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 V 
 
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CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
-^tci'T'n' -6^ ^uu'n'&^a, t^ ■::^,<:^Tieu- &*■ i:r&^ 
 
CHARLES STEWART 
 PARNELL 
 
 BY 
 
 HIS BROTHER 
 JOHN HOWARD PARNELL 
 
 JBOSTOK coT.i.irat libraIW 
 
 CHESTNUT tttLL, MAB8, 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 1914 
 
iiidd^i 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FOREWORD ------ vii 
 
 BOOK I 
 EARLY DAYS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. HOME AND FAMILY ----- 3 
 
 II. IN THE NURSERY - - - - - l8 
 
 III. CHILDHOOD - - - - - 26 
 
 IV. WARDS IN CHANCERY - - - - 38 
 
 V. AT WISHAW'S - - - - - 47 
 
 VI. NEARING MANHOOD - - - - 54 
 
 BOOK II 
 STEPS TO THE THRONE 
 
 I. THE FENIANS - - - - - 67 
 
 II. NEARLY MARRIED - - - - 73 
 
 III. CHARLEY IN AMERICA - - - - 82 
 
 IV. ADVENTURES IN THE COALFIELDS - - - 89 
 V. THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT - - - - 96 
 
 VI. BACK TO EUROPE - - - - - IIO 
 
 VII. Charley's entrance into politics - - 119 
 
 vin. first blood - - - - - ^33 
 
 IX. in parliament - - - - - 141 
 
 X. OBSTRUCTION - - - - - 1 49 
 XI. A TRIUMPHAL TOUR - - - - - I56 
 
 XII. LEADER AT LAST - - - - - 165 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK III 
 IN POWER 
 
 CHAPTER PAGB 
 
 I. MY brother's personality - - - 17I 
 
 II. THE RIGHT TO LIVE - - - - 183 
 
 III. IN PRISON ------ 193 
 
 IV. THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS - - - 1 99 
 V. THE ARREARS ACT ----- 205 
 
 VI. A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN - - - - 211 
 
 VIL THE PIGOTT LETTERS - - - - 22T 
 
 BOOK IV 
 A LOSING FIGHT 
 
 I. THE DIVORCE AND AFTER - - - - 23I 
 
 II. THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE - . - 241 
 
 III. Charley's betrayal _ - _ - 246 
 
 IV. after the death ----- 254 
 
 V. A VISION ------ 258 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 A. Charley's superstitions - - - - 263 
 
 B. Charley's influence in America - - 268 
 
 C. AVONDALE industries - - - - 2yy 
 
 D. where the tribute went to - - - 286 
 
 E. A friend's appreciation - - - - 290 
 
 F. the manifesto of 1890 - - - - 294 
 
 G. - - __--- 302 
 
A FOREWORD 
 
 Though it is not possible that anything I may 
 write will add to the lustre that circles the name 
 of Charles Stewart Parnellj or deepen the affection 
 in which that name is held by Irishmen all over 
 the world, still, as a Cork man and a devoted and 
 life-long follower of the illustrious Tribune, and 
 as one who was honoured with his acquaintance 
 for many years, I would desire in this foreword to 
 pay a sincere, if humble, tribute to his memory. 
 Mr. Parnell found his countrymen in serfdom; he 
 aroused them from theii lethargy, he raised them 
 up and made them determined and self-reliant. 
 He awakened hope in a crushed and despondent 
 people, he devoted his life to their cause, and he 
 showed them the way to liberty. The genius of 
 Parnell revolutionized procedure in the British 
 Parliament, and the methods which his brain 
 designed bear the hall-mark of perfect statesman- 
 ship. His brilliance as a leader was not less re- 
 markable. Gifted with a keen insight into affairs, 
 he was superficially cold, unemotional, and appar- 
 ently detached. He utilized to the fullest these 
 
 vii 
 
viii A FOREWORD 
 
 remarkable qualities, but nothing could conceal 
 his burning love of his country and of his country- 
 men. Parnell the calm, calculating statesman 
 and politician has been pictured and described 
 by many writers, but few have penetrated the 
 armour that concealed the real man. The in- 
 scrutable, sphinx-like Irish gentleman, who was 
 in habit and manner diametrically opposed to 
 what Britons conceived to be the typical Irish- 
 man, mystified his political opponents and critics. 
 They could not understand Parnell, neither could 
 they comprehend how it was that he, whom they 
 regarded as being essentially un-Irish in his 
 personality, could awaken the wildest enthusiasm 
 in his feUow-countrymen. They only knew that 
 he was beloved by Irishmen, that he lived in their 
 hearts, that he dominated political thought in 
 Ireland, and that his word was a supreme law to 
 its people. Parnell has been appropriately de- 
 scribed as " the Uncrowned King " of Ireland, 
 and while he lived that descriptive phrase was 
 true. Now that he is dead, the Irish people have 
 placed a nation's diadem on his brow, and as long 
 as the shamrock grows in Irish ground they will 
 honour his name and his memory. 
 
 Parnell the statesman was known, respected 
 and possibly feared, in the British Parliament; 
 
A FOREWORD ix 
 
 Parnell the Patriot was idolized in Ireland. And 
 if I may develop this view a little further, I would 
 add, with a full knowledge and a personal 
 acquaintance with the facts, that nowhere in 
 Ireland was Parnell' s genius more appreciated, 
 and nowhere was he held in greater affection, than 
 in the city of Cork, which he represented in Parlia- 
 ment for many years. In this work Mr. John 
 Howard Parnell writes of his brother from what 
 might be termed the " personal point of view,'* 
 and, as the book speaks for itself, it is not necessary 
 to say more than that it will be welcomed and 
 warmly appreciated by Irishmen in all parts of 
 the globe, as well as by everyone who has admired 
 the Titanic political achievements of one of 
 Ireland's most devoted and illustrious sons. 
 During my three years of of&ce as Mayor of Cork, 
 I was in constant and intimate touch with Mr. 
 Parnell, and I saw him and knew him, if I may so 
 express it, " behind the scenes." The more I 
 explored the depths of his mighty mind, and the 
 more I realized the attributes of his character, 
 the greater my esteem — I might say my affec- 
 tion — grew for the patriot whose every thought 
 was for his country's welfare. Two things that 
 impressed themselves on me were his intense 
 interest in everything that helped to establish or 
 
X A FOREWORD 
 
 develop Irish industries, and his absolute detesta- 
 tion of any British intermeddling, which in many 
 instances tended to hamper such Irish industries 
 as already existed. Mr. Parnell's view was that 
 British-made laws affecting trade and commerce 
 were drafted and designed mainly to suit British 
 conditions, and little or no consideration was 
 given to the effect that such laws might have upon 
 Irish industries. He knew that in Ireland the 
 conditions were different, and he always insisted 
 that Irishmen themselves were the best judges 
 of what their country required. The Home Rule 
 principle was constantly in his mind, and his 
 first thought regarding every general legislative 
 measure was, " How will it affect Ireland?" An 
 instance occurred over twenty years ago which 
 illustrates Mr. Parnell's extreme interest in the 
 conservation of Irish industries. A millers' strike 
 was in progress in Cork, when I was called to 
 London on urgent business. Meeting Mr. Parnell 
 in the House of Commons, he asked me to return 
 immediately, and to use every effort to terminate 
 the dispute. " Try and end it at once," he said. 
 " We have very few Irish mills at work — ^let us 
 endeavour to keep what we have." 
 
 The people of Cork have always taken pride in 
 the fact that Parnell represented their city in 
 
A FOREWORD xi 
 
 Parliament, and that he was enrolled an Honorary 
 Burgess of their ancient municipality. An affec- 
 tionate regard for his name is still characteristic 
 of the people who live within earshot of Shandon 
 Bells; and Cork men, in common with their country- 
 men in Ireland or in exile, will always pay dutiful 
 homage to the memory of the man who served 
 his country so faithfully and well. While a stone 
 stands on a stone in the city that Finn Barr 
 founded, the most cherished heritage of its 
 citizens will be the glorious name of Charles 
 
 Stewart Parnell. 
 
 DANIEL HORGAN, 
 
 Mayor of Cork, 1 890-1 892. 
 Cork, 1914. 
 
BOOK I 
 
 EARLY DAYS 
 
 " Oh ! he stands beneath the sun, the glorious Fated One, 
 Like a martyr or conqueror, wearing 
 On his brow a mighty gloom — be it glory, be it doom. 
 The shadow of a crown it is bearing." 
 
 Lady Wylde. 
 
CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 HOME AND FAMILY 
 
 The Avondale Tea-House. 
 
 I begin the life of my brother, Charles Stewart 
 Parnell — or, as I cannot help calling him, Charley 
 — in a small cosy room in the old tea-cottage on 
 the banks of the Avonmore, near the Meeting of 
 the Waters on my brother's demesne at Avon- 
 dale. 
 
 This cottage took the place of the historical tea- 
 house, of which two rooms are left in a somewhat 
 ruined state. The old tea-house stood on the 
 same spot two hundred years ago, and was then 
 the rendezvous for all the Wicklow nobility and 
 gentry, who came there to drink tea when on a 
 visit to the Parnell and Hayes families. I re- 
 member specially that Lord and Lady Wicklow 
 used to drive round there to recall old memories 
 on their way to visit my mother. My brother 
 Charley always called in there on his daily walk 
 down to the sawmills. 
 
 3 
 
4 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 While the original tea-house has practically dis- 
 appeared, the old trees and shrubs all remain, as 
 well as young trees planted since by my brother 
 during his ownership. One feature is the im- 
 mense old silver firs — the largest in Ireland. 
 
 As I write this [in 1905] on a fishing visit, they 
 stand there, looking as if they kept lonely guard 
 with their funereal plumes, sorrowing, as it were, 
 for the departed tea-drinkers and the ancient 
 associations of Avondale. 
 
 This cottage is built on the banks of the beauti- 
 ful River Avonmore, about half a mile from 
 Charley's old home of Avondale. The road from 
 Avondale winds in and out along a charming 
 wooded valley, with the demesne meadows be- 
 tween the woods and the cottage, and is looking 
 its best on this beautiful spring day. 
 
 The young lambs are gambolling around; the 
 rooks are building their nests in the fine old 
 beeches, offsprings of the former generations of 
 rooks who used to circle round the old tea-drinkers ; 
 the wood-pigeons are cooing in the silver firs; the 
 pines are sighing overhead; and through the trees 
 I can hear the singing of the waters meandering 
 along the river's rocky bed. It is no wonder that 
 I should feel inspired in these lovely surroundings 
 to begin the writing of my brother's life, where 
 many a time I used to come in search of the wary 
 trout while he looked on. Meanwhile I am wait- 
 ing solitary for the time to come for me to go out 
 
EARLY DAYS 5 
 
 and cast the fly, and the memories of old associa- 
 tions crowd upon me. 
 
 Whilst writing here I seem to feel my brother's 
 presence so near me. His portrait that looks 
 down upon me from the wall was placed there by 
 Mr. Michael Merna, his devoted sawmill manager, 
 who lived here. This picture was a newspaper 
 cartoon issued on the first anniversary of Charley's 
 death. It represents my brother attacked by 
 wolves, and asking his country not to fling him 
 to them until it has got his full value, showing 
 how prophetic were these words ; for not only was 
 he flung to the wolves, but his beautiful home of 
 Avondale as well. 
 
 Little did Charley think, when he and I used to 
 ramble here during our man}/ periods of com- 
 panionship throughout his varied career, that 
 Irish politics and his endeavours to make a new 
 Ireland, and free her white slaves from the land- 
 owners, would cause such a change. Little did he 
 expect to see his home in the hands of the English 
 Government, under the Board of Agriculture, and 
 the estate worked by English and Scotch labourers. 
 
 An Explanation. 
 
 I may say at once that this book is intended 
 rather as a memoir than a history of my late 
 brother. 
 
 The salient points of his striking career have 
 
6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 often been recounted, and I shall pass over them 
 very lightly, devoting attention more to the causes 
 which inspired and directed them. 
 
 What I aim at towards him is to be what 
 Bourrienne was to Napoleon, rather than what 
 Carlyle was to Frederick the Great — a humble 
 follower of Boswell, elucidating character by 
 seemingly trivial anecdotes, rather than a didactic 
 historian, overwhelming his readers with dates 
 and facts. 
 
 I must, however, in order to explain the sub- 
 sequent events and the gradual development of 
 my brother's life, touch briefly on our family — 
 their history, characteristics, and personal ap- 
 pearance — and on Avondale, the charming home 
 of our childhood in Wicklow, and my brother's 
 seat after he came of age. 
 
 So I freely grant that this opening chapter may 
 be skipped over with a yawn, as verging on the 
 dull. But I am afraid that it is necessary, and 
 its dulness inevitable, as it contains the steel 
 framework of facts on which the more fragile 
 edifice of anecdote and psychology and comment 
 is subsequently built. 
 
 If a few inaccuracies may occur from time to 
 time, I trust it will be remembered that I am 
 looking back over a period of seventy years — one 
 of the most eventful in the history of our nation — 
 and that my own personal career (which I hope to 
 describe in a subsequent volume) has been one 
 
EARLY DAYS 7 
 
 spent in many lands, and includes wild and even 
 thrilling adventures. It is hard now for me to 
 look back through the dust of all that turmoil and 
 see clearly with the recollection of yesterday. 
 
 Ancestral Influences. 
 
 A family history is rarely of very intense in- 
 terest to those unconnected with the family itself. 
 But the influence of the really outstanding char- 
 acters of certain ancestors upon the later genera- 
 tions is not only interesting, but important. 
 
 Our family is derived from one Thomas Parnell, 
 who was Mayor of Congleton in Cheshire during 
 the reign of James I. He purchased an estate in 
 Ireland, which descended (I skip the intervening 
 branches of the family tree) to his great-grandson, 
 the famous Sir John Parnell, whose father had 
 been created a Baronet in 1766. 
 
 Sir John threw himself heart and soul into Irish 
 politics. A member of the Irish Parliament from 
 1776 onwards, he held in succession the offices of 
 Commissioner of Customs and Excise and Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer. A sturdy supporter and 
 defender of Grattan, he resisted to his utmost 
 Pitt's scheme of legislative union. His death fol- 
 lowed closely on the merging of the Irish Parlia- 
 ment into the British one. 
 
 His son, Sir Henry Parnell, created Lord Congle- 
 ton in 1841, warmly opposed the continuance of 
 
8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the Irish Insurrection Act, on the ground that the 
 necessity for such an extreme measure had passed, 
 opposed the Bill for the suppression of the Catholic 
 Association, and took a prominent part in obtain- 
 ing Catholic Emancipation. He died in 1842, 
 after having held the of&ces of Minister for War 
 (under Lord Grey) and Paymaster-General of the 
 Forces (under Lord Melbourne). 
 
 By his wife. Lady Caroline Elizabeth Dawson, 
 daughter of the Earl of Portarlington, he had 
 five children, the youngest of whom, William, was 
 our grandfather. 
 
 The Fighting Commodore. 
 
 Our mother, Delia Stewart, was the daughter of 
 the American Nelson, Commodore Charles Stewart. 
 His countless exploits, his indomitable bravery, 
 and his many conflicts with and victories over the 
 English fleet during the American War of Inde- 
 pendence, are such that to recount them with any 
 justice would need a volume to itself. 
 
 The fact that the blood of one of America's 
 greatest national heroes ran in my brother Charles's 
 veins, in addition to the sympathy with which the 
 Irish cause has always been received in that land 
 of freedom, where so many of our brothers have 
 been driven to a hospitable and even glorious 
 exile, accounts for much of that reverence with 
 which, during my own solitary experiences in 
 
EARLY DAYS 9 
 
 America, I have found the name of Parnell re- 
 ceived even among the most lawless and desperate 
 characters. Those experiences, however, in which 
 my brother did not participate, are, I think, more 
 fittingly reserved for my account of my own life. 
 
 Father and Mother. 
 
 Our father travelled in America and Mexico at 
 the age of twenty-one, finally meeting our mother 
 in the latter country. 
 
 After his marriage he settled at Avondale as a 
 quiet country gentleman, keeping fine horses and 
 hounds, and hunting with all the Wicklow gentry. 
 He was very fond of agriculture, at which he was 
 recognized as an expert, and gave great employ- 
 ment to the people in reclaiming land at Avon- 
 dale. He was a prominent magistrate and D.L. 
 for Wicklow. High- tempered when aroused, he 
 was of a quiet disposition as a rule. He was fond 
 of shooting and preserving the game all over the 
 country, and had his shooting-lodge at Augha- 
 vannagh, an old military barracks in the mountains 
 of Wicklow, where he often went to shoot. He 
 was a very fine cricketer, and maintained a first- 
 rate cricket club. 
 
 My mother was the daughter of Commodore 
 Charles Stewart, of the American Navy, to whose 
 career I have already made a brief reference. She 
 was considered an American beauty, and moved 
 
10 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 in the best of American society. She and her 
 mother frequently accompanied her father on his 
 voyages. A charming woman, brilHant in both 
 pubhc and social life, she was also very generous 
 amongst the poor. Among her other gifts, she 
 was a very keen and clever politician, Charley 
 taking after her in that respect, her prophecies as 
 to our futures all having proved correct. The 
 taste for art, which I have inherited from her, she 
 possessed to a very marked degree, and was in 
 addition extremely well-read and a brilliant con- 
 versationalist. In appearance she was of medium 
 height, with dark hair and bluish eyes. 
 
 Our father and mother used to visit a great deal 
 amongst the Wicklow families, Lord and Lady 
 Wicklow, Lord and Lady Carysfort, and Lord and 
 Lady Powerscourt, their relatives, being among 
 their most intimate friends. 
 
 My Brothers and Sisters. 
 
 Our father had twelve children, whose names 
 and the dates of whose births and deaths, as far 
 as I remember, are given on p. ii. 
 
 William, the eldest, died, as I have shown, 
 before my own birth. 
 
 Hayes, who died from consumption, which 
 developed after a fall from his pony, was of dark 
 complexion. He was a clever boy, being excep- 
 tionally fond of mechanics and model shipbuild- 
 
EARLY DAYS 
 
 11 
 
 ing, I had his watch after^his death, but gave it 
 afterwards to my sister Anna. He was very quiet 
 and studious, slightly built, and was called Hayes 
 after Colonel Hayes, an intimate friend of our 
 father. 
 
 Henry Tudor I remember as a baby. He was 
 
 Name. 
 
 Date of Birth. 
 
 Date of Death. 
 
 William Parnell 
 
 1837 
 
 1838 
 
 Delia Parnell; married Mr. 
 
 
 
 Thompson . . 
 
 1838 
 
 1881 
 
 Hayes Parnell 
 
 1839 
 
 1855 
 
 Emily Parnell; married (i) 
 
 
 
 Captain Dickinson, (2) Cap- 
 
 
 
 tain Ricketts 
 
 1841 
 
 Alive 
 
 John Howard Parnell ; married 
 
 
 
 Mrs. Matier 
 
 1843 
 
 Alive 
 
 Sophy Parnell; married Alfred 
 
 
 
 McDermott 
 
 1845 
 
 1875 
 
 CHARLES STEWART PAR-l 
 
 /June 27, 
 \ 1846 
 
 October 6, 
 
 NELL; married Mrs. O'Sheaj 
 
 1891 
 
 Fanny Parnell 
 
 1849 
 
 1882 
 
 Anna Parnell 
 
 1852 
 
 1911 
 
 Theodosia Parnell ; married 
 
 
 
 Captain Paget 
 
 1853 
 
 Alive 
 
 Henry Tudor Parnell ; married 
 
 
 
 Miss Lonby . . 
 
 1851 
 
 Alive 
 
 Also one child, a boy, stillborn 
 
 
 
 born in France, and had light auburn hair. I 
 remember seeing him in my father's room pushing 
 a chair before him when he was not more than 
 two years old. He went through Cambridge, but 
 was too nervous to pass his examination for a 
 degree. He is a barrister, but does not practise. 
 Charley comes after myself. When young he 
 
12 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 was a wiry little boy, very bright and playful, 
 making fun of everybody and everything. He 
 was fond of mechanics, like his elder brother, 
 Hayes. He had dark brown hair, a pale com- 
 plexion, very dark brown and very piercing eyes. 
 His figure was slender, and he was very small for 
 his age. He did not grow until late, and was 
 nicknamed " Tom Thumb " at home. 
 
 As for the girls, Delia was considered a great 
 beauty. She had dark hair and complexion. She 
 was educated in Paris, and brought up in French 
 society. She married a rich American, Mr. Thomp- 
 son, and had one son, Henry, who showed a great 
 aptitude for music. He died of typhoid fever, 
 and my sister Delia died from grief at the loss 
 of her only son. 
 
 Emily was always very fond of music, and 
 played the piano extremely well. She was the 
 family dancei, and used to teach me. She had 
 as a girl a crossbar placed higher than herself, 
 which she used to clear at a standing jump. She 
 was a great favourite of her father's, but when 
 she wanted to marry Captain Dickinson father 
 objected and disinherited her, owing to the rumour 
 circulated by people, that she had run away with 
 him, which was absolutely untrue. She, however, 
 ultimately married Captain Dickinson, and later 
 Captain Ricketts. She had dark hair and eyes, 
 and when young was very delicate. She was 
 very fond of horses and donkeys, and went hunt- 
 
EARLY DAYS 13 
 
 ing when quite young with Hayes and my 
 father. 
 
 Sophy was a beautiful bright-haired girl. She 
 was educated in Paris, like Delia. She married 
 Mr. McDermott, and had several children. Her 
 death was due to nursing some of her children 
 who were suffering from scarlet fever, which she 
 caught from them. 
 
 Fanny, the poetess of the family, and our blue- 
 stocking sister, knew every book in the library at 
 Avondale. She was a regular little Irish rebel. 
 When in America, she took up the Ladies' Land 
 League, and was Charley's favourite sister and 
 chum. She had dark hair and hazel eyes, and 
 was very witty. Her end, like that of many of 
 our family, was a sudden one, she being found 
 dead in bed at Bordentown. 
 
 Anna was Fanny's special chum, and a fine 
 painter. She studied art in England at the 
 academies. She took up politics with Charley in 
 the Irish cause, and, like Fanny, belonged to the 
 Ladies' Land League. Her death was also a 
 tragic one, for she was drowned accidentally three 
 years ago. A real Irish patriot, she held up Lord 
 Spencer's carriage in Dublin, when he was Lord 
 Lieutenant, and made him promise certain con- 
 cessions to Irish prisoners. She was dark-haired, 
 with dark eyes, slight, of medium height, and 
 delicate in constitution. 
 
 Theodosia, the youngest, was a real society 
 
14 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 belle, though of a very quiet disposition. Unlike 
 most of us, she did not take much part in politics. 
 She married Captain Paget, of the Royal Navy, 
 and had one son, and is living at present at Wey- 
 bridge, England. 
 
 The Home of Parnell. 
 
 Avondale, the cradle of all our family, was given 
 to the Parnell family by the late owner, Colonel 
 Samuel Hayes (no relative of the Parnell family). 
 It descended from Sir John Parnell to Charles 
 Stewart Parnell, and thence to myself after 
 Charley's death. 
 
 It is beautifully situated on the top of a 
 high hill, with the demesne lands and meadows 
 sloping gently down to the Avonmore Valley, 
 celebrated by Thomas Moore in his poems, and 
 is about two miles from the celebrated Meet- 
 ing of the Waters, so vividly described by 
 Moore. 
 
 The valley is well wooded, the River Avon run- 
 ning down it a short distance from the house. 
 There are magnificent views from Avondale of 
 the valley and river and the opposite hills, with 
 the old copper-mines and works in the distance. 
 At the top of the lawn at Avondale is the cele- 
 brated cricket-ground — a large level area, where 
 many a game was played against the crack teams 
 in Ireland. 
 
EARLY DAYS 15 
 
 Next to the cricket-ground is a beautiful little 
 cosy house called Casino, which was generally the 
 home of the managers of the Avondale estate. 
 The lawn round the cricket-field is surrounded by 
 some of the finest beech, elm, and silver-fir trees 
 to be found in Ireland. 
 
 On the slope from the cxicket-lawn down 
 to the house is the place where Charley and 
 I used to play cricket with the work -boys 
 in the evenings. He could not have been older 
 than ten at the time, just beginning to learn 
 cricket. 
 
 From the turreted old gate-house at Avondale 
 runs a fine winding avenue, lined with beautiful 
 beech-trees, up to the house. 
 
 The House of Avondale. 
 
 The house itself is of old style, square structure, 
 not imposing outside. There is a granite porch at 
 the hall door, supported by large granite pillars. 
 The back of the house is more imposing, as 
 it is partly circular, rendered so by the bay- 
 windows, which look out on the lovely scenery. 
 It really ought to have been the front, had the 
 architect any appreciation of the beauties of 
 Nature. 
 
 Taking the interior, before the furniture was 
 removed after the sale, as you enter, a large hall 
 as high as the house, and taking up at least one- 
 
i6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 third of the whole area, meets your view. On the 
 inside of the door is inscribed the date when it 
 was built by Colonel Hayes — 1777. In the hall 
 were displayed the antlers of the largest Irish elk 
 in existence, found near the house in one of the 
 bogs on the estate. On the walls were sundry 
 trophies from Canada and other parts of the 
 world. The Irish colours of the Volunteers used 
 to hang there, but are there no longer, having 
 been lost. There were heads of deer and various 
 inscriptions on the walls, the latter mostly of a 
 Scriptural nature. A large billiard-table was also 
 set in the hall. 
 
 The library was a very fine room, where log 
 fires were always burned. Bookshelves were all 
 round the room, filled with works from all parts 
 of the world. In the room were antique tables, 
 chairs, and sofas. Scripture scenes and texts 
 were on the walls. 
 
 The drawing-room was a splendid room with a 
 large bow-window looking out on the country- 
 side. It was full of antique furniture, and very 
 fine old oil-paintings, all of a Scriptural character, 
 by celebrated artists. The chimney-piece was of 
 marble, and the inlaid inscriptions were by the 
 celebrated Italian painter Bossi, and were valued 
 at £1,000. 
 
 The parlour was an imposing room, every 
 article of furniture being of mahogany, with fine 
 chairs and tables and a magnificent sideboard. 
 
EARLY DAYS 17 
 
 Once again inscriptions of Scripture were on the 
 walls. 
 
 That concludes my somewhat detached remi- 
 niscences of our old home, which now, since it has 
 been converted into a School of Forestry under 
 the Board of Agriculture, has much altered in 
 appearance. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 IN THE NURSERY 
 
 Life in the Nursery. 
 
 My first recollection of Charley was when he was 
 about two or three years old, and an inmate of 
 the nursery, from which I had not long been 
 promoted. I faintly remember him toddling 
 about in his baby clothes. 
 
 When he grew a little older they wanted to put 
 him into petticoats, but he created such an uproar 
 that special breeches, made of the thinnest 
 material, were provided for him, and also for 
 myself. This was to make us hardy, as our 
 father wanted to give each of us his own iron 
 constitution. However, in the very cold weather 
 our nether garments were plentifully coated with 
 frost and icicles. 
 
 Charley was immensely proud of his victory, 
 and then refused to wear boots once he was clear 
 of the house, kicking them off and walking bare- 
 foot, especially in the snow I'm afraid I usually 
 followed his example. 
 
 One of poor Charley's most poignant griefs in 
 his tender years was the frequent loss of his night- 
 
EARLY DAYS 19 
 
 cap. His roars were incessant until it was found 
 and safely fixed on his head. 
 
 Charley once had a very narrow escape of 
 having his career cut short before he had even 
 learned how to talk. Our mother was nursing 
 him one day, when a visitor was suddenly an- 
 nounced. She hastily stowed away the future 
 Irish leader in the drawer of a large press, which 
 she closed without thinking, and hurried to the 
 drawing-room. When the visitor left, about half 
 an hour later, she found that she had clean for- 
 gotten what she had done with Charley, and a 
 frantic search was made, until muffled yells from 
 the drawer where he was imprisoned resulted in 
 his release. 
 
 Mrs. Twopenny. 
 
 His nurse, Mrs. Twopenny (invariably pro- 
 nounced by us "Tupny''), was a tall, buxom 
 Englishwoman, with dark hair and fine hazel eyes. 
 She was very fond of the scenery around Avon- 
 dale, and instilled a love of the country into me, 
 which Charley, however, did not show until later 
 years. 
 
