Were our people tamely to submit to the yoke which has been once again placed on their necks they would be un- worthy of the blood which they have inherited from fathers who preferred poverty to dishonor and death to national slavery. But there is no danger of such a disgrrace. The national move- ment is in the hands of a man who can be bold as well as cautious, and I claim the confidence and support of the Irish in America, not only be- cause they are animated by the same principle and the same hopes as we are, but because our movement at home is conducted on a wise and honest policy. Judged by the test of success, how does that policy stand? Has our cause for one instant stopped in its progress toward triumph? When last you assembled in conven- tion, two years ago, the Irish party in Parlia- ment did not number more than forty; to-day THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 763 we hold five-sixths of the Irish seats and speak in the name of five-sixths of the Irish people in Ireland. Two years ago we had arrayed against us all English political parties and every English statesman ; to-day we have upon our side one of the great English political parties, which, though its past traditions in Ireland have been^ evil, still represents the party of progress in England, and the greatest statesman of the day, who has staked his all upon winning for Ireland her national rights. Two years ago England had, in truth, in Mitchel's phrase, the ear of the world. To-day, at last, that ear, so long poisoned with calumnies of our people, is now open to the voice of Ireland. Two years ago the public opinion of the world — aye, and even of this free land of America — was doubtful as to the justice of our m.ovement; to-day the opinion of the civilized world, and of America in particular, is clearly and distinctly upon our side.' Has the policy which has wrought this change been a success, and are the men who have raised the Irish cause to its present position worthy of your continued confidence and support? Well, but for the future, what is the policy and who are to be the framers of that policy? "Here I come to the second point I mentioned at the beginning — namely, the condition upon which alone we can value your confidence or ac- cept your support. So long as we are true to the great principle of Irish nationality, resolutely 764 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. refusino- either to be bought or coerced from the riofid adherence to the full measure of national right, and so long as we are able to point to our past policy as honest and successful, we say w^e, and no others, are entitled to decjde for ourselves upon Irish soil and upon our own responsibility what our policy for the future is to be. This is the condition upon which you have given your support to us in the past, and it is the condition upon which alone we can accept your support for the future. Of one thing, however, you may rest assured — the policy in Ireland in the near future will be one of fight. The chief of the present English Government recently prescribed as a remedy for Irish discontent twenty years' coercion. He foro-ot the historical fact that since the act of union there have been eighty-six years* coercion, and that the spirit of the people is sterner and higher to-day than ever it was before. For coercion we are quite prepared, and to coer- cion Lord Salisbury will most assuredly be forced to come, although the policy of the new govern- ment seems to be to try and stave off stern meas- ures for a while. They will, however, soon find out their mistake. "To the concession of justice and liberty there is no alternative but coercion. To imagine that Ireland could jog along peacefully for even six months under the rule of the new Castlereagh is to set down our people as cravens or fools. In THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 7(35 the coming winter the laws of nature itself will forbid the possibility of peace. For the last six months the tenant farmers of Ireland have played a part too little known and appreciated here. They submitted to untold privations and suffer- ings and exactions in patience and in silence, lest by one word or act of theirs they should em- barrass their leaders in Parliament or retard by one moment the concession of Home Rule. The landlords of Ireland noted but totally misunder- stood the meaninof of the chanofe of attitude. They mistook forbearance and patriotism for cow- ardice, and the crowbar brigade once more set to work. Still the tenants suffered in silence. Mr. Gladstone proposed a land bill which would have bought out the landlords at an extravagantly high figure, yet the Irish tenants were ready, be- cause it was coupled with the concession of Home Rule, to pay this exorbitant sum as the price to be paid for national freedom. But all motive for forbearance on their part is now gone, the sands have run through the hour-glass, and the old fight between landlord and tenant must revive if the people are not to be swept out of existence while they are waiting for Home Rule. Once more Irish landlords have behaved with unaccount- able folly and stupidity. They have once more stood between Ireland and her freedom, and have refused even an extravagant price for their land, because the offer was coupled with the concession, 7G6 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. , of an Irish Parliament. So be it ; I believe the last offer has been made to Irish landlordism. The ultimate settlement of this question must now be reserved for the Parliament of Ireland, and mean- time the people must take care to protect them- selves and their children. In many parts of Ire- land, I assert, rent is to-day an impossibility, and in every part of Ireland the rents demanded are exorbitant and will not and can not be paid. The old struggle will be revived, and before three months are over the new government will be forced, as of old, in defence of the rents of the landlords, to attempt to forge anew the fetters of coercion. The process will not be an easy one, and, even if successful, we have no reason to fear the worst they can do. For my part, indeed, I think it but right and fitting that so long as Eng- lishmen rule Ireland they should be forced to do so by coercion. "We have to-day no constitution, and it is well that the mask of constitutionalism should be torn from the faces of our rulers and the fact made patent to the world. In this coming struggle, which we honestly believe will be the final one, before victory, we claim the assistance of our fellow-countrymen and the sympathy of all the citizens of this great republic. Gentlemen, I have now done. The memory of this day will live with me while memory lasts. The effects of the work upon which you have been engaged THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 767 will, I believe, live and be felt so long as this struggle continues. Your wisdom will guide our policy, your courage will inspire our hearts, your marvellous union will excite our eiuulation. You have good reason, indeed, to be proud of the proceedings of this day. You are, in truth, en- gaged in a noble and a sacred work — nothing less than championing the weak against the strong, the helpless against the powerful, the afflicted against the prosperous. You have long since earned for yourselves and your adopted country the blessings of the poor, and rest assured, when at last victory sits upon our cause and freedom is again enthroned in Ireland, you also will reap a reward ; for the God of the poor and the oppressed, the God of justice and of mercy, will also increase your prosperity and watch eternally over your liberties." The convention unanimously adopted the re- port of the Committee on Constitution, which was practically the same as that which had been adopted at the Philadelphia Convendon. Rev. George W. Pepper, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman from Ohio, delivered a fiery and im- passioned speech, at the conclusion of which he said: "When Parnell finds that he cannot win by peaceful methods, and cables us to come over and help him, I assure you that there will be one vacant pulpit in the United States." There was a hot fight and an exciting oratorical 768 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. wrangle over the election of a president of the national organization. President Egan, Alex- ander Sullivan, of Chicago, T. Brennan, of Ne- braska, Mr. O'Connor, of Elmira, N. Y., Judge Donnelly, of Wisconsin, and others, favored the selection of John Fitzgerald, of Lincoln, Nebraska, while John Devoy, of New York, Michael J. Ryan, of Philadelphia, Dr. William B. Wallace, of New York, Fathers James A. Bre- honey, Thomas Barry, and William Meagher, of Philadelphia, and others, urged the wisdom of making Hugh McCaffrey, of Philadelphia, the choice of the convention. Mr. McCaffrey, twice emphatically declined to be a candidate and moved to make the nomination of Mr. Fitzgerald unanimous. This, however, his supporters would not listen to, and they insisted on a vote being- taken. The following- was the vote in detail : States and Provinces. McCaffrey. Fitzgerald. Vermont I Florida I Minnesota 13 Tennessee 2 21 Rhode Island 8 Wisconsin I 57 Kansas 4 Illinois 2 77 Nebraska 13 New Jersey 18 7 Ohio 50 Ontario 17 Quebec 7 Cnlifornia II Colorado 2 Alabama 4 Connecticut I 10 Delaware 4 Georgia lO Indiana 22 THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 769 States and Provinces. McCaffrey. Fitzgerald. Kentucky 14 Maryland 17 District of Columbia 15 Montana 6 Louisiana 73 Texas 9 Massachusetts 12 32 Michigan 70 Missouri 28 Iowa 17 26 Pennsylvania 107 15 New York 80 63 Total 244 703 On the motion of Mr. McCaffrey the election of Mr. Fitzgerald was declared unanimous. The other officers elected were : First Vice-President, Hugh McCaffrey, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Second Vice-President, Rev. P. A. McKenna, of Boston, Mass. ; Third Vice-President, Patrick Martin, of Baltimore, Md. ; Treasurer, Rev. Charles O'Reilly, D. D., Detroit, Michigan; Secretary. John B. Sutton, Lincoln, Nebraska. Chairman Fitzgerald here introduced John Deasy, M. P., who received a hearty welcome from the delegates. His address, like that of Mr. Redmond, was liberally punctuated with the applause of his hearers. At its close he said: " We have had coercion in Ireland every year for the last eighty-six years. We find now that two can play at that game. We defy them with all their brute force, with all their police spies and informers, to get the better of us in the future if they attempt oppression again. We do not care a jot what laws are passed to crush the Irish 770 GLADSTONE—PARNELL. people. We know from past experience that our organization is superior to any effort of the Eng- Hsh Government to destroy it. We know that to espouse the Irish cause in Ireland is to run the risk of imprisonment, and perhaps the gallows. We know that the men whose names I see before me (Allen, Larkin and O'Brien) were foully and brutally murdered for espousing the same cause we advocate — and we tell the British Government that there are thousands of men in Ireland pre- pared to follow in their footsteps." Michael Davitt, in summing up the results of the convention said : " I can't, however, deny my- self the pleasure of saying that I began my part of the work leading up to this convention by predicting confidently what the result would be. I have said thata division in this convention would be impossible, because the enemies of Ireland looked for it. I read the other day that Mr. Finerty and myself were at the head of opposing factions, and one of the keenest pleasures of my life has been to witness the disappointment of the enemies of Ireland who have made this and kindred false statements. Mr. Finerty and myself have, in the most friendly way possible, crossed swords ; but I don't know an honester man than Mr. Finerty, nor a more sincere friend to Ireland, either at home or in America. We are not here to dictate to any one, but to explain to you our policy, and to ask our friends to believe in our THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 77I sincerity and fidelity. I have to thank the late administration, Mr. Egan's, on behalf of Ireland and the Parliamentary party, for its service to the Irish cause. By your moderation you will appeal strongly to that American sympathy which has been such a help to us at home. Trust in us to do the best thing in any circumstances to keep the flag flying. We are bound to win, for we have one cause, one movement, one means, one hope and one leader. Thus united, defeat is impos- sible." The following were appointed as the State Delegates or National Executive Committee : Alabama, Rev. Edward Kerwin ; California, Dr. M. C. O'Toole; Connecticut, P. W. Wren; Colorado, Robert Morris ; Louisiana, Timothy Maroney ; Indiana, Michael J. Burns ; Nebraska, Patrick Egan ; Georgia, John F. Armstrong ; Rhode Island, Hugh J. Carroll; Iowa, D. Maher ; Virginia, R, F. O'Beirne; District of Columbia, Thomas H. Walsh; Kentucky, Matthew O'Do- herty ; Delaware, O. J. Hession ; New Jersey, Michael B, Holmes; Kansas, Donat O'Brien; Michigan, Dr. J. E, Scallon; Texas, A. J. Malloy ; Wisconsin, James G. Donnelly; Maryland, John Norman ; Missouri, Dr. Thomas O'Reillv ; Massa- chusetts, J. J. Donovan; Minnesota, W. L. Kelly; Montana, D. J. Hennessey ; Pennsylvania, Michael J. Ryan; Ohio, W. J. Gleason ; New York, Dr. Edward Malone ; Illinois, Daniel Corkery ; Ontario, 772 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. R. B. Teefy; Florida, B. E. McMurry; Mississippi, Edward McGinty; New Hampshire, James Cash- man ; Oregon Territory, M. J. Griffin ; Tennessee, P. J. Flanigan ; Vermont, B. F. Kelly; Washington Territory, W. D.O'Toole; Quebec, Canada, Charles McCarron ; Manitoba, Canada, H. J. Clorane. John E. Fitzgerald, the newly-elected Presi- dent of the Irish National League of America, was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in the year 1829, and at the age of fifteen years emigrated to the United States. Soon after his arrival he se- cured employment on a farm on Long Island, where he remained for several seasons, for the sum of seven dollars per month. He had within him, however, those principles of endurance, fru- gality, and industry which pointed to a brighter future, and having saved sufficient money to go to the West, he cast his lot, in 1869, in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he has since risen to be one of the most honored, as well as one of the most wealthy men in that State. He is the President of the First National Bank of Lincoln, of the First National Bank of Plattsmouth, of the First National Bank of Greenwood, and of the First National Bank of O'Neill City. Besides his many financial interests, Mr. Fitzgerald owns the Waveland stock farm at Lincoln, comprising nine thousand acres of land, stocked with shorthorn cattle and blooded horses. He is also the Presi- dent of the Nebraska stockyards at Lincoln, THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 773 besides being largely concerned in railroad enter- prises. He built the Burlington and Missouri River route from Plattsmouth west, and is the owner of the extension of railroad from Denver, Colorado, to Baxter Springs, Kansas, now in pro- cess of construction. His is a very busy life, and he has constantly in his employ from two thous- and to four thousand men. Mr. Fitzgerald owes his wealth to a spirit of industry. Some idea may be had of the extent of his fortune when it is stated that his assessment list in Plattsmouth alone amounts to ^160,000. Notwithstanding his large property interests he is one of the most modest of men and has a particular aversion to newspa- per notoriety. Surrounded by so many interests to engage his attention, yet he has not forgotten the land of his nativity and has always shown an earnest zeal for the cause of Ireland and his fellow-countrymen. It was, therefore, a merited compliment in elecdng him to the presidency of the National League. John P. Sutton, the Secretary of the Irish Nadonal League of America, was born in Clon- mel, Ireland, in 1845, about the dme of the pota- to-rot, a visitadon which caused the gaunt features of famine to spread throughout the land. His parents were Michael Sutton and Mary Ann O'Shaughnessy. His father was, for many years, a grain merchant in Waterford, but emigrated to Quebec, Canada, where he filled a position in the 774 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Union Bank. His son, John P. Sutton, arrived in this country a short time afterwards and entered the United States Army, serving for some time on the western frontier. After acting as Sergeant- Major of the i8th U. S. Infantry, he became First Sergeant of Company H of the same regiment, and served in that capacity until he was honorably discharged at the end of his term of enlistment. In 1869 he went to Quebec to visit his family, and shortly afterward married and settled in Canada, where he resided for about sixteen years. While there he served in various positions of trust and honor, and during the last four years of his resi- dence in the Dominion he was eno-agjed as an accountant for Messrs, Ross & Co., the wealthiest mercantile firm in the Province of Quebec. While a resident of Canada he took an active part in Irish National affairs, and was a frequent contributor to the Irish Sentinel, of Quebec, the IHsh Canadian, of Toronto, and the Daily Post, of Montreal, besides working for the cause in other ways. He was the first President of the Quebec Branch of the Irish National League of America, and retained that position as long as he remained a resident of the country. He was also among those who inaugurated the custom of cele- brating Emmet's Day in Quebec, a celebration which continues to be a national festival there. To his efforts, in a great measure, was due the inspiration and enthusiasm which took the place THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 775 of the lethargy which, for a time, appeared to per- vade the Irish people in Canada in regard to the cause of the Nationalists. He was requested by the Executive of the National League to travel through the Dominion and organize branches of the League, and, at the same time, start collections for the Parliamentary Fund. He addressed public meetings at Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa, in Ontario, and Halifax in Nova Scotia, besides addressing private meetings of Irishmen in other towns, going as far as St. John's, New Brunswick, and Portland, Maine. The suc- cess attending his labors everywhere proved the wisdom of sendino- a messenger to the Canadian brethren, and showed that Mr. Sutton was the man above all others for the mission. While at the Boston Convention of the Land League, Can- ada had about five delegates with a financial rep- resentation of under four hundred dollars, and that mainly contributed by the Quebec branches ; yet, at the Chicago Convention, the Canadian del- egates numbered twenty-five, and their contribu- tions reached nearly eight thousand dollars. Besides this amount a laro^e share of Canadian contributions were sent direct to Ireland. This was a grand commentary on the work accom- plished by Mr. Sutton. The Toronto Branch of the League, founded by him, in point of efficiency, is second to none in America, and, if its uncon- genial surroundings are taken into consideration, 776 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. it might reasonably claim first place. It raised three thousand dollars in funds, and successfully dispelled the prejudice and ill-will which strove to crush its infancy. On the resignation of the Secretary of the National League, he accepted the position and filled its duties until May, 1886, when he pracd- cally resigned (although nominally considered as Secretary) to assume the posidon of cashier of the Fitzgerald and Mallory Construction Com- pany, and paymaster of the Denver, Memphis and Atlantic Railroad Company. This necessi- tated his removal to south-eastern Kansas. He had no expectation of again assuming the secretaryship of the Irish National League, but at the request of President John Fitzgerald, supplemented by the persuasion of many promi- nent friends, he consented to a re-election. As a consequence he resigned his position with the Construcdon Company and Railway Company, in order that he might give his whole attention to the work of the League. While in Canada, Mr. Sutton, as already intimated, labored hard for the success of the Irish Cause: The h-ish Canadimi of Aug. 23, 1885, i^ referring to the selection of Mr. Sutton as the organizer of the League in Canada, says : "The convention made a happy choice in select- ing Mr. Sutton for this work. He is able, eloquent and fearless, true as steel, and admirably THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 777 adapted for the labor before him — a labor of love In his case — the dream of his life and his highest earthly aspiration. In the long range of our acquaintance — and in our day we have met many of the most devoted of Ireland's sons — we do not remember one more ardently attached — one who clung more tenaciously to the varying fortunes of the Old Land^ — one more ready, at all times and under all circumstances, to defend it against wrong and uphold its honor, than John P. Sutton. This true-hearted Irishman has suffered for the faith that is in him — has suffered because he had the courage of his convictions — but he is never- theless ready to make himself useful where he can be of service. His brothers at Chicaofo have honored him with a sacred trust, and our brothers in Canada should give effect to his mission — which will be in reality giving effect to the efforts of Mr. Parnell and those who are assisting him in the struesfle for freedom." One of the letters read at the convention was from the Rev. Patrick Cronin, of Buffalo, N. Y., the well-known editor of the Catholic Unio7i and Times, whose active participation in the work of the Irish National Leaaue has made his name a familiar one throughout the country. He was born, March i, 1837, near Adare, County Lim- erick, Ireland, a spot rich in historic ruins, where Gerald Griffin spent many of his young years and wrote some of his beautiful poems. At the age 46 778 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. of twelve years he came with his father to the United States, and selecting an ecclesiastical life, he received a thorough training. His classical studies were pursued at St. Louis University, and his theological course taken at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In the old cathedral at St. Louis, in December, 1862, he received priestly orders, and was assigned to the Church of the Annunciation, in that cit}^ as an assistant to the Rev. P. J. Ryan, now Archbishop of Philadelphia. His next pas- torate was at Hannibal, Missouri, where he re- mained for four years, during which time his ministrations were largely attended, and he gath- ered about him a laro-e circle of friends. He then returned to St. Louis, and became the pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. He resigned his pastorate in St. Louis to come East in 1870, and took the Chair of Belles-Lettres in the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, now the literary department of Niagara University. After remaining in that position for two years, he re- moved to Buffalo, New York, in October, 1872, where he has since been attached to St. Joseph's Cathedral. On the ist of April, 1873, he assumed the editorial charge of the Catholic Union and Times, which was then in its infancy, and which was then, as now, the official journal of the Bishop of Buffalo. From that time forward the paper rapidly increased in its influence for good, and its trenchant editorials soon gained for it an unusual THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE 779 prominence with resultant benefits. This brief allusion to the various positions held by Father Cronin does not, however, convey any adequate idea of the many results achieved during his faith- ful and active life. His work in the cause of Ire- land, aside from his labors in other directions, has won for him a name that shall be handed down with honor to the coming generations. His love for the land of his nativity, and his sympathy for his afflicted countrymen, have been shown in un- numbered instances, and he has been unceasing in his endeavors to lift up the fallen and aid the downtrodden and oppressed. It is not alone in his editorial sphere that Father Cronin has shone. His musical voice has been heard many times on the lecture platform, and his rhetorical eloquence has often held an audience almost spellbound. As a poet, also, he has a wide reputation, many of his productions winning high praise. In 1877 he spent six months abroad in company with Bishop Ryan, and the rich fields of study, offered by a European trip, found in him a ready student. Since his return he has been at the helm of the CatJiolic Union and Times, and with voice and pen has been doing his share in furtherinor the interests of the church and his countrymen. A prominent figure at all the conventions in which I have been a participant was John Boyle O'Reilly, of Boston, Massachusetts, the orator, 780 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. editor, poet, and patriot. He is still in the prime of a vigorous manhood and has had a most eventful life. He was born in Dowth Castle, County Meath, Ireland, in 1844, and spent his boyhood days there, studying from books with his father and mother. From their store of leofends and songs, and from them, he first learned to love Ireland, a love that has grown brighter as the years have rolled along. When still quite young he went to England and obtained a position as reporter on the newspapers in the manufacturing districts, where he acquired that intimate knowl- edge of workingmen and that sympathy with them which still clings to him, and is only less strong than his national enthusiasm. But his native land was still first in his heart, and in 1S63, when nineteen years old, well educated and v/ith an ardent temperament, he devoted himself entirely to his country's service by enlisting in the Tenth (Prince of Wales) Hussars, Col. Valen- tine Baker's crack regiment. His purpose, how- ever, was not to fight for England, but for Ireland, by propagating the principles of Fenianism. At that time, whenever half a dozen Irishmen were gathered together, one of them, at least, was sure to be a Fenian or Irish Republican, pledged to secure liberty for his country; and so young O'Reilly had many opportunities, which he never failed to improve, of rekindling the latent spark which lingered in the hearts of his countrymen. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 781 So well did he inspire the thr(5bbing for liberty that the time soon came when it seemed as if the blow might be struck, and Ireland might be free. But, as has happened scores of times be- fore In her history, the plot for the deliverance of Ireland was betrayed by a spy, and the men who would have broken her chains were arrested for high treason, and thrown into prison. This was in 1866, and for days all Ireland was in a state of terror, as warrant after warrant was served, and cell after cell filled with her patriotic sons. Mr. O'Reilly, of course, was one of the first to be taken,, and then came the trials and sentences, and he found himself doomed to imprisonment for life, a dark and dreary prospect to most menj but not to one who believed that he was to suffer for his native land. The punishment, however, was afterwards commuted to a penal servitude of twenty years, although such a change could hardly be called a merciful one. After his arrest and conviction, Colonel Baker, who commanded the Tenth Hussars, exclaimed, "O'Reilly has ruined the best regiment in the British army." The young patriot received his punishment, if it could be called such, without flinching, and as England's prisons were crowded that year, he was successively an inmate of Chatham, Ports- mouth, Portland and Dartmoor. At the latter place he and his brother Republicans had the sad pleasure of performing the last offices for 782 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. the American prisoners of war who were shot in cold blood, in 1814, by their British guards. The bodies of the slain had been flung into shallow graves, and when O'Reilly and his comrades were in the prison the bones of the Americans lay bleaching on the ground in one of the prison yards, having been dragged from their resting- place by swine. The Irish Republicans collected the bones and buried them, and upon the rude stone, with ]kvhich they were allowed to mark the grave, they carved the inscription : ''Dulce et de- corum est pro patria morir In 1867 Mr. O'Reilly and his compatriots were banished to Western Australia, "a land blessed by God and blighted by man," as Mr. O'Reilly says, but he learned to love "that fair land and dear land in the south,'' with its soft climate, and strange scentless flowers and bright songless birds. But his experience on board a convict-ship, as re- lated by himself in a sketch written on his ar- rival in America, in 1869, will, perhaps, give a more vivid idea of the sufferings of himself and his companions. "In October, '^'j^' says Mr. O'Reilly, "there were in DartmX)or prison six convicts who, to judge from their treatment, must be infinitely darker criminals than even the mur- derous-looking wretches around them. Those men were distinguished by being allotted an extra amount of work, hunger, cold and curses, together with the thousand bitter aids that are brought to THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 783 bear in the enforcement of English prison dis- cipline. At the time I