 Mrs. Twopenny, who was a most respectable 
 woman, quite different from the succession of un- 
 educated nurses who had charge of us elder 
 children, was very firm with Charley, but at the 
 same time very kind to him. She used to lead 
 him by the hand on her favourite rambles through 
 
20 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the woods. When he was naughty, which was 
 pretty often, she gave him a few slaps, but not 
 very hard ones, and he never was whipped. Even 
 later, when he had indulged in some special piece 
 of mischief, he was never actually castigated by 
 our father, but only shut in a room by himself, 
 where he howled himself to sleep. 
 
 Mimic Warfare. - 
 
 When we got a little older, he, I, and Fanny, were 
 always fond of playing with tin soldiers. We each 
 had a regiment set up on the floor, and, once 
 ready, opened a furious fusilade on one another's 
 forces with little pea-shooters fashioned in the 
 form of cannon. Charley entered into the game 
 with the greatest spirit, and was determined to 
 win at all costs. Once, I remember, he reached 
 the field of battle before us, and carefully gummed 
 down his army to the floor, much to the disgust 
 of Fanny, who did not detect the ruse until her 
 own forces were annihilated, while his stood their 
 ground. 
 
 Fanny, by the way, was always Charley's 
 special chum, and they often used to go up to 
 an old loft under the roof and shut themselves in, 
 even from me. There they would discuss their 
 pet schemes and have furious tin-soldier battles. 
 In these battles, it is curious to relate, Fanny, 
 who even at that early period was a thorough 
 
EARLY DAYS 21 
 
 little rebel at heart, used to consider her army as 
 one composed of Irish patriots fighting for their 
 freedom ; while Charley had to be content with an 
 English army, doomed by consent to defeat, but 
 often, owing to his hatred of being beaten, proving 
 victorious. 
 
 I certainly think that Fanny's impassioned 
 patriotism had a great influence on Charley's 
 convictions in after-life. 
 
 Other Games. 
 
 ** I spy " and " Follow my leader " were 
 favourite games with us, and we used to play 
 them all over the house, and out on to the lawn, 
 and through the shrubberies. 
 
 Charley was also an expert at the ancient, if 
 somewhat plebeian, game of marbles. 
 
 When Delia came back from school in 
 France, she brought with her a new game, which 
 consisted in her hiding her presents all over the 
 house and getting us to search for them. The 
 result was, as might be expected, pandemonium, 
 followed frequently by punishment, seeing that 
 the presents were generally hidden in ornaments, 
 in the lining of chairs and sofas, up disused chim- 
 neys, and behind books. 
 
 I learnt billiards at a very early age, and used 
 often to play with my father. Charley was always 
 fond of sitting on the edge of the billiard-table 
 
22 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 and throwing the balls about. He often attempted 
 to do this when we were actually playing, and, 
 when lifted off the table, yelled vociferously, 
 indignant as ever that his slightest whim should 
 be thwarted. 
 
 Emil}^, who was always full of originality, 
 started a little mint of her own in her room. 
 She used to make her money out of gun-wads, 
 and distribute it to the rest of us. I forget the 
 exact nature of the currency, but it did quite well 
 enough for our childish games. 
 
 Cricket, in after-life his favourite pastime, as I 
 shall relate, had attractions for Charley even in 
 his nursery days, for he used to toddle down to 
 our private cricket-ground, generally hand in hand 
 with Mrs. Twopenny, and watch with the keenest 
 interest every phase of the game. 
 
 As far as I can carry my mind back, his earliest 
 form of recreation was riding a rocking-horse, and 
 I can just remember him, a very small creature 
 indeed, being held on a big wooden steed in the 
 nursery by Mrs. Twopenny. 
 
 An Exciting Incident. 
 
 Both Charle}^ and I often recalled in after-years 
 a thrilling little episode that occurred when we 
 were both small boys. We had a dog — a black 
 cocker named Rover — who was a general 
 favourite with us children. One day we found 
 
EARLY DAYS 23 
 
 poor Rover struggling desperately on the far side 
 of a mill-race, which had been swollen by recent 
 rains. We were, of course, much too small to 
 jump over the intervening space of about ten feet, 
 and, even if we had got round by a long detour, 
 we would have been of very little use, and would 
 probably only have tumbled in ourselves. So we 
 ran back to the house, and on the way met our 
 father. Directly he gathered what had happened 
 he hurried to the spot, and, taking without a 
 moment's hesitation a flying leap over the mill- 
 race, soon had the exhausted Rover safely on 
 land. 
 
 During Charley's nursery days I was afflicted 
 with stammering, which I finally cured myself 
 of with some trouble. Charley, with his natural 
 spirit of mischief, set to work to mimic me, and 
 carried the joke to such an extent that he became 
 a hopeless stammerer himself, and had to be sent 
 away to school at an early age to be cured, while 
 I stopped on at Avondale. 
 
 We were once in church, Charley and I, on a 
 very hot day, and, my four years' seniority result- 
 ing in a considerable difference in stature, I had 
 to keep my head bent down very much in order 
 to follow the place in the prayer-book, which he 
 held. The blood gradually flowed to my head, 
 and I became very dizzy, until finally I fell out 
 of the pew, half fainting, and had to be taken out 
 of church. 
 
24 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 His First Love Affair. 
 
 Charley's first love affair was at a very early age 
 — I think he was not more than four or five at the 
 time. We used very often to visit the family of 
 Mr. Charles Brooke at Castle Howard, where the 
 children were about the same age as ourselves. 
 Charley, who was the gayest and most vivacious 
 of us all (as also the most domineering), used 
 always to pair off with Dot Brooke, a little girl of 
 about his own age. They romped about so much 
 together that Mrs. Brooke used often to say: 
 ** Well, now, when those two grow up, I should 
 like to see them married." Dot, however, when 
 she grew up, married another, and, owing to 
 politics, the families became estranged, so Charley's 
 first little romance came to naught. 
 
 We had many fights, or rather tussles, for there 
 was rarely any ill-feeling. He used to aim a blow 
 at me, and then run, catching up anything he saw 
 and flinging it over his shoulder at me. I fol- 
 lowed at full speed, also catching handfuls of 
 ornaments, knick-knacks, sofa-cushions, and even 
 flower-pots, and hurling them at him. During 
 one of these pell-mell chases, leaving a trail of 
 destruction in their wake, I remember seizing a 
 poker from a grate and breaking it over the back 
 of a sofa, with no intention of hurting him, but 
 just in order to give him a thorough good fright, 
 which it did ! 
 
EARLY DAYS 25 
 
 The Germ of Character. 
 
 As far as I can picture him after this long gap 
 of eventful years, Charley in his nursery days was 
 a child of charming appearance, with curly brown 
 hair and piercing dark eyes. In temper, however, 
 he was headstrong and self-willed, often to the 
 point of rudeness, while at times he showed a 
 curious mixture of jealousy and suspicion, which 
 developed strongly in later years. His love of 
 mischief was unbounded, but underlying every 
 action was the rooted desire to have his own way 
 at any cost. 
 
 His jealousy cropped out in many ways, but 
 the one I remember most vividly was when we 
 used to go 'out with the guns and act as retrievers. 
 Charley was bent on bringing home the largest 
 number of dead birds, and if by luck or quickness 
 I happened to beat him in this respect, he used 
 to fly into a violent passion. 
 
 Still, in the days of his childhood, as throughout 
 life, he and I were the best of friends, and I think 
 that I was one of the ver}/ few who thoroughly 
 understood the complexities of his strange and 
 often baffling character. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CHILDHOOD 
 
 Born to Rule. 
 
 Charley, having been petted from his babyhood, 
 became unmanageable, and even at the early age 
 of six evinced the desire to rule the household. 
 His special delight seemed to be to get the upper 
 hand of me, in which he generally succeeded. So 
 strong was this characteristic in him that his old 
 nurse, Mrs. Twopenny, often said: " Master 
 Charley is born to rule." Prophetic words, I 
 think, for was not my brother in after-years a 
 great ruler, and by his wonderful personality and 
 single-hearted devotion to the great cause (the 
 bettering of the dear country that we both so 
 much loved) did he not keep united Ireland at 
 his feet, and even to-day, in spite of all the dark 
 clouds that have passed over him, is not his 
 memory cherished as much as ever throughout 
 Ireland ? 
 
 Little in those days did our mother dream of 
 the great triumphs and bitter sorrows that were 
 to come to the petted child of the house. Still, 
 owing to his disposition, after much anxious 
 
 26 
 
EARLY DAYS 27 
 
 thought, it was decided that for the boy's good 
 he had better be sent to school. So our mother 
 took him over to Yeovil, where his school-days 
 commenced at the early age of six. 
 
 A Wolf in the Fold. 
 
 It was a girls' school, and only as a great com- 
 pliment was Charley admitted. He soon en- 
 deared himself to the lady principal, and was 
 always happy in her company. He went there 
 with great ideas of having his own way, seeing 
 that he had only mere girls to deal with. He was 
 thoroughly defeated, however, by feminine 
 strategy, for, as he complained to me afterwards, 
 they all made love to him and bothered him out 
 of his life. In any case, he resented being sent 
 to a girls' school, on the ground that it was not 
 manly. He always had a wish to be transferred 
 to my own school, but on account of my stam- 
 mering it was thought advisable to keep us 
 separate, for, as I have said, owing to his mimicry, 
 he had begun to contract the habit himself. 
 
 When he removed to Avondale on his first 
 vacation, the greatest improvement was noticeable 
 in him. He seemed to have lost his old habit of 
 domineering over the family, especially over his 
 sisters. During his second term at school he fell ill 
 with typhoid fever, and was nursed through it very 
 devotedly by the principal herself. On his recovery 
 
28 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 his head seemed to be peculiarly affected, and our 
 parents placed him under Dr. Forbes Winslow 
 for a time. 
 
 Home Tuition. 
 
 He did not return to this school afterwards, 
 though, in spite of his having no special love for 
 his books, his reports were always good, even the 
 good conduct ones. 
 
 After leaving school he was taught by our 
 sisters' governess. He was then eight years old, 
 and more strongly than ever resented being taught 
 by a woman, and so constantly did he protest that 
 our parents judged it wiser to get him a tutor. 
 From this time forward he seemed to take a 
 greater interest in his lessons, but in spite of this 
 he was by no means an easy pupil to teach. His 
 ambition (marked even in those days) was never 
 satisfied, and he always wanted to be with bigger 
 boys. Consequently the arguments between tutor 
 and pupil were many and fierce, and in the long- 
 run, if the truth be told, it was the boy who 
 generally proved the victor. Nor was the effort 
 to give him religious instruction attended with any 
 better success. When he was not in the mood 
 to listen he turned everything into ridicule, and 
 sent his instructor away hopelessly saddened. 
 
 This high-spirited boy gave his confidence to 
 very few, but, once given, it was deep and true 
 and lasting. As he grew in later years, he rapidly 
 
EARLY DAYS 29 
 
 became more and more reserved. He had all the 
 healthy boy's love of games, especially cricket, 
 which he already played well in those early years. 
 Even then he loved to lead in games, as he did 
 subsequently in politics. 
 
 However, it was soon thought best that he 
 should return to school, and eventually he was 
 sent to Kirk Langley in Derbyshire. Here, so 
 far as lessons went, he was pretty much a law unto 
 himself. Under-masters he ignored as far as 
 possible, but always obeyed without hesitation 
 the Head. This spirit followed him throughout 
 life, as will be seen. 
 
 While Charley was at Kirk Langley, I was sent 
 to M. Marderon in Paris to see if he could cure 
 me of stammering. This purpose was effected 
 after some considerable trouble, and, I fear, at 
 the expense of my education. So all I know with 
 regard to my brother's experiences at Kirk 
 Langley is what I recollect of his having told me 
 when we came together again. He certainly said 
 that it was at Kirk Langley that he learned all his 
 boyish games, and he always referred to it as a 
 bright spot in his memory, owing to all the fun 
 he had there. 
 
 Back at Avondale. 
 
 After leaving Kirk Langley, he returned home 
 to Avondale, where he spent four happy years, 
 until the death of our father. He was about ten 
 
30 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 yccirs of age at that time, so that he and I were 
 more of real companions, although his nurse, Mrs. 
 Twopenny, still used to take him for walks. 
 
 I remember one day I went with them to the 
 Meeting of the Waters, taking a pet dog of ours 
 with us. In those days he was full of life and fun, 
 delighting in all sorts of mischievous pranks, and 
 nearing home we missed the dog. For hours we 
 searched the woods, but never found any trace of 
 our missing pet, who must have fallen down one 
 of the mining shafts. Charley and I were terribly 
 upset over his loss, and it was only the motherly 
 sympathy of Mrs. Twopenny that succeeded in 
 comforting him. 
 
 We had many a good fight in those days, but 
 were always good friends a few moments after- 
 wards. I used to tell him that he was jealous of 
 me, but that he would never allow. 
 
 A favourite game with us, as in earlier childhood, 
 was '* Follow my leader," and we used to scramble 
 over the ditches and through the hedges and plan- 
 tations madly following the leader, who was always 
 our sister Emily. Once Charley knocked me off 
 the top of a ditch into the gripe (bottom) of it. 
 He had done it purely in fun, and immediately 
 he saw what had happened, jumped in himself to 
 keep me from sinking in the mud and help me out. 
 
 Donkey races were another great sport with us, 
 and it was no uncommon sight to see three donkeys 
 on the lawn of Avondale, being raced at top speed 
 
EARLY DAYS 31 
 
 by Emily, Charley, and myself, Emily, somehow, 
 always winning. However, as she was our sister, 
 Charley did not mind so much being beaten by her 
 as by one of his own sex. 
 
 When I came home for my holidays, Charley 
 and I used to go out with our father when he went 
 shooting woodcock, and we boys took the grey- 
 hounds to the end of the wood, watching for hares 
 to come out, when we loosed the greyhounds after 
 them. 
 
 Our Prowess at Cricket. 
 
 At that time Charley and I used assiduously to 
 practise cricket with our father. I, being the 
 elder and bigger boy, was able to bowl to our 
 father, while Charley kept wicket. Under our 
 father's teaching we soon learnt to play a good 
 game, and at the matches with other teams 
 Charley was invariably chosen to replace any 
 player who did not turn up. I sometimes helped 
 to fill a gap, but Charley was the better cricketer, 
 and also the more popular. I remember many a 
 jolly match that we boys had against the Bally- 
 arthur boys' team, which were generally held on 
 the same day as our father's matches for grown- 
 ups. We always drove to the matches in donkey 
 traps, and, when victorious, kicked up no end of 
 a hullabaloo on the way home. 
 
 Even at that time, during the cricket matches, 
 I used to notice Charley's extreme nervousness. 
 
32 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 His fingers twitched anxiously, even while he was 
 watching the match, and I know that in after- 
 days he was just as nervous, though perhaps he 
 did not show it to outsiders, in the greater game 
 played in the House of Commons. 
 
 We used to take donkey drives to Aughrim to 
 fish and dig for gold in the river, an occupation 
 which we often recalled in after-days. Charley 
 was fond of collecting eggs, and used to climb the 
 trees — as Mrs. Twopenny used to say, " like a 
 regular little monkey " — to rob the nests. One 
 day he had the floor of Miss Zouche's room (our 
 relative and housekeeper) spread out with his 
 whole collection of eggs. One of the clumsy 
 maid-servants happened to come in, and, like a 
 bull in a china shop, spread destruction through 
 the collection. Charley flew into a violent passion, 
 and threatened to smash her head, so much so 
 that she ran away and hid in the servants' quarters 
 for some time. The remnants of this collection 
 he kept until we left Avondale for Temple Street, 
 Dublin, and the gold found in the river he 
 treasured, I believe, until the end of his life. 
 
 Charley and I used to drive over with our father 
 to Aughavanagh, where he used to go shooting, 
 supervising his tenants, and looking after his turf 
 bogs. One day, when I was fishing in the river 
 at Aughavannagh (or rather, to be candid, making 
 one of my earliest attempts at fly fishing), I asked 
 Charley to help me to tie on the flies, and he came 
 
Early days 33 
 
 over and showed me most skilfully. How he 
 had managed to learn the art I cannot make out 
 to this day; however, I have been tying them as 
 he showed me ever since. The curious fact is 
 that Charley never fished himself. 
 
 Commerce, Building, and Pyrotechnics. 
 
 The garden at Avondale was a very fine one, 
 and Kavanagh, the old gardener, took a great 
 pride in it, and to prevent Charley and myself 
 from stealing the fruit and trampling on the plants 
 he kept the door locked ; but we used to climb on 
 top of the very high wall and lie flat there, like 
 prisoners escaping from a fortress, waiting until 
 he had gone home. Charley and I had a plot of 
 ground given to us on which we planted potatoes, 
 which we sold to an old woman in the town, and 
 so earned pocket-money. 
 
 We were very busy at this time constructing 
 a big pond at Avondale, near the gate lodge, which 
 may still be seen there. We used to be up to our 
 knees in mud while making this pond, and would 
 return home in a horribly dirty state, thus earning 
 many a scolding from our mother. When the 
 pond was completed we built a flat-bottomed boat 
 out of canvas and wood, and when the boat was 
 finished we insisted upon the work-boys of the 
 estate making the trial trip in it, with the result 
 that the boat promptly turned over, and the boys 
 
 3 
 
34 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 had to be dragged out of the water. I am afraid 
 our ambition to use our pond as a rowing-pool was 
 never accomphshed. 
 
 There is an old fort at Avondale where we used 
 to go and drop molten lead down through a sieve 
 in order to make shot. We built up the old walls, 
 and our workmanship stands as an enduring 
 monument to this day. 
 
 The Rev. Henry Galbraith, then Rector of 
 Rathdrum, was engaged to teach us Scripture. 
 Charley hated this, and whenever he got a chance 
 ran off and hid in the shrubberies or in the old ivy 
 which is still around the house. 
 
 One day Charley conceived the idea that a fire- 
 work exhibition would be a splendid means of 
 amusing ourselves and the tenants on the estate, 
 so we set about making, first the powder, and then 
 the rockets, and then collected all the workmen. 
 It was a grand sight, and no one was blown up, 
 which was a wonder. But when our parents heard of 
 this they put a perpetual veto on firework displays. 
 
 The year before our father died, our sister 
 Fanny got scarlet fever, and the epidemic spread 
 to the other members of our family, Sophy and 
 myself only escaping. Charley was the last to 
 take it, and Mrs. Twopenny took charge of him, 
 and could not be induced to leave his bedside until 
 he was well on the road back to health. I missed 
 my brother very much in those days of infection, 
 for Sophy and I were quarantined at Casino, the 
 
EARLY DAYS 35 
 
 dower-house, in charge of Miss Zouche. Although 
 I had Sophy's company and was very much 
 attached to her, that did not make up for the loss 
 of Charley's vivacity and ever-charming manner. 
 
 Our instructor at that time was Mr. William 
 Clarke, son of Dr. Clarke of Rathdrum, and 
 Charley, as usual, did not get on very well with him, 
 and was in the habit of making awful faces at him 
 behind his back, so as to make me laugh, which I 
 did, getting into severe disgrace with Mr. Clarke. 
 
 At this time we took up hockey and hand-ball, 
 which we played at dinner-time with the work- 
 boys on the estate. Charley would never take 
 the same side as myself, but always tossed up for 
 choice of sides. When we were playing hockey, 
 I had to keep a sharp lookout for my shins, because 
 Charley always tried to go for me. 
 
 The Haunted Cottage in the Woods. 
 
 There was a little lonely cottage surrounded by 
 dark woods some distance from Avondale, which 
 was said to be haunted by the ghost of a former 
 tenant. Mysterious voices, blood-curdling appari- 
 tions, and the clanking of chains, were believed to 
 guard its sanctity, especially at the dread hour of 
 midnight. We children made a bet with our 
 sister Emily, that she dared not go there by her- 
 self at midnight prompt. She accepted, and set 
 out boldly, but when she came back she had seen 
 
36 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 and heard nothing out of the ordinary. How- 
 ever, we cheered her for her pluck. Charley, 
 young as he was, could not bear to be outdone, 
 especially by a girl. So he set out the next night, 
 but returned very much disappointed at having 
 obtained no better result. 
 
 When we were at Casino a few years later, I 
 was asked to play chess with the agent of Avondale, 
 Mr. Charles West, who lived at Mount Avon, near 
 the Meeting of the Waters. I had never imitated 
 Emily and Charley in their expeditions to the 
 haunted cottage, so when I found that I had to 
 pass by the cottage on my way home, just about 
 midnight, I felt distinctly nervous. When I got 
 to the most lonely part of the road, just by the 
 cottage, I heard distinctly the rattling of chains 
 behind the hedge. As I quickened my pace, the 
 rattling still followed me on the opposite side of 
 the hedge. I expected every moment to be con- 
 fronted by some horrible apparition, and when I 
 came to a large gap in the hedge my legs refused 
 to act. As I stood there, waiting in horror for 
 what should appear, the real explanation offered 
 itself. It was a donkey that had broken from 
 its moorings, and, desirous of company, had 
 followed the sound of my footsteps along his own 
 side of the hedge. I believe the whole ghost story 
 had been started by body-snatchers in order to 
 cover their midnight depredations from a neigh- 
 bouring churchyard. 
 
EARLY DAYS 37 
 
 The Birth of a Romance. 
 
 During our father's lifetime there Hved at 
 Kingston (a beautiful mansion near Avondale 
 belonging to our father) a Mr. Dickinson and his 
 family. Our father did not like them, because 
 their sons had the reputation of being wild, and 
 were inclined to make love to our sisters, especially 
 to Emily, who was a very attractive girl. At 
 last they were forbidden to come to Avondale. 
 However, our family, with the exception of our 
 father, made arrangements some time later with 
 the Dickinsons to give a performance of " She 
 Stoops to Conquer." Emily was the heroine of 
 the play, and young Dickinson (afterwards her 
 husband) the hero, while Charley was the page 
 and I the butler. The play proved a great success, 
 the love scenes being particularly realistic, though 
 our father refused to come to it, and there is little 
 doubt that it influenced his attitude towards 
 Emily in later years. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 WARDS IN CHANCERY 
 
 A Great Bereavement. 
 
 Charley was at this time (1859) about thirteen, 
 and living at Avondale with our father, while I 
 was at school in Paris with M. Roderon, learning 
 French, drawing, and a little painting. My sisters 
 were also in school at Paris. Our uncle, Charles 
 Stewart, of Ironside, Bordentown, U.S.A., the son 
 of Commodore Charles Stewart, our mother's 
 father, was living in 51, Champs ^filysees, with his 
 mother, Mrs. Stewart. Our married sister, Mrs. 
 Thompson, was also in Paris, living in the 
 Faubourg St. Germain, We were all very happy, 
 when a telegram arrived to say that our father had 
 died suddenly at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. 
 
 He was always an enthusiastic cricketer, and had 
 gone up to Dublin to play in a big match between 
 the Leinster and the Phoenix teams, although 
 for some time he had been under the doctor's 
 care, suffering from rheumatism of the stomach, 
 and had been warned by Sir Frederick Marsh not 
 to indulge in violent exercise. But he had a de- 
 termined will, and, like Charley, when he had 
 - made up his mind to a thing, carried it out at all 
 
 38 
 
EARLY DAYS 39 
 
 cost. The result was that, although in a high fever, 
 he insisted on playing in the match. He felt worse 
 on his return to the hotel, and sent for a doctor ; 
 but it was too late, and he died next day. His death 
 came as a thunderbolt to us all, as he was always 
 regarded as the healthiest of the whole family. 
 
 He was buried quietly at Mount Jerome, my 
 brother Charley being the only member of the 
 family to see him laid at rest, as all the others 
 were abroad. After the funeral, my mother, my 
 sisters, and myself, returned to Dublin, where we 
 stopped in lodgings near Gardiner Street. 
 
 It was here that our father's will was read. 
 Avondale was left to Charley; the Armagh estate 
 (Collure) to myself; and the Carlow property to 
 Henry. I well remember Charley standing by 
 our mother's bed discussing our father's will, and 
 saying, " I suppose John has got Avondale," and 
 when mother told him it was his, he was greatly 
 surprised and said he never expected it.* 
 
 Wards in Chancery. 
 
 After this our mother took steps to have us all 
 made wards in Chancery, after consulting the 
 guardians, Sir Ralph Howard, Bart., and Mr. 
 
 * The reason why, although I was the eldest son, Avondale 
 was left to Charley was one which neither of us knew at this 
 time. I explain it, however, in a subsequent chapter. See 
 Book II., Chapter VI. 
 
40 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Johnson. Sir Ralph Howard was annoyed at 
 being joint guardian with Mr. Johnson, who was 
 a Scotch agricultural expert, and an old friend of 
 our father's. 
 
 Once we were made wards in Chancery, Mr. 
 McDermott (our father's solicitor), who managed 
 our affairs under the direction of the Court of 
 Chancery, arranged to have us placed in our 
 mother's charge, and we all went down to Avon- 
 dale. It was a sad home-coming for the young 
 heir, my brother Charley. Mr. McDermott came 
 down to take charge of father's affairs and to go 
 through the papers. He found everything in a 
 very confused state, and his first act was to pay 
 off all the workmen not actually required ; while, 
 by order of the Court, the live-stock and farming 
 implements were sold by auction. Sufficient 
 horses for the use of the family were kept, and the 
 rest sold. Mr. West, of Mount Avon, was ap- 
 pointed agent. The servants were kept on, and 
 one of them, indeed — a faithful old retainer 
 named Martin Walsh — would have refused to 
 leave us under any circumstances. Miss Zouche, 
 a devoted relative, who had been acting as house- 
 keeper, remained at Avondale for a year to take 
 charge of the house while our affairs were being 
 put in order. 
 
 We then moved to Dalkey, about eight miles 
 from Dublin, along the sea-coast, the Court de- 
 ciding on a house named Khyber Pass as being 
 
EARLY DAYS 41 
 
 a suitable residence for us. This house was situ- 
 ated on a very high hill, overlooking the sea and 
 the railway, and I remember clearly the beautiful 
 view we had of the sea in the distance. 
 
 Charley was now more of a companion for me, 
 and he and I spent most of our time together. 
 My sisters had a governess, and Charley and I 
 a tutor. When our steadies were over, he and I 
 used to go out together. 
 
 A Narrow Escape. 
 
 It was at this time that we both learnt to swim, 
 and we used to go down to the gentlemen's 
 bathing-place on the West Pier at Kingstown. 
 We used to have a belt on us and a rope tied to 
 it when we started to learn, and we then ran down 
 a plank and jumped into deep water. Once the 
 rope attached to Charley's belt broke, and he was 
 struggling desperately for some time before the 
 bathing-master could reach him and bring him 
 to safety. There is little doubt that a moment 
 or two's delay would have resulted in his being 
 drowned. We soon became good swimmers, and 
 used to bathe with Mr. McDermott off the rocks 
 at Dalkey. I remember catching plenty of fish 
 off those rocks, too. Mr. McDermott, I may men- 
 tion, was at this time paying attention to our 
 sister Sophy, who afterwards became his wife, so 
 that he was a constant visitor at our house. 
 
42 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Charley and I were very fond of boating, and 
 spent as much time as we possibly could on the 
 water, having many a rough row against the tide 
 and currents round Dalkey Island. We used to 
 catch off the Mugglins Rocks quantities of 
 flounders and plaice on our trips, and bring them 
 home to be cooked. Bullock Harbour was 
 another favomite resort of ours, and we used also 
 frequently to row to Kingstown and back from 
 Dalkey, though we found the currents very swift 
 close to land — a fact which, however, made us 
 enj oy the outing all the more. 
 
 From the windows of Khyber Pass Charley shot 
 many a rabbit, and we used often to go out ferreting 
 at Dalkey, taking with us the porter at the railway- 
 station. 
 
 Treasure Trove. 
 
 On one of these expeditions I discovered a vein 
 of lead in the rocks on the railway cutting, not 
 far from the tunnel, and Charley and I spent a 
 lot of time chipping it out. Probably no one 
 knows now of its existence. 
 