now recall, three of those men were down in the social depths, indeed ; with one exception, they were in prison for life; and even in prison were considered as the most guilty and degraded there. This unusually harsh course was the result of a dream they had been dream- ing for years — as they wheeled the heavy brick cars, as they hewed the frozen granite, as they breathed on their cold fingers in the dark penal cells, in the deep swamp-drain, awake and asleep — always dreaming of liberty! That thought had never left them. They had attempted to realize it, and had failed. But the wild, stealthy thought would come back into their hearts and be cher- ished there. This was the result — hunger, cold and curses. The excitement was dead. There was nothing left now but patience and submission. I have said that the excitement, even of failure, was dead; but another and stronger excitement took its place. A rumor went through the prison — in the weirdly mysterious way in which rumors do go through a prison. However it came is a mystery, but there did come a rumor to the prison — even to the dark cells — of a ship sailing for Australia." The departure of the ship from English shores for the penal colony in Australia is related by Mr. O'Reilly in graphic style. The political prisoners were separated, and he was among the 784 GLADSTONE— PARN ELL. former. "I was appointed monitor of our me;n," says John Boyle, "which appointment gave rise to Dan Bradley's grand prize conundrum, 'Why must we look to O'Reilly for our deliverance ? Because he is a Fenian monitor ! ' " After being two weeks out, a meeting was called, many projects discussed and three things decided on. The pious and patriotic project re- solved upon was that a prayer should be offered each night for Ireland, and this prayer, as Mr. O'Reilly now recalls, was as follows : " O God, who art the arbiter of the destiny of nations, and who rulest the world in Thy great wisdom, look down now, we beseech Thee, from Thy holy place, on the sufferings of our poor country. Scatter her enemies, O Lord, and con- found their evil projects. Hear us, O God ! hear the earnest cry of our people, and give them strength and fortitude to dare and suffer in their holy cause. Send her help, O Lord ! from Thy holy place. And from Zionprotect her. Amen." Amid all the gloom of the convict-ship, Mr. O'Reilly continued to cheer his comrades with hope, and the genius of the gifted young poet and journalist flashed forth every week in the columns of the Wild Goose, a newspaper which he edited for the benefit of nis fellow-convicts. "Saturday," he says, ■' was publishing day. On Sunday afternoon we remained below, sat around the berths, and heard read the Wild Goose, as THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 735 the newspaper was named. We published seven weekly numbers of it. Amid the glim glare of the lamp the men at night would group strangely on extemporized seats. The yellow light fell down on thegroupofdark forms, throwinga ghastly glare on the pale faces of the men as they listened with blazing eyes to Davis' ' Fontenoy,' or the 'Clansman's Wild Address to Shane's Head.' Ah ! that is another of the grand picture- memories that come only to those who deal with life's stern realities." The story of his escape from Australia affords another interesting chapter in Mr. O'Reilly's eventful life. He was not content to stay in captivity while the spirit of liberty burned within, and hence, in 1869, aided by friends, and after encountering many hardships he escaped from Australia, and after a series of adventures reached Philadelphia. For some time he kept the story to himself, fearing to implicate those who aided him, but at last he told all about his escape. Making off in the night, he started across the Indian Ocean in an open boat without food or drink, and for three days and nights, had not only to fight hunger and thirst, but the sharks that chareed on his frail craft. Twice, when at sea, ships bore down upon him and then sailed away again, unmindful of his signals. All this time keen-scented men were on his track and an escaped felon of the lowest type was his 786 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. companion, declaring that, unless, he, too, was taken along he would expose O'Reilly's plan of escape. At last both men were taken aboard the American whaler " Gazelle," of New Bedford, under the command of Captain David R. Gifford. At the Cape, South Africa, O'Reilly's surrender was demanded by a British sea-captain, but his Yankee friend, the captain of the whaler, hid him in his cabin ; and then throwing a grindstone and O'Reilly's hat overboard, he swore that the Irish rebel had jumped into the sea and committed suicide. The British officers on the search having heard the splash, believed the story, and Captain Gifford, lending him twenty guineas, all the money he had, put him on the American ship " Sapphire," of Boston, bound for Liverpool, giving him the papers of a shipwrecked sailor. In September, O'Reilly landed in Liverpool, but soon found himself in danger and sailed for Philadelphia. Shortly after his arrival in the United States he earned money enough to repay the captain of the whaler, and to him dedicated his first volume of "Soncjs from the Southern Seas," but a copy of the volume sent to that hu- mane and grallant seaman arrived two hours after the latter had died, in the West India Islands, from yellow fever. On learning this Mr. O'Reilly wrote a graceful and poetic ardcle on the captain, entitled ; "A tribute paid too late." On his arrival in Philadelphia he started at once THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 787 for New York, where he made some money in writing poems and magazine articles : for such a gifted mind as that possessed by Mr. O'Reilly could not long remain inactive, and his brilliant contributions and poetical writings won for him prompt and flattering recognition, and he soon took rank among the men of letters. He went to Boston in 1870 and naturally found his way to the newspaper office, and soon had a position on the Pilots of which he is now the editor. He became a naturalized citizen of the Republic, his country- men made him welcome to their homes, and, in a year or two, he found himself prosperous and growing famous. He is a member of the Papyrus Club, the Press Club, and several other literary organizations of Boston. It is, however, as editor- in-chief of the Boston Pilot, one of the oldest Irish Catholic newspapers in the country, he made his fame most enduring, and his conduct of that paper since the wreck of Donahoe's establishment has been alike honorable and successful. He is a contributor to the pages o^ i\\^ North Ainej'ican Review, the Catholic Quarterly Review and other leading magazines. Amid all his literary labors he is still the devoted patriot and finds occasional time to eive to the service of the old land. In such work his voice is no less effective than his pen — his words having the same practical incisive and forcible meaning. In his views of the Irish question he Is inclined to be conservative, though 788 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. very positive in his support of Parnell, In 1885 Mr. O'Reilly was invited to Ottawa, Canada, to deliver an address on St. Patrick's Day. The Dominion authorities saw no objection ; but when application was made to England for an authori- zation for Mr. O'Reilly to enter the British Dominions, Earl Granville, on consultation with Sir W. Harcourt, declared British territory closed against " O'Reilly, one of the persons convicted for complicity in the Fenian Rebellion of 1866." It is a fact that the cultured Boston poet is down on the British records as an escaped convict, No. 9.834. In regard to his many noble efforts in further- ing the cause of Irish liberty it is hardly necessary to refer. He has lectured in all the principal cities of the country in aid of the Irish Parlia- mentary Fund ; and has made a large number of addresses under the auspices of the Irish National League. In fact, working in season and out of season, in order that the glorious time may be consummated when Ireland shall take her place among the nations of the earth. Mr. O'Reilly is very popular in social circles in Boston. He is a fine athlete, and a man of striking personal appearance, still upon the sunny side of forty, and as strong In body as he is gifted in mind. He is noted for his soldierly bearing, and it is natural enough that his step should be soldierly ; for it is not many years since the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 789 fingers that now hold his pen were familiar with the sabre hilt, and since the feet that now trfead the quiet streets of Boston obeyed the call of the bugle in an English barrack. Change of fortune has' not altered him much in manner, and seems to have made little difference in his disposition. He still sits silent in company, immovable except as to his restless dark eyes, until somebody asks him a question ; but then the heavy brows are lifted, the head is raised, and the answer comes usually in the Milesian form of another question, sometimes paradoxical, sometimes a little dog- matic, but always striking. While, as stated, he is a firm believer in Parnell and his methods, there is something more in his ardent nature; he is every inch a patriot, and does not hesitate to ex- press his views of English misrule in plain terms that cannot admit of any possible misconstruction. He scorns to beg amnesty of the British Govern- ment, for when that subject was recently broached by some of his admirers in the old land, he very promptly cabled to them the instructions : " Kindly withdraw the name of O'Reilly." He is a credit to his race, an honor to his country, an ornament to journalism — possessed of indomitable will, pluck and energy, and what is a proud tribute to his noble character and genius is, that in Bos- ton, where he still lives, no name stands higher among American men of letters. It would be almost superfluous to refer to his 790 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. many literary labors. His poem on the Statue of Liberty has been so widely read and admired, together with his other works, that the name of John Boyle O'Reilly has become familiar from one end of the land to the other. A gifted and estimable wife is the companion of his literary labors. Of hiis country he sings: " My first dear love, all dearer for thy grief! My land that has no peer in all the sea For verdure, vale or river, flower or leaf — If first to no man else, thou'rt first to me. New loves may come with duties, but the first Is deepest yet — the mother's bieath and smiles; Like that kind face and breast where I was nursed Is my poor land — rthe Niobe of Isles." " Priests who could furnish the surety of two freeholders for their peaceful conduct," writes Charles Gavan Duffy, of Ireland, "The House of Hanover," "and did not outrage good-taste by showing themselves in public, were permitted to perform their functions in by-streets and back places ; provided always that they are careful to ring no bell and erect no steeple, these indul- gences being absolutely incompatible with the safety of church and throne." There is a fine church going up in Chicago, Saint Gabriel's, whose steeple will be built and whose bell will be rung for one of the truest sons of Ireland in America, one whose name, face and voice are familiar in the land of his fathers as well as in that of his THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 791 birth. Maurice J. Dorney would have found even the moderate irksomeness of the toleration of the House of Hanover intolerable, and the more rigorous days of an Elizabeth or a William would have made his another name on the glorious roll of Irish martyrdom. He v^as born in Spring- field, Massachusetts, in 1 85 1 . His acute mind and decided traits of character marked him for the priesthood, and after graduation at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, he was ordained priest by Bishop Foley in the cathedral of Chicago in 1874. For two years his zeal was devoted to Saint John's parish in that city, and then he was sent to Lock- port, Illinois, as parish priest, remaining there until 1880, when the needs of the new population in the south-v*restern part of Chicago induced Archbishop Feehan to recall him for city work. Under his guidance his people are erecting the edifice whose bell and steeple will be a striking feature of that bustling region ; and the commo- dious school-house that rises near the church indicates that Father Dorney is as interested in the intellects of his flock as in their spiritual w^el- fare. The studies which a thoroughly practical priest must make in the poverty that fills our o-reat cities are well calculated to make him in- quire into the causes which have sent to our country so much of poverty among a people naturally virtuous and universally hard-working. Of all men in the United States who should be 792 GLADSTONE— PAFLNELL. sympathizers with the divinely planted instincts of liberty in a race, the priest has the best oppor- tunity for knowing that it is English government in Ireland that has sown poverty over that fertile land, and that it was brutal laws, ingeniously devised, that prostrated those natural industries whose destruction is the chief cause of the Irish want of mechanical skill. It was inevitable that a man of Father Dorney's mind and sympathy should not only perceive the economic truth at the bottom of all Irish misery, but that he should strive to aid the race from which he sprang to efface the inheritance of misery English govern- ment has bestowed upon so many generations of the Irish people. Father Dorney's services to the Irish cause, modest; unwearying and effective, led to his election as President of the Land League in Illinois, in 1881. When it was found that he had been chosen a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention of 1883, there was a general desire that his genial countenance, sonot'ous voice, happy humor and trained faculties should be employed in the chair of that imposing and difficult assem- bly. No one who saw him in that position will ever forget the skill and tact with which du- ties exceedingly delicate were discharged. He had to guide that vast body through the most dangerous passages in its course; and a steadier hand or clearer head never held a helm through deeps or shallows. When he visited Ireland two THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 793 years ago, he received everywhere the cordial and grateful greeting to which he was so well entitled. Bright as a newly coined dollar, honest and fearless in his outspoken exposure of frauds, how- ever great, or of parasites, however loathsome and despicable, a young man with a future before him, and one who has already held positions of honor and grave responsibility in Irish organizations, is Michael J. Ryan, of Philadelphia, Pa. He was born In that city on the 13th of June, 1862. His father, James Ryan, who died in 1878, was one of the leaders of the Fenian Brotherhood, and a centre of the Philadelphia, Brian Boru, and Grat- tan Circles. His son, imbued with the same pa- triotic feelings, early evinced a love for Ireland and her institutions, and in September, October and November, 1885, he travelled through the Western and Southern States, lecturing In aid of the National League, going as far as Minneapolis in the North-west, and In the South-west travel- ling as far as San Antonio, Texas. At the Chicago Convention he was unanimously chosen as Chair- man of the Pennsylvania delegation, and was also selected as the State Delegate, one of the best evidences of the respect in which he is held among those with whom he lives. When a meeting of citizens was called in Inde- pendence Hall, Philadelphia, to raise money to further the cause of Parnell and his co-laborers, the mayor of the city was called upon to preside, 47 794 GLADSTONE—PARNELL. and Mr. Ryan was honored with the Secretar)^- ship, while the treasurer was Anthony J. Drexel, the leading banker of this country, Mr. Ryan was afterwards chosen Secretary of the Citizens' Com- mittee, and as a result of their labors the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars was raised and trans- mitted to Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, the Treasurer of the League in America. In the fall election of 1886 Mr. Ryan was the nominee of the Democratic Party for the First Congressional District of Pennsylvania, although not of the required age when he received the honor. Although the district is Republican by a large majority, Mr. Ryan had the courage to en- ter the canvass, and though defeated, as he ex- pected, yet he polled a large and complimentary vote. Mr. R^^an is a member of the Philadelphia Bar in active practice, and gives promise of great usefulness to the cause of Ireland. "A man in the gap " has always been our friend, Rev. Geo. W. Pepper, a highly respected minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who in his every look and motion shows the energy and activity of the educated intelligent Irishman. He was born fifty-two years ago in the townland of Ballinagarrick, near the village of Gilford, and not far from Portadown, in the County Down, Ireland. Although he has been a resident of the United States the greater portion of his life, he has been and still is one of the warmest ad- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 795 vocates for Home Rule in his native land. His father was an EpiscopaUan in faith, and master of an Orange Lodge, which to this day meets in the same house where Mr. Pepper was born. His father died while Mr. Pepper was quite young, and hence he was brought up by his mother, who in faith was a Presbyterian, but in politics a Republican, and in 1848 was a devoted supporter of the glorious Young Irelanders. His mother died in 1853, and in the following year he came to America and immediately entered Kenyon College, Ohio, for the purpose of studying theology. After remaining there one year, he became connected with the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was stationed at the town of Keene. He continued in the regular work of the ministry until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he thought it was his duty to fly to the aid of his adopted country, first as Captain and then as Chaplain. He served until the close of the war, participating In a number of engagements, and took part in the " March to the Sea." While in the army he also acted as correspondent for the Louisville CouTier-Joui'iial, the Cincinnati Commercial, and sent a number of letters to the New York Times. Upon leaving the army he re-entered the ministry of the M. E. Church, filling a number of leading pulpits in Ohio, and still continues in the 796 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. sacred office. Several years ago he made a visit to Ireland, and, In the town where he was born, lectured upon " America and the Americans.'' The next day he was visited by two policemen and warned to leave the country. He pulled out his passport with the signature of James G. Blaine as Secretary of State, and threatened that if he was arrested he would telegraph to him, when they immediately retired. Mr. Pepper is one of the most graceful and impassioned speakers that has ever appeared upon a public platform. He is a true orator, full of fervor and eloquence, and he speaks with a force and earnestness that rarely fails to carry conviction. He is, without doubt, one of the most widely-known and popular lecturers on Ireland in this country. Mr. Pepper has lectured in all the States of the Union, and had large audiences in California. Coming east after his visit to the Pacific slope, he was for a time the guest of Mackay, the Bonanza Kine. He tried to induce the latter to offer fifty millions of dollars towards the purchase of Ireland from England ; but while he is an Irishman, "his love of country "said Mr. Pepper; "was hardly strong enough to carry him that far." Mr. Pepper has enjoyed the friendship of some of the world's greatest men. At Belfast he first met General Thomas Francis Meagher, and had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with him until his death. THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 797 In 1868, he received from Charles Sumner a letter on the Irish question, in which he said : " I regret the condition of affairs in Ireland, which is indeed deplorable, and I am glad to see that the subject is beginning to engage the atten- tion of British statesmen. Justice to Ireland is a British necessity. In every effort for Irish inde- pendence and human rights, there is but one side for my sympathy and aspiration." In an address which Mr. Pepper made before the Methodist Conference of Ohio on "The Cause of Ireland," the greatest enthusiasm prevailed, and when he hadconcludedhisaddress,the Rev. Horace Place arose, and offered the following resolution : '■^Resolved — Having listened with pleasure and delight to our brother, Rev. Geo. W. Pepper, of Ashland, in his powerful and eloquent address upon the all-engrossing cause of Ireland, we, as members of this Conference, do hereby heartily endorse Home Rule as a grand step towards Irish independence, and that we thank God that the great statesman, Wm. E. Gladstone, is crowning his long and distinguished career by propos- ing so wise, so just, and so beneficial a measure." The presiding elder, Rev. G. H. Hughes, who was President, put the resolution, the whole audi- ence rising to their feet. The Rev. Mr. Barron then sang the " Harp." It was a grand scene, and no Irish audience could rival the enthusiasm tliat was there manifested. 798 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Mr. Pepper is married and has six children, three boys and three girls. His wife's name was Christiana Lindsay ; and his youngest son, Charles Meagher Pepper, is in charge of the Washington- Chicago Tribune Bureau. Hugh McCaffrey, of Philadelphia, Pa., the candidate against John Fitzgerald for President of the National League, was born on the 17th day of June, 1843, near Banbridge, County Down, Ireland. His father being a farmer, young McCaffrey attended the nearest country school, about two miles distant from his home, and re- ceived a good public school education. Being an ambitious youth, he consulted his parents as to the best method of improving his position in life, and they counselled him to emigrate to America, where his older brother, Arthur, had already gone. He complied with the advice of his parents, and in September, 1859, being then in his seventeenth year, he sailed for the land of liberty. On arriv- ing in New York, he immediately proceeded to Philadelphia, wliere he met his brother, who put him at file-making, a trade which was then in its infancy in the United States. On reaching his majority he took out naturalization papers, and then started in business for himself. By industry and diligent attention he prospered, and in three years took his brother John into partnership, and the firm, which still exists under the tide of the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 799 Pennsylvania File Works, became " McCaffrey & Bro." From his earliest years, Mr. McCaffrey has taken an active interest in the affairs of his native land, and at all times the strings of his purse have been unloosed when aid was needed for the great cause of Ireland, Fie was present at the first meeting called in Philopatrian Hall, Philadelphia, to organize the Land League, and afterwards became a member of the Red Hand Branch. In the spring of 1882, when Mr. Michael Davitt came to America, Mr. McCaffrey, with two others, was chosen to represent the Philadelphia Central Union at Mr. Davitt's reception, in New York. He was also elected Treasurer of the Central Union, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Michael Patton, and held that position until the reorganization of the Land League, on its mereinor into the National Lea8:ue. Robert M. McWade, the President of the new organiza- tion, or municipal council, appointed him to repre- sent the council at the interview held with Presi- dent Arthur, in Washington, against pauper Immigration. When Mr. Alexander Sullivan, the then Presi- dent of the League, called for subscriptions to the Parliamentary Fund, Mr. McCaffrey, if not the second, was at least the third person to respond, and on April 23, 1884, forwaraed his check for one hundred dollars. When Robert M. McWade, 800 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. at the end of the year 1884, resigned the presi- dency of the municipal council and positively de- clined the honor of a re-election, Mr. McCaffrey was chosen as his successor, and still retains that important position. During his administration, he has labored earnestly to have Irishmen agree, no matter what their personal views might be, that they would sacrifice them for the good of the movement in Ireland; and has counselled all to support Mr. Parnell and the Parliamentary Fund, On the occasion of the lecture of Hon. A. M. Keiley, at the Academy of Music, in Philadelphia, for the same fund, Mr. McCaffrey subscribed ^150; while at the citizens' meeting in the City Councils' Chamber, in January, 1886, he and his brother John gave the sum of $500. He was also one of the committee of fifty which raised ^35,000 in six weeks for the fund; and he, with John H. Campbell, Esq., and others arranged the " getting up " of the meeting of English, Scotch and Welsh citizens, at St. George's Hall, Philadelphia, on July 12, 1886, to sympathize with Mr. Glad- stone and Home Rule in Ireland. Besides this, Mr. McCaffrey was elected one of the delegates to represent the Philadelphia Municipal Council at the Chicago Convention, in August, 1886; and in various other ways have his friends attested his devotion to the cause of Ireland. Another Philadelphian, who has the honor of being at the head of the Ancient Order of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gQl Hibernians In this country is Maurice F. Wilhere. He was borp in the County Donegal, Ireland, October 30, 1854, and in company with his mother and sisters immigrated to this country in 1859 (one year subsequent to the death of his father, whose ashes repose in the Green Isle). The family landed in Philadelphia and have since made it their home. The subject of this sketch was the youngest of the children, and received his education in St. John's Parochial School and in the Manayunk Boys' Grammar School, from which he was admitted to the High School, but resigned, beino- more anxious to contribute to the support of his widowed mother, and trusting to leisure hours to make up the deficiency of a more advanced scholastic course. Mr. Wilhere was appointed superintendent of the Stamp Department in the Philadelphia Post Office in 1885, which position he has filled with the same ability and good management which characterized him in every sphere of life in which he moved. A Democrat in American politics, whose views are not curbed by party lines, and recognizing that the glory of the Republic is in its toleration of every man's honest opinions, he carries with him alike the respect of l^is own party, and the friendship of those who differ from him in political creed. For a period of eight years he has been Chairman of the Democratic Committee of his District, and for 802 GLADSTONE— PARN ELL. four years represented the Fourth Senatorial District in the State Executive Committee. It is said that every man has a hobby, and it may be truthfully said of Mr. Wilhere that his leanings have been always in the direction of Irish societies. At the age of fifteen years, he first entered an Irish society and ever since has actively engaged in the propagation of organization among the Irish race. Ever alive to the duties and re- sponsibilities imposed upon him, he deservedly can claim recognition as having faithfully devoted time and labor for the advancement of his con- victions. As an instance of this, with all his duties, both public and private, he has been for sixteen years Secretary of St. Patrick's Society in his parish, and for a period of twelve years has been a delegfate and officer of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union of America. For six years he has been Vice-President of this great and useful organization, and succeeded the Hon. A. M. Keiley as President, after that gentleman's appointment as Minister to Austria. While fully convinced of the utility of benevo- lent organizations, he saw that the cause of Ireland could only be brought prominently before the world by organized power and methods ; consequently, when the Land League agitation started, he threw his whole soul into the move- ment. Those who remember the early struggles THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 803 of that movement in this country, only can realize the thorny path which had to be travelled by the champions of Irish liberty. He was a member of the committee who received Mr. Parnell in 1879, and afterwards organized one of the first branches of the Land League in Philadelphia. A short time after this the Central Union of the Irish National Land League of Philadelphia was formed, of which body he was the first President, and filled that position until the great Irish Convention was held in Philadelphia, when he was chosen State representative of the newly born Irish National League. At the Boston Con- vention in 1884, notwithstanding his declination of the position, he was chosen Vice-President of the League, which he filled with the same earnest devotion to duty which won for him the respect and admiration of his co-workers. In 1874 he joined the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians, and filled at different periods the positions of Secretary