 A favourite walk of ours was from Dalkey to 
 Bullock Harbour, and then on to Kingstown. 
 We used to argue about the round towers that 
 stood between Dalkey and Kingstown, and marvel 
 at them as being a useless protection. I re- 
 member the whole-hearted admiration with which 
 we always gazed at the ivy-clad ruins of Bullock 
 
EARLY DAYS 43 
 
 Castle. This old ruin has now been restored, and 
 is the residence of my valued friend, Mr. Quan- 
 Smith. This walk by the sea was, I think, our 
 favourite of all. We also delighted in taking 
 trips on the old atmospheric railway and the tram- 
 track from Dalkey quarries, where they excavated 
 the stone for Kingstown Pier. 
 
 We remained a year at Khyber Pass, and 
 then moved to Kingstown, taking The O'Conor 
 Don's house near Clarinda Park. This house was 
 beautifully situated in a large wooded park full 
 of fine elm, beech, and ash trees. There was also 
 a large fruit and vegetable garden, protected by 
 a high wall, where in summer and autumn Charley 
 spent a great deal of his time, much to the annoy- 
 ance of the gardener, who wished to keep the fruit 
 for the table. I was a loyal supporter of Charley's 
 in this respect, for we both loved fruit. 
 
 Our grandmother, Mrs. Stewart, came over from 
 Paris to spend a few months with our mother. 
 This was during the great American Civil War, 
 and grandmother fretted much over this unnatural 
 conflict between brother and brother. Charley 
 was very fond of his grandmother, and, before 
 going out anywhere, always went to say good- 
 bye to her. One day in August he went, as usual, 
 to see her before going boating, and she gave him 
 some pocket-money. She was resting in mother's 
 arm-chair after lunch, and apparently expired 
 just after Charley had seen her, for Emily, coming 
 
44 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 in a little later, found her dead in the chair. It 
 was a terrible shock to our mother, as she was 
 devoted to Mrs. Stewart, who to the last was a 
 fine, handsome, kindly old lady, and had en- 
 deared herself to the whole household. Charley, 
 on his return from his boating expedition, was 
 terribly upset to hear of her death. He and I, 
 who were both very keen on science, dashed off 
 to a doctor to fetch a galvanic battery, hoping 
 to revive her, as we could not believe that she 
 was really dead; but the doctor whom we brought 
 back with us pronounced life to be quite extinct. 
 The body of our grandmother was placed in a 
 vault at Mount Jerome, pending its removal to 
 her relations' burial-place at Boston, U.S.A. It 
 was noticeable that from this time onward Charley 
 never, if he could possibly avoid it, attended a 
 funeral. 
 
 After this sad affair Charley and I went down 
 to Casino, the dower -house near Avondale, 
 for a change. We had many friends there, and 
 were asked out repeatedly to dinners and to 
 cricket matches, and spent many pleasant even- 
 ings with Mr. Edwards, the engineer of the Dublin, 
 Wicklow, and Wexford Railway (now the Dublin 
 and South-Eastern), which was then in course of 
 construction. I may mention here that my 
 brother got £3,000 compensation for the railway 
 running through his property. 
 
 After a year spent in Kingstown we all went 
 
EARLYJDAYS 45 
 
 down to Casino again for the winter. Charley 
 and I got up a shooting-party for woodcock, 
 which were plentiful in Avondale woods. Our 
 mother did not care for the country, so took a 
 house at 14, Upper Temple Street, Dubhn; but 
 Charley, Fanny, and myself, remained at Casino 
 for some time longer with our sisters' Italian 
 governess. We had a very happy time, for we 
 all loved Avondale, Charley's beautiful home; and 
 to me still there is no lovelier spot on earth, and 
 to the end of time my heart will sorrow that it is 
 no longer the home of the Parnells. 
 
 We joined our mother finally at Temple Street, 
 and continued our studies. Emily, Sophy, and 
 Fanny, were taught Italian and German by 
 M. Rossin. The others — Henry, Anna, and Theo- 
 dosia — were still among the juveniles. I went to 
 the School of Mining in Stephen's Green, and there 
 obtained two certificates for mining and geology, 
 while I also kept up my painting. Just about 
 this time Sophy married Mr. McDermott, and went 
 to live in Fitzwilliam Square. 
 
 Emily felt greatly not being able to marry 
 her sweetheart. Captain Dickinson, and became 
 very depressed. Under his will, our father, 
 fearing she would not be happy with Captain 
 Dickinson, made her no bequest, with a view to 
 rendering the marriage impossible; but she re- 
 mained true to her lover, and after an engagement 
 lasting ten years they were married. 
 
46 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Fanny at this time was engaged to Mr. Catter- 
 son Smith, the celebrated artist, who at that time, 
 however, had not made his name, so that Charley- 
 raised strong objections to the match. I think 
 he afterwards regretted taking this course, as 
 Fanny never married. 
 
 Looking back over our past lives, I can see that 
 it was here at Temple Street that our fates were 
 really decided. From this time forward great 
 changes took place in the life of each of us, and 
 this may be said to have been the birth of our 
 careers, especially Charley's. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AT WISHAW'S 
 
 Back to School . 
 
 About four years after our father's death, our 
 mother became anxious about sending Charley 
 and myself to a private tutor, in order to prepare 
 us for the University. When talking one day to 
 the late Lord Meath, she asked him what would 
 be a good place to complete her sons' education. 
 He told her that his own son, Lord Brabazon (the 
 present Earl of Meath), was then with the Rev. 
 Mr. Wishaw, at the Rectory, Chipping Norton, 
 England — a place which he thoroughly recom- 
 mended. Mother then went over to England and 
 saw Mr. and Mrs. Wishaw, and decided to send us 
 both there. At that time I was about nineteen, 
 and Charley fifteen. 
 
 Having said good-bye to mother, we left Kings- 
 town by the early boat, and got to Chipping 
 Norton late in the evening. The Rectory — a 
 pleasant-looking, two-storied country house — was 
 about half a mile from the station, so we started 
 to walk there. On reaching Mr. Wishaw's, Charley 
 (whose highly-strung, nervous temperament was 
 
 47 
 
48 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 even then noticeable) exclaimed, on seeing the 
 graveyard facing the Rectory: " I say, John, I 
 don't quite like this; I hope I won't get into any 
 rows here." He had hardly said this when he 
 slipped while knocking at the door, and nearly 
 fell through the glass panel, crying out: ** This is 
 a good beginning !" 
 
 Mr. Wishaw, who was a pleasant-featured man, 
 with hair just turning grey, came up to welcome 
 us, and introduced us to our future companions. 
 These were Lord Brabazon, Mr. Pilkington (after- 
 wards an M.P.), and Mr. Louis Wingfield (cousin 
 of Lord Powerscourt). When we had all sat down 
 to supper, Charley and Lord Brabazon began a 
 lively conversation on cricket, a game in which 
 they were both deeply interested. 
 
 I may mention that it was a peculiarity of my 
 brother's that then, as in after-life, it was hard 
 to get him to talk on any subject unless he was 
 really interested in it. Once I spoke to him about 
 this, and he replied: " My idea is to mind my own 
 affairs, and leave other people's alone." 
 
 Being the youngest pupils there, we were given 
 a classroom to ourselves, and were lodged at a 
 small cottage opposite the Rectory. Mr. Wishaw 
 himself taught me writing, spelling, and recita- 
 tion, as, having only been in school at Paris, I 
 had not made the progress I should have done with 
 the English language. As I was very fond of 
 painting, Mr. Wishaw encouraged me to copy his 
 
EARLY DAYS 49 
 
 own pictures, he himself being a clever artist, and 
 he also frequently played chess with me. 
 
 Charley having expressed a desire to go to Cam- 
 bridge, a special master was engaged for him. He 
 was a clever man, though a little deformed; but 
 Charley and he never got on. My brother ob- 
 jected to his mode of teaching, which led to fre- 
 quent quarrels, culminating one day in a fearful row. 
 
 I can see my brother now, his face aflame with 
 passion, and his mouth twitching nervously, while 
 he denounced the teacher and his methods. Mr. 
 Wishaw had to interfere, and told Charley that if 
 he did not apologize he would be sent home. 
 The apology was finally forthcoming, but it was a 
 very reluctant and grudging one, as Charley fully 
 believed that he was in the right. The result was 
 that he could never endure this teacher afterwards, 
 and his studies suffered considerably in consequence. 
 
 In spite of this, his days at Chipping Norton 
 were happy ones, and he thoroughly enjoyed 
 riding, hunting, and playing cricket. He and a 
 special friend of his went for many walks together, 
 and made the acquaintance of several of the 
 young ladies of the neighbourhood. 
 
 A Love Affair. 
 
 One bright, pretty girl especially attracted 
 Charley, and I used continually to meet them to- 
 gether on the country roads, especially those 
 
 4 
 
50 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 lonely spots suited for lovers* walks. When we 
 met in this way I never joined them, as Charley 
 was very jealous of any other fellow, especially 
 of me. While this attraction lasted, his studies 
 were considerably interrupted; but when she 
 went away he set to work steadily, determined 
 to master the subjects before him, and qualify 
 himself as quickly as possible for Cambridge. 
 Although he was at this time only sixteen, I think 
 this little romance instilled into him a feeling of 
 manhood, and made him eager to take a place in 
 the world — how great a one neither he nor any of 
 his friends had any idea of then. Certainly he 
 had no idea at that time of entering the great 
 arena of politics. 
 
 We returned for the Christmas holidays to 
 Temple Street, Dublin, where, after a loving 
 welcome, mother told us how pleased she was to 
 see such a great improvement in both her boys. 
 She was eager to hear every detail of our life at 
 Chipping Norton, and was delighted to have us 
 with her once more. 
 
 As Avondale was at this time let to Mr. Ed- 
 wardes, the railway engineer, Charley, Fanny, 
 and myself, went down to Casino, where we 
 found Emily with her governess, Mdlle. Rossina. 
 This lady took a great fancy to Charley, but he 
 made no response, preferring to come out with 
 me shooting and exploring the lovely country 
 around Avondale, and having long chats with 
 
EARLY DAYS 51 
 
 Mrs. Twopenny, his old nurse, whose genuine 
 delight at seeing him again thoroughly pleased 
 and flattered Charley. 
 
 After spending a happy fortnight at Casino, we 
 returned to Temple Street, and spent a few days 
 with our mother before returning to school. On 
 our way back, we had got as far as Chester, when 
 Charley suddenly said, " John, we will each go 
 by a different way, and I bet I'll be there first." 
 I replied, " No, you won't, for I'll go by Oxford, 
 the usual way"; but Charley's last words as we 
 parted at the station were, " You'll see that I'll 
 be there before you." However, it turned out 
 that both our trains arrived at Chipping Norton 
 Junction (now known as Kingham) at the same 
 time, and we joined one another on the plat- 
 form, much to Charley's disgust when he first 
 caught sight of me, though a moment later we 
 were laughing heartily together. 
 
 After we had settled down to. study again, 
 Charley took a keen interest in mechanics, and 
 altogether did fairly well at his lessons. 
 
 About this time Mrs. Wishaw died, and Charley 
 and I went back to Dublin, not returning until 
 after the funeral. 
 
 We often went to play cricket at Churchill, a 
 village near Chipping Norton, where Charley got 
 a high reputation as a bat, wicket-keeper, and 
 catch. 
 
 To my great delight, I managed to get per- 
 
52 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 mission from the owner of the river to fish there 
 when I wanted to; but one day I was bringing 
 away such a good haul when I met him that he 
 took the leave away. 
 
 Charley was very fond of arguing during his 
 school-days, and we all said he would have made a 
 splendid lawyer, for, try as we would, we could 
 never get the better of him in an argument. 
 
 We were both good walkers, but he preferred 
 walking alone. He was fond of ridiculing my par- 
 ticular tastes, but I did not mind that, for I knew 
 it was not due to want of affection, but simply 
 a manner he had. Being a good dancer, Charley 
 was invited out a great deal, and was a thorough 
 favourite with the girls. 
 
 At College. 
 
 Shortly after our return from Chipping Norton, 
 Charley went up to Cambridge, but I did not 
 accompany him. He was at Cambridge from 1865 
 to 1869, but spent little time there, and left owing 
 to his getting into serious trouble. I understood 
 afterwards that an action for assault was success- 
 fully brought against him in the Cambridge County 
 Court by a merchant named Hamilton, twenty 
 gumeas damages being awarded. The evidence in 
 court was of a conflicting nat ure, and Charley never 
 told me his version of the affair. His references 
 to his undergraduate days were very brief and re- 
 
EARLY DAYS 53 
 
 served, though he appeared to have got on badly 
 with the other fellows, and to have had many 
 quarrels, which often resulted in blows. On one 
 occasion, he told me afterwards, five students 
 came to his bedroom for what would now be called 
 a " rag," and after a desperate struggle he suc- 
 ceeded in throwing them all out. 
 
 In any event, the college authorities decided to 
 send him down for the remainder of the term, of 
 which, however, there was only a fortnight left. 
 Although there was no reason why he should not 
 have returned at the beginning of the next term, 
 as he had not been expelled, he steadily refused 
 to do so, and his education thus concluded with- 
 out his taking a degree. 
 
 There is no doubt that the fact of his never 
 having been at a real school, and having a con- 
 tinual change of tutors, coupled with the per- 
 functory nature of his studies at college, con- 
 siderably hampered him in after-life. He often 
 expressed to me his regret that he had not received 
 a better education, and, even, that he had not 
 devoted himself with more application to such 
 opportunities as he had for study. One result 
 was that he was always afraid of lapsing into an 
 error of grammar or spelling, and for a consider- 
 able time wrote out his speeches word for word, 
 and carefully corrected them before delivery. 
 His letters, also, throughout his career show fre- 
 quent signs of erasure and alteration. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 NEARING MANHOOD 
 
 At the time of Charley's return our mother was 
 keeping open house in Temple Street, giving 
 dinners, balls, and small dances, to her many 
 Dublin friends. Charley was very popular in 
 society, going to all the dances and parties. He 
 used to admire and dance with all the pretty girls 
 at the balls given by Lord Carlisle, then Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 In the Militia. 
 
 Charley soon decided to join the militia. One 
 trivial reason that influenced him was that by 
 doing so he would be able to wear uniform at the 
 Castle, as he particularly disliked the levee dress, 
 declaring it looked too much like a footman's 
 livery. He found that there were vacancies in 
 the Wicklow Rifles, and also in the Armagh Light 
 Infantry; but, as he was a Wicklow landed pro- 
 prietor, he chose the former, while, as my estate 
 was in Armagh, I joined the Armagh Light In- 
 fantry. We had some training at the Royal 
 Barracks in Dublin before joining our respective 
 
 54 
 
EARLY DAYS 55 
 
 regiments, which were also afterwards called out 
 for training. Charley told me that he had a very 
 enjoyable time when training with his regiment, 
 as he went to no end of dinners, dances, and garden- 
 parties, and I, too, had very much the same ex- 
 perience with the Armaghs. While we were in 
 the militia, Charley and I attended all the levees, 
 and drawing-rooms, and other entertainments, at 
 Dublin Castle. The Lord Lieutenant, Lord Car- 
 lisle, being a friend of our mother's, used to talk 
 to us a good deal, especially about our cricket 
 matches. 
 
 The American Civil War. 
 
 It was during the great Civil War in the United 
 States that my brother first took an interest in 
 politics. The horrors of the conflict were so often 
 discussed by our grandmother and our mother, 
 themselves Americans, that it would have been 
 strange indeed if we had not been. influenced by 
 the tales of death and devastation which came 
 across the water. Charley eagerly read every 
 item of information contained in the newspaper, 
 and discussed the details freely with us. My 
 mother's sympathies were with the North, while 
 I advocated the cause of the South, and we had 
 many a heated, though friendly, discussion in our 
 family circle. Charley supported his mother, 
 and we reproduced the war between us, with con- 
 siderable damage to the furniture, any odd articles 
 
56 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 being held sufficient when argument failed. 1 
 remember, when sticks and other ordinary weapons 
 were not at hand, we found jam-pots come in very 
 useful. As the house was a rented one, our 
 mother had every often to pay heavy compensa- 
 tion, owing to the damage done through our keen 
 interest in politics. 
 
 We had a visit about this time from Mr. Harry 
 King, the son of a wealthy cotton-planter and 
 railroad director of Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A. 
 Our sisters knew him already, as he had come over 
 to their school in Paris to visit his own sister, 
 and he had met Charley at Cambridge when he 
 was studying for his degree; so that altogether 
 he was a very welcome guest at Temple Street, 
 where he remained until the war was over, and 
 it was safe for him to return to his Southern home. 
 
 A 'Shooting Trip. 
 
 It was partridge-shooting season at that time, 
 so Mr. King, Charley, and myself, went off to 
 Carlow together, taking with us a tent in the 
 pony trap, while we sent the rest of our baggage 
 on by rail. We had the right to shoot over the 
 entire property, which had been left under our 
 father's will to our brother Henry. We got our 
 gamekeeper. Jack Whateley, to pitch our tent on 
 the land of Mr. Brownrigg, a tenant, and we slept 
 on canvas stretched on poles stuck into the ground, 
 
EARLY DAYS 57 
 
 instead of mattresses. Charley and Mr. King 
 always went off by themselves, but they brought 
 home very little game, and whenever I met them 
 I found them hard at work discussing American 
 politics, Mr. King, of course, taking the part of 
 the South, while Charley upheld with all his 
 vigour the policy of the North. Unfortunately, 
 these discussions not only interfered with the actual 
 shooting, but used to be continued throughout the 
 night, so that just as I would be dropping off to sleep, 
 tired after a hard day's sport, I would hear their 
 voices raised in support of their respective parties. 
 The result was that I frequently shied my boots 
 at them with all my force, and if my aim was 
 lucky, the discussion generally ended for the 
 night. 
 
 We had a fortnight of this, and I wondered how 
 they could keep their interest so much alive in 
 the politics of what was, after all, a remote country; 
 so much so that I said once: " Charley, if you ever 
 take up politics, you will certainly fight to win." 
 He replied: " I have no such thought, but I hold 
 that a man should be thorough, and, if he takes 
 up a cause, should fight to win." 
 
 We bathed every morning in the river, and 
 Charley and Mr. King used to run races in the 
 sunshine to dry themselves. Perfect weather, 
 good comradeship, and excellent sport, made the 
 expedition one of the most enjoyable periods in 
 our lives. Often in after-days Charley and I 
 
58 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 discussed in other circumstances those jolly times 
 down in Carlow when we were so free from 
 care. 
 
 The war being over, Mr. King returned to his 
 home. Charley and I went to see him off at 
 Kingsbridge, little thinking how our fates were to 
 be linked with America, and especially with the 
 South, in the days to come. 
 
 A little later Mr. Wishaw, our old tutor, and his 
 son, came over from England to see us at Temple 
 Street. They were very much interested in all 
 things Irish, and the two of us took them down 
 to Killarney, and showed them over that famous 
 beauty spot. However, they were only in Ireland 
 for a few days after our return to Dublin, and went 
 away longing to have seen more of the country. 
 Mr. Wishaw — who, as I have said before, shared 
 my taste for art — took some beautiful sketches of 
 the scenery in Killarney, which he said would 
 always remind him of his brief but pleasant visit 
 to Ireland. 
 
 Charley was a great practical mechanic, and 
 devoted much of his time to engineering pursuits, 
 so that his life at Avondale was a very busy one, 
 as he had also many social duties. The Wicklow 
 county families constantly entertained him, and 
 no invitation to Avondale was ever refused. 
 
 I was returning one night from a big dinner 
 with Charley, when we discussed whether I should 
 go to America, as our uncle Stewart had written 
 
EARLY DAYS 59 
 
 home saying that, now the war was over, big 
 fortunes were to be made, and advising me to go 
 out there. I had just had a legacy left me by a 
 relative, and my uncle thought I had the chance 
 of doubling it. Charley thought I ought to con- 
 sult our uncle. Sir Ralph Howard, but from him 
 I got no encouragement. He told me that I had 
 no need to go, as he would leave me well off. This, 
 however, did not suit me, as I had no fancy for 
 waiting to step into dead men's shoes, and I 
 decided to go to America. Charley resolved to 
 invest some money out there too, and promised 
 to visit me in my new home. In order to enable 
 our sister Emily to marry Captain Dickinson, 
 Charley got me to appoint him agent of my estate, 
 which I did, with the result that he and Emily 
 were married soon after. 
 
 I remained in America for about a year, and 
 was very busy cotton - planting and getting 
 acquainted with my new Southern friends. I had 
 a very good time, and was received most hospitably 
 by all the old Southern rebels, who made me 
 thoroughly welcome to their homes. 
 
 When I returned to Ireland, I found Charley 
 busily engaged with his new sawmills at Avon- 
 dale, where he was trying to make money out of 
 the fine timber on the estate. 
 
 I spent that autumn at Avondale, with Charley 
 and Captain Dickinson. We were the only mem- 
 bers of the family there, and were waited upon 
 
6o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 by Peter Gaffney and his wife Mary, the latter 
 looking after the house, while Peter attended at 
 table. 
 
 A Blindfold Escapade. 
 
 We were sitting one night, after a good dinner, 
 round one of those roaring pinewood fires that 
 Charley always so much enjoyed, when the three 
 of us began to discuss the blindfold walking craze 
 which was then the rage in Dublin, The news- 
 papers of the time, which devoted a great deal of 
 space to the subject, pointed out how difficult it 
 was for people to find their way even between 
 the most familiar places and over the shortest 
 distances. Our conversation resulted in Charley 
 and Captain Dickinson betting me that I would 
 not find my way blindfolded from Avondale to 
 Casino, not a very great distance, it is true, but 
 one plentifully strewn with obstacles. 
 
 I took the bet, and, being blindfolded, set out 
 from the hall door of Avondale across the lawn, 
 Charley and Captain Dickinson following to see 
 that I did not hurt m3^self, but not interfering 
 with the direction I took. At first I got mixed 
 up with the big trees on the lawn, but knowing 
 every inch of the grounds, and having a special 
 love for the trees, I knew as soon as I got hold of 
 the holly-tree at the head of the lawn where I 
 was, and set off in a bee-line across the cricket- 
 lawn, got to the road ditch, crossed it without 
 
EARLY DAYS 6i 
 
 falling in, and found the gate of Casino, which I 
 climbed, still blindfolded. 
 
 Once over the gate I took off the bandage, 
 expecting to see the two of them and be con- 
 gratulated on my success, but to my astonishinent 
 I was alone. I made my way back to Avondale, 
 and found the pair sitting snugly by the fire, 
 thoroughly enjoying what they expected to have 
 been my series of mishaps over the difficult 
 route. 
 
 Charley hunted a great deal at Avondale, and 
 used to come home covered with mud, from his 
 many tumbles in the field. He used to tell me 
 that in hunting, as in everything else, his ambition 
 was to be first in the field. 
 
 The Sawmills. 
 
 Charley, although when he came of age he found 
 himself a pretty well-to-do country gentleman, 
 showed also considerable business capability, and 
 directly he had the control of affairs set to work to 
 benefit his property by every possible means. It 
 must be remembered that, although his income 
 from Avondale was a large one, he had out of it to 
 keep the whole of his family, who had no money 
 except the small annuities coming to them out of 
 my property in Armagh. My mother was also 
 extremely fond of entertaining, and, as she had 
 been left nothing under father's will, Charley con- 
 
62 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 ceived the idea of making sufficient money out of 
 his timber to provide her with ample funds for 
 her wants. Accordingly he erected a small saw- 
 mill at Avondale, where he had the timber cut by 
 machinery, thus introducing a new business into 
 Wicklow, as the only other sawmill in the Valley 
 of the Seven Churches was that owned by Captain 
 Bookey, of Derrybawn. Captain Bookey had a 
 very fine demesne through which the Avonmore 
 ran to the Meeting of the Waters. 
 
 The mills at Avondale, it is curious to note, 
 were worked by water from the pond which we 
 made as boys. Captain Bookey and Charley, who 
 were both young men and great friends, took 
 much interest in their mills, which at that time 
 were the only ones in the county. The only time 
 that I met Captain Bookey was at a cricket match 
 at Avondale just before he started on a cruise on 
 the Mediterranean, which ended disastrously, as 
 the yacht was overturned in a squall, and Captain 
 Bookey was caught in the sail and drowned before 
 he could be extricated. 
 
 When I came back to Ireland after my next 
 visit to America, I found Charley still down at 
 Avondale, busy with his sawmills, his cricket 
 matches, and his parties. My mother was then 
 living in Paris, as Temple Street had been given 
 up, and the family scattered, never again to meet 
 all under the same roof. Charley often got in- 
 vitations from Paris to balls at the British Embassy, 
 
EARLY DAYS 63 
 
 and thought nothing of making a flying trip to 
 France to attend one; in fact, I do not think he 
 ever missed one. 
 
 AUGHAVANNAGH. 
 
 During this time Charley and Captain Dickinson 
 spent a good deal of time grouse-shooting at 
 Aughavannagh. Originally one of the barracks 
 erected by the Government during the rebellion 
 of 1798, it commanded a wide view of the lonely 
 but beautiful country around. In Charley's days 
 it was used purely as a shooting-lodge, and fell 
 considerably into disrepair. It has since, how- 
 ever, been largely rebuilt by Mr. John Redmond, 
 my brother's successor in the leadership of the 
 Irish party, who has converted it into a fine resi- 
 dence. 
 
 There used to be a legend, which we often heard 
 repeated during our visits to Aughavannagh, that 
 there existed a secret passage from the old barracks 
 to the mountain, two miles away. Patrick 
 O'Toole, our old gamekeeper, used to point out 
 to us a spot near the top of the mountain, which 
 he said was the opening of the passage, but it was 
 so surrounded by immense boulders that it was 
 impossible to reach it. Still, there certainly were 
 a number of hollows in the mountain which looked 
 as if they might have been old openings which had 
 been closed by the falling in of soil. Charley and 
 his friend, Mr. Corbett, used to spend a great deal 
 
64 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 of time arguing as to the existence of this passage 
 during their rambles over the mountain when 
 they were shooting or inspecting the turf. 
 
 So ends the happiest period of my brother's 
 life, before he took up the great fight on behalf of 
 his country, on which all his hopes and interests 
 were centred. 
 
BOOK II 
 
 STEPS TO THE THRONE 
 
 " Sore disgrace it is to see the Arbitress of Thrones 
 Vassal to a Saxaneen of cold and sapless bones. 
 Bitter anguish wrings our souls with heavy sighs 
 and groans : 
 We wait the Young Deliverer of Kathaleen-ny- 
 Houlahan."* 
 
 J. C. Mangan. 
 
 * A symbolical name for Ireland. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE FENIANS 
 
 The Fenian Movement. 
 
 It is necessary to go back a few years to explain 
 the Fenian movement, which had a certain in- 
 fluence on Charley's career, though it was by no 
 means the main motive for his entering politics, 
 as has generally been stated. 
 
 After the conclusion of the American Civil War, 
 a number of the Irish soldiers, fired with the spirit 
 of independence, came over to Ireland (while 
 others made an abortive raid on Canada) to urge 
 the people to establish a republic of their own, 
 free from any British rule. They were desperate 
 men inured to hardships through their terrible 
 experiences in America, and thoroughly sanguine 
 as to the success of their cause. 
 
 The chief period of their campaign in Ireland 
 was from 1865 to 1867. Had they exerted their 
 full force in the former year, they would probably, 
 as a few of their surviving leaders tell me, if they 
 had not achieved success, at least have made a 
 stubborn and convincing fight, which, if it did 
 not effect their full purpose of separation, might 
 
 67 
 
68 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 at least have brought Home Rule nearer. Still, 
 it must be remembered that, so far as Charley and 
 myself were concerned, we were not associated 
 either with their aims or their methods. 
 
 In 1866 many of the old American soldiers acted 
 as recruiting sergeants for the Irish republic 
 among the army itself. Disaffection spread 
 rapidly, and large numbers of the rank and file 
 declared themselves adherents of the Fenian cause, 
 and openly joined in the singing of revolutionary 
 songs at the " free- and- easies " which were then 
 held throughout Dublin. The leaders, however, 
 thought it better to wait for American support, 
 and to spread the movement more widely through 
 Ireland, before making a decisive blow. The 
 result was that the English authorities became 
 alarmed, and promptly drafted the disaffected 
 portions of the army to England and remote 
 portions of the Empire. 
 