and President of his division until 1884, when he was chosen State Delegate. At the National Convention of the order, held in St. Paul, Minn., in 1886, he was the almost unani- mous choice for the position of National Delegate — the highest position in the gift of the organiza- tion. The selection was indeed a happy one, and not only the members of the organization, but their friends outside, felt that no wiser or bet- ter selection could have been made. It was par- 804 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. ticularly pleasing to the members of the Irish National League that such a thorough-going Na- tionalist should be placed at the head of an or- ganization which is the oldest and most powerful union that has ever existed among our people. During the last seven years Philadelphia has been visited by many of Ireland's champions, who addressed some of the most magnificent gatherings ever assembled in the country, among whom were T. P. O'Connor, M. P., T. M. Healy, M. P., Rev. Father Sheehy, and John E. and W. K. Redmond, M. P. On all of these occasions Mr. Wilhere presided, and on various other occa- sions in that period ably assisted on committees to direct and guide to success any enterprise having for its object the liberty of his native land. His unselfish devotion to his unfortunate country has made him hosts of friends everywhere, and few leaders in the Irish movement are better or more favorably known. As a speaker, he is concise, argumentative, forci- ble and convincing, conveying the impression to his audience that he clearly understands what he is talking about and means just exactly what he says. As a debater, he is quick to catch a point, always ready to reply, and brimful of jokes which he skilfully weaves into his argument. Genial, affable and manly, with a desire always to be- friend his fellow-man, and with that warmth of heart characteristic of his race, Mr. Wilhere is a THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 805 typical Irishman, of whom his country may well be proud, and is an example of what our race can achieve with " a fair field and no favors." Judge M. Cooney is a self-made man ; and is a prominent, able, and successful lawyer. He Is an old resident of San Francisco, although yet a young man. He is very popular ; a man of strict integrity ; earnest and sincere in everything, of good moral habits, liberal in his views; gener- ous, charitable, and patriotic ; shrewd and calm in his undertakings, and has the confidence and respect of all who know him. There is no better man or citizen in California. He has raised a large and splendid family, and educated them at his own expense. He Is not reputed wealthy, but has accumulated considerable property, and now resides In a beautiful home. He has worked hard, attended to his profession, and has a large practice. He is a native of Ireland, and he has given a great deal of time to her cause. It may truly be said that no man on the Pacific Coast has done more than he has for the last fifteen years for the regeneration and betterment of Ireland. And since the Land League and Na- tional League organizations began he has been constantly at work. He is a first-class organizer and he believes in it. Under his direction and influence California has done more than her share of the patriotic work. His whole soul is in the cause ; he never enters when the work Is 806 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. done to reap unearned glory ; he inaugurates the work and g-oes with it. In other words he makes the movement instead of the movement making him. He is a Nationalist, a Parliamentarian, a Conservative, or anything that will bring success and make Ireland free or improved. He loves California as he loves his native land, and Cali- fornians love him. M. D. Gallagher was born in Bundoarn, a beautiful watering-place, situated on the north- west coast of Ireland. His father was a rnan of considerable influence in Bundoarn, of a family which at one time possessed a large portion of the house property of the place, himself a person of large means, a sterling patriot and ever an ardent friend of the poor people in their struggles with landlord tyranny and oppression. Mr. Gallagher was ten or eleven years of age when his father died, and was left to the care of an uncle, who placed him in a jewelry store in Ballyshannon. Dissatisfied* however, with the circumscribed field presented in a small town in Ireland, he departed from his native country, and embarked for New York when about nineteen years ot age ; within three days after his arrival he was engaged by Benedict Bros., the Broadway jewellers ; six months later he was sent to Savannah, Ga,, by one of the wholesale houses of Maiden Lane. He remained in the South two years and returned to New York in the summer of 1868, after an extended tour THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 807 of the country. A few months after his re- turn he commenced business with the well-known New York jeweller, John Cox, under the firm of Cox & Gallagher, which, two years later, was changed to Gallagher & Cox. The following ten or eleven years he devoted to building up his business and increasing his financial resources. On the arrival of Mr. Parnell in 1879, accom- panied by John Dillon and T. M. Healy, Mr. Gallagher was one of the sixty gentlemen in- vited to meet him in the New York Hotel, when the foundation of the Irish National Land League for America was laid. He became the President of the first branch of the League, started in America under Mr. Parnell's advice, which is in existence to-day as Branch One, Parnell League, New York city. He was a deleg^ate to the first Land League Convention held in this country, at Trenor Hall, New York city ; it was he, who as a member of the committee on officers, proposed for the first treasurer of the American League, the name of the Rev. Lawrence Walsh, of Connecticut, the wisdom of whose selection was proved by his re-election at the two succeeding conven- tions, held respectively at Buffalo and Wash- ington. Mr. Gallagher was Chairman of the delegation sent by the Parnell Leagues from New York to the Buffalo Convention, and it was his management of affairs at that convention that 808 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. largely contributed to the election of P. A. Col- lins, of Boston, for President, and Thomas Flatley of the same place for Secretary, and Father Walsh for Treasurer. The succeeding year found him hard at work building up branches, not alone in New York city, but throughout the country. During three months, every evening in the week and twice each Sunday, he addressed League meetings in New York, in New Jerse}', Staten Island, Long Island and in Westchester, having during that period founded over fifty branches ; at the same time he was President of the Parnell Municipal Council, composed of thirty- four branches, an office which required on his part a vast correspondence to keep the various branches in good working order. During this time he did not averao-e more than five hours sleep in the twenty-four, and his business had to be attended to as best he could, irregularly and at intervals. During Mr. Gallagher's first term as head of the League in New York, ^30,000 were collected there and forwarded to Ireland. Mr. Gallaofher remained in active work as President of the Parnell Leagues up to the Phil- adelphia Convention, when the Land League was merged in the Irish National League ; during the subsequent two years he remained compara- tively quiet, attending to his own branch and leavinor the laro^er field to others. While in retirement from active League work, the Amerl- THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 809 can Presidential election of 1884 found him again actively organizing against Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency. Mr. Gallagher was particu- larly opposed to Mr. Cleveland on account of his vetoes of the five-cent-fare bill, mechanics' lien bill, the car-drivers' bill, and other measures affecting labor interests ; he was elected President of the Anti-Cleveland Union and helped to organize a club in every ward in the city, speak- ing night after night without one single dollar for his expenses and without any hope of reward in money or office, for himself or friends or relations ; as he had worked in the Land League, attending conventions in Buffalo, Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago, at his own expense, so in the Blaine campaign, he neither received promises nor cash for his services. General Carr appointed him a commander of a division in the great Blaine procession in New York ; he rode on horseback at the head of 1 200 Democrats, in that great demonstration, which numbered 50,000 men in line. Mr. Gallacrher's efforts in that campaign, assisted by those of other Irish-Ameri- can Democrats, caused a loss to the Democratic party of about 75,000 , votes in New York ; he also presided at the great Blaine meeting of Irishmen, held in the Academy of Music and addressed by Alexander Sullivan of Chicago. In the meantime the League in New York had dwindled down from sixty-six to about ten 320 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. branches, which was the number of active branches during the year 1885 ; many of the old active workers urged Mr. Gallagher to take hold of League matters again, but his business had suffered so much that he declined on the ground that he could not afford it. When the annual elecUon of President of the Municipal Council took place in July, 1885, Mr. Gallagher's name was presented to the convention and he was elected President again. Notwithstanding his re- peated refusals to hold any more offices, however, his old patriotic sentiments got the best of him again ; he took hold, and during the summer months, when others were enjoying themselves in the country, . he was reorganizing the old branches and building up new ones. During the fiscal year, 1884-5, there were only ^1,400 forwarded to the National Treasurer from the Municipal Council, but during Mr. Gallagher's term of one year, from July, 1885, to June, 1886, although the first six months were devoted to getting the organization together, the last six months of his term show seventeen thousand dollars (^17,000) forwarded and three thousand dollars on hand, which was deposited on the night of his successor's election and the succeed- ing meeting, which makes ^20,000 to his credit for six months' work. He refused to allow his name to be placed in nomination again ; Patrick Egan, President of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. gH the American League, requested Mr. Gallagher to act with the National Committee to escort the Parliamentary Delegation, Messrs. O'Brien, Redmond and Deasy, to the Chicago Convention, held last Auo^ust, and he consented to act ; he went down the harbor in one of Mr. Starin's steamers to meet the deleo;ates on their arrival from Europe, went with them to Chicago and escorted them back again to New York, seeing them safely on board the steamer for home. During Miss Fanny Parnell's active work of formincf the Ladies' Land League, he was one of her trusted lieutenants, consulted by her frequently, and when her sudden death took place he went to Bordentown, her late place of residence, to assist in forwarding the arrange- ments for her burial. When her remains were removed to Boston, he was one of the special escorts to convey them to their last resting-place, and was selected as one of the pall-bearers by the family on the occasion of placing the remains in a receivings vault in Trenton. When the remains were forwarded to Boston, the Boston Committee appointed him again a pall-bearer to represent New York city. THE LEAGUE UNDER JOHN FITZGERALD'S ADMINIS- TRATION. When John Fitzgerald assumed the position to which the National League Convention had 312 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. elected him, he at once " took hold " with his accustomed business energy, having apparently made up his mind that from the outset his ad- ministration should be marked by the "snap" and energy so characteristic of the Irish- American pioneers in the Far West. In the first place, by means of brief circular letters he informed the members of the League of the situation in Ire- land, eivinof the facts " in a nutshell." In the second place, he issued, for the better information of the American people, "An honest English- man's opinion on the Irish Question," the EngHsh- man quoted being the Honorable Wilfred Scarven Blunt, the champion of Egyptian autonomy. He followed that up with a concise review of the Irish movement, here and in the Old World, closing with an earnest appeal for increased ac- tivity in swelling the ranks of the League and in- creased contributions to the Anti-Eviction Fund. The first of these documents was a letter from the Hon. T. Harrington, M. P., Secretary of the Irish National League, dated at Dublin, Sept. 9, 1886, acknowledging the receipt of ^3,000 from Rev. Dr. Chas. O'Reilly, the League's Treasurer. President Fitzgerald issued his first address from Lincoln, Nebraska, on Sept. 30, 1886, to the officers and members of the National League of America "and other friends of freedom." In it he reviewed the deliberations and subsequent action of the Third National Convention of the THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. §13 League, spoke of his unexpected and unsolicited elevation to the presidency of the organization, and said : " It is admitted that the numerical streno^th in the House of Commons of the Irish Parliamentary Party is largely due to the untiring efforts of the Leao^ue in America. The larcje amount of money transmitted at opportune times by your reverend and distinguished treasurer for the parliamentary fund attests the efficiency of your organization. Your zealous labors also served as an incentive to other patriotic citizens who forwarded laree contributions to the same fund. But, urgent as was the necessity that brought forth such generous responses to the parliamen- tary fund, there now exists a more urgent demand on the Irish race throuorhout the world. Love of kindred and the highest dictates of humanity invoke prompt and decisive action. On the 2 2d of this month the Tory Government of England decided, by the rejection of Mr. Parnell's land bill, on the eviction and consequent starvation or banishment of thousands of men, women and children. Mr. Gladstone has truthfully said that every such eviction is equal to a sentence of death. Alas, many a single eviction resulted in several deaths ; but this was prior to the organi- zation of the Irish National League. And I am greatly mistaken in the present temper of the Irish race and other friends of humanity if that barbarity will ever again be permitted on God's creatures anywhere. 