 Finally, in March, 1867, a definite outbreak 
 took place. The Fenian forces stormed the 
 Stepaside police barracks, near Enniskerry in the 
 Dublin mountains. This was closely followed by 
 what was known as the Battle of Tallaght. A 
 large but inadequately armed body of Fenians 
 were marching along the road from Wicklow, when 
 they were challenged by the chief of a body of 
 police who were lying in wait for them. A shot 
 was fired, and the police charged the disorganized 
 column, quickly routing them. Domiciliary raids 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 69 
 
 in search of arms, followed by many arrests, were 
 then made, and the movement appeared to be 
 subdued, when what are known as the Manchester 
 Murders occurred, a policeman. Sergeant Brett, 
 being accidentally shot and killed owing to a 
 pistol being fired through the lock of a police van 
 in which some Fenian prisoners were being re- 
 moved to gaol. Three of the four men arrested 
 in connection with the affair were executed, and 
 died strongl}^ protesting their innocence of any 
 intent to kill, or even to injure, the police officer. 
 Their death on the scaffold, accompanied as it was 
 by the levity of the large crowd assembled outside 
 the prison gate, roused a feeling of unexampled 
 indignation throughout Ireland, in which my 
 brother himself joined, holding as he did the 
 opinion, which he shared with many of the other 
 more moderate well-wishers of Ireland, that the 
 killing of the sergeant was purely due to an 
 accident, and was aided by the officer himself 
 bending his head towards the lock in order, as 
 he thought, to escape the bullets. 
 
 The Fenians and Ourselves. 
 
 Our mother, who was devotedly attached to the 
 cause of freedom, and our uncle, Charles Stewart, 
 whose investments were almost entirelyin Southern 
 securities, felt a great deal of sympathy with the 
 Fenians, especially when the Government adopted 
 
70 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 drastic measures to stamp out the movement in 
 Ireland. 
 
 Owing to our mother being a prominent Ameri- 
 can woman, and to her undisguised sympathies 
 with the Fenian outlaws, a number of tramps and 
 impostors used to call at our house in Temple 
 Street for aid, a proceeding to which Charley 
 strongly objected. In fact, I think he came to 
 look upon most of the nondescript visitors to the 
 house as tramps, as I did also to a certain extent. 
 He finally got so tired of their constant visits 
 that he used to wait for the so-called Fenians 
 behind the hall door in Temple Street, and (like 
 Sam Weller at Ipswich), directly the door was 
 open, make a rush for them and kick them down 
 the steps. 
 
 My sister Fanny was always the poetess of the 
 family, as also our arch-rebel; she entered whole- 
 heartedly into the Fenian movement, and wrote a 
 series of stirring poems for O' Donovan Rossa's 
 paper, United Ireland, for which he used to 
 pay her small sums. I used generally to escort 
 her to the office, but Charley made fun of her 
 poetry, and steadfastly refused to accompany her 
 to the Fenian stronghold. The newspaper was 
 finally suppressed, and the offices seized by the 
 police. 0' Donovan Rossa was arrested and tried 
 for high- treason. 
 
 Fanny and I attended every day of the trial, 
 and as we sat near the prisoner, whose firm and 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 71 
 
 courageous demeanour we could not help but 
 admire, we once went so far as to buy a bouquet 
 with the intention of throwing it into the dock, 
 but we never mustered up sufficient spirit actually 
 to throw it. I still remember the cries of in- 
 dignation mingled with cheers of encouragement 
 which burst forth in court when the terrible 
 sentence was passed. I led away Fanny, who 
 could hardly restrain her tears, and who, I think, 
 pictured herself as the next occupant of the 
 dock. 
 
 A Police Raid. 
 
 In the days of frenzied police action which 
 followed the rising and Rossa's trial, our mother 
 not unnaturally became suspected of complicity 
 with the Fenians, owing to the number of visits 
 paid by suspicious characters to our house in 
 Temple Street. As a matter of fact, she had 
 actually assisted one of those connected with the 
 Manchester affair to escape to America in female 
 clothing. 
 
 However, one day a body of police suddenly 
 appeared at our house in Temple Street with a 
 search warrant, and insisted upon going through 
 the whole house. 
 
 All they could find were the militia uniforms of 
 Charley and myself, which they mistook for Fenian 
 regimentals, and insisted upon taking away, in 
 spite of the protestations of the whole family. 
 
72 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Charley especially disliked the idea of his uniform 
 being taken for a Fenian one. 
 
 Some time after this we wanted to go to the 
 levee at the Castle, but our uniforms were then 
 in the possession of the Government. Charley 
 treated the affair as a j oke, and chaffed our mother 
 on the dangers she ran owing to her complicity 
 with the Fenian rising. He felt, however, the 
 unjustified slight which was imposed on him by 
 being debarred from the festivities at the Castle 
 and Viceregal Lodge. He distinctly resented the 
 idea of being stamped as a Fenian, especially as 
 he was in the Queen's army, and was proud of 
 the fact. This preyed somewhat on his mind, 
 and he finally declared that he would leave the 
 house if anything more was said about the Fenians. 
 Charley and I wanted to go to the Castle to pay 
 our respects to Lord Carlisle, but we were ham- 
 pered by having no uniform. Still, as the Viceroy 
 was an old friend of our mother's, we obtained the 
 return of our uniforms by simply going to the 
 Castle and asking for them, though we had to 
 endure a great deal of chaff from the officers, who 
 asked how it was that we came to be among the 
 Fenians. 
 
 My recollection of Charley's attitude at the time 
 is, as I have recounted, distinctly against his 
 entrance into politics being in any sense due to 
 the influence of the Fenian movement. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 NEARLY MARRIED 
 
 A WicKLOW Romance. 
 
 Until 1871, Charley, though not insensible to the 
 charms of the fair sex, had had nothing in the 
 nature of a really serious love affair. In Wicklow, 
 it is true, he spent a good deal of time riding and 
 hunting and dancing with a young lady belonging 
 to a neighbouring county family, who was not 
 only extremely beautiful, but possessed of con- 
 siderable charm of manner. The talk of the tea- 
 tables soon magnified the intimacy into an engage- 
 ment, or at any rate an impending one, but I 
 think there was little foundation for the statement 
 beyond the mutual attraction and sincere friend- 
 ship which existed between the two young people. 
 Charley often told me how much he enjoyed his 
 visits to her father's house, and referred to Miss 
 
 C as being an extremely nice girl. Further 
 
 than that, I am sure, things never went, and, as 
 so often happened, the two young people gradually 
 drifted apart as the years passed by. Certainly, his 
 really serious entanglement in Paris quickly effaced 
 all memory of this slightl3'-developed romance. 
 
 73 
 
74 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 A Serious Love Affair. 
 
 It was during the time when Charley used to 
 make repeated trips to Paris, where most of his 
 family were then living, that he became involved 
 in a love affair of a more serious nature, which 
 had a marked effect on his character and subse- 
 quent career, and very nearly resulted in his 
 bringing a wife home to Avondale. 
 
 Both he and I were staying with our uncle, 
 Charles Stewart (son of the Commodore), at his 
 flat in the Champs Elysees, when we were intro- 
 duced to a 3^oung American lady. Miss Woods, 
 who had the entree to the very best society in 
 Paris. She was fair-haired, extremely beautiful 
 and vivacious, and Charley fell a complete slave 
 to her attractions. 
 
 I may mention that Charley was at that time 
 moving in the best society of Paris, and was 
 strongly urged by his uncle to marry one of the 
 many heiresses whom he was constantly meeting 
 Although he was too proud and high-spirited to 
 consent to a purely mercenary match, he was 
 genuinely attracted by the beauty and charm of 
 this lady, and the fact of her being heiress to a 
 large fortune doubtless suggested to him the 
 possibility of his restoring his family to the 
 position it formerly held. But as time went on 
 there is no doubt that passion quite superseded 
 any thoughts of mere worldly advantage. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 75 
 
 Love at First Sight. 
 
 Love in this case occurred actually at first sight, 
 for the first signs of Charley's infatuation, as it 
 subsequently proved to be, were shown at an 
 Anglo-American party given by our uncle, where 
 they were introduced to one another. Moving 
 as they did in the same circles, their opportunities 
 for meeting were many, and a mutual attraction 
 soon ripened into a sincere affection, culminating 
 in an engagement. 
 
 Charley and Miss Woods were at that time almost 
 inseparable. They attended most of the principal 
 social functions, where they were always to be seen 
 together, as also was the case at the theatres and 
 other entertainments, while they very often went 
 for walks in the evenings in the Champs Elysees 
 or the Bois. Their engagement was everywhere 
 recognized, and they were the recipients of the 
 warmest congratulations. 
 
 Miss Woods's family suddenly decided to go to 
 Rome, as is the usual custom among both French 
 and Americans in October. Her sudden departure 
 made him very despondent, and he conceived 
 the idea of following her to Rome. He was 
 obliged, however, to return first to Ireland on 
 business. 
 
 After a hurried week at Avondale, he spent 
 two days at Paris with his uncle, and then set off 
 for Rome. 
 
76 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Miss Woods appeared to be greatly delighted at 
 his appearance, but her parents were not quite so 
 cordial. He spent some time in Rome, visiting 
 the principal places of interest in company with 
 Miss Woods, with whom he generally walked arm 
 in arm. 
 
 Then there arrived a letter from Charley's uncle, 
 Mr. Stewart, warning him not to stop too long in 
 Rome, for fear of catching the Roman fever. 
 Charley had always a great dread of infection, and 
 on receipt of the letter made instant preparations 
 to return to Ireland. Miss Woods wished him to 
 stop longer, but, seeing he was resolved, made him 
 promise to come to Paris when they returned 
 there. 
 
 Once back at Avondale, he set hard to work 
 developing his land; but the aloofness which he 
 displayed to the many eligible ladies he met in 
 Wicklow society was greatly noticed, and proved 
 his single-hearted devotion to Miss Woods. 
 
 He returned again to Paris, where he had an 
 affectionate meeting with his fiancee, and they 
 again became inseparable companions. In the 
 spring of 1871 he returned to Avondale, owing to 
 his presence being required at the sawmills. 
 While there he set to work thoroughly pre- 
 paring the house for the reception of his expected 
 bride. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE ^7 
 
 A Catastrophe. 
 
 He had not long been back to Avondale, when 
 he received a short and not very informative letter 
 from Miss Woods, saying that her mother and 
 herself were returning immediately to their home 
 at Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A. The letter 
 never mentioned anything with regard to the 
 engagement or expressed any grief for the sudden 
 parting. 
 
 Charley was dumbfounded when he received it. 
 He was, however, too sincerely attached to Miss 
 Woods to accept such an implied conclusion of 
 their engagement. He hurried back to Paris, to 
 find that Miss Woods had already left for America, 
 and, after discussing American investments with 
 his uncle, set off armed with several business letters 
 of introduction, for the dual purpose of trans- 
 acting some business and at the same time asking 
 Miss Woods face to face her reasons for deserting 
 him. But there is little doubt that the first 
 reason was simply a pretext to justify the second, 
 although, as matters turned out, he actually did 
 a considerable amount of business during his visit 
 to America. 
 
 I had at that time returned to my cotton- 
 growing and fruit-farming in Alabama, whither, 
 however, news of Charley's engagement had per- 
 meated to me. 
 
78 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Directly on his arrival in America, Charley set 
 out for Newport. He was received cordially by 
 Miss Woods and her relations, and seems to have 
 come to the conclusion that things were as they 
 had been before. One day, however, Miss Woods 
 suddenly announced that she did not intend to 
 marry him, as he was only an Irish gentleman 
 without any particular name in public. 
 
 Charley, heartbroken, tried his best to make 
 her reconsider her decision, but, finding she was 
 determined, gave up the task as hopeless. 
 
 Resigned. 
 
 I received a telegram from him one day saying 
 that he was coming down to see me in Alabama. 
 After he arrived, we had a walk round the planta- 
 tion, and Charley suddenly exclaimed: " John, I 
 want you to come home with me; you have been 
 over here long enough." 
 
 At that time, however, I had just entered into 
 a new enterprise — peach-growing — and was eagerly 
 expecting the next year's crop, so I felt compelled 
 to refuse. He seemed very sullen and dejected, 
 but made no reference to his love affair. 
 
 Knowing his usual reticence, I said nothing 
 about Miss Woods (though, from letters I had 
 received, I knew pretty well how matters stood), 
 thinking that sooner or later he would tell me 
 all, as he usually did. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 79 
 
 I was out a great deal at the time, attending to 
 my plantation, but mj^ manager's wife, Mrs. 
 Merna, told me that when alone he used to give 
 himself up to fits of brooding and dejection. They 
 would often, when they came into the room sud- 
 denl}^, find him crouching over the fire, his face 
 covered with his hands, sighing bitterly. When 
 I came in, he used generally to put on a pretence 
 of gaiety, and I was so occupied with my affairs 
 that I did not notice into what low spirits he had 
 fallen until Mrs. Merna asked me what could be 
 done to cheer him up. 
 
 I then put the question bluntly. I said: 
 " Come, Charley, tell me what is the matter with 
 you." He hesitated a moment, and then poured 
 forth the pitiful tale of his love for Miss Woods, 
 and how she had suddenly jilted him. He added: 
 " John, I have a good mind to go back again to 
 Newport and see her. She might change her 
 mind. You know, I was and am very fond of 
 her." 
 
 I said: ** Do just as you think best." 
 
 However, he seems to have decided that such 
 a step would have been undignified and useless. 
 To distract his mind I took him out shooting and 
 visiting, and also conducted him round some of 
 the great Alabama cotton factories and grist-mills, 
 in which he took a lively interest. We then went 
 over to Birmingham, Alabama, to inspect the vast 
 coal and iron fields which were then being developed 
 
8o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 there. As he had some money invested in Vir- 
 ginian coalfields, he went into every detail of the 
 methods of production with the keenest attention. 
 By then he appeared to have pretty well got 
 over the shock occasioned by the abrupt termina- 
 tion of his engagement, but his attitude towards 
 women for many years afterwards was a cold and 
 even suspicious one. 
 
 A Visit to Miss Woods. 
 
 In 1880, when Charley was at the height of his 
 fame, my sister Theodosia (Mrs. Paget) and 
 myself happened to be in Newport on a summer 
 holiday. We heard that Miss Woods, who had 
 in the meantime married a rich American, was 
 living at a villa just outside the town. Theodosia 
 had met her in Paris during the days of Charley's 
 courtship, and one day she said to me: ** Come 
 and let us call on Charley's old sweetheart." I 
 said, " Well, we will," and we made our way to 
 the villa. 
 
 When we arrived, she was in and welcomed us 
 in the drawing-room. She was still very pretty, 
 charmingly dressed, and vivacious in manner. 
 
 She talked rapidly, evidently rendered some- 
 what nervous by the memories which we aroused. 
 Suddenly she said: "Do tell me how is your great 
 brother Charles. How famous he has become!" 
 She stopped and sighed for a moment, and seemed 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 8i 
 
 almost bursting into tears, then suddenly cried, 
 as if from the bottom of her heart: " Oh, why did 
 I not marry him ? How happy we should have 
 been together !" We talked in general terms 
 about Charley for a little time, and then we left, 
 never to see her again. 
 
 I always consider it to be a striking coincidence 
 that Charley's first real love affair was with a Miss 
 Woods, while the maiden name of Mrs. O'Shea, 
 to whom he was finally married, was Miss Katha- 
 rine Wood. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 CHARLEY IN AMERICA 
 
 A Visit to Alabama. 
 
 Charley's first visit to America, to which I have 
 only briefly referred in connection with his love 
 affair, merits a more detailed description, showing 
 as it does the development of his character at 
 what was really the critical part of his life. When 
 I got the message saying that he was coming over 
 to see me, I was hard at work on my plantation at 
 West Point, Alabama. On the day of his arrival 
 I had gone out partridge-shooting after breakfast, 
 and had made a very good bag, when I suddenly 
 felt that I ought to return, although I had not 
 arranged to do so until the evening. On getting 
 near the house, I saw a buggy with two gentle- 
 men in it drive up to my gate. I hurried up, and 
 found that it was Charley himself and a friend of 
 mine, Mr. Lanier. 
 
 They were both very hungry, and I told Mrs. 
 Mema, my housekeeper, to hurry up and get some 
 dinner for them. She killed a cock and cooked it, 
 but it proved to be a " fine tough bird," as Charley 
 expressed it. Charley, however, had nothing but 
 
 82 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 83 
 
 praise for our home-made cakes, honey, and 
 hominy, and over the coffee we had a good chat 
 until it was time for Mr. Lanier to return to West 
 Point, from where he had driven Charley over. 
 
 The two of us then had a long walk through my 
 cotton plantation and peach orchards. He seemed 
 greatly surprised at the large tract of land under 
 cultivation, and the way in which I controlled 
 the negroes. Everything in the South was strange 
 to him, and the negroes and the rough set of 
 white people with whom he came in contact puzzled 
 him a great deal at first. He did not seem to like 
 the negroes, and thought that the life generally 
 was unfit for me; but I told him that I liked it, 
 as it gave me a healthy and paying occupation, 
 though he, of course, had got his own beautiful 
 Avondale and plenty to do on the estate. 
 
 I did my best to make him comfortable, and 
 gave him a nice room next to my own, with a com- 
 munication door between, as I knew, of old that 
 he was subject to nervous attacks and used to 
 walk in his sleep. He told me that he disliked 
 the Southern cooking, because it was so greasy, 
 and he seemed to be glad when I told him that I 
 also disliked greasy food. Still, he appeared very 
 soon to accommodate himself to the life. 
 
 He spent three weeks with me. We used to do 
 a lot of partridge-shooting, and visited all the mills 
 and cotton factories in the neighbourhood, in 
 which he took a great deal of interest. One day 
 
84 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 he came over with me to see Mr, Terry Collins' s 
 grist-mill, which was run by water-power. After 
 examining the turbine wheel for some time, he 
 asked Mr. Collins to take a certain part of it out 
 to show him. This could not be done without 
 stopping the mill, which Mr. Collins refused to do, 
 much to Charley's disappointment, as he was used 
 to having his slightest whim obeyed. 
 
 For exercise, Charley used to ride my black 
 mare Fanny (named after my sister) into the 
 town, which was about seven miles away, in order 
 to fetch my mail and also his own, in which he 
 took a great deal of interest, as he was then trans- 
 acting a lot of business with New York. 
 
 An Altercation. 
 
 On one of his trips heavy rains had fallen, so 
 that the mud was several inches deep, rendering 
 it impossible to distinguish the footpath from the 
 road. On entering the town, Charley dismounted, 
 and, leading his horse along the path, made his 
 way towards the post - office. Presently the 
 Marshal (Chief of Police) came up to him, and told 
 him to take the horse off the side-walk. My 
 brother's proud spirit keenly resented this inter- 
 ference. He calmly surveyed the man, and said 
 coldly: " I might do so if you could show me which 
 is the path and which is the road. Personally 
 I can see no difference " He then made his way 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 85 
 
 towards the post-office, but the Marshal followed 
 and continued the argument, which became more 
 and more heated. Finally the Marshal said he 
 would have to fine him, and ordered him to come 
 to the police-room. Charley replied that he would 
 do so when he had fetched the mail. 
 
 " Whose mail ?" asked the Marshal. 
 
 "My brother's — Mr. John Parnell's," said 
 Charley curtly, whereupon the Marshal, to 
 Charley's amazement, seized both his hands, 
 shaking them heartily, and cried: " Go ahead; we 
 all know Mr. Parnell, and are fond of him. I am 
 proud to meet you, and would not hurt a hair of 
 your head." 
 
 They both adjourned to Pat Gibbons's, where 
 I always used to dine and put up my horse, Pat 
 being an old Irishman and a thorough good fellow. 
 There he was cordially welcomed, and he and the 
 Marshal parted the best of friends. Charley, on 
 his return, said : " They seem queer folk about here, 
 John, and I might have finished by being shot 
 if they hadn't happened to have known our name." 
 
 The Marshal in after - years, when Charley's 
 name was famous throughout the world, used 
 often to relate this little adventure with great 
 pride. 
 
 I introduced Charley to Mr. Matt Hill, uncle of 
 the celebrated Senator Hill of Georgia, and they 
 had many lively discussions together over the 
 war. Charley's sympathies had hitherto been 
 
86 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 entirely for the North, but Mr. Hill, who was a 
 Southerner, succeeded in modifying his views. 
 
 Senator Hill, Charley, and myself, used often 
 to go out shooting on Colonel Chambers's planta- 
 tion, taking my old dog " Drink " with us. Poor 
 ** Drink " had met with an accident, and had had 
 his shoulder put out, so that he was a bit slow for 
 Charley, who liked speed in sport as in everything 
 else. On one occasion he lost his temper and 
 levelled his gun at the dog, saying that he would 
 shoot him, but I managed to persuade him not 
 to do so. After that the dog behaved splendidly, 
 and Charley got quite to like him. 
 
 On our return from shooting we got caught in a 
 sudden cyclone. Such was its force that it quite 
 took our breath away, and I had to let go the reins 
 and allow the horse to get on as best he could 
 himself. After a fierce spell, the stoim ceased as 
 suddenly as it had begun, and we found ourselves 
 as dry as we were before, as the rain had driven 
 against us with such force that it had not time 
 to settle on our clothes. 
 
 How THE Pigs triumphed. 
 
 One night we were awakened by the grunting of 
 a number of pigs under the house, which, as is 
 usual in the South, was built on piles about five 
 feet high, leaving an open space which was pro- 
 tected by lattice-work. Apparently some of the 
 

 STEPS TO THE THRONE 87 
 
 pigs belonging to Ran, my " boss " nigger, had 
 escaped, and had broken through the lattice-work 
 in order to keep themselves warm in the recesses 
 under the house. 
 
 I heard Charley's voice from the adjoining 
 room crying: " I say, John, I can't sleep with that 
 infernal noise." 
 
 " Well, Charley," I replied, being rather more 
 used to such occurrences, " why don't you get up 
 and take my gun and have a shot at them ?" 
 
 Charley jumped out of bed, picked up the gun, 
 and ran out in his nightshirt, firing a shot under 
 the house in the direction from which the noise 
 came. The result was that the terrified animals 
 came rushing out, and upset him, gun and all, in 
 the mud. When he returned and came into my 
 room to relate his adventures, I couldn't help 
 laughing at the disreputable appearance he pre- 
 sented. The gun was so clogged with mud that 
 we had to set to work to clean it before going to 
 bed. 
 
 A few days later the negro told me that one of 
 the pigs was missing, and we were soon able to 
 locate him owing to a very strong odour permeating 
 through the floor of the house. When we set to 
 work to search, we discovered that Charley's shot 
 had killed one of the pigs, which we had removed 
 to a decent burial-place. 
 
 Charley used often to relate this story with 
 great gusto in after-days in Avondale. 
 
88 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 There resided on the opposite side of the road 
 a cotton-planter and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. FeUx 
 Shank. They were very pleasant people, and the 
 husband was a highly educated man who took 
 a great deal of interest in the country and held 
 an influential position. I took Charley over one 
 night to see them, and in the course of a very 
 enjoyable evening the conversation turned on the 
 Alabama coal and iron fields, which were then 
 being developed in a small way by a number of 
 poor but energetic men. Charley became greatly 
 interested in the subject, especially as he had just 
 invested a good deal of the profits arising from his 
 timber at Avondale in the Clover Hill coal-mine 
 of Virginia. 
 
 After discussing the matter on several occasions, 
 he said: ** John, let's go over and see some of these 
 new fields, as I am deeply interested in coal- 
 mining, and the coalfields are on the way to New 
 Orleans, where I am going down to see my 
 Parisian friend, Mr. Cliphart." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ADVENTURES IN THE COALFIELDS 
 
 A FEW days later Charley and I left West Point 
 Station on the Alabama and Montgomery Rail- 
 way, which connected at Montgomery with the 
 line then known as the North and South Railway. 
 At Montgomery we changed for Birmingham, the 
 centre of the coal and iron fields, where we arrived 
 after a very long and tedious journey. 
 
 On the way we passed the Cahawba coalfield, 
 which was the first to be opened in the district, 
 as it was on the earliest section of railway. 
 
 The quality of coal, however, was not very 
 good, it being too sulphuric. When we stopped at 
 Cahawba Station, Charley got out and asked the 
 people a number of questions about the new coal- 
 field and its prospects. He was asked his name, 
 and was glad to find again that it was recognized. 
 
 Birmingham was at that time a small, insig- 
 nificant village built of wooden houses, but, like 
 every village in America, dignified with the title 
 of city. It had one small, dirty wooden hotel, 
 full of adventurers who had come there in the 
 hope of getting work on the railroad and mines. 
 The hotel was a miserable place and very crowded, 
 
 89 
 
go CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 and we were constantly in dread of having five 
 or six not too cleanly strangers sleeping in the 
 same room. 
 
 Charley was thoroughly disgusted with this 
 mode of living, as he had always been accustomed 
 to the best of everything, and did not relish sitting 
 down to dinner with a very ruffianly-looking 
 crowd, though I did not mind them, as I found by 
 experience that, though poor and rough, they were 
 honest and upright. 
 
 After dinner, which consisted of a number of 
 small pieces of bacon, hardly a mouthful apiece, 
 I went to look for my hat, but found it gone, and 
 a very shabby-looking article left in its place. 
 Remembering the old days at Avondale, when 
 Charley used to run off with my new hats and 
 leave his old ones for me to take, I had no hesita- 
 tion on this occasion in appropriating his. How- 
 ever, I went down to the village and bought a 
 new one. This made Charley and myself very 
 careful indeed about hanging up our hats when we 
 went in to meals, and we usually brought them up 
 to our room. 
 
 I remembered that a former West Point neigh- 
 bour, Mr. Read, had gone to live at Birmingham, 
 and we went and hunted him up. He was very 
 glad to see us, and promised to introduce us to 
 Colonel Powell, the pioneer of Birmingham, a 
 wealthy and prominent citizen, to whom the 
 original development of the coalfields was due. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 9I 
 
 Charle}^, owing to his proud disposition,was greatly 
 afraid of being mistaken for the usual Irish 
 emigrant, the only class of our countrymen who 
 were to be found in these parts, and before we went 
 round to Colonel Powell he said to me: "For 
 God's sake, John, when we see Colonel Powell, 
 don't tell him we are from Ireland, as they have 
 never seen a real Irish gentleman, and wouldn't 
 know one if they did, so that I would not be likely 
 to get the information I want." However, it was 
 already known that we had come over from 
 Ireland, though that did not seem to do us much 
 harm. 
 
 Colonel Powell (whom I met again with his 
 family in Italy during the following year) was an 
 educated and travelled man, and, as we soon 
 learned, quite recognized the difference between 
 the Irish emigrant and the capitalist seeking in- 
 vestments. He received us very cordially, and 
 talked to me for some time about my fruit-growing. 
 He introduced us to a Mr. Dunne, of Irish extrac- 
 tion, who had been in America a long time, and 
 was thoroughly conversant with the conditions 
 of the coalfields and the people working them, 
 seeing that he owned the first coal-pit in that part 
 of the country. Mr. Dunne's home was about 
 forty miles from Birmingham, close to the cele- 
 brated Warrior coalfield, and he promised to take 
 us over his original coal-mine. 
 
 We left Birmingham by an early train for the 
 
92 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Warrior coalfield, and on the way over the Great 
 Warrior River saw the coal cropping out of the 
 banks of the river as we crossed it by the railway 
 bridge. We got off on the other side of the river, 
 having told the conductor to stop the train near 
 Mr. Dunne's house, as there was no station there. 
 We had supper at Mr. Dunne's, and after a chat 
 with the family went to bed. At breakfast 
 Mr. Dunne described to us the pioneer mine, which 
 is now one of the biggest in the South. 
 
 A Mine worked by Dentists. 
 
 But, to Charley's amazement, and at first in- 
 credulity, Mr. Dunne told us that the mine was 
 only worked at that time by three Birmingham 
 dentists, all poor men, whose only capital con- 
 sisted in pulling out enough teeth from the negroes 
 to provide for the work in the mine day by day. 
 At the same time they kept an English engineer 
 to superintend the works, though all his remunera- 
 tion, like theirs, was dependent upon the future 
 profits of the mine. 
 
 After breakfast Charley and Mr. Dunne and 
 myself started on a tour of inspection. Charley 
 wanted first to see the bridge over the Warrior 
 River, which he noticed, with his invariable 
 aptitude for observing detail, was one of a new 
 design, and he wished to adapt the idea of the 
 covering of the bridge for a roof which he pur- 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 93 
 
 posed constructing at his new sawmills at Avon- 
 dale. He asked us to walk across the bridge 
 before going to the coal-mines. 
 
 To cross it was a most difficult feat, as we had 
 to walk on loose, rickety planks in the middle of 
 the track, and if we had slipped we should have 
 been hurled hundreds of feet below into the deep, 
 swiftly-flowing Warrior River. As we went across, 
 Charley caught hold of my hand, and we made 
 our way carefully and safely to the other side. 
 After crossing the bridge, Charley went back alone 
 to the middle of it in order to make a sketch of 
 the roof. He left Mr. Dunne and myself to watch 
 at the end of the bridge for approaching trains, 
 and we agreed to warn him of danger by the waving 
 of a handkerchief. All of a sudden, when Charley 
 had nearly finished his sketch, we saw a long 
 freight-train approaching the bridge — luckily, at 
 a very slow speed. We had barely time to give 
 Charley the warning signal, and get him back 
 to safety, before the train reached the bridge. 
 If he had been overtaken halfway across, nothing 
 could have saved him, as there was not even a 
 handrail for him to cling to while the train was 
 passing. 
 
 After Charley had completed his sketch, we 
 recrossed the bridge and walked up to the mine, 
 which was only a small opening in the hill, close 
 to the railway track, not bigger than an ordinary- 
 sized room, the seam of coal being pretty level with 
 
94 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the hill. We made the acquaintance of the 
 English engineer^ Mr. Shaw, and one of the dentist 
 proprietors of the mine. 
 
 Mr. Shaw asked us to spend the night at his 
 house until the train passed for Birmingham. 
 After a hearty backwoods supper, we slept until 
 it was time to go back to the track and meet the 
 train. We brought a lantern with us, which we 
 waved to call the attention of the engineer, who 
 stopped to pick us up. 
 
 We got to Birmingham early in the morning, 
 and after breakfast took a long walk to inspect 
 the immense mountains of pure iron ore, Charley 
 observing that the close proximity of the coal and 
 the iron made the place doubly valuable. We had 
 a delightful walk through the great forest, with the 
 pine-trees sighing over our heads, and the delight- 
 ful perfume of resin pervading everything, a scent 
 that Charley was always fond of, saying that there 
 was no life so healthy as that spent among the 
 pine-trees. 
 
 Charley was now most anxious to invest £3,000 
 in the new coal-mine, as he evidently foresaw the 
 great future that existed for this virgin country. 
 Before leaving Birmingham he made arrange- 
 ments to return there again after he had paid 
 his promised visit to Mr. Cliphart at New 
 Orleans. 
 
 After seeing everything of interest and looking 
 fully into the coal and iron business, we left 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 95 
 
 Birmingham for Montgomery Junction, where 
 Charley changed for New Orleans, while I went 
 on to West Point. 
 
 After this I remained at home, marketing my 
 cotton crop and preparing to wind up my 
 American business before going back to Ireland 
 with Charley. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT 
 
 A Presentiment. 
 
 About two weeks after Charley had left for New 
 Orleans, I received a telegram from him, telling 
 me to catch the midday train from West Point to 
 Birmingham next day, and meet him at Mont- 
 gomery. I did not notice the date of the telegram, 
 taking it for granted that it had been sent on the 
 morning of the day I received it. Somehow, a 
 presentiment will often come to me very strongly 
 at times, and it was especially so the day I re- 
 ceived this wire. I felt that something dreadful 
 was going to happen, not to me, but to Charley, 
 if he went to Birmingham by himself. Why I 
 could not tell, as he had been travelling by himself 
 for a considerable time; but, still, the feeling of 
 coming disaster haunted me, until it took full 
 possession of my mind. 
 
 However, I set off next morning by the twelve 
 o'clock train. I do not know how long it was that 
 I walked up and down the platform at West Point 
 before the train left, trying to make up my mind 
 
 whether to go or not. I did not want to go, as 
 
 96 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 97 
 
 I was sure that a catastrophe was impending, but 
 something kept on telHng me: "If I do not go, 
 Charley will be killed." As I did not know any- 
 body at Montgomery Junction Station to whom 
 I could telegraph to tell Charley that I was not 
 going, I started, greatly against my will. 
 
 On arriving at the junction, my train pulled 
 up on one side of the platform, and exactly at the 
 same time (reminding me of our experience at 
 Chipping Norton when boys) the New Orleans train, 
 in which I expected Charley, drew up at the 
 opposite side. The sleeping-car of the New 
 Orleans train had to be transferred to the North 
 and South train, which went to Birmingham. I 
 stepped out of my car, and, immediately I did 
 so, saw Charley come out of the sleeper, face to 
 face with me. 
 
 Directly he caught sight of me he appeared 
 dumbfounded, and cried: " Hello, John, I did not 
 expect to see you to-day ! Have you been waiting 
 for me since yesterday, when I asked you to meet 
 me ?" It was now my turn to look astonished, and 
 I showed him the wire I had received. He said: 
 " You ought to have received that the day before." 
 
 The mystery of our meeting impressed us both, 
 and Charley evidently did not like it at all. 
 
 I had come up from West Point with a friend of 
 mine. Dr. Pierce. I introduced him to Charley, 
 who decided to leave his sleeper and join us in our 
 day-car — a most lucky occurrence for him, as it 
 
 7 
 
98 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 turned out. Charley and the doctor sat down 
 next to the door, opposite the stove, while I took 
 a seat in front of them, so as to join in the con- 
 versation. They started talking about the great 
 future of the coalfields, but as we went along 
 we kept noticing the curious way in which the 
 engineer overran his train past every station, 
 having to back into the platform. We concluded 
 that this section of the line, which had not long 
 been finished, was new to him. 
 
 A Negro's Prophecy. 
 
 When we were not very far from Birmingham, 
 Charley, who had noticed the overrunning of the 
 train, started to tell Dr. Pierce and myself a 
 curious incident which had occurred to him when 
 on his way from seeing his friend, Mr. Cliphart, at 
 New Orleans. A negro, who was seeing the people 
 off the boat across the gang-plank, turned to him 
 and said: " You are getting off, and will be killed.'* 
 Charley said that he felt like kicking him into 
 the bay. But, strange to say, after that he felt 
 very much as I did — that something was going to 
 happen. 
 
 The Accident. 
 
 Suddenly, as he was talking in this way, the 
 train jumped the track, tearing up the rails with 
 a terrible jar, and, as I afterwards learned, pitched 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 99 
 
 down a very high bank, and turned upside down 
 with the wheels on top. 
 
 When the train first bumped and rocked as it 
 left the metals, I remember taking hold of both 
 sides of the seat to keep my balance, as I did not 
 know what was going to happen next. The last 
 thing I remember was seeing the stove topple 
 over, after which I became unconscious. 
 
 Charley afterwards told me that when the train 
 jumped the track he tried to leap out of the car, 
 but as he got up the train was turning over, and 
 his coat got caught in the hat-rack, suspending 
 him there and breaking his fall, and also, which 
 was perhaps as well, preventing him from jumping 
 out. He said that when he realized that the train 
 was running off the line he was sure that he was 
 going to be killed, and that the negro's prophecy 
 was coming true. Even if he had succeeded in 
 gaining the door and jumping out, the train would 
 most likely have fallen on him and killed him; 
 and if he had remained in the sleeping-car nothing 
 could have saved him, as it caught fire and was 
 burnt to a cinder. Fortunately, there was no one 
 in the sleeper except the porter, who, being awake, 
 succeeded in making his escape. 
 
 I was then unconscious, but Charley told me 
 afterwards that, once the accident occurred, all 
 was in darkness, the doors were jammed and 
 broken and the windows smashed. With the 
 exception of the baggage car, mail cars, and engine, 
 
100 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the train was scattered, wheels up, the tops of the 
 cars being embedded in the ground. As the door 
 was jammed, Dr. Pierce, Charley, and the other 
 passengers, got out through the top of the broken 
 window. When they had got out, they missed 
 me, and Charley turned to Dr. Pierce and cried: 
 ** Oh, where is my brother ? He must be still in 
 the car." 
 
 Charley Rescues me. 
 
 After all the people who were able to do so had 
 got out of the car, Charley crawled back in search 
 of me. He finally found me in the darkness, 
 lying on the floor as if dead. He cried out to 
 Dr. Pierce: ** Oh, doctor, I have escaped, but I 
 fear my poor brother is either badly hurt or 
 killed !" 
 
 They took hold of me and dragged me out 
 through the window, and then carried me to a 
 little farmhouse near to the track. I did not 
 recover consciousness until I found myself in a 
 room lying on a bed, while a number of people 
 were stretched on the floor, bleeding and moaning. 
 
 All of a sudden I realized that Charley was not 
 there, and, although badly stunned, I was seized 
 with a terror that he might be killed, as I slowly 
 recalled, sitting up dazed in bed, my feelings since 
 I received the telegram, and also Charley's in- 
 cident with the negro. I found that my neck 
 and head hurt frightfully, owing to my having 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE loi 
 
 been dashed against the top of the car; but I 
 struggled out of bed and staggered forth in search 
 of Charley and Dr. Pierce. When I got out into 
 the yard, I found my brother stretched full length 
 on a grass plot. I hurried to him, fearing that 
 he was dead; but when I approached he raised 
 himself on his elbow, and said:'*' I hope you are 
 not so bad as when we brought you here. I believe 
 I have received some internal injury." 
 
 He recalled the negro's prophecy, and said that 
 he had had a narrow escape from its being ful- 
 filled. However, he seemed much more concerned 
 about my injuries than his own. 
 
 As the accident had occurred some distance 
 from any station, the engine was sent on ahead for 
 help. It returned with a baggage car containing 
 some doctors, and we were all placed in it and 
 brought on to Birmingham, except one unfor- 
 tunate man, who was found to be already dead. 
 I remember that Charley during the journey to 
 Birmingham was looking very pale, and, like 
 the rest of the injured, lay down on the floor of 
 the car. Strange to say, I was the only one able 
 to sit up, although my neck was getting worse 
 and worse every moment. 
 
 On arrival at Birmingham, we were all taken to 
 the little wooden hotel where Charley and I had 
 stopped a couple of weeks before. 
 
 When we got out of the train, I appeared to be 
 less hurt than anybody, and the people waiting 
 
102 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 on the platform crowded round me, and asked me 
 questions as to how the accident had occurred. 
 When the doctors came to me, I remember show- 
 ing them my hand, the fingers of which were 
 broken, and telhng them that my neck hurt me. 
 After they had examined me, one of the doctors 
 said: " Never mind about your hand; your head 
 and neck are seriously injured, and you must go 
 to bed immediately." 
 
 I was quite surprised, as I did not think I was 
 so badly hurt ; but I went to the same little room 
 in which Charley and I had slept before, and got 
 into my bed, which I did not leave again for over 
 a month. My neck turned out to be indeed very 
 badly hurt, and the doctors said that if Charley 
 had received the same injuries it would have 
 killed him on the spot, as it would nine out of ten 
 persons. 
 
 A Tender Nurse. 
 
 I was obliged to have my head supported 
 b}'^ cardboard bandages for a month to come. 
 Charley was the only nurse I had, though he also 
 was suffering from his injuries. He attended to 
 my wants better and more tenderly than any 
 woman could have done, and was most anxious 
 about me, never leaving me even to attend to 
 his coal investment business. All that he was 
 anxious about was to get me safely home to 
 Ireland, though he was still in negotiations 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 103 
 
 about his £3,000 investment. We had to sleep 
 together in the same small bed, which was much 
 too small for both of us, especially under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 We had nobody to wait on us, but at times 
 friends used to come and see us and keep us 
 company, for which we were heartily grateful. 
 Among them were Miss Callaghan, who was a friend 
 of mine at West Point, and Father Galvin, an 
 Irish priest related to the Father Galvin of Rath- 
 drum who in after-days used to assist Charley 
 during his political fights. Everyone showed us 
 the utmost kindness, and we made many new 
 friends, none of whom, however, realized that my 
 pale-faced nurse, himself suffering though un- 
 complaining, was a few years later to become 
 the world-renowned champion of Irish liberty. 
 
 Abortive Negotiations. 
 
 When I was well on the road to recovery, 
 Charley used to take trips to the Warrior coalfield, 
 especially to inspect the suspensory work of the 
 roof of the bridge, in which he seemed to take 
 an absorbing interest. I used to be very nervous 
 about his safety during his absence, picturing 
 him alone in that dangerous spot, but he returned 
 safely every evening. 
 
 He told me that he had made no arrangements 
 yet with the owners of the coal-mines, but had 
 
104 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 asked them to draw up a partnership agreement 
 and bring it round to the hotel. 
 
 As soon as I was well enough, Charley appointed 
 a day for the owners of the coal-mine to meet in 
 our bedroom at the hotel, and conclude the agree- 
 ment for him to become a part owner in the mines 
 on introducing a capital of £3,000. I advised him 
 to go into it, and also to buy up a large tract of the 
 Long Leaf pine-lands, close to the coal-mines, under 
 which I believed that the coal-seam stretched. 
 The purchase money for the pine-lands was only 
 one dollar per acre, and of this only ten cents per 
 acre had to be paid in cash down, the remainder 
 being payable in instalments extending over 
 several years. I pointed out that, quite apart 
 from the coal, the timber on these lands 
 would have repaid Charley handsomely. In 
 this, however, as in all other matters, he pre- 
 ferred to follow his own view uninfluenced by 
 anyone else. 
 
 The owners, when they came to our bedroom 
 (I was still in bed), brought with them an agree- 
 ment ready for Charley to sign. After reading it 
 over carefully, he said it would not do at all, as, 
 although he was advancing all the capital, he 
 was not getting complete control. He made it 
 quite clear that the future of the mine depended 
 upon the capital provided to work it, and that it 
 was essential that he should have full manage- 
 ment. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 105 
 
 Anyhow, after a prolonged argument, in which 
 neither side would give way, the whole scheme 
 fell through, and the owners left. 
 
 The mine afterwards, in other hands, proved a 
 complete success, as it would have done if Charley 
 had had his way. 
 
 In a couple of days I was able to walk well 
 enough to get back to my plantation at West 
 Point. On arriving there, my people were de- 
 lighted to see us back again, as the rumour had 
 got about that I had been killed. 
 
 We remained there for about two weeks, whilst 
 I disposed of my cotton crop and gradually re- 
 turned to health. We commenced to collect the 
 evidence of witnesses with a view to taking an 
 action for damages against the North and South 
 Railway, which, however, the lawyers advised us 
 was bankrupt. Finally, however, we decided to 
 abandon the suit, at any rate for a time. 
 
 A Quarrel. 
 
 One day while we were at West Point, I took 
 Charley to look at a house which I was building 
 for a Mr. Joseph Field and his wife, who were 
 farming part of my land. Mr. Field was at home, 
 and Charley had a long chat with him about his 
 experiences in America. Mr. Field, who was an 
 Ulster Protestant, though his wife was a Catholic, 
 came back with us to my place, and there made 
 
io6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 some rather impertinent remarks about the house 
 which I was building not being good enough 
 for him. Charley lost his temper, and cried: 
 ** It is too good for you !" This led to angry 
 words, and very nearly to blows, Charley having 
 actually taken off his coat with the intention 
 of thrashing Mr. Field, when I separated them. 
 I may say that I always found Mr. Field a 
 most respectable man, and got on very well 
 with him. 
 
 The quarrel soon came to an end, as quickly 
 as it had begun, and before we reached home 
 perfect friendship had been restored, and we all 
 had dinner together. Mr. Field ever after used 
 to speak very highly of Charley, saying what 
 wonderful piercing dark eyes he had. 
 
 We had a couple of days' shooting before 
 leaving West Point, and, as Charley disliked so 
 much the greasy Southern food, we took with us 
 plenty of " Bob Whites," as partridges were called 
 in that neighbourhood, ready-cooked, to eat on 
 our journey to New York. 
 
 On the way we stopped at the Clover Hill 
 coal-mines in Virginia. As our mother, our uncle 
 Stewart, and Charley himself, owned a number of 
 shares in that mine, he thought it was a good 
 opportunity to break his journey and inspect it. 
 The mine was reached by a branch from the main 
 line, the train running at a high speed on wooden 
 rails, which caused it to bump and sway as if it 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 107 
 
 was going to jump the track. This, in view of 
 our recent accident, made Charley distinctly 
 nervous, and we went and ate our cold partridges 
 on the steps of the last car, so that we could jump 
 off quickty if anything happened. I must say 
 that the steps proved a very uncomfortable seat, 
 especially as the train was swaying about so much, 
 and we were several times nearly thrown off. 
 However, Charley was still very much haunted by 
 the negro's prediction. 
 
 On arriving at Clover Hill Station we called at 
 the manager's house, and he came out and showed 
 us all over the mines. 
 
 Charley went down in the cage of one of the 
 principal shafts, and he told me afterwards that 
 he had just as narrow an escape as he had had in 
 the railroad smash, as while he was standing up 
 in the cage, being slightly bent owing to his height, 
 his head was very nearly cut off in one place 
 during the descent by the projecting wall of the 
 mine. This incident still further increased the 
 superstitions which had grown upon him during 
 the last few weeks. 
 
 When he came up, he described to me the 
 geological formation of the mine. I had always 
 been very interested in the study of geology, and 
 on hearing his description I said: " That mine is 
 no good; the coal in it will soon give out on 
 account of its lying on the granite rock forma- 
 tion, — a very unusual circumstance." Charley 
 
io8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 in the early days used to make fun of my 
 geological knowledge, though he afterwards set 
 to work to study it in earnest himself. In 
 this case my judgment proved to be correct, 
 for the mine in after-years turned out to be 
 worthless. 
 
 We left Clover Hill and caught the train on the 
 through line. In the same sleeper Charley met 
 Mr. R. A. Lancaster, his and his uncle's Wall 
 Street banker and broker, whom he knew very 
 well, and they sat up most of the night talking 
 finance. 
 
 A Threatened Arrest. 
 
 On arrival the next morning in New York, 
 Charley, who had put up at the Jersey City Hotel, 
 went to see Mr. Robinson, his attorney, as Mr. 
 Lancaster had informed him in the train that he 
 had been sued by a Wall Street sharper, who had 
 heard that he had only just come over from 
 Ireland, and had persuaded him, before going 
 South, to contract for some shares in a bogus 
 company. This man threatened to have him 
 arrested in order to prevent him leaving for 
 Ireland, but Charley, on Mr. Lancaster's advice, 
 remained in Jersey City, where he could not be 
 molested. 
 
 After spending Christmas quietly in Jersey 
 City, we left for Ireland on the s.s. City of Antwerp, 
 on New Year's Day, 1872. On the morning of our 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 109 
 
 departure I had to go over to New York City to 
 transact some business for him, and only got 
 to the vessel, after wading through the snow up to 
 my knees, when the gangway was just about to 
 be drawn up. I found Charley hanging over the 
 rail in great excitement as to whether I was going 
 to miss the boat. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 BACK TO EUROPE 
 
 There was little of special interest in the voyage, 
 except one day when we were halfway across. 
 The steamer stopped suddenly for some unex- 
 plained reason, though there was no heavy sea or 
 wind at the time. I was walking about on deck, 
 and came across Charley leaning over the rail and 
 looking very uneasy. He asked me in a nervous 
 manner: "John, what has happened?" I said 
 I did not know, and in a moment or two the 
 steamer started again. 
 
 On another occasion a heavy sea was running. 
 I was playing chess below, while Charley was asleep 
 on the seat beside me. The steamer suddenly 
 gave an awful lurch, and seemed for a few instants 
 on the point of turning turtle. Charley was 
 pitched head first right over two tables, while I 
 just managed to keep my balance, though the 
 chess-board and men were scattered over the 
 saloon. When the steamer righted herself, Charley 
 got up, thoroughly awakened and considerably 
 bruised. 
 
 no 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE iii 
 
 Back in Ireland. 
 
 When we arrived off Queenstown, the weather 
 was so bad that we could not land, and had to go 
 on to Liverpool. We then crossed to Dublin and 
 went straight down to Avondale. Charley ex- 
 pressed his vivid delight at being back home 
 again, as he had never really enjoyed being in 
 America. 
 
 Charley and I used to take a good many walking 
 trips to Aughavannagh, where he became inter- 
 ested in the production of turf. Soon after we 
 went to Paris, where our uncle Stewart often kept 
 Charley up till two o'clock in the morning talking 
 about American mortgages and bonds. Charley 
 found the technical terms very confusing, but did 
 his best to acquire a grip of American finance, as 
 there was a probability that our uncle, who was 
 then an old man, would leave him some of his 
 property on his death. 
 
 We then went over to London, where our 
 guardian, Sir Ralph Howard, sent over to ask us 
 to come and see him at his hotel. He was a 
 widower, and growing old and feeble, and par- 
 ticularly wanted to see me, as he had made me one 
 of his heirs. We went round to call on him, and 
 I remember being very nervous, as I wished to 
 make a good impression on our uncle, and I knew 
 that, after my rough life in America, my clothes 
 
112 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 would be distinctly behind the London fashions. 
 I went in to see him alone, and talked to him for 
 some time about America. When I came out, 
 Charley went in to see Sir Ralph, and unfortun- 
 ately mentioned the fact that the railway accident 
 had taken place in the Alabama coalfield, which 
 rather prejudiced our uncle against investing his 
 money there, and disturbing his existing invest- 
 ments in English mines. 
 
 Sir Ralph Howard took a great deal of interest 
 in Charley's account of American mines and their 
 great future. Thinking that he was doing me a 
 good turn, he praised up my investments in land 
 in Alabama more than they were justified, which 
 unluckily, as events turned out, acted greatly to 
 my disadvantage. 
 
 After our interview with Sir Ralph we went back 
 to Avondale, where we saw a good deal of our 
 sisters, Mrs. Dickinson and Mrs. McDermott, 
 Captain Dickinson being the agent for my property 
 in Armagh. I found, however, that Captain 
 Dickinson had allowed the rents to fall consider- 
 ably into arrears. He resigned his agency, and 
 I set to work collecting the arrears myself. I 
 experienced little trouble in getting in the rent on 
 the first gale day, though after two years I gave up 
 acting as my own agent, as I saw that the tenants 
 could not possibly pay in a bad time, as it was 
 difficult enough to get in the rents in compara- 
 tively good times. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 113 
 
 It was thought that because I had in some in- 
 stances to take proceedings against the tenants I 
 was acting harshly, but I had to provide both for 
 my sisters' annuities and the Trinity College head 
 rent, which had also fallen into arrears, getting 
 nothing for myself. My collecting, although I met 
 with considerable success in it, certainly opened my 
 eyes to the real condition of the tenant farmers, 
 especially as at this time Mr. Butt was advocating 
 his tenant-right principles. 
 
 We were down at Avondale for some con- 
 siderable time, Charley taking a great interest in 
 the timber, which by means of his sawmills he 
 manufactured into various articles in order to 
 provide for the growing demand which existed 
 in America for Irish-made articles. 
 
 Our Guardian's Death. 
 
 Our mother and sisters, having left Paris, 
 stopped for some time in London, where they 
 frequently visited Sir Ralph Howard, who was 
 in very bad health, and our mother finally spent 
 several weeks with him. He gradually became 
 worse, and one day at Avondale, as Charley and 
 myself were walking about the demesne, we got a 
 telegram from our mother saying that Sir Ralph 
 Howard was dying, and that we must hurry over 
 to London if we wished to see him while he was 
 still living. 
 
 8 
 
114 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 As the mail train had just left, we got a car to 
 drive us at furious speed to Kingstown, where we 
 arrived at the Carlisle pier just in time to catch the 
 mail boat. We reached London early the next 
 morning, and after breakfast with our mother and 
 our sisters, Emily, Sophy, and Fanny, went over 
 to Sir Ralph Howard's hotel in Belgrave Square. 
 We found, to our regret, that he was unconscious, 
 though he recovered sufficiently to recognize us 
 and to smile at us, but was not able to speak. 
 
 He died a couple of hours after our arrival, and 
 at the funeral Charley and Lord Claude Hamilton 
 (afterwards the Duke of Abercorn) and myself 
 were among the mourners. 
 
 When the will was read, it was found that he had 
 not forgotten our family. He had left me what 
 appeared to be a very considerable fortune, 
 derived from his English mining investments, 
 which brought my income to an almost equal 
 amount to what Charley received from Avondale. 
 
 I might explain here the reason why my father 
 left Avondale to Charley. Although I was the 
 eldest son, my great-uncle and guardian. Sir 
 Ralph Howard, had always told my father that 
 he intended to leave me a considerable portion of 
 his property, as under the terms of Colonel Hayes's 
 will Avondale was always to pass to the second son. 
 It was for that reason that, under my father's will, 
 I was only left the comparatively unproductive 
 estate in Armagh, burdened as it was, moreover, by 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 115 
 
 annuities to my sisters. The relations between 
 my father and myself were always perfectly 
 cordial, but he, naturally, did not wish to leave any 
 of his sons unprovided for, and so left the Carlow 
 property to Henry, as I was the prospective heir 
 of Sir Ralph. 
 
 Sir Ralph had, however, probably owing to 
 Charley's conversation with him, altered his will 
 by a codicil, leaving me in the end only half the 
 amount of his original bequest, amounting to 
 about £4,000 a year, the other half being left to his 
 cousin. Lord Claude Hamilton, owing to the in- 
 crease in value of the investments since the 
 will was made. However, he made me liable for 
 all the calls on the shares. 
 
 After Sir Ralph Howard's death I received many 
 congratulations on my good-fortune, and went over 
 to Paris to visit my mother's brother, Mr. Charles 
 Stewart, who had, however, left for Rome. While 
 there he caught the Roman fever, against which 
 he had previously warned Charley, and my mother 
 was very anxious about his condition. She got 
 telegrams daily as to his progress, but, seeing that 
 he became gradually worse, determined to go over 
 and nurse him herself. However, in spite of her 
 devoted care, he died shortly afterwards. 
 
 Our uncle's will was opened a few days later, 
 when we found that he had left all his large fortune 
 in Southern railroad bonds and shares to our 
 mother. 
 
ii6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 During our stay in Paris we assisted our mother 
 to arrange her brother's affairs. According to the 
 Continental custom, all his effects were sealed until 
 our mother took out administrative papers. But 
 Charle}^ insisted that his late uncle was an Ameri- 
 can subject, and finally obtained relief from the 
 complicated process of the Continental law. It 
 was at this time that Charley met at the house of 
 his sister (Mrs. Thompson) an American beauty, 
 who fell violently in love with him, and to escape 
 whose advances he hastened his return to Ireland, 
 while I remained in Paris with my sister Fanny. 
 
 A Palmist's Prediction. 
 
 One day while in Paris, Fanny, who was always 
 inclined towards spiritualism, asked me to come 
 with her to see a lady palmist whom she had pre- 
 viously consulted. I went with her, and sat down 
 while the palmist made a thorough examination 
 of the lines of my hand. Both Fanny and myself 
 were very much astonished at her reading from 
 my hand more of Charley's character than my 
 own, though she did not know my brother or even 
 our name. She made what afterwards proved to 
 be a correct forecast of Charley's future career in 
 politics, and the high position to which he was 
 ultimately to attain. To our dismay, however, she 
 added, just when I was about to get up, that some- 
 thing dreadful was to happen to him if he was not 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 117 
 
 very careful. She did not say what the nature of 
 this catastrophe would be. 
 
 Soon after this I returned to join Charley at 
 Avondale, and, as I was now well off, took all the 
 shooting of Aughavannagh, but did not lease the 
 barracks themselves. Charley, Captain Dickinson, 
 and myself, spent a couple of weeks down there 
 grouse-shooting, and also got up a number of 
 coursing matches with the neighbours. 
 
 In the meantime our mother had wound up her 
 brother's affairs in Paris, and returned to Ireland 
 to make arrangements to go to New York to see 
 after the property in which our uncle was con- 
 cerned over there. 
 