314 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. *' Until recently the sad story of Ireland was only known to her sons ; now it is uppermost in the minds of all Christendom. The outspoken sympathy of the world is with her children in their struggle for home and liberty. Hence Lord Salisbury and his government will soon discover that they can neither starve, exterminate, nor subdue by coercion, the Irish people. The fight is on. Evictions for the non-payment of impossible rents have commenced, God's creat- ures are being- rendered homeless and turned out on the roadside. But they shall not die the death planned for them by heartless tyrants. " I therefore appeal to every man and woman with Irish blood coursing in their veins to aid in resisting this inhuman brutality. Let every branch of the League at once start an anti-evic- tion fund, and send the contributions to the National Treasurer, Rev. Charles O'Reilly, De- troit, Mich, Branches should be started in every town and village in the country ; in the work- shops and on the railroads. Rich and poor should unite in this humane and patriotic work. " Organization is necessary to resist organized tyranny. Let the twenty millions of the scattered Irish race, whose hearts beat true to Erin and liberty, unite under the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell in the Irish National League, and present a united and determined front to that Government whose Queen only a few days ago THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 815 intimated that the blood and treasure of her empire would defend Home Rule in Bulgaria, while denying Home Rule to Ireland, and while she is content with appointing a * commission oi inquiry' into the system of Irish landlord rob- bery. Let the good work commence at once. State delegates should lose no time in organizing their several States, while municipal councils and branch officers should be untiring in their efforts to increase the roll of membership. Secretaries of branches will please notify the National Sec- retary, John P. Sutton, Lincoln, Neb., of all re- mittances to the National Treasurer, and all changes in branch officers. " 1 respectfully request of the American press a continuance of the invaluable assistance hereto- fore rendered the League, and I most earnestly ask the Irish-American press to arouse our countrymen to the imperative necessity of united, decisive, and prompt action in aid of the anti- eviction fund. I append an appeal from Honora- ble Charles Stewart Parnell, whose forcible terms should awaken a response in the heart of every friend of the oppressed, and more especially in those of my fellow-countrymen. "I remain yours faithfully, "John Fitzgerald, ''President Irish National League of Americay 816 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. " AvoNDALE, County Wicklow, ''September 25, 1886. '' To John Fitzgerald, Esq. "Dear Sir: The rejection of the Tenants' P.elief Bill, the scarcely veiled threats of the Irish Secretary, and the alarming increase in the num- ber of evictions, clearly indicate the commence- ment of a combined movement of extermination against the tenant farmers of Ireland by the En- eiish Government and the Irish landlords. I lose no time in advising you of the imminence of a crisis and a peril which have seldom been equalled even in the troubled history of Ireland. I know that it will be the highest duty and the most honorable task which can engage the attention of my countrymen in free America to do what in them lies to frustrate the attempt of those who would assassinate our nation, and to alleviate the sufferings of those who, unhappily, must be the numerous victims of the social war which has been preached by the rich and powerful govern- ment of England against our people. "In sending us that moral and material assist- ance which has never been wanting, has never been stinted, from your side of the Atlandc, you will perform two most important and valuable func- tions : you will encourage the weak to resist and bear oppression, and you will also lessen and alleviate those feelings of despair In the minds of THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 817 the evicted which have so often and so unhappily stimulated those victims to recourse to the wild spirit of revenge. In doing so you will assist in preserving for our movement that peaceable character which has enabled it to win its most recent and almost crowning triumph, while you will strengthen it to bear oppression and encour- age our people until the final goal of legislative independence has been won. "Yours faithfully, Charles S. Parnell." Lord Randolph Churchill and his Tory Cabi- net, after repeated consultations, finally adopted a scheme of coercion, to be put in force in every part of Ireland w^here the Irish National League had, through its members, shown any signs of vitality. It was publicly stated and nowhere denied that this scheme comprised the seizure of O'Brien's patriotic newspaper, United Ii^eland, the proclamation and attempted extinction of the Irish National League, the arrest of the League's officers, and the arrest of all persons who advised the tenant-farmers to resist eviction or who acted as trustees of Anti-Eviction Funds. The landlords were also, it was reported, to be aided at all hazards by the constabulary and the military in the enforcement of their writs of eviction, in all cases where the tenants refused to pay more than what they considered a fair and just rental for their farms. President Fitzgerald, seeing the 818 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. necessity for immediate action on the part of the exiled race on the American continent, in a stir- ring despatch dated Nov. 30, 1886, called upon the State Delegates to wheel their respective branches into line and prepare for a hot and ex- citing campaign. " The Tory Government of Great Britain has," he said, " once more evinced its in- capacity to govern Ireland by other means than coercion. Our brethren in Ireland are a^ain called to show by courage, suffering and self-sacrifice that they are the heirs of their fathers' heroism. The time has come when we should prove by our actions that our hearts beat in unison with theirs in a common love for Ireland and liberty. A few weeks since we promised that, should England again have recourse to coercion, we would stand by them. We must now redeem that pledge. Public meetings are proclaimed ; soldiers are be- ing crowded into the country to overcome and, should opportunity offer, to slaughter the people ; prison-cells await the nation's leaders, and every engine of oppression and unconstitutional legisla- tion is about to be used to prop up tyranny and injustice and to crush the legitimate aspirations of Ireland. "We must see to it that our promise of assist- ance was no idle boast. State Delegates are called upon to proceed at once to the work of or- ganizing the League in their respective States and Provinces. They should use every means to THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE. 821 Increase the membership of existing branches and establish new ones, and should urge the officers ot branches within their jurisdiction to devise means to promptly raise funds and forward them to the National Treasurer, Rev. Charles O'Reilly, D. D., Detroit, Michigan, in aid of the Anti-Evic- tion Fund. "We must not stand idle in the face of the present crisis. Experience has proved the futility of coercion to crush a determined and united people with the loyal aid of her exiled children. Ireland will come out of this struggle unconquered, unconquerable, victorious." The hearty and unanimous replies that poured in on him from Canada and from every .State and Territory in the United States, assured him that he could count with certainty upon the loyalty, patriotism, and substantial sympathy of the State Delegates and of the people everywhere. As I pen the closing lines of this work, Anti-Eviction Fund Committees, composed of men and women of various shades of religious belief and of as many different nationalities as are found in this free country of ours, are springing up, as if by magic, on all sides. The great heart of America throbs in sympathy with the suffering children of Ireland in their efforts for the amelioration of her unhappy condidon. Merchants and bankers, farmers and mechanics, manufacturers and mem- bers of the learned professions, clergymen and 322 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. laymen, all conspire in this noble cause and unite In giving generously of their means to support this Anti-Unfair-Rent Fund, and to aid the men "at home," " Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and. knowing, dare maintain." CHAPTER XIV. HISTOR\ OF AN IDEA WHY I BECAME A HOME RULER. BY RIGHT HON. W. E GLADSTONE. IN the year 1868 I was closely associated with the policy of disestablishing the Irish Church. It was then, not unfairly, attempted to assail the cause in the person of its advocate. To defeat this attempt an act became necessary which would otherwise have been presumptuous and obtrusive. In order to save the policy from suffering, I laid a personal explanation before the world.* The same motive now obliges me to repeat the act, and will, I hope, form a sufficient excuse for my repeat- ing it. The substance of my defence or apology will, however, on the present occasion be altogether different. I had then to explain the reasons for which, and the mode in which, I changed the opinions and conduct, with respect to the Church of Ireland then established, which I had held half a century ago. I had shown my practical accept- ance of the rule that change of opinion should if possible be accompanied with proof of independ- * "A Chapter of Autobiography," Murray, 1868. (823) 824 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. ence and disinterested motive ; for I had resigned my place in the Cabinet of Sir Robert Peel in order to make good my title to a new point of departure. On the present occasion I have no such change to vindicate, but only to point out the mode in which my language and conduct, governed by uniformity of principle, have simply followed the several stages by which the great question of autonomy for Ireland has been brought to a state of ripeness for practical legislation. It is a satisfaction to me that, in confuting im- putations upon myself, I shall not be obliged to cast imputations on any individual opponent. The subject of a domestic Government for Ire- land, without any distinct specification of its form, has been presented to us from tln;e to time within the last fifteen or sixteen years. I have at no time regarded it as necessarily replete with danger, or as a question which ought to be blocked out by the assertion of some hio-h constitutional doctrine with which it could not be reconciled. But I have considered it to be a question Involving such an amount and such a kind of change, and likely to be encountered with so much of prejudice apart from reason, as to make it a duty to look rigidly to the conditions, upon the fulfilment of which alone it could warrantably be entertained. They were in my view as follows : I. It could not be entertained, except upon a final surrender of the hope that Parliament could so far serve as a legislative instrument for Ireland HISTORY OF AN IDEA. 825 as to be able to establish honorable and friendly relations between Great Britain and the people of that country.* 2. Nor unless the demand for it were made ih obedience to the unequivocal and rooted desire of Ireland, expressed through the constitutional medium of the Irish representatives. 3. Nor unless, being thus made, it were like- wise so defined as to bring it within the limits of safety and prudence, and to obviate all danger to the unity and security of the Empire. 4. Nor was it, in my view, allowable to deal with Ireland upon any principle, the benefit of which could not be allowed to Scotland in circum- stances of equal and equally clear desire. 5. Upon the fulfilment of these conditions, it appeared to me an evident duty to avoid, as long as possible, all steps which would bring this great settlement into the category of party measures. 6. And, subject to the foregoing considerations, I deemed it to be of great moment to the public weal that the question should be promptly and expeditiously dealt with, inasmuch as it must otherwise gravely disturb the action of our polit- ical system by changes of Ministry, by dissolutions of Parliament, and by impeding the business and derogating further from the character of the House of Commons. * I have not in the following pages given explanations on this head, aa I think they were sufficiently supplied by my speech on the introduction oi the Irish Government Bill in April last. 826 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. These were the principles which I deemed ap- plicable to the subject; and every step I have taken from first to last, without exception, has been prompted by, and is referable to, one or other of them. From the torrent of reproachful criticisms, brought down upon me probably by the necessity of the case, it is not easy to extricate, in an ade- quate form, the charge or charges intended to be made. One or two of the statements, I must own, surprise me ; as for example when Lord Northbrook, complaining of me for reticence be- fore, and for my action after the election of 1885, states confidently that nothing had happened " that could not have been foreseen by any man of ordinary political foresight." I do not dwell upon the undeniable truth that many things may be foreseen, which, notwithstanding, cannot prop- erly become the subject of action until they have been seen as well as foreseen. But I broadly contest the statement. I assert that an incident of the most vital importance had happened, which I did not foresee ; which was not foreseen, to my knowledge, by any one else, even if some might have hoped for it, and which I doubt whether Lord Northbrook himself foresaw ; namely, that the Irish demand, put forth on the first night of the session by Mr. Parnell, with eighty-four Irish Home Rulers at his back, would be confined within the fair and moderate bounds of autonomy ; of an Irish legislature, only for affairs specifically Irish; HISTORY OF AN IDEA. §27 of a Statutory and subordinate Parliament. But in this incident lay the fulfilment of one of those conditions which were in my view essential, and which had been theretofore unfulfilled. The more general and more plausible form of the attack I think may be stated as a dilemma. Either I had conceived the intention of Home Rule precipitately, or I had concealed it unduly. Either would, undoubtedly, have been a grave offence; the second as a plot against my friends, the first as an attempt to escape from the sober judgment of the country, and to carry it by sur- prise. The first aspect of the case was presented by Lord Hartington in the House of Commons,* and by Mr. Chamberlain, on the 20th of June, at Birmingham.'