 Lord Carysf ort, Charley, and myself, had a good 
 deal of shooting together, and on one occasion 
 Charley and I had a regular quarrel as to who had 
 shot a particular bird at which we both fired at the 
 same moment. I remember, when we arrived at 
 Lord Carysf ort's, the latter said: " Now that you 
 have come home, you must remain here and take 
 up your position in the county." 
 
 Those days during the latter end of 1873 we 
 spent quietly in Wicklow, no one realizing the 
 imperceptible trend of Charley's mind towards 
 politics. There was no doubt, however, that the 
 events which were occurring in Ireland occupied 
 a considerable portion of his thoughts. 
 
 The country was at that time chiefly concerned 
 with the tenant-right system, which then, however, 
 
ii8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 was only legally recognized in Ulster. Isaac Butt, 
 whose defence of the Fenians arrested during the 
 panic in 1867 had gained him considerable 
 notoriety and support from all sections of the Irish 
 party, had now assumed the leadership in the 
 House of Commons. His policy, however, was 
 that of a strictly constitutional campaign in 
 favour of Irish rights. In theory this was the 
 ideal course to take, but in practice it was of very 
 little use. As Charley, with his keen insight into 
 the main principles of politics, soon realized, once 
 he had assimilated the atmosphere of the House 
 of Commons, constitutional methods were simply 
 beating time so far as Irish interests were con- 
 cerned. Butt was thoroughly devoted to the 
 Irish cause, and had an ultimate vision of Home 
 Rule, but he was bound head to foot by the red 
 t^pe of constitutionalism. Charley appreciated 
 his intentions, but, as I shall show afterwards, 
 put them in more practical form by the use of 
 original methods. 
 
 Now that we are on the threshold of Charley's 
 political career, I must explain to the best of my 
 abilit}^ the motives and the influences which caused 
 him to enter politics. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 CHARLEY'S ENTRANCE INTO POLITICS 
 
 Crossing the Rubicon. 
 
 How did my brother actually come to enter 
 politics ? That is a question which I have been 
 often asked, but which I have always found it 
 impossible to answer in a single sentence, or with 
 any certainty as to the exact causes which com- 
 pelled him to adopt a political career. 
 
 His actual decision was a sudden and even 
 dramatic one. 
 
 It took place one night early in 1874, when 
 Charley and I were dining with our sister Emily 
 and her husband, Captain Dickinson, at their 
 house at 22, Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin. 7 
 
 A Wager. 
 
 I remember the occasion vividly, for it followed 
 on a humorous and somewhat trivial incident 
 which was, however, illustrative of Charley's 
 character. 
 
 He had come up from Cork that night, and, 
 finding on his arrival at Kingsbridge that the time 
 
 119 
 
120 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 of his engagement for dinner was very close, said 
 to a jarvey at the station: " I'll give you half a 
 crown if you get me to 22, Lower Pembroke Street 
 by seven o'clock, or nothing at all if you are a 
 minute after that." The man, after a moment's 
 hesitation, accepted the terms of the wager, but 
 he arrived at the Dickinsons' house a few minutes 
 after seven, the time agreed upon, and was 
 promptly told by Charley that he had lost the bet 
 and would receive nothing. • 
 
 The jarvey, however, being a poor sportsman, 
 wished to win both wa^/s, and demanded his fare, 
 with many imprecations. Charley steadily re- 
 fused to pay him, and left him exercising his lungs 
 on the pavement. In this, as in after-years when 
 transacting the more important business of politics, 
 Charley, while always trying to get the best terms 
 possible, believed that a bargain, once definitely 
 struck, was inviolable, even if the other side had 
 obtained the more favourable terms. 
 
 The conversation at the dinner itself was of a 
 light nature, and was largely concerned with the 
 discussion of Charley's affair with the jarvey. 
 
 Afterwards, however, it drifted into an argument 
 as to tenant right and Butt's movement in general. 
 Charley took little active part in the arguments 
 advanced for either side. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 121 
 
 The Die cast. 
 
 Suddenly, when we had discussed the situation 
 from all points of view, Charley cried: " By Jove, 
 John, it would be a grand opening for me to 
 enter politics !" 
 
 This frank avowal by one who had always been 
 so reticent as to his real views took our breath 
 away for a moment. Then we all cried, carried 
 away by the idea and the firm conviction of 
 his words: " Yes, it would. It is a splendid 
 opportunity." 
 
 Once his mind was made up, Charley never 
 wasted time in words. Speechifying, even if abso- 
 lutely necessary, he always abhorred, and his 
 resolution once taken, his action followed as 
 promptly as the thunder after lightning. 
 
 Accordingly, we had hardly had time to express 
 our approval, when, without any other words of 
 explanation, he went on to say, betraying no ex- 
 citement: ** John, will you and Dickinson come 
 down with me to the Freeman's office ?" 
 
 I excused myself, and he and Captain Dickinson 
 set out at once (it was then just midnight) to see 
 the editor of Freeman's Journal. I stayed behind 
 with my sister, who insisted on waiting up till 
 their return. We were both very excited, and 
 the hours of waiting seemed interminable. 
 
122 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 A Rebuff. 
 
 It was after 2 a.m. when they returned. Charley 
 looked disheartened and annoyed. He had in- 
 deed met with a serious rebuff at the very outset 
 of his political career. 
 
 At that time he was High Sheriff of Wicklow, 
 and directly he told the editor of Freeman's 
 Journal of his intention of standing for Parlia- 
 ment, the latter said that it would be impossible 
 for him to do so, as his resignation from the High 
 Shrievalty would have first to be tendered to, and 
 be accepted by, the Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 Next morning Charley hurried off to present his 
 resignation to the Lord Lieutenant, who said, 
 however, that he could not accept it there and 
 then, as certain formalities had to be complied 
 with. 
 
 This did away with any chance of Charley con- 
 testing Wicklow at that election, as the other 
 candidates were already in the field. 
 
 The delay, and what he conceived to be a slight 
 on the part of the Lord Lieutenant, in not immedi- 
 ately accepting his resignation, and so setting him 
 free to contest the seat, stung Charley deeply, and 
 left him with a feeling of resentment against the 
 English Government, which quickly became a 
 rooted portion of his character. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 123 
 
 Indomitable. 
 
 However, he was not to be turned from his point 
 once he had definitely decided upon a course of 
 action. When a front movement failed, he was 
 always ready with a new flank attack. So, when 
 we were again assembled at dinner the next 
 evening, I noticed that Charley was in real fighting 
 form. He said little, and seemed to be turning 
 things over carefully in his mind ; but there was a 
 light in his eyes which I knew well from the days 
 of our boyish quarrels, and I waited patiently until 
 he should arrive at a solution, as I felt assured 
 he would sooner or later, of his present difficulty. 
 
 Emily, Captain Dickinson, and myself, were dis- 
 cussing Charley's position, trying to invent means 
 of extricating him from his dilemma, when Charley 
 suddenly lifted his head, and, looking straight at 
 me, said: " John, we must run you." 
 
 I was thoroughly taken aback by the idea, 
 which was quite new to me, and which I by no 
 means welcomed. I pointed out that he, with his 
 wealth and his Wicklow connection and influence, 
 was the only one to have a chance; while I, owing 
 to my property, was really more of an Armagh man, 
 and was, besides, somewhat prejudiced in public 
 opinion, because I had lived in America and 
 carried on fruit-farming there. He brushed aside 
 all my arguments, and I finally consented, rather 
 
124 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 against my own judgment, but thinking that by 
 doing so I might help Charley to enter politics — 
 a course which I had already strongly urged him 
 to take. 
 
 Immediately I had yielded my somewhat grudg- 
 ing consent, Charley took pen and ink and began 
 to draw up my election address, to which I refer 
 in the succeeding chapter. I was therefore 
 launched in politics, but, what proved to be more 
 important, it was Charley who launched me and 
 who directed my course. For it was in the wake of 
 my fruitless little Wicklow expedition in 1874 that 
 he himself became drawn into the sea of politics. 
 
 I have said that I did my best to escape from 
 an unsolicited and unprepared entry into public 
 life. But from the moment he had said, " John, 
 we must run you," I knew that his mind was made 
 up, and that I must either follow the course which 
 he had set for me, or break with him once for 
 all. It was the manner of his after Parliamentary 
 days, but it was already completely developed. 
 
 A Shrouded Growth. 
 
 How it developed, how Charley came to take 
 any interest in politics at all, still more how he 
 came so suddenly to show a complete mastery of 
 them, is the mystery. 
 
 It is one which it is very hard to solve to any 
 degree of satisfaction, as, in spite of my almost 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 125 
 
 constant intimacy with Charley during his early 
 years, I have so little to go upon as regards things 
 spoken, and as regards things written nothing at all. 
 
 Charley kept his own counsel even as a boy. 
 As a man this trait developed to such an extent 
 that it was only on very rare occasions that one 
 caught a glimpse of the real man beneath the 
 courteous but frigid exterior. 
 
 If an3^thing can be said to have been the first 
 impulse that directed Charley's attention towards 
 politics, it was the American Civil War. This was 
 a constant topic of discussion in our family circle, 
 owing to our being American on our mother's side. 
 Charley, as I have said, at first warmly espoused 
 the cause of the North, as being that of anti- 
 slavery, though during his visit to America his 
 sympathies gradually veered towards the South, 
 which he came to regard as the section actually 
 fighting for freedom. 
 
 There is no doubt that the immense sacrifices 
 made on behalf of liberty, which he often discussed 
 with Mr. Harry King, Mr. Matt Hill, and other 
 Americans with whom he came in contact, made 
 a profound and lasting impression upon his mind. 
 
 Charley in Conversation. 
 
 But it must be remembered that then, as ever, 
 he was always a questioner rather than an in- 
 formant. He wanted to get every scrap of infor- 
 
126 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 mation and every shade of opinion on any subject 
 in which he took a real interest, but at the same 
 time he did not Hke disclosing his own views, 
 especially when they were, so to speak, in the 
 melting-pot. Once he arrived at a definite opinion, 
 he used to express it (and then only when he con- 
 sidered such an expression of opinion to be abso- 
 lutely unavoidable) as clearly and in as few words 
 as possible, giving no reasons, however, for his 
 having arrived at that opinion. 
 
 As he gradually grew out of childhood, this 
 reserve of Charley's became more and more 
 accentuated. The greater portion of it was un- 
 doubtedly due to a mixture of nervousness and 
 pride, resulting in a sort of shy repulsion towards 
 allowing his inner thoughts and real nature to 
 appear on the surface, to be at the mercy of the 
 multitude. There was also, it must be owned, at 
 times what appeared to be just a trace of affecta- 
 tion in this Sphinx-like attitude towards the 
 world in general. 
 
 The Wink of the Sphinx. 
 
 I remember meeting Charley, when he was in the 
 height of his glory, one day in Kildare Street. I 
 had only just returned from one of my trips to 
 America, and had that morning seen him at 
 Morrison's Hotel. I was expecting to meet him 
 at Harcourt Street Station in the evening, and to 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 127 
 
 go down with him to Avondale. We were going in 
 opposite directions, and passed on the same pave- 
 ment, almost touching one another. Charley, 
 however, showed not the slightest sign of recog- 
 nition until we were almost side by side; then he 
 just winked the eye nearest to me. 
 
 It was no sign of boisterous jollity or facetious 
 slyness, such as the dropping of the eyelid generally 
 betokens. Charley simply wished to show that 
 he had seen and recognized me, but did not wish 
 to disturb his demeanour of perfect composure and 
 aloofness. And how great an asset that aloofness 
 was perhaps he himself only knew. It was not 
 only an armour against the English ; it was a robe 
 that attracted the loyalty, and even the wild en- 
 thusiasm, of his own countrymen, while at the 
 same time repelling their intimacy. 
 
 So it can easily be understood that Charley's 
 mind could not be read as a book. It was only 
 a stray straw that gave an indication — often not 
 more than a suspicion — of the way the wind was 
 blowing. 
 
 If the American Civil War may be said to have 
 first aroused Charley's interest in politics, it was 
 certainly the Fenian outbreak that concentrated 
 that interest on Irish affairs. With the Fenian 
 doctrine itself, and especially with the Fenian 
 methods, he was never really in sympathy, though 
 he used the great power of that well-organized 
 body to effect his own ends, or, rather, to further 
 
128 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 that policy which he beUeved to be more beneficial 
 to his country as a whole. 
 
 His loyalty to the Throne was above suspicion, 
 though he always treated the English as open 
 enemies, and regarded their politicians with the 
 utmost suspicion. Our mother, though American 
 to the core, a burning enthusiast in the cause of 
 Irish liberty, and possessed of an inveterate hatred 
 of England — against which country her famous 
 father, Commodore Stewart, had so often waged 
 battle with conspicuous success on the high seas — 
 yet always instilled into her children the principles 
 of personal loyalty to their Sovereign, which she 
 held not to be inconsistent with individual liberty. 
 
 A Mother's Advice. 
 
 Here are some extracts from one of her letters 
 to me when I was a Member of Parliament, con- 
 taining an exhortation which she must often have 
 addressed to Charley as well during his lifetime. 
 It shows her loyalty towards Queen Victoria, her 
 dislike (at that time) of the extremists, and her 
 sympathy with the Irish peasantry: 
 
 How the Queen must despise low, mean, 
 mischief - making extremists ! They get 
 money by rousing passions and exaggerating 
 aims. If they succeed, rebellion and anarchy 
 will run riot in Europe. . . . 
 
 The well-off people are making misery in 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 129 
 
 Ireland. Do not let the poorer be exasper- 
 ated. Say a word if you can. Have the 
 poorer protected. 
 
 Ireland seems to have more manufactories. 
 Get them stimulated and protected; young 
 factories need protection. My father and 
 your brother thought this. 
 
 The Queen is wise and good; find out her 
 opinions. Her Ministers are not infallible. 
 
 In another letter she urges me to attend the 
 levees and other Court functions. 
 
 But if the cause of the Fenians did not enlist 
 Charley's sympathies, the support which they re- 
 ceived made him consider the abuses and distress 
 which existed in his own country, which he saw 
 more and more in their naked hideousness as he 
 went about among his tenants on the Avondale 
 estate. 
 
 The Manchester Executions. 
 
 It was the Manchester executions in 1867, how- 
 ever, that made the most marked impression on 
 him. He vehementlj^ declared that the killing of 
 Sergeant Brett was no premeditated murder, but 
 an accident — a declaration that he repeated with 
 even more force to a startled House of Commons 
 in 1875, when Sir Michael Hicks-Beach referred 
 to those who perished on the scaffold as " mur- 
 derers." 
 
 About this time I often used to find him at 
 
 9 
 
130 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Avondale crouching over one of his beloved 
 wood fires, deep in thought and crooning over 
 to himself snatches of the " Wearing of the 
 Green/' 
 
 Although loyal, as I have said, he bitterly re- 
 sented the raid made on our house in Temple 
 Street during the Fenian outbreak, and the re- 
 moval of our swords and uniforms. Jest though 
 he did, that and the supercilious way he was 
 treated by the officers at the Castle, as, if not 
 actually a Fenian, at any rate a sympathizer with 
 the Irish cause, certainly fanned his dislike of 
 England, inherited as it was through his mother, 
 to a flame of concentrated enmity. 
 
 ** Had we never met and never parted." 
 
 Two influences nearly caused him to settle down 
 for good in private life. One was his engagement 
 to Miss Woods, which, had it turned out as he 
 expected, would have meant his living a contented 
 and comfortable life at Avondale, on the Con- 
 tinent, or in America. His jilting undoubtedly 
 helped to drive his energies into politics, for he 
 was deeply hurt at the idea of being considered 
 simply a country gentleman without any special 
 abilities. 
 
 The other was his interest in American mines. 
 If he had taken more kindly to American life, and 
 had not been so much upset by the railway acci- 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 131 
 
 dent, he might have died a wealthy but unremem- 
 bered American mining magnate. 
 
 Commerce, especially in the direction of mining, 
 always had a special fascination for him, and 
 might at any time have proved a profitable career 
 had not the still stronger fascination of politics 
 predominated. 
 
 On his return to Ireland, he found Butt's tenant- 
 right campaign in full swing, and studied it closely 
 in the newspapers of all shades of opinions, though 
 his comments were few and far between. 
 
 One day when he was standing in front of the 
 fire at Avondale, I said to him: *' Why don't you 
 take up this tenant-right business of Butt's and 
 enter Parliament ?" I had just then gained con- 
 siderable insight into the tenant-right system 
 through acting as my own agent on my Armagh 
 estate, and had been arguing with Charley as to 
 the desirability of extending the system through- 
 out Ireland. 
 
 He replied curtly: " I could not, because I would 
 not join that set." His pride, in other words, 
 prevented him moving with the Home Rulers of 
 that time, because they were beneath him in 
 station. That feeling he had apparently subdued 
 sufficiently by the time of the dinner-party in 
 1874 for him, at least, to consent to mix with the 
 Nationalist party. But to the end of his career 
 he was never intimate with the members of his 
 party, however closely he might be brought into 
 
132 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 contact with them in the rtansaction of pohtical 
 business. He was always a man apart, and in his 
 isolation lay his strength. 
 
 His Character — by his Mother. 
 
 With regard to this and other traits of his 
 character, I do not think I can do better than 
 quote a letter from our mother, in which she ex- 
 presses, with her customary directness, her opinion 
 of Charley and his political associates. After 
 saying that Charley offended Gladstone owing to 
 his independence, and after referring to the Irish 
 leaders as being of little account, she says : 
 
 Your brother is the only gentleman in the 
 whole set — so high-principled, so strictly deli- 
 cate and correct-minded. I swear by him. 
 Hear all the Billingsgate of some of the others. 
 Your brother never called one of them by any 
 fool-names. He only told facts, and only 
 called Davitt a political jackdaw. 
 
 He is a close follower of Biblical morality. 
 ... I swear by his strong and scrupulous 
 morality, and even spirituality. What a 
 good, benevolent, unselfish, self-respecting 
 man he has been ! 
 
 That is enough for me. I wonder what 
 Gladstone sinned in when a young man. 
 Ever your fond mother, 
 
 Delia T. S. Parnell. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 FIRST BLOOD 
 
 The Wicklow Election. 
 
 I CONSIDER the Wicklow election, as I have indi- 
 cated in the last chapter, to be Charley's first 
 entrance into politics, though, as High Sheriff of 
 Wicklow, he was supposed to occupy a neutral 
 position. 
 
 It was he, however, who, as I have said, drew 
 up my election address, sitting opposite to me at 
 Captain Dickinson's dining-table. It was his first 
 printed political utterance, and, with the exception 
 of a few slight alterations which I suggested to 
 him, is entirely the voicing of his own opinions at 
 that time. As such, I think it deserves quoting 
 in full. It runs as follows: 
 
 To the Electors of the County Wicklow. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Believing that the time has arrived for 
 
 all true Irishmen to unite in the spontaneous 
 
 demand for justice from England that is now 
 
 convulsing the country, I have determined to 
 
 133 
 
134 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 offer myself for the honour of representing 
 you in ParUament. 
 
 The principles for which my ancestor, Sir 
 John Parnell, then Chancellor of the Irish 
 Exchequer, refused the peerage from an 
 English Government are still mine, and the 
 cause of Repeal of the Union under its new 
 name of Home Rule will always find in me a 
 firm and honest supporter. 
 
 My experience of the working of the Ulster 
 system of Land Tenure in the North convinces 
 me that there is no other remedy for the un- 
 fortunate relations existing between landlord 
 and tenant in other parts of Ireland than the 
 legalization through the whole of the country 
 of the Ulster Tenant Right, which is prac- 
 tically Fixity of Tenure, or some equivalent 
 or extension of a custom which has so 
 increased the prosperity of the thriving 
 North. 
 
 A residence for several years in America, 
 where Religious and Secular Education are 
 combined, has assured me that the attempt 
 to deprive the youth of the country of spiritual 
 instruction must be put down, and I shall give 
 my support to the Denominational System 
 in connection both with the University and 
 Primary branches. 
 
 Owing to the great tranquillity of the 
 Country, I think it would now be a graceful 
 act to extend the Clemency of the Crown to 
 the remaining Political Prisoners. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 135 
 
 My grandfather and uncle represented this 
 County for many years, and as you have ex- 
 perienced their trustworthiness, so I also hope 
 you will believe in mine. 
 
 I am. Gentlemen, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 John Howard Parnell. 
 
 We were rather behindhand, as the other candi- 
 dates had already issued their election addresses 
 and started canvassing. 
 
 A Stump Speech. 
 
 However, nothing daunted, Charley set off by 
 the morning train to Rathdrum to show the people 
 we were really in earnest. He had been regarded 
 in many quarters, owing to his position, as a 
 stanch Conservative, and his appearance as the 
 supporter of a Nationalist candidate aroused con- 
 siderable suspicion. 
 
 When he arrived it was fair-day, and, after 
 looking round the market-place and finding the 
 farmers eyeing him very curiously, he suddenly 
 mounted a big beer-barrel, in the midst of the 
 cattle and sheep, and addressed the astonished 
 crowd. 
 
 His speech, I believe, though deHvered with 
 some of the hesitation due to its being a maiden 
 one, was a spirited and telling one. Probably, 
 
136 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 however, if it had not been for the strong support 
 which the Parish Priest of Rathdrum, Father 
 Galvin (whom I have ah*eady mentioned in con- 
 nection with our American trip), had exercised 
 among the clerg}^, he might have met with a hostile 
 reception. Father Galvin, however, had from the 
 outset warmly supported my candidature, though 
 he knew very well that it was Charley who was at 
 the bottom of the whole affair. 
 
 When I arrived by the evening train (as Charley 
 had wired me to do, even telling me if I was late 
 to take a special engine) I learned that Father 
 Galvin had telegraphed to the Arklow priests to 
 come down to the station to meet me, and I found 
 to my surprise that, when I stepped out of the 
 train, the platform was crowded with priests, 
 most of whom did not know either Charley or 
 myself. 
 
 Headed by the band and escorted by the 
 priests, I proceeded, accompanied by a large crowd, 
 to Father Galvin's house. We afterwards had a 
 round-table conference, where I was enthusiastic- 
 ally welcomed as the candidate for Wicklow. 
 
 Next day Charley set off for Hacketstown and 
 West Wicklow canvassing for me, but met with a 
 very mixed reception. When he returned, he 
 told me that I could not count on much support 
 from that side of the county, as they appeared on 
 the whole to be likely to vote for the landlords. 
 He came to my bedside one night, after I had been 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 137 
 
 engaged in a hard day's work writing circulars, 
 and said to me jokingly when I woke up: " John, 
 what are you kicking up such a row about ?" I 
 told him that it was not myself, but he, who was 
 kicking up the row, and said: ** You are right to 
 do so." 
 
 I was duly nominated by Charley, as well as by 
 a number of other Nationalists, and was carried 
 round on the shoulders of the people. He told me 
 after the election that he had even voted for me, 
 but his vote was not allowed. 
 
 I attributed a great deal of the antagonism 
 shown towards me to the fact that I was the first 
 to import frozen fruit from America to Ireland, 
 which was followed by the importation of frozen 
 meat, which local farmers thought would greatly 
 injure their trade. To be American, in fact, was 
 at that time considered a great reproach in Ireland 
 amongst the agricultural classes. 
 
 When Charley, as High Sheriff, announced the 
 figures of the election, I found myself at the bottom 
 of the poll ; but, considering all the circumstances, 
 I, or rather we, had made a good fight. 
 
 A Fight for Dublin. 
 
 Defeat, as ever, only whetted Charley's ambition 
 to succeed in the end. He had not long to wait. 
 In 1874, Colonel Taylor, who was one of the 
 Members for Dublin County, had to seek re- 
 
138 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 election owing to his having been appointed 
 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Charley- 
 had by then become recognized as a promising 
 member of the Home Rule League, and they de- 
 cided to put him up to make a good fight for what, 
 however, the most sanguine considered to be a 
 hopeless chance. 
 
 After my defeat in Wicklow I had been over to 
 America to see about my mother's affairs. What 
 was known as the Black Friday Panic suddenly 
 swept over the stock markets in New York when 
 we were trying to realize our uncle's property, 
 and the greater portion of the fine fortune left to 
 my mother was lost. 
 
 On my return to England, I was present at the 
 Rotunda when Charley delivered his first public 
 speech as a candidate for Dublin. It had been 
 carefully thought out and written down on paper 
 at Mrs. Dickinson's, in the top bedroom which he 
 occupied there. The memorizing of it occupied 
 him during a whole sleepless night, and when he 
 appeared at breakfast he seemed very tired. I 
 may mention that it was Charley's invariable habit 
 to think out his plans in detail while in bed at 
 night. 
 
 When he delivered his speech I was standing 
 close by him. After a few sentences he stopped 
 suddenly, apparently tr3dng to recall a word 
 which he had forgotten. He was not nervous, 
 although the audience was. He seemed to search 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 139 
 
 his brain deliberately for the missing word, dis- 
 regarding all attempts on the part of friends to 
 prompt him. When he had found it, we all realized 
 that it was the only word to be fitly used in that 
 connection. These pauses occurred several times 
 during his speech, and no doubt gave rise to the 
 impression among certain critics that he would 
 never succeed as a public speaker. The whole- 
 hearted applause of the audience, however, showed 
 that, whatever the manner of his delivery, the 
 matter of his speech had impressed itself on their 
 minds. 
 
 His defeat did him no harm. As a matter of 
 fact, by showing his dogged perseverance, it gained 
 him yet more ground with his party, and he 
 became a man to be estimated by them and feared 
 by their opponents. 
 
 Elected at Last. 
 
 Then came his real chance. John Martin, one 
 of the Members for Meath, died in March, 1875, 
 and Charley was adopted as the official Nationalist 
 candidate. He was opposed by an independent 
 Home Ruler and a Tory. He was, however, re- 
 turned at the head of the poll in April, 1876, and 
 his success was followed by his being carried round 
 a bonfire in the market square of Trim. 
 
 The election was practically the result of an 
 animated interview which he had with the Bishop, 
 
140 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 after which the support of the clergy was assured. 
 The Bishop at first was prejudiced against him, 
 as Charley afterwards told me; but my brother's 
 arguments were so convincing, and his personal 
 charm of manner so great, that he succeeded in 
 winning the Bishop's support, and this made his 
 election certain. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN PARLIAMENT 
 
 Taking his Seat. 
 
 Introduced by Captain Nolan, the Member for 
 Galway, who was afterwards to prove a devoted 
 adherent of his, and Mr. Ennis, the senior Member 
 for Meath, my brother took his seat in the House 
 of Commons on April 22, 1875. His policy in the 
 House during the first session was characteristic of 
 the man. He set himself to work to absorb im- 
 pressions, to study the characters of his fellow- 
 members, and to learn the complicated rules of 
 procedure. He therefore made no attempt to 
 startle the House with an ambitious maiden speech. 
 A brief utterance of his, however, delivered four 
 days after his entrance into the House, was suffi- 
 cient to concentrate attention upon him, both 
 among his fellow-members and the American and 
 Irish sympathizers with the Nationalist cause. In 
 opposing in Committee a Bill for the preservation 
 of peace in Ireland, he said that " in the neglect 
 of the principles of self-government lay the root of 
 all Irish trouble," adding that " Ireland is not a 
 geographical fragment, but a nation." 
 
 14Z 
 
142 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 During the rest of the session he is recorded by 
 Hansard to have spoken on fourteen occasions, 
 but his remarks were brief and business-like, and 
 attracted no special attention except to establish 
 an opinion that when he spoke he spoke to the 
 point. 
 
 There were fifty-nine Home Rulers in the House 
 at the time when Charley entered it. He appears 
 to have listened carefully to their speeches in 
 order to arrive at a separate estimate of each man. 
 As a whole, he soon arrived at the opinion that 
 the Irish party simply devoted themselves to sup- 
 porting measures favourable to Irish interests. 
 It did not take him long to realize that this poHcy 
 of itself would effect Httle. The Irish party and 
 its aims were held of little account by both the great 
 English parties,, and any measures introduced by 
 them received the scantiest consideration. Their 
 leader, Mr. Isaac Butt, refused to budge an inch 
 from constitutional methods of warfare. I know 
 that at that time both Charley and myself agreed 
 that Butt was, if not too weak a man, at any rate 
 too unenterprising to be the leader of what then 
 appeared to be a forlorn hope. 
 
 With his invariable resolve never to be beaten, 
 Charley set himself to work silently but steadily 
 to find a way out. For this purpose he looked 
 round for a new policy, or rather a new plan of 
 campaign and a fitting exponent of it. 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 143 
 
 Mr. Biggar. 
 
 He found both the pohcy and the man in Joseph 
 Biggar. While the other members of the Irish 
 party were content to be suppressed by force of 
 numbers and by their obedience to the recognized 
 rules of the political game, Biggar adopted an 
 entirely independent attitude. He hated the 
 English parties, despised the rules of the House, 
 and feared nobody. 
 
 As a speaker he was hopeless. His so-called 
 "speeches" consisted of short, abrupt sentences, 
 or often parts of sentences, with no connected, and 
 certainly no original, idea running through them, 
 and helped out, when words and ideas failed him, 
 as they did repeatedly, by copious extracts from 
 Blue Books, White Papers, and other documents, 
 which earned him the well-deserved hatred of a 
 long-suffering House. Hatred, however, on the 
 part of the English members was Biggar's highest 
 idea of glory. To realize that he had kept his 
 fellow-members from their social engagements, 
 and even their beds, was a triumph for him. In 
 appearance he was a stout, good-humoured-looking 
 man, with a round, bespectacled face and the 
 general appearance of a prosperous tradesman. 
 
 Force of Example. 
 
 Although Biggar was treated with some con- 
 tempt, even by the members of his own party, 
 
144 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Charley soon realized that he had inaugurated an 
 entirely new system of political warfare, which in 
 more capable hands might be turned to good 
 account. 
 
 Charley accordingly set to work as unostenta- 
 tiously as possible to master the rules of the 
 House, and to derive from his fellow-members 
 scraps of information as to the value of questions to 
 Ministers, interjections, and other means by which 
 a private member, even in the face of an over- 
 whelming majority, could assert his own identity. 
 But he did not attempt to put his principles into 
 practice until he had thoroughly mastered his 
 subject. He gradually trained himself by means 
 of short speeches, formal motions, and questions, 
 to overcome the diffidence and hesitation which 
 he originally felt in making a public speech. At 
 the same time he gradually acquired a sense, for 
 which he was so much noted in later years, of 
 attuning himself to the House of Commons, and 
 becoming by degrees one of those few members 
 whose every word, on however slight a subject, was 
 listened to with attention. 
 
 It was not until the session of 1876 that he 
 definitely decided to make the power of the Irish 
 party felt by clogging the political machine, which 
 until then, by a sort of tacit consent, had run with 
 perfect smoothness, throwing out Irish Bills with 
 automatic regularity. Charley, however, deter- 
 mined that henceforward not only would it be 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 145 
 
 hard work for whatever government was in power 
 to reject an Irish Bill, but that even EngHsh 
 measures would be checked at every possible 
 stage. He did not, however, definitely open his 
 campaign of obstruction until after paying a visit to 
 America in company with Mr. O'Connor Power, to 
 deliver an address on the part of the more extreme 
 Nationalists, to President Grant, on the occasion 
 of the centenary of American Independence. 
 
 Before he went to America he made a short 
 utterance which, whether designed to that effect 
 or not, certainly fixed upon him the attention of 
 the Fenians, and went a long way to assure him 
 of their future support. 
 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach (afterwards Lord St. 
 Aldwyn), who was then Chief Secretary for Ireland, 
 referred, in a speech on Home Rule, to the Fenian 
 outbreak at Manchester, describing the three men 
 who had been executed as the " Manchester 
 murderers." 
 
 Charley interjected " No, no !" which caused 
 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach to exclairii, amidst the 
 cheers and groans of the united English parties: 
 " I regret to hear that there is an hon. member 
 in this House who will apologize for murder." 
 
 My brother rose, I am told, with a deadly white 
 face and blazing eyes, and said in a low voice, but 
 in accents which were heard throughout the 
 House: " I wish to say, as publicly and directly 
 as I can, that I do not believe, and I never 
 
 10 
 
146 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 shall believe, that any murder was committed 
 at Manchester." 
 
 Sir Michael did not reply, but continued his 
 speech, and the cheers with which Charley was 
 welcomed by his Irish colleagues showed that he 
 had scored his first striking victory. 
 
 In America. 
 
 When he came over to the United States in 
 October, 1876, to present the Nationalist address 
 to General Grant, I was in New York at the time, 
 staying with my mother and my sister Fanny at the 
 Fifth Avenue Hotel. Charley, after spending an 
 hour with us, set off with Mr. Power to see General 
 Grant, who was then in New York. The President 
 received them cordially, but said that he could not 
 officially accept the address, which had for its 
 real purpose the attaining of some recognition, by 
 America, of Ireland as a separate nation, without 
 its being presented through the usual diplomatic 
 channel, the British Ambassador, a course which 
 they declined to take. 
 
 Charley, after his brief interview with the Presi- 
 dent, seemed to think it hopeless to expect any- 
 thing more than polite answers and evasions, and 
 accordingly returned to me, leaving Mr. Power to 
 continue the negotiations. He seemed, when I saw 
 him, to be annoyed with the attitude adopted by the 
 President, and referred to him asa " vulgar old dog." 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 147 
 
 Charley, Fanny, and myself, then went over to 
 Philadelphia to see the Exhibition which was 
 being held there in connection with the centenary 
 of American Independence. We stopped at an 
 hotel in Chesnut Street, and spent several 
 days at the Exhibition and one night at the 
 theatre, Charley appearing to be distinctly 
 glad of the relaxation after what must have 
 been his strenuous though secret efforts in Par- 
 liament. 
 
 Whilst at the Exhibition he spent most of his 
 time in the Machinery Hall, where he took special 
 interest in the stone-cutting machinery, which he 
 purposed using at his Avondale quarries. He also 
 devoted a great deal of attention to the railroad 
 bridge models, and also to models of road bridges 
 in general. He stopped for some time before a 
 model of a suspension bridge very closely re- 
 sembling that over the Warrior River, which he had 
 seen on his last visit to Alabama. Here, again, 
 what attracted him was not so much the bridge 
 itself as the design of the roofing, which he wished 
 to adapt for his sawmills and cattle-sheds at 
 Avondale. I took him with me to that Fruit Hall, 
 and explained to him my system of transporting 
 frozen peaches by rail. This idea, which was my 
 own invention, consisted of a barrel with a parti- 
 tion for ice on top, which could be rolled anywhere 
 without damaging the fruit inside. As my peaches, 
 when sent by these means, always arrived in first- 
 
148 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 rate condition, the idea attracted considerable 
 attention in the fruit world. 
 
 After the Philadelphia Exhibition, Charley went 
 down to Virginia to pay another visit to the Clover 
 Hill coal-mine. He wanted me to go with him, 
 but our sister, Mrs. Thompson, objected, as she 
 said that if the two of us went together there was 
 certain to be a railway accident. He therefore 
 went alone to the Clover Hill mines, but did not 
 seem impressed with them as an investment. 
 
 Shortly after this he returned to England, 
 leaving Mr. O'Connor Power behind. Imme- 
 diately on his arrival at Liverpool he delivered a 
 stirring speech on the future of Home Rule, and the 
 prejudice towards Ireland which existed in Eng- 
 land. He said that he had been greatly impressed 
 during his American visit by seeing in New York 
 a review in which six thousand militia took part. 
 He referred to the benefit which a force on those 
 lines would be to Ireland under Home Rule. 
 While it would be used to protect the interests of 
 Ireland as an independent nation, there would be 
 no danger of its being used against England or any 
 other part of the British Empire, as so many of the 
 opponents of Irish political liberty always alleged 
 would be the case. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 OBSTRUCTION 
 
 A Start in Earnest. 
 
 From 1877 onwards Charley openly pursued his 
 policy of obstruction, aided by Biggar, Captain 
 Nolan, and the rapidly growing section of the 
 Irish party. The official leader, Mr. Butt, was 
 placed in a very awkward position. He did not 
 wish to adopt, or even to countenance, the system 
 of obstruction, but neither did he wish definitely 
 to set his face against it, and, by attempting to 
 coerce the more extreme members of his party, 
 cause a definite split in their ranks. His passive 
 attitude, however, did much to lose him ultimately 
 the leadership, and to build up Charley's undoubted 
 claims to that position. 
 
 Charley first devoted his attention to a series of 
 English Bills, of which the Prisons Bill and the 
 Marine Mutiny Bill were the principal measures. 
 He, however, did not adopt the obvious course of 
 simply opposing these Bills section by section, but 
 brought forward many amendments which were 
 distinct impi ovements on the measures in the form 
 in which they were introduced. It was due in a 
 
 149 
 
150 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 very large degree to his amendments that the 
 practice of flogging in the army and navy was 
 finally abolished. 
 
 When the Government attempted to pass the 
 clauses of the Mutiny Bill in large batches, Charley 
 insisted that they should be taken separately, much 
 to the disgust of the English members, who saw in 
 them little to discuss. Finally, when the temper 
 of the House had risen to fever-heat. Butt came in, 
 and in a speech which expressed his unchangeable 
 belief in constitutional methods, and at the same 
 time his weakness as a leader, deplored the system 
 of obstruction, and disowned any responsibility 
 for Charley's action. This speech, which was met 
 with loud applause from the English members on 
 both sides of the House, did Butt irreparable 
 damage among his own party, and especially 
 aroused the indignation of the Irish in America, 
 who became more determined than ever to support 
 Charley. A correspondence between Charley and 
 Butt followed, but only served to widen the breach, 
 as Charley claimed under the terms of his party 
 pledge to have full independence of action except 
 with regard to Irish measures. 
 
 On July 2, 1877, Charley kept the House sitting 
 from 4 p.m. to 7.15 a.m. on the vote for the Army 
 Reserve. This system of obstruction, of which the 
 foregoing was only a typical instance, exasperated 
 the English members to such a degree that they 
 naturally sought means of retaliation. New rules 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 151 
 
 were brought in on July 27 by Sir Stafford North- 
 cote, who proposed that if a member was twice 
 declared out of order he should be suspended, and 
 that motions to report progress and to like effect 
 could only be moved once by each member during 
 a debate. 
 
 These rules, of course, were carried by an 
 immense majority, although Charley made a 
 spirited defence of his action. 
 
 A Record Sitting. 
 
 Hardly had these rules come into force, when a 
 determined effort was made to nullify them. The 
 South African Bill was being discussed, and Charley 
 had repeatedly to be called to order; but his 
 followers kept on rising with motions to report 
 progress and every other imaginable device for 
 delay, until the House was beside itself with irrita- 
 tion. The sitting was dragged on through the early 
 hours of the morning, in spite of a denouncement 
 of the obstructionists' method by Butt, and even 
 an appeal from the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 for some consideration on the part of the 
 minority. Charley's little army took turns for 
 rest, and finally the House adjourned at two 
 o'clock the next afternoon, after a sitting lasting 
 for twenty-six hours on end, which constituted 
 a record. 
 
 At the meetings held outside the House, and 
 
152 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 particularly in Dublin, my brother's methods were 
 warmly supported, and he declared his full inten- 
 tion of continuing them until a proper considera- 
 tion was given to Irish measures. 
 
 It was about this time that Charley entered into 
 a close though informal alliance with the Fenians. 
 I happened to be visiting Mr. Patrick Ford, of 
 the Irish World, at his house in Brooklyn, some 
 time after the compact between Charley and the 
 Fenians became recognized by the mass of the 
 members of the Clan-na-Gael, although not by 
 the leaders. Mr. Ford, who was sitting by me on 
 the sofa, said: ** I don't believe in j^our brother's 
 constitutional policy, but we will give him a 
 chance." 
 
 In 1878 a Home Rule Conference was held in 
 Dublin, which proved an important turning-point 
 in Charle^^'s career. He had already been elected 
 President of the newly-formed Home Rule League, 
 and on this occasion both Butt and himself 
 announced their respective policies so clearly that 
 it was obvious that a hopeless split had occurred. 
 Butt, moreover, was rapidly breaking down in 
 health, and evidently felt his position keenly. 
 Their last public encounter occurred at a meeting 
 held in Dublin on February 5, 1879; a resolution 
 in favour of Butt was carried by a small majority, 
 but three months later he died. 
 
 His successor was Mr. William Shaw, a com- 
 promise between the two parties, though it was 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 153 
 
 already felt that Charley's leadership was not far 
 deferred. 
 
 In the meantime obstruction had been rampant 
 in the House, and it is notable that in opposing the 
 Government Army Bill, which still permitted 
 flogging to be employed for certain offences, 
 Charley had among his supporters Mr. Joseph 
 Chamberlain. 
 
 The Land League. 
 
 In 1878 Mr. Michael Davitt, who had been 
 released on ticket- of -leave after serving nearly 
 half of his sentence of fifteen years' penal servitude 
 for treason-felony, came over to America to see his 
 mother at Philadelphia. I met Davitt in New 
 York before his departure for Ireland, and my 
 mother gave him some messages to convey across 
 the water to Charley. From the few conversa- 
 tions we had, it appeared that Davitt's ideas were 
 altogether on the same lines as Charley's with 
 regard to the land question and the policy of 
 establishing a peasant proprietary, and they also 
 agreed that nothing could be accomplished in 
 Parliament without adopting the most aggressive 
 measures. 
 
 On his return to Ireland, Davitt and Charley 
 co-operated with regard to the land agitation. 
 
 At this time the Land League was also spreading 
 in Ireland, and my sister Fanny became the 
 
154 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 President of the Ladies' Land League in America, 
 of which body my mother was also an enthusi- 
 astic supporter. I also attended many meetings 
 of the League, but was not impressed at that time 
 with the interest shown by the American Irish in 
 their own country. 
 
 The Clan-na-Gael, which was the Irish branch of 
 the Fenian movement, were doing their best at 
 this time to enrol Charley in their branch; but 
 though he was in close correspondence with them, 
 and had many meetings with their supporters in 
 Ireland, he never definitely committed himself to 
 their pohcy. Still, at that time they quite 
 recognized that he was the only possible leader of 
 the Irish party in Parliament, while he on his part 
 knew that he could not get on without their 
 support. 
 
 Charley at this period was largely engaged in 
 setting to work the great organization of the Land 
 League, meetings being held and branches formed 
 in the towns and villages throughout Ireland. 
 The agrarian agitation was, in fact, at its height, 
 and rents were intolerably high and evictions of 
 daily occurrence. I think, however, that the 
 landlords themselves were not so much to blame 
 as their agents. Charley himself was a popular 
 and considerate landlord, thoroughlj^ under- 
 standing the condition of his tenants, though 
 they very often took advantage of his good- 
 nature and not only did not pay their rents, 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 155 
 
 but almost denuded his Aughavannagh shooting 
 of game. 
 
 Still, it must be remembered that Ireland was 
 at this time under the shadow of the great famine 
 of 1879-80, when the payment of rents was literally 
 impossible, and actual starvation prevailed to a 
 horrible degree. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 A TRIUMPHAL TOUR 
 
 An Appeal to America. 
 
 On December 21, 1880, Charley and Mr. Dillon 
 left Ireland for New York to appeal, on behalf of 
 the Irish people, for funds to relieve the distress 
 caused by the great famine of 1879-80, and to 
 enlist the sympathy of the American people, and 
 specially of the American Irish, in favour of the 
 land campaign. 
 
 I was in America at the time, and knew pretty 
 well the circumstances and causes of Irish distress 
 and the great need for Home Rule. The Irish 
 question, to a certain extent, had already been 
 discussed pretty well throughout the United 
 States ; but it was not fully taken up until Charley 
 and Mr. Dillon came over and explained matters. 
 If they had not visited America, the people there 
 would never have taken more than a passive 
 interest in the distress existing in Ireland, owing 
 to their ignorance of its extent and the best way 
 to remedy it. 
 
 The first meeting was held in the New York 
 Stock Exchange, where they were, as a special 
 
 156 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 157 
 
 compliment on the part of the committee of the 
 Exchange, allowed to deliver an address to the 
 members. The brokers, as I was told afterwards 
 by one of them — Mr. Petty, an intimate friend 
 of our family — were prepared to give Charley and 
 Mr. Dillon either a hostile or a hospitable reception, 
 according to their opinion of the speeches de- 
 livered. On the whole, the impression among 
 them before the arrival of Charley and Mr. Dillon 
 was that they were a couple of adventurers para- 
 ding the Irish cause for their own profit. They 
 had never before seen, or probably heard of, such 
 a thing as an Irish landlord taking up the cause 
 of the Irish peasantry. However, they decided 
 to allow Charley and Mr. Dillon a fair hearing, 
 although, if they considered their speeches objec- 
 tionable, they intended to pelt them out of the 
 Exchange — so, at least, I was told by a number of 
 brokers whom I met. 
 
 On the appearance of the two speakers, the 
 assembled brokers were so greatly surprised at 
 their quiet manner, and earnest and candid way 
 of talking, that, instead of a hostile reception, 
 they accorded them a most enthusiastic one, and 
 after the speeches were over the two orators 
 found themselves the heroes of the occasion. 
 
 The whole of New York after this went mad 
 over the Irish cause, and the ambassadors of 
 Home Rule were cordially received by all grades 
 of society. Among the principal functions was 
 
158 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 a grand reception given to them at the Fifth 
 Avenue Hotel, where our mother welcomed her 
 darling son with natural pleasure in the hour of 
 his triumph. Large numbers of Irish and native 
 Americans were present at the reception, and 
 overwhelmed my brother with congratulations 
 and promises of support. From New York they 
 travelled night and day for about two months, 
 visiting all the great cities, and covering a distance 
 by rail of over i,6oo miles. I was in the South 
 at the time, but our mother when we met gave 
 me a vivid description of all that had happened. 
 Charley had written to me saying that he intended 
 coming down to Atlanta, Georgia, where we were 
 preparing a great reception for them. Such were 
 the numbers of invitations, however, which he 
 received from all parts of America and Canada 
 that he had to write and cancel the engagement, 
 though he said he wished very much to see me 
 during his stay in America. His hurried return, 
 owing to the dissolution of Parliament, prevented 
 him, however, from doing so. 
 
 After leaving New York he went to Brooklyn, 
 where he made a great speech. During the 
 course of it he said : 
 
 We have come here to try and help our 
 poor people, who are actually starving. They 
 want to get the land of Ireland to prevent 
 these yearly occurrences, and I will help 
 them, so that they will not come here again 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 159 
 
 asking for help. If the Irish farmers, especi- 
 ally the small ones, who are so badly hit 
 in these bad times, owned their own lands, 
 there would not be famines. Therefore we 
 ask 3'ou to support the constitutional methods 
 which our party has inaugurated. We do 
 not ask you to send armed expeditions over 
 to Ireland, but we ask you to help us in pre- 
 venting the people who have taken our 
 advice, and who are exhibiting an attitude 
 of devotion which has never been surpassed, 
 from being starved to death. 
 
 That was a typical exposition of his policy as 
 delivered from platform after platform during his 
 tour. Here are a few other striking sentences 
 from other speeches: '* I feel confident that we 
 shall kill the Irish landlord system; and when 
 we have given Ireland to the people of Ireland, we 
 shall have laid the foundation upon which to build 
 up our Irish nation." " I am bound to admit 
 that it is the duty of every Irishman to shed the 
 last drop of his blood in order to obtain his rights, 
 if there were a probable chance of success. Yet 
 at the same time we all recognize the great re- 
 sponsibility of hurling our unarmed people on the 
 points of British bayonets." 
 
 His progress through the Western cities met with 
 unfailing enthusiasm. Not only the American 
 Irish came in their thousands to cheer him, but 
 also the Americans, and, strange to say, the 
 
i6o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 English. While Charley was on his lightning 
 tour, I was present at the great meeting at Atlanta, 
 Georgia, at which Mr. P. J. Moran, the editor of 
 the Atlanta Constitution, was chairman. The 
 house was packed with Irish, Americans, and 
 English; but throughout the speeches there was 
 not a word of dissent uttered by the large and 
 mixed audience. I made my first speech there 
 on behalf of my brother's cause. 
 
 After the United States, Charley visited Canada 
 with Mr. Healy (who had come over from Ireland 
 to join him during his tour). The Bishop of 
 Toronto, hearing of Charley's approaching visit, 
 wrote a letter imploring him not to come, as he 
 was afraid of violent measures being adopted by 
 the Orangemen of Canada. Charley, however, 
 relying upon the fact that he was a Protestant, 
 and that the main object of his visit was to collect 
 money on behalf of his starving fellow-country- 
 men, anticipated no trouble from the Orangemen, 
 and decided to disregard the Bishop's warning, in 
 which, as matters turned out, he was quite 
 justified. 
 
 Our mother and Fanny, who were in New York, 
 advised him at first not to go ; but when they found 
 that his mind was firmly made up, they wished very 
 much to accompany him. This, however, Charley 
 refused to hear of, as he did not think that they 
 could stand the long and hurried railway journey. 
 Directly he arrived in Canada, his first act was to 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE i6i 
 
 send his mother a reassuring telegram, knowing 
 that she would be intensely anxious during his 
 absence. 
 
 They had big meetings in Toronto and Montreal, 
 where immense enthusiasm was shown by every- 
 one, Charley telling me afterwards that the 
 Orangemen not only listened to him, but often 
 applauded. 
 
 His Canadian tour was suddenly cut short 
 owing to the unexpected dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment. He had to hurry back to New York to 
 catch the boat to Ireland, having during his short 
 visit collected over $200,000 (£40,000). An ex- 
 ample of the spirit in which donations were made 
 was told to me afterwards by Charley. After he 
 had made a vigorous speech at one of the large 
 American cities, describing the awful results of 
 the famine, and urging Home Rule as the only 
 possible remedy, a man came up to him and 
 handed him notes for %^o, saying: "That's five 
 dollars for bread, and twenty-five for lead." 
 
 Finesse and the Fenians. 
 
 Although Charley's tour proved to be such a 
 huge success, he might almost have been said to 
 have landed in a hostile country. Although he 
 had to a great extent gained the confidence of 
 the rank and file of the Fenians, both in Ireland 
 and America, neither he nor his policy was looked 
 
 II 
 
i62 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 upon with any great favour by the executive of 
 the Clan-na-Gael, the American Fenian organiza- 
 tion. From the moment he landed he was in 
 negotiation with the leaders. His position was 
 a very difficult one, as, then as ever, he did not 
 wish to subscribe to the full programme of the 
 Clan-na-Gael, which would have considerably 
 hampered his freedom, and prevented his being, 
 as he practically was even then, the absolute 
 leader of the Irish Nationalist party. Constitu- 
 tional methods, embellished of course by obstruc- 
 tion, were, in his opinion, the best and quickest 
 method of securing justice for Ireland. He did 
 not den}^ that, if that course failed, it might be 
 necessary tohave to resort to armed force. But he 
 never came to a point where he actually considered 
 violence to be inevitable. The Fenian idea of 
 putting violence before constitutional warfare 
 never met with his approval. He disliked and 
 even despised it, as being certain to alienate 
 public sympathy, and at the same time as being 
 extremely unlikely to effect its own object. Still, 
 if he disliked Fenianism, and declined to commit 
 himself to its principles, he was bound at that stage 
 of his career to keep on good terms with the Clan- 
 na-Gael as a body, on account of its large member- 
 ship and perfect organization. 
 
 The leaders of the Clan-na-Gael were, like the 
 Irish Fenians, greatly impressed by Charley's cold 
 manner, and the way in which, though he was 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 163 
 
 ready to meet and discuss matters with them, he 
 never openly courted their support. 
 
 That was pretty well the attitude which the 
 Clan-na-Gael adopted when once they had seen 
 Charley at close quarters. A few of the more 
 extreme among the extremists, however, refused 
 to have anything to do with one tarred with the 
 brush of constitutionalism — a fact to which he 
 owed his hostile reception at Enniscorthy on his 
 return home. 
 
 Before leaving America, Charley organized a 
 branch of the Land League. In spite of his 
 hurried return, the American Land League, as 
 this body was known, was pushed forward with 
 the greatest speed, monster meetings being held 
 throughout the States to collect funds and spread 
 the principles of the organization. Our mother, 
 Fanny, Miss Ford (a sister of Patrick Ford), and 
 myself, attended all the principal meetings in and 
 around New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and 
 Jersey City. Fanny was very busy in those days 
 organizing the Ladies' Land League, of which she 
 was President. Friction often occurred, but Fanny 
 was popular and kept a cool head, and so managed 
 to preserve very good order at her meetings, which 
 I often attended. One day, greatly to her dis- 
 gust, an incident occurred at Providence, Rhode 
 Island. She was in a house where there were a 
 number of people, including some priests, who did 
 not know her, but who started a lively discussion 
 
i64 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 as to Fanny and Charley Parnell. From the tone 
 they adopted, they belonged to the extreme 
 section of Mr. Patrick Ford's party, and were 
 therefore bitter opponents of our mere consti- 
 tutional methods. The result was that Fanny 
 heard some very nasty remarks made about both 
 our brother and herself, and went away very angry 
 and annoyed at this want of appreciation of their 
 efforts for the Irish cause. Such instances were, 
 I am glad to say, very uncommon. 
 
 Of the success of Charley's visit to America and 
 of its lasting influence on his career there can be no 
 doubt, and it was, I know, terribly galling to him 
 to have to cut it short so abruptly. But he fully 
 realized the importance of the General Election 
 which was just about to take place. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 LEADER AT LAST 
 
 A Prophet in his Own Country. 
 
 Directly he arrived back in Ireland, Charley 
 found himself at once in the thick of things. As 
 I have said, in spite of the Clan-na-Gael as a body 
 being the reverse of hostile towards him, a certain 
 section of the executive was firmly opposed to his 
 constitutional policy. When he stepped off the 
 boat at Queenstown, a reputation of extremists 
 handed him an address stating that they con- 
 sidered it to be hopeless to obtain redress for the 
 ills of Ireland by means of Parliamentary repre- 
 sentation, and adding that the Nationalists of the 
 country had determined to take no part in the 
 forthcoming or any future elections.. This, how- 
 ever, was not quite so terrible as the wording 
 would imply, and simply expressed the views of 
 a small body of Irish Fenians. 
 
 At Enniscorthy, however, he came for the first 
 time face to face with an actively hostile audience. 
 His speech was interrupted to such a degree that 
 he had to abandon it, although he stood calm and 
 unconcerned for a considerable time endeavouring 
 to obtain a hearing. 
 
 165 
 
i66 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 That this was not the general feeling towards 
 him in Ireland was evidenced by the fact that he 
 was nominated (and subsequently elected) by no 
 fewer than three constituencies— Meath, Cork 
 City, and Mayo. Between these three, far apart 
 though they were, he dashed backwards and for- 
 wards incessantly, delivering a series of stirring 
 speeches wherever he went. When the polls 
 were declared, he decided to choose Cork City out 
 of the three seats which were at his disposal. 
 
 With the election of the new Parliament came 
 also the election of a chairman of the Irish 
 Nationalist party. Charley was urged by a num- 
 ber of friends not to allow himself to be nominated 
 for the position. Although an adept at biding 
 his time, he refused to do so in this instance, 
 because, with his invariable knowledge of the 
 critical moment and the way to use it, he knew 
 that the time had come for him to assume the 
 reins of power. 
 
 The vote when taken was a close one, as many 
 of the party preferred the moderation of Shaw, 
 the successor of Butt. The result was as follows: 
 
 Parnell 
 
 23 votes. 
 
 Shaw 
 
 .. 18 „ 
 
 Majority 
 
 .. 5 „ 
 
 The names of Charley's supporters and op- 
 ponents on the occasion of this fateful election are 
 
STEPS TO THE THRONE 167 
 
 worth recording, in view of subsequent events. 
 They are — 
 
 For. — Barry, Biggar, Byrne, Corbet, Dr. 
 Cummins, Daly, Dawson, Flanigan, Gill, 
 Lalor, J. Leahy, Leamy, McCarthy, McConn, 
 Mahon, Marum, Arthur O'Connor, T. P. 
 O'Connor, O'Gorman, O'Kelly, O'Shea, W. H. 
 O'Sullivan, Sexton, T. D. Sullivan. 
 