!* The second was put forward by Mr. Bright in addressing his constituents,! and, with much point and force, by Lord Hartington § at Sheffield. In substance he argued thus: " Mr, Gladstone has never, during fifteen years, con- demned the principle of Home Rule. Either, then, he had not considered it, or he had assented to it. But, in his position as Minister, he must have considered it. Therefore the proper con- clusion is that he had assented to it. And yet, though I was Secretary for Ireland, with Lord Spencer as Viceroy, when he was Prime Minister, to neither of us did he convey the smallest idea of such assent." * Times, May II. •)• Times, July 2. % Times, June 21. \ Times, June 29. 49 328 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. Telling as this statement evidently was, it abounds in leakages. In the first place, I deny that it is the duty of every Minister to make known, even to his colleagues, every idea which has formed itself in his mind. I should even say that the contradictory proposition would be ab- surd. So far as my experience of Government has gone, subjects ripe for action supply a Minis- ter with abundant material for communication with his colleagues, and to make a rule of mixing with them matters still contingent and remote would confuse and retard business, instead of aiding it. But letting pass, for argument's sake, a very irrational proposition, I grapple with the dilemma, and ^^.y non seqiiihw : the consequence asserted is no consequence at all. It was no con- sequence from my not having condemned Home Rule, that I had either not considered it, or had adopted it. What is true is, that I had not pub- licly and in principle condemned it, and also that I had mentally considered it. But I had neither adopted nor rejected it ; and for the very simple reason, that it was not ripe either for adoption or rejection. It had not become the unequivocal demand of Ireland : and it had not been so de- fined by its promoters, as to prove that it was a safe demand. It may and should be known to many who are or have been my colleagues, that I made some abortive efforts towards increasing Irish influence over Irish affairs, beyond the mere extension of County Government, but not in a HISTORY OF AN IDEA, 82.9 shape to which the term Home Rule could be properly applied. Nor have I been able to trace a single imputation upon me, whether of omission or commission, in respect of which I should not, by acting according to the orders of my censors, have offended against all or some of the rules which I have pointed out as the guides of my conduct, and by which I seek to stand or fall.* As these disputes of ours, trivial enough from one point of view, are in a certain sense making history, it may be well if, in connection with the thread of these observations, I recall, by means of a very brief outline, some particulars relating to the Government of Ireland, and to the demand for a domesdc legislature, during the last half century. For that demand, constant in the hearts of Irishmen, has nevertheless been intermittent in its manifestation ; sometimes wider, sometimes narrower in its form ; sometimes, as in tlie fam- ine, put aside by imperative necessity ; sometimes yielding the ground to partial and lawless action ; sometimes exchanged for attempts at practical legislation, which for the moment threw it into the shade. The great controversy of Free Trade, the re- formation of the Tariff, and the care of finance, provided me, in common with many others, nay, >*■ Among other persons whose animadversions I have examined, I may mention those of Mi. Goschen {Tunes, l^ay I and 3), Lord Sdisbury [Tunes, June 14 and 30), Mr Baxter {Times, May i), Sir M H Beach (7i;««, June 24), Loid R. Chuichill (7/wfj, June 28) and Lord Haitmg- ton, paistm. 830 GLADSTONE-PARNELL. in the main provided the Three Kingdoms, with a serious and usually an absorbing political occu- pation for a quarter of a century, from the time when the Government of Sir R. Peel was formed, in 1841. When that period had passed, and when the question of the franchise had been dealt with, the general condition of Ireland became the main subject of my anxiety. The question of a home government for Ire- land was at that time in abeyance. The grant of such a government to that country had only been known to us, in the past, either as the de- mand for a repeal of the Legislative Union, or in the still more formidable shape which it pre- sented when the policy of O'Connell was super- seded by the men of action, and when the too just discontent of Ireland assumed the violent and extravagant form of Fenianism. The move- ment for Repeal appeared to merge into this dangerous conspiracy, which it was obvious could only be met by measures of repression. In none of these controversies had I personally taken any direct share, beyond following the statesmen of 1834 and of 1844 by my vote .against Repeal of the Union. Mournfully as I am struck, in retrospect, by the almost absolute failure of Parliament, at and long after those periods, to perform its duties to Ireland, I see no reason to repent of any such vote. Unspeakably criminal, I own, were the means by which the Union was brought about, and utterly insufficient HISTORY OF AN IDEA. 831 were the reasons for its adoption ; still it was a measure vast in itself and in its consequential arrangements, and it could not be made the sub- ject of experiment from year to year, or from Parliament to Parliament. There was then a yet stronger reason for declining to impart a shock to the Legislative fabric by Repeal. Before us lay an alternative policy, the relief of Ireland from grievance ; and this policy had not been tried in any manner at all approaching to suffi- ciency. It was not possible, at the time, to prog- nosticate how in a short time Parliament would stumble and almost writhe under its constantly accumulating burdens, or to pronounce that it would eventually prove incapable of meeting the wants of Ireland. Evidently there was a period when Irish patriotism, as represented by O'Con- nell, looked favorably upon this alternative policy, had no fixed conclusion as to the absolute necessity for Home Government, and seemed to allow that measures founded in "justice to Ire- land " might possibly suffice to meet the necessity of the case. But the efforts made in this direc- tion, down to the time of the famine, were, though honest and useful, only partial ; and they unhap- pily had been met by an obstinacy of resistance, which entailed long delays, and frequent mutila- tions ; and which in all cases deprived them of their gracious aspect, and made even our re- medial plans play the part of corroborative wit- nesses to an evil state of things. 832 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. It will be admitted that the Government of 1868—74 endeavored on a more adequate scale, principally by what is still called in some quarters sacrilege and confiscation, to grapple with an in- veterate difficulty. Once more, in acknowledg- ment of these efforts, the National Party fell into line. But, on the important question of Educa- tion, we were defeated in 1873, not by an Eng- lish, but by an Irish resistance. Other measures, to which I had looked with interest, could not be brought to birth. But a happy effect had been produced upon Irish feeling ; and prosperity, both agricultural and general, singularly, it might be said unduly, favored for some years the opera- tion of the Land Act of 1870. We had taken seriously to the removal of grievance, as the al- ternative policy to Repeal of the Union. So much had been achieved, with the zealous support of the electorate of England and Scodand, that it was our plain duty to carry through that policy to the uttermost, and to give no counte- nance in any shape to proposals for either undoing or modifying the present constitution of the Im- perial Parliament, until it had been established to our satisfaction, or conclusively shown to be the fixed and rooted conviction of the Irish people, that Parliament was unequal to the work of governing Ireland as a free people should be governed. At this time it was, that the new formula of Home Rule came forward as matter for discus- HISTORY OF AN IDEA. 833 sion, not in Parliament, but in Ireland; before the Irish public, and under the auspices of Mr. Isaac Butt, who was at that time simply an indi- vidual of remarkable ability, not yet the repre- sentative or leader of a Nationalist party, far less of a Nationalist majority. There were, at the time, no inconsiderable presumptions that Parlia- ment could meet the wants of Ireland, from the conspicuous acts it had just accomplished. It was very well known that in some cases where those wants had not been adequately met, such as the case of the Borough Franchise in 1868, it was really due to the defective expression of them by Irish Members of Parliament. It was plain that there was no authoritadve voice from Ireland, such as was absolutely required to jus- tify a Prime Minister of this country in using any language which could be quoted as an encour- agement to the movement on behalf of a domes- tic Legislature. Accordingly, I contended at Aberdeen, in the summer of 1871, that no case had been established to prove the incompetence of Parliament, or to give authority to the demand of Mr. Butt. I felt, and righdy felt, the strongest objections to breaking up an existing constitution of the Legislature, without proof of its necessity, of its safety, and of the sufficiency of the au- thority by which the demand was made. But even at that time I did not close the door against a recognition of the question in a different state of things. I differed as widely as possible, even 834 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. at that time, from those with whom I have been in conflict during the present year. For, instead of denouncing the idea of Home Rule as one in its essence destructive of the unity of the Empire, in the following words I accepted the assurance given to the contrary: "Let me do the promoters of this movement the fullest justice. Always speaking under the conviction, as they most emphatically declare, and as I fully believe them, that the union of these kingdoms tinder Her Majesty is to be maintained, but that Parliament is to be broken up." * Thus, at the very first inception of the question, I threw aside the main doctrine on which oppo- sition to Irish autonomy is founded. This was the first step, and I think a considerable step, towards placing the controversy on its true basis. In the General Election of 1874, a great prog- ress became visible. Mr. Butt was returned to Parliament as the chief of a party formed on be- half of Irish self-ofovernment. It was a consider- able part}'', amounting, as is said, to a small nomi- nal majority, yet rather conventionally agreed on a formula than united by any idea worked into practical form. But a new stage had been reached, and I thus referred at the opening of the Session f to the proposal of the Irish leader: "That plan is this — that exclusively Irish affairs are to be judged in Ireland, and that then the Irish members are to come to the Imperial Parliament and to judge as they may think fit of the general affairs of the Empire, and also of af- * Times, Sept. 27, 1871. •{•"Hansard," Debate on Address, March 20, 1874. HISTORY OF AN IDEA 835 fairs exclusively English and Scotch. [Mr. Butt: No, no.] It is all very well for gentlemen to cry ' No ' when the blot has been hit by the honorable gentleman opposite" (Mr. Newdegate). ... " I cannot quit this subject without recording the satisfac- tion with which I heard one declaration made by the right honorable gentleman who seconded the amendment (Mr. Brooks). My honorable and learned friend said that Ireland has entirely given up the idea of separation from this country." Thus I again accepted without qualification the principle that Home Rule had no necessary con- nection with separation, and took my objection simply to a proposal that Irishmen should deal exclusively with their own affairs, and also, jointly, with ours. After the death of Mr. Butt, Mr. Shaw became the leader of his party, and in 1884 delivered an exposition of his views in a spirit so frank and loyal to the Constitution, that I felt it my duty at once to meet such an utterance in a friendly man- ner. I could not, indeed, consistently with the conditions I have laid down, make his opinion my own. But I extract a portion of my reference to his speech, as it is reported.* " I must say that the spirit of thorough manliness in which he approaches this question, and which he unites with a spirit of thorough kindliness to us, and with an evident disposition to respect both the functions of this House, and the spirit of the English Constitution, does give hope that if the relations between England and Ireland are to become thoroughly satis- factory, the most important contribution to that essential end will have been made by my honorable friend, and those who speak like him." *" Hansard," Feb. 27, 1880, vol. ccl., p. 1587. 