 Against. — Blake, Brooks, Callan, Colthurst, 
 Errington, Foley, Foy, Gabbett, Gray, 
 P. Martin, McFarlane, McKenna, Meldon, 
 Sir P. O'Brien, R. Power, Smithwick, Smyth, 
 Synan. 
 
 The new Parliament was entirely in the hands 
 of the Liberals, Mr. Gladstone's supporters num- 
 bering no less than 349, as against 243 Tories and 
 60 Home Rulers. 
 
 This was the position when Charley, after brief 
 but crowded five years in politics, became the 
 leader of his party, the terror of both English 
 parties, and a household word throughout the two 
 continents. Even now, when he had obtained 
 the leadership, his path was by no means smooth 
 before him. He was leader, it is true, but of a 
 split party ; he had the support of the bulk of the 
 Fenians, but the active opposition of a large 
 number of their leaders. Little had been achieved, 
 and much was urgently needed in the way of legis- 
 lative reform for his countrymen, who were being 
 decimated by famine and evicted from their homes 
 
i68 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 in thousands. England appeared as unsympa- 
 thetic towards Irish demands as ever, and Home 
 Rule in any shape or form as far off as it had been 
 at any time since the last Parliament sat in 
 College Green. Those were the obstacles with 
 which he had to contend when he became chief. 
 It is a remarkable fact that, in spite of all these 
 and many other hindrances, he succeeded in 
 achieving as much as he did for his beloved 
 countrymen. 
 
BOOK III 
 
 IN POWER 
 
 " Say, who is the chief spurring forth to the fray, 
 The wave of whose spear holds yon armed array ? 
 And he who stands scorning the thousands that sweep, 
 An army of wolves, over shepherdless sheep ?" 
 
 Vision of King Brian. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 MY BROTHER'S PERSONALITY 
 
 The Man of the Moment. 
 
 I THINK it would be fitting to give some idea, so 
 far as I can convey it in cold print, of my brother's 
 appearance and outward manner during the period 
 of his supremacy. I am judging, not only from 
 my own personal recollection, but from that of 
 many intimate friends who were connected with 
 Charley at this stage of his career. 
 
 His appearance was always a striking one. Tall 
 and thin (except during a period from about 1885 
 to 1890, when he became rather stout), he always 
 held himself erect, though without stiffness, until 
 the strain of his serious illness and the final party 
 split prematurely aged him. His hair was a 
 darkish brown, with tinges of tan or auburn. He 
 wore it rather long behind, curling slightly up- 
 wards from the back of his neck. On his entrance 
 into Parliament in 1875 he was clean-shaven, with 
 the exception of side- whiskers, but by 1880 he had 
 grown a beard of considerable length, and a long, 
 somewhat drooping moustache. 
 
 His complexion was pale, but with a healthy 
 
 171 
 
172 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 pallor. His white face contrasted vividly with 
 his hair, and accentuated the brilliancy of his dark 
 grey eyes, with their steady and at the same time 
 far-away look. This, with his long features and 
 firm lips curving slightly downwards, gave him 
 a somewhat melancholy appearance, though this 
 was not really borne out by his character, which 
 was lively at times, and at all events philosophical. 
 It was his appearance and his habitually reserved 
 manner that caused many to believe that he had 
 no sense of humour, and never made a joke. 
 
 This, however, was by no means the case. He 
 was always specially fond of quizzing me with a 
 kind of dry but always good-natured humour, and 
 was fond of making, among his intimate friends, 
 short, pointed jokes about men and events. This 
 was the case even in his later days, when he was 
 under the full oppression of a fight against hopeless 
 odds. 
 
 I remember The O'Donoghue of the Glens, who 
 was an inseparable companion of his during the 
 dark days of 1890 and 1891, telling me several 
 incidents to that effect. On one occasion he was 
 travelling from Tipperary to Athlone in the course 
 of his final campaign of successive defeats. One 
 of his fellow-members, Mr. Hayden, was sitting 
 opposite to him, and, as was not an unusual custom, 
 had put his railway ticket in the band of his hat. 
 Charlie looked at him fixedly for sometime, with 
 a twinkle in his eye, and suddenly burst forth with 
 
IN POWER 173 
 
 the remark: " Wh}^ on earth, Hayden, do you put 
 your ticket in your hat Uke that ? Everyone must 
 be thinking that you have just picked up the hat 
 as a bargain at an auction." Poor Hay den very 
 shamefacedly transferred the offending ticket to 
 his pocket, amidst the laughter of his companions. 
 It was when they were being given an enthusi- 
 astic send-off from Athlone Station that, The 
 O'Donoghue tells me, another little incident 
 occurred which proved that, even when in bad 
 health and wearied to death with illness, travelling, 
 and the strain of continual speeches, he could still 
 appreciate the humorous side of life. Amongst 
 those on the crowded platform who were wildly 
 waving handkerchiefs, flags, and sticks, was one 
 young peasant woman who, having neither hand- 
 kerchief, flag nor stick to wave, and being entirely 
 carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, 
 was to be seen wildly swinging about her unfor- 
 tunate baby in the air. Charley noticed the 
 incident at once, and watched this human sema- 
 phore display for a few moments with a twinkle in 
 his eye, which was as near as he generally came to 
 laughing. Then it proved too much for him, and 
 he laughed outright, and, turning to his companions 
 in the carriage, directed their attention to this 
 quaint expression of loyalty. 
 
174 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 The Warmth beneath the Ice. 
 
 I have spoken of his habitual coldness of manner, 
 and the mysterious way in which, in spite of it, or 
 even because of it, he used to draw all towards him, 
 as moths to a candle. He certainly rarely unbent 
 in expression, and the tone of his voice very rarely 
 varied. But his eyes were full of expression, and 
 the manner in which he accompanied an abrupt 
 and unalterable decision with a sudden winning 
 smile, which seemed to light up his whole face like 
 a ray of sunshine, never failed to render acceptable, 
 and even welcome, the curtness of the actual words 
 he used. His was indeed a mesmerism of manner, 
 and neither I, who so frequently experienced it and 
 came under its sway, nor any of those who were 
 accustomed to see him daily, can actually describe 
 it in so many words. 
 
 During this, the summit of his career, he took 
 extreme care with regard to his dress and personal 
 appearance. He did not often wear black, except 
 when compelled to do so at ceremonial functions, 
 but generally preferred tweeds of a dark shade, 
 brown being perhaps his favourite colour. To- 
 wards green, although it was his national colour, 
 he always had the strongest aversion, as I shall 
 explain in a chapter devoted to his many curious 
 superstitions (see Appendix A). He wore rather 
 low turned-down collars, not unlike those for 
 
IN POWER 175 
 
 which Mr. Gladstone was famous, but without the 
 long pointed ends. For tie he generally wore a 
 cravat (blue being, I think, its usual colour), with 
 a simple pearl or diamond pin in the centre. 
 
 In walking he held himself extremely erect, and 
 took long, though not hurried, strides. Although 
 I am not an exceptionally slow walker myself, I 
 generally found it pretty hard to keep up with him 
 when we were out together, and the more intent 
 he happened to be upon his secret thoughts, the 
 faster he seemed to go. To his habit of thinking 
 deeply when walking was due the fact that he paid 
 little attention to people or things on his way, 
 guiding himself, it would seem, chiefly by instinct ; 
 yet, though he would appear to be entirely ab- 
 sorbed in his own thoughts, he would be by no 
 means oblivious of what was being said to him, 
 though he appeared to take no notice whatever of 
 it. Yet he often startled one by uttering a sudden 
 abrupt question relating to something that had 
 been said to him some time before, which showed 
 that he must have grasped every detail of the con- 
 versation. 
 
 When speaking in public he stood up rather 
 stiffly, with his arms folded loosely in front of him, 
 though very occasionally I have seen him with 
 them clasped behind his back. This was an 
 attitude which he had contracted in very early 
 days. He spoke in a rather low voice, but slowly 
 and very distinctly, making every word tell. He 
 
176 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 rarely emphasized any point, however important, 
 by raising his voice or by gesticulating in any way 
 with his arms. As a matter of fact, he always had 
 a horror, even in private life, of speaking loudly. 
 I remember an instance of this one time when we 
 were together in Avondale. We were walking 
 down the road to the sawmills, when I noticed that 
 some of his men working on a field near-by were 
 taking things very easily, even for Irish labourers. 
 I said to him: '* Why don't you call out to those 
 fellows, Charley, and get them to hurry up ? 
 They look like being all day over that field, if they 
 go on like that." He replied, with a shrug of his 
 shoulders: " I know that; but if I wanted to make 
 them hear I should have to shout, and I dislike 
 shouting." We walked on in silence, but I 
 believe, with his invariably retentive memory, he 
 had something to say to them when he met them 
 next at close quarters. 
 
 Another noticeable feature of his was what 
 might be almost called his shyness. He had an 
 especial dislike for the company of strangers, and, 
 in spite of his experience, always felt nervous in 
 the presence of crowds, frequently clenching his 
 hands when speaking, until the blood came. He 
 was once being entertained at a large public 
 dinner, and a huge crowd had assembled outside 
 the windows, the blinds of which were not drawn, 
 in order to give the people a chance of seeing their 
 beloved leader. He became gradually more and 
 
IN POWER 17; 
 
 more uneasy under the concentrated stare of the 
 crowd, and began to fidget in his seat and frown. 
 Finally he called out to The O'Donoghue, who 
 was sitting some distance off, out of sight of the 
 crowd: " For goodness' sake, O'Donoghue, change 
 places with me; I can't stand those fellows staring 
 at me an}^ longer." 
 
 On another occasion he and I were travelling 
 together by train, when a number of enthusiasts 
 followed us into the carriage. He straightened 
 himself from his usual half-reclining position 
 in the corner of the carriage, which he adopted 
 when travelling, and said to me pettishly: 
 " Can't you get those people out of the carriage, 
 John? they're annoying me." I had to set about 
 the very uncomfortable task of going up to each 
 person and asking him whether he would mind 
 leaving the carriage, as my brother wished to be 
 alone. 
 
 Although he frequently told me that he felt 
 nervous, often to a painful degree, when speaking 
 in public, he certainly never showed any trace of 
 it. I do not think that he felt anything like the 
 same nervousness in delivering a speech in the 
 House of Commons that he did in addressing a 
 meeting of his own people. He came to the 
 House with what he had to say cut and dried, 
 for the English to take or leave as they pleased, 
 and I think he thoroughly enjoyed the consterna- 
 tion which his speeches, which always had some- 
 
 13 
 
178 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 what the nature of an ultimatum, produced among 
 that dignified and custom-observing gathering. 
 
 In speaking to an Irish audience, however, I 
 think he always had a deep desire for sympathy, 
 though he disliked any noisy demonstrations of 
 support. But he was always quite able to stand 
 up to a hostile, and even threatening, crowd? 
 without turning a hair. 
 
 Charley's Diet. 
 
 Charley was never a heavy eater, and his state 
 of health, which was delicate from boyhood, obliged 
 him to be very careful as to what he took to eat. 
 
 We all got into a terribly disorganized habit as 
 to meals during our days together at Avondale, 
 after our father had died and our mother had gone 
 to America. The only meal during the day at 
 which all the family and visitors were certain of 
 meeting was dinner, which we generally had about 
 eight o'clock in the evening. Charley never had 
 breakfast in the ordinary English sense, but made 
 a sort of combined breakfast and lunch when he 
 came down, which was usually about noon, as he 
 was in the habit of stopping up well into the small 
 hours of the morning. He always had some por- 
 ridge and cream to start with, and a mutton chop 
 formed the chief portion of the meal. He had 
 toast, usually made of oatmeal bread, and very 
 often barberry jelly, which he had been recom- 
 
IN POWER 179 
 
 mended, for his throat, Hke his chest, was always a 
 weak spot with him. He was also very fond of 
 tomatoes, which at that time were considered 
 rather a luxury. 
 
 He made a good, if not heavy, breakfast, and 
 then went right on until dinner without another 
 sit-down meal. Afternoon tea he thoroughly 
 despised, although I was always particularly fond 
 of it myself; and if he felt in need of anything 
 during the day, he contented himself with getting 
 a glass of buttermilk from the nearest cottage or 
 farm where he happened to be. 
 
 At dinner we very rarely had soup, but a leg of 
 mutton with red currant jelly generally appeared, 
 owing to its being Charley's favourite dish. He 
 did not like salmon, but was particularly fond of 
 trout, which were very plentiful round Avondale. 
 Very often, when I returned just before dinner from 
 a day's fishing, he would rap at the window as I 
 passed, and cry out: " Hallo, John, have you 
 brought me any nice trout to-day ?" In the 
 same way, he very often got a special fancy for 
 some of his favourite barberries, which he liked 
 eating raw as well as in jelly. There was a plenti- 
 ful supply of these along the road to the river quite 
 close to the house, and he used often to say to me 
 suddenly: " Now, John, you might take a basket 
 and go and pick some barberries for me." He was 
 very fond of potatoes cooked in their jackets, and 
 also liked cabbage, seakale, peas, French beans, and 
 
i8o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 turnips. He hardly took sweets, except rhubarb, 
 of which he was specially fond, being in that respect 
 the exact opposite to myself, and avoided pastry 
 like poison, as he found it did not agree with his 
 digestion. His cheese was, as a rule, Gruyere. 
 He never took nuts, and practically the only form 
 of dessert which he touched was grapes. I always 
 lamented the fact that he did not like apples, be- 
 cause he not only did not eat them himself, but 
 had all the apple-trees in the orchard cut down. 
 
 At dinner he invariably had claret ; at breakfast, 
 tea; and during the evening he occasionally took a 
 cup of cocoa, but was not fond of coffee. He ate 
 his meals rather quickly, and disliked talking at 
 them, preferring apparently, as when walking or 
 in bed, to pursue the train of his own thoughts. 
 
 While anything in the nature of a fixed time- 
 table for meals was absolutely unknown in Avon- 
 dale, his visitors were always free to have what- 
 ever they liked whenever they chose, and the 
 result was that the dining-room saw one long 
 succession of meals like the Mad Hatter's tea- 
 party in " Alice in Wonderland." As was the case 
 with hours, he never sought to impose the nature 
 of his meals upon his guests, or even upon his 
 brothers and sisters. The rule at Avondale was 
 that you could have exactly what you liked, 
 exactly when you liked. These habits he con- 
 tinued right through his political life, with the 
 exception that, if anj'thing, his meals became 
 
IN POWER i8i 
 
 more irregular as years went on. In his later days 
 Sir Henry Thompson gradually increased the 
 strictness of his diet, for, as I have stated, his 
 throat and chest were always weak, and his 
 health at the best of times was delicate. 
 
 In the early days I hardly ever remember him 
 smoking. Later in his political days he developed 
 a taste for cigars, though I think he never took to 
 the pipe or cigarette. He was fond of using the 
 smoking-room of the House of Commons, either 
 to think out his schemes or to hold conferences 
 with members of his party, but he by no means 
 always smoked when he was there. 
 
 As for his amusement, outdoor sports, such as 
 cricket, hunting, and shooting, were always his 
 favourites when he had time to indulge in them. 
 Chess, as I have said earlier, he knew, but did not 
 play it exceptionally well. He was a keen billiard- 
 player, but, as far as I can recollect, took little or 
 no interest in cards. 
 
 As a letter-writer he confined himself to the 
 briefest and most business-like epistles. The tele- 
 graph was his usual means of communication, and 
 certainly the surest way of getting a reply from 
 him, as he was rather apt to ignore the letters he 
 received. I know that even I, when I wished to 
 arrange to meet him, had to do so by telegram, as, 
 if I sent on a letter in advance, he rarely took much 
 notice of it, and I had to go and rout him out 
 wherever he was stopping, when his invariable 
 
i82 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 remark was: " Whyever didn't you send me a 
 telegram ?" 
 
 His desire for haste showed itself even more 
 when he was travelling. If he took a car he 
 generally urged the driver to the utmost speed, and 
 if he missed a train, or found that he would have 
 to wait any appreciable time, he generally char- 
 tered a special, on several occasions travelling on 
 the footplate of the engine. Delay in any form 
 was, in fact, abhorrent to one of his highly-strung 
 nervous temperament. 
 
 That is as far I as can remember of my brother's 
 outward appearance, manner, and habits, during 
 the time of his greatness. The details which I 
 have given may seem trivial, taken singly, but, on 
 the other hand, they may be of service as giving 
 some sort of picture of the man himself. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE RIGHT TO LIVE 
 
 Land Law. 
 
 Charley, when he became leader, found himself 
 in charge of a divided party, as Mr. Shaw and the 
 moderate section of the Home Rulers who sup- 
 ported him sat on the other side of the House. 
 The Government, however, instead of attempting 
 to widen this breach in the ranks of their inveterate 
 opponents, actually drove them together into one 
 solid phalanx by refusing any concession whatever 
 to Irish demands. 
 
 The whole energies of the Irish party were de- 
 voted to obtaining some sort of solution of the 
 land question, which, owing to the terrors of the 
 famine and the merciless evictions, had become 
 desperately acute. Charley's remedy, or at any 
 rate palliative of this state of things, was voiced 
 in a Bill brought in by Mr. O'Connor Power to 
 award compensation in any case of disturbance. 
 The English Government, as has not infrequently 
 been their course in Irish affairs, wished to do 
 neither one thing nor the other. They did not 
 repudiate the idea of compensation for disturb- 
 
 183 
 
i84 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 ance, but did not wish to give their sanction 
 to a measure introduced by the Irish party them- 
 selves. 
 
 A Bill to effect this purpose was accordingly 
 brought in by Mr. Forster, who had become Chief 
 Secretary under the new Ministry. He was sup- 
 ported by the entire Irish party, but the Bill, 
 after passing through the Commons by a somewhat 
 slender majority, was ignominiously thrown out 
 by the Lords. 
 
 The Agrarian War. 
 
 This led to the period of boycotting and agrarian 
 outrage which forms one of the blackest pages 
 in the history of Ireland. Whether the responsi- 
 bility for these deplorable occurrences should rest 
 entirely with the Land League — and therefore, 
 of course, with my brother, as its founder and 
 supreme director — or whether the apathy, and 
 even opposition, of the English Parliament, especi- 
 ally the House of Lords, did not to a large extent 
 justify this outbreak of violence on the part of 
 men driven to desperation through hunger and 
 misery, lies with a posterity more remote and im- 
 partial than our present one to decide. 
 
 My brother, I know, always set his face strongly 
 against outrage of any kind. As a last extremity, 
 he might have consented to lead an army in the 
 field; but the idea of cowardly attacks on indi- 
 
IN POWER 185 
 
 viduals, and above all the maiming of animals, 
 repelled him to the last degree. But his hand was 
 forced in this instance by his lieutenants and by 
 the Fenians, without whose help at this time he 
 was powerless. 
 
 I consider that the real blame should rest on the 
 landlords, who callousty insisted on getting their 
 rents, which they refused to reduce from those 
 existing in times of prosperity, and mercilessly 
 evicted the many poor wretches who were unable 
 to pay, and who were converted against their 
 wills from peaceable tenant farmers into des- 
 peradoes. 
 
 Charley had thrown himself heart and soul into 
 the organization of the Land League, which had 
 spread in a very short time throughout the 
 country, and had come very near to controlling 
 the law and its administration. To the Land 
 League the starving people of Ireland naturally 
 looked for assistance when the Bill, upon whose 
 passing their very lives depended, was thrown 
 out by a House whose members included many 
 of their own absentee landlords. The people 
 looked to the Land League, and the Land League 
 looked to Charley, for a policy that would serve 
 the purpose. As ever, he was ready with a new 
 form of warfare. This, though not involving 
 bloodshed necessarily, undoubtedly led to it in 
 some instances. It was, however, really intended 
 as a compromise between the futility of constitu- 
 
i86 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 tional agitation and the desperate, and to him, 
 abhorrent, agrarian outrages, the latter, how- 
 ever, proving impossible to suppress. 
 
 Boycotting. 
 
 Boycotting, as this new system soon came to 
 be known, owing to its first victim being Captain 
 Boycott, the agent of Lord Erne, was outlined by 
 my brother in the course of a famous speech 
 delivered at Ennis on September 19, 1881. He 
 had asked his audience what they proposed to 
 do to a tenant who bid for a farm from which his 
 neighbour had been evicted. A chorus of voices 
 cried, " Shoot him !" but Charley continued in 
 his even, impassive voice to describe the method 
 of using this terrible weapon which he had forged 
 on behalf of his poor and starving fellow-country- 
 men. I give his words in full, for as a definition 
 of "boycotting " they will endure to all eternity. 
 They are as follows : 
 
 When a man takes a farm from which 
 another has been evicted, you must show him 
 on the roadside when you meet him, you 
 must show him in the streets and the town, 
 you must show him at the shop counter, you 
 must show him in the fair and in the market- 
 place, and even in the house of worship, by 
 leaving him severely alone, by putting him 
 into a moral Coventry, by isolating him from 
 
IN POWER 187 
 
 his kind as if he was a leper of old — you 
 must show him your detestation of the crime 
 he has committed; and you may depend 
 upon it that there will be no man so full of 
 avarice, so lost to shame, as to dare the public 
 opinion of all right-thinking men, and to 
 transgress your unwritten code of laws. 
 
 This terrible anathema had immediate effect, 
 and its success resulted in the still more rapid 
 growth of the Land League, which Davitt set 
 himself to work to spread in America, while my 
 brother was extending it throughout Ireland. 
 
 The boycott was intended by my brother, as I 
 have said, as a means of passive resistance; but 
 it did not long stop at that. The people were 
 not satisfied with isolating their fellow-country- 
 men. ** It is not enough to send them to Cov- 
 entry; we must send them to hell !" was a saying 
 that passed like wildfire through the ranks of the 
 evicted tenants. Murders became of everyday 
 occurrence, cattle were shockingly maimed, the 
 farmer who replaced an evicted tenant was lucky 
 if he escaped with his life. A shot through a 
 window or door or from behind the hedge was the 
 manifestation of the power of Captain Moonlight, 
 as the organization of those who believed in 
 violence was nicknamed. 
 
i88 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 A Desperate Remedy. 
 
 The Government soon became alarmed, even to 
 the extent of panic, at the reign of terror which 
 then prevailed in Ireland, especially the western 
 counties. A long discussion took place between 
 the English Cabinet and the Executive at Dublin 
 Castle as to the best means of suppressing the dis- 
 turbance. The obvious course was to suspend 
 the Habeas Corpus Act, an expedient that had 
 been adopted in previous crises. Before taking 
 this course, however, Mr. Forster conceived the 
 not very brilliant idea of suppressing the Land 
 League by prosecuting its principal officers for 
 conspiracy. Accordingly, a bunch of warrants 
 were issued against my brother, Messrs. Biggar, 
 Dillon, Sullivan, 0' Sullivan, and Sexton (his 
 fellow-members of Parliament), the treasurer 
 (Patrick Egan), and the secretary (Thomas Bren- 
 nan), besides a number of other persons con- 
 nected with the League. Charle}^ was not much 
 upset at this indiscreet move on the part of the 
 Government, which he knew must in the end 
 tell against them. " I regret," he declared at a 
 meeting held shortly afterwards, ** that Mr. 
 Forster has chosen to waste his time, the money 
 of the Government, and our own money, in these 
 prosecutions." 
 
 The trial concluded on January 25, 1881, after 
 
IN POWER 189 
 
 a hearing lasting for twenty days. The jury dis- 
 agreed, but an indiscreet member of that body let 
 the public behind the scenes by announcing in 
 court, " We are ten to two, my lord," showing 
 the overwhelming majority of Parnellites even in 
 a carefully-selected jury. The Judge, seeing how 
 things stood, immediately ordered the jury to be 
 discharged. 
 
 The Government then decided to suspend the 
 Habeas Corpus Act, and on January 24 Mr. 
 Forster's famous Coercion Bill was introduced, 
 being given precedence of all other business. The 
 Government adopted a policy of suppression, 
 and the Irish party one of obstruction. 
 
 On February 2 the Speaker, after the sitting 
 had lasted for forty-one hours (it was then 9 a.m.), 
 declared that in the interests of the House he 
 must call upon the members to decide at once 
 upon the first reading. This was done, the Bill 
 being read the first time by a majority of 164 
 to 19. The House then gave itself a brief rest 
 until noon. 
 
 On its reassembling, Charley, who had not 
 been in the House when the Speaker made his 
 startling announcement, rose and challenged the 
 Speaker's action on a question of privilege. After 
 a considerable bandying of words between Charley 
 and the Speaker, the latter agreed that it was 
 necessary for him to consult the precedents. 
 
 So acute did the obstruction on the part of the 
 
190 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Irish members then become, that the rules of pro- 
 cedure were rendered yet more strict on the 
 motion of Mr. Gladstone. Then there was an 
 outburst of disorder. Mr. Dillon was suspended, 
 and finally removed by the Sergeant- at- Arms; and 
 Charley, for moving that Mr. Gladstone "be no 
 longer heard," was named by the Speaker, and 
 suspended on the motion of Mr. Gladstone. 
 Member after member then rose from the Irish 
 benches and followed their leader into a state of 
 suspension, while messages were sent to those 
 who were not in the House to come and offer 
 themselves as a similar sacrifice. 
 
 Tardy Justice. 
 
 The indignation aroused by the prosecution of 
 the Land League, the suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act, and the passing of the Coercion Bill — 
 all unwise acts on the part of the Government — 
 resulted in the Land Bill which was brought in 
 by Mr. Gladstone not receiving the support from 
 the Irish party which it would otherwise have 
 done. The Bill all the same was a good Bill, 
 and granted freely the majority of the demands 
 for the rights of tenants, which had been con- 
 sistently ignored for so long. 
 
 But the question was, How were the Irish going 
 to act ? — in other words, How was my brother 
 going to act ? He decided to oppose the Bill on 
 
IN POWER 191 
 
 the ground that the Irish party were not respon- 
 sible for it, and had not had time to consider it. 
 Declaring bluntly that he would resign if the 
 majority of his party decided to support the 
 Bill, he succeeded in carrying all before him. At 
 the subsequent divisions Charley and his followers 
 walked out of the House without voting. 
 
 For insisting that a day should be devoted to 
 the discussion of the Irish administration, and dis- 
 regarding the Speaker's warnings, Charley was 
 named and suspended. 
 
 An important Land League Convention was 
 held in Dublin on September 14, where Mr. Glad- 
 stone's Land Act, which had by then come into 
 force, was discussed. Charley then outlined his 
 scheme as to the use to which the Act should be 
 put, and said he was not in favour of too many 
 cases being brought into Court. At another con- 
 vention held at Maryborough a few days later, 
 he specially introduced a resolution that applica- 
 tions for the fixing of rent should not be made 
 without the previous consent of the branch of 
 the Land League to which the tenant belonged. 
 
 In other words, though the Government had 
 now granted a great measure of the demands 
 which Charley had made on behalf of the tenants, 
 he had no intention of agreeing to the official 
 dissolution of the Land League, which was the 
 means by which these demands had been wrung 
 from an unwilling Government, until he was 
 
192 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 certain that they would be carried into force. 
 Moreover, he wished to have the repressive 
 measures adopted by ** Buckshot " Forster — as 
 the Chief Secretary had come to be called, on 
 account of his methods of intimidation — repealed 
 while he still had the power to force the hand of 
 the English Government. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 IN PRISON 
 
 Charley's Arrest. 
 
 Mr. Forster had not been long in realizing that 
 the State trial of the leaders of the Land League 
 was a mistake from the beginning. He felt that 
 no jury in Ireland would ever convict them of con- 
 spiracy or any other offence. He therefore de- 
 termined to avail himself of the suspension of the 
 Habeas Corpus Act, and dispense with the need 
 of judge, jury, or trial, by arresting Charley as a 
 suspect under the Coercion Act. He hoped, by 
 removing one who was the body and soul of the 
 movement, to be able to crush the Land League 
 in detail. 
 
 But, like most Chief Secretaries, he acted too 
 late. Had he arrested Charley just when he was 
 starting to organize the Land League, he might 
 indeed have nipped the movement in the bud; but 
 to tear away its beloved leader just when the 
 organization had attained its full power was an 
 act of criminal folly. Forster, however, had con- 
 verted Mr. Gladstone to his own idea of arresting