836 QLAPSTONE— PARNELL. In a speech at the Guildhall, on receiving an address, I reverted to the subject of Home Rule. This was the period (October, 1881) when I deemed it my duty more than once to denounce in strong terms the movement against rent in Ireland, and with it the extravagant claims which seemed to me to be made in the name of National Independence. Yet I then spoke as follows : ** It is not on any point connected with the exercise of local government in Ireland ; it is not even on any point connected with what is popularly known m that country as Home Rule, and which may be understood m any one of a hundred senses, some of them perfectly acceptable, and even desirable, others of them mischievous and revolutionary — it is not upon any of these points that we are at present at issue. With regard to local government in Ireland, after what I have said of local government in general, and its immeasurable benefits, .... you will not be surprised if I say that I for one will hail with satisfaction and delight any measure of local governments^;' Ireland, 01 for any portion of the coun- try, provided only that it conform to this one condition, that It shall not break down or impair the supremacy of the Im- perial Parliament." * Once more I entered on the subject, in the House of Commons, on February 9, 1882. I re- ferred to the party led then, as now, by Mr. Par- nell. The citation is from Hansard: " Neither they, nor so far as I know Mr. Butt before them, nor so far as I know Mr. O'Connell before him, ever dis- tinctly explained, in an intelligible and practicable form, the manner in which the real knot of this question was to be untied. The principle upon which the honorable members propose to proceed is this — that merely Irish matters should be dealt with by a purely Irish authority, and that purely Im- perial matters should be dealt with by an Imperial Chamber * 7ww«, Oct. 14, 1881. HISTORY OF AN IDKA. 837 ih which [reland is to be represented. Biit they have not told us by what authority it is to be deterrniued what matters, when taken one by one, are Irish, and what matters are Im- perial. Until) Sir, they lay before this Jlouse a plan in which they go to the very bottom of that subject, and give us to understand in what manner that division of jurisdiction is to be accomplished, the practical consideration of this subject cannot really be arrived at, and, for my part, I know not how any effective judgment upon it can be pronounced. What- ever may be the outcome of the honorable member's piopo- sal, of this I am well convinced, that neither this House of Commons, nor any other that may succeed it, will at any time assent to any measure by which the one i)aramount Central Authority, necessary for holding together in perfect union and compactness this great Empire, can possibly be either in the greatest or the slightest degree impaired. We are not to depart from that principle ; and what I put to the honorable gentleman who has just sat down, and to the hon- oiable member who preceded him is this — that their first duty to us and their first duty to themselves, their first obligation in the prosecution of the purpose which they have in view — namely, the purpose of securing the u.anagement of })urely Irish affairs by Irish hands — is to point out to us by what authority, and by what instrument, affairs purely Irish aie to be divided and distinguished, in order that they may be ap- piopnately and separately dealt with from those Imperial affairs and interests which they have frankly admitted must remain in the hands of the Imperial Parliament," Mr. Plunkett hereupon stated that he had taken down my words, and that he could only under- stand them as an invitation to Irish members to reopen the question of Home Rule. Nor did he see how I could, after using such words, resist a motion for a committee on the subject.* To any and every plan for referring such a subject to a * The Times of Januaiy 8, 1882, states that in my speedi, as Prmie Minis'er, I " diverged, amid geneial amazement," into the question of a separate Legislature, and supporting Mr Plunkett, said that the language which I used was " susceptible of an interpretation which, we fear, may do infinite and iireparable mischief." 838 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. committee of Parliament I have at all times been opposed. But Mr. Pliinkett's meaning was evi- dent, nor could I dispute the substance of his interpretation. I will not weary my reader by adding to cita- tions by which his patience has already been so severely tried. But I ask him to remember that down to this time no safeo^uardingf definition of Home Rule had been supplied, and no demand, in the constitutional sense, had been made by the Irish nation. I beg him, then, after he has read the foregoing declarations, to place himself for a single moment in my position, as one who thought conditions to be indispensable, but also thought that the question might under conditions be en- tertained, and then to ask himself whether it was possible more carefully to indicate In outline the limits within which the subject of Irish self-gov- ernment might, and beyond which it might not legitimately be considered, and whether it is any- thing less than absurd to impute to me* that my "principles" forbade me to promote it? I next pass to the period preceding the election of 1885. It had now become morally certain that Ireland would, through a vast majority of her rep- resentatives, present a demand In the National sense. But no light had been thrown, to my knowledge, upon the question what that demand would be. Further, not only was there a Tory Government in office, but one which owed much * Sir M Beach at Bristol {Times, June 24, 1885). HISTORY OF AN IDEA. 839 to Mr. Parnell, and which was supposed to have given him, through its Lord-Lieutenant or other- wise, assurances respecting Irish Government, which he had deemed more or less satisfactory. Under these circumstances I conceived that my duty was clear, and that it was summed up in cer- tain particulars. They were these: To do nothing to hinder the prosecution of the question by the Tory Government if it should continue in office (of course without prejudice to my making all the efforts in my power to procure a Liberal majority) ; entirely to avoid any language which would place the question in the category of party measures, but to use my best efforts to impress the public mind, and especially the Liberal mind, with the supreme importance and the probable urgency of the question ; and lastly, to lay down the principle on which it should be dealt with. These rules of action applied to the circumstances of the hour those governing principles which I have above enumerated. I proceeded on them as follows : It was impossible for me, while ignorant of the nature and limits of the Irish demand, to give an opinion upon it ; and even had it been possible, it would have been in conflict with the condition which I have numbered (p. 825) as the fifth. But, to give emphasis to the importance of the ques- tion, I severed it in my address from the general subject of Local Government for the three king- doms. Ireland had arrived, I said, at an impor- 840 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. tant epoch In her history ;* she had claims to a special interpretation of the principles of Local Government.f It would be the solution of a problem testing the political genius of these na- tions4 Woe be to the man who should prevent or retard the consummation. § It would probably throw into the shade all the important measures which in my address I had set out as ripe for ac- tion. j| And the subject is one " which goes down to the very roots and foundations of our whole civil and political constitution."^ And yet it has been said^ strangely enough, that I gave no indi- cation to my friends, except of Local Government in the sense of County Government for Ireland."^'* Lastly, I laid down, over and over again, the principle on which we ought to proceed. It was to give to Ireland everything which was compati- ble with " the Supremacy of the Crown, the Unity of the Empire, and all the authority of Parliament necessary for the conservation of that Unity."ff It appears to me that the whole of the provis- ions of the Irish Government Bill, lately buried, * Address of Sept. 1 7, 1885, p 20. ■j- Ibid., 21. Jlbid. § Ibid, p. 22. li First Midlothian Speech, Nov. 9, 1885, Speeches, p. 44. i Ibid. ** In the speech just quoted, I also said that for a Government in a minority to deal with the Irish question would not be safe. Certainly such an operation could not but be attended with danger ; but that I thought it might nevertheless be properly undertaken is demonstrated by the tender of my support in it to Lord Salisbury, conveyed after the election through Mr. Balfour, although the Mimstetial party scarcely reached 250. 11 Address, p. 21. HISTORY OF AN IDEA. §41 but perhaps not altogether dead, lies well within these lines, and that my case thus far is complete. What I have in these pages urged has been a defence ag^ainst a charg-e of reticence. On the charge of precipitancy I need not bestow many words. What antagonists call precipitancy I call promptitude. Had Mr. Pitt in 1801 carried Roman Catholic Emancipation, as we suppose he wished, many an Englishman would have thought him precipitate. Precipitancy indeed was avoided, but at what cost? For nine-and-twenty years the question was trifled with on one side the Channel, and left festering on the other, and emancipation was at last accepted as an alternative to civil war. Such is not the manner in which I desire to see the business of the Empire carried on. It was not pondering the case ; it was paltering with the public interests. I do not deny that promptitude is disagreeable in politics, as it often is to a doc- tor's or a surgeon's patient. But if the practi- tioner sees that, by every day's delay, the malady takes hold and the chances of health or life are dwindling away, it is his duty to press the opera- tion or the drug, and the sufferer will in due time be grateful to him for the courage and fidelity which at first he mistakenly condemned. I have endeavored to point out the conditions under which alone the question of a statutory Par- liament for Ireland could be warrantably enter- tained. The real test may be stated in one word: the ripeness or unripeness of the question. All 842 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. men do not perceive, all men do not appreciate ripeness with the same degree of readiness or aptitude ; and the slow must ever suffer inconven- ience in the race of life. But when the subject once was ripe, the time for action had come. Just as if it had been a cornfield, we were not to wait till it was overripe. The healing of inveterate sores would only become more difficult, the growth of budding hopes more liable to be checked and paralyzed by the frosts of politics. For England, in her soft arm-chair, a leisurely, very leisurely consideration, with adjournments interposed, as it had been usual, so also would have been comfort- able. But for Ireland, in her leaky cabin, it was of consequence to stop out the weather. To miss the opportunity would have been not less clearly wrong than to refuse waiting until it came. The first political juncture which made action permis- jible also made it obligatory. So much, then, for precipitancy. CHAPTER XV. HON. JOHN SHERMAN ON " THE GREAT IRISH STRUGGLE." Robert M. McWade, Esq., Philadelphia, Pa., My dear Sir: I have to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt from you of a copy of the joint work of Mr. O'Connor and yourself on "The Great Irish Struggle." It contains a mass of information deeply interesting to every American. The preface by Dr. Burns expresses in a few sentences the view taken by intelligent Americans of the movement for Home Rule in Ireland. There is a profound and general sympathy among my countrymen in favor of this movement, and the universal hope is, that by peaceful and ear- nest efforts the British Parliament will be induced to grant to the people of Ireland the inestimable 'benefit of Home Rule in local affairs. This is not confined to Irishmen in America, or to the descendants of Irishmen, but is fully shared by the descendants of Englishmen, and especially by those whose ancestors for more than two cen- turies have been Americans by birth. Nor does 50 (843) 844 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. this feeling arise from any desire to weaken or cripple the power of the British Empire. While this power has been often exercised without due regard to the rights of other nations, yet we know that the general results of this domination, to which the Irish people have contributed their full part, have been the most potent agency in advanc- ing the civilization and progress of mankind. As Americans we share in the glory of British achievements and power, and believe that with Home Rule Ireland will not only cease to be dis- contented, but will be able to contribute a still greater share to the boasted power of the British Empire. Nor does our sympathy arise from any affinities on account of religious creeds or tests. A greater proportion of the American people are Protestants, compared with Catholics, than are the Protestants of Great Britain, compared with Cath- olics; but we have long since learned that freedom of religious worship is the sacred right of every citizen — too sacred to be controlled by the laws of the State or nation. Our sympathy is founded upon the experience of a hundred years, that a great population cannot be held in peaceful and happy relation by central authority alone, but that each community must have local autonomy, with power to pass local laws suited to its wants, its habits, and even its prejudices, leaving to central, or national author- ity the great powers essential to empire. JOHN SHERMAN'S VIEWS. 845 We carry our divisions of local autonomy to school districts, to townships, to cities and counties, each with clearly defined but limited authority, but confer upon States and the nation broader power and jurisdiction. It is only by such a divis- ion of power that freedom, in its true sense, can be enjoyed by any populous and extended coun- try. Great Britain has recognized this great principle of human government in every step of its wonderful progress towards free institutions, from the days of Magna Charta, the birth of its national freedom, to its present liberal govern- ment founded upon general suffrage. She has extended the principle of Home Rule to the Do- minion of Canada and Australia, and ages ago she gave local autonomy with liberal franchises to her cities and counties, and even to guilds of tradesmen and mechanics. It is this autonomy, or local rule with powers suitable to the conditions and wants of Ireland, that the people of that island want, and such powers are not only consistent with, but will ad- vance the glory and power of the Empire. It was earnestly hoped by all classes in America that when a great and honored statesman like Gladstone, with the body of the Liberal party, proposed to grant Home Rule to Ireland, that it would be yielded by the popular vote in England; and we yet hope that by peaceful appeals and agitation, and, especially by eschewing violence, 846 GLADSTONE— PARNELL. and above all that hellish form bf violence, by dynamite, the House of Commons may ht ^dn to try this effective mode to happily close " The Great Irish Struggle" of the century. We in America can appreciate the fea'r of "de- stroying the Union," that is made th6 ^arty cry against Home Rule. We spent billions df treas- ure and hundreds of thousands of lives to save the Union, and all, both North and Sotith, now feel that the preservation of the Uni6n was worth the cost. But when we saved the Union, the first step was to preserve and maintain in full force the autonomy of the States, and all the powers and benefits of local government. In this we re- ceived the hearty approval of the English peo- ple. In wishing for them the same happy solution of their struggles we only speak the friendly wish of a greater number of the descendants of Enof- lishmen, Irishmen and Scotchmen than are to be found in all the islands of Great Britain. Good government depends upon the order and blending of Home Rule and national authority, which, like the two great forces of nature, though seemingly opposed, are equally important to the harmony of government. Very truly yours, John Sherman. This book is a presentation facsimile. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper) Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Acme Bookbinding Charlestown, Massachusetts 2004 BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 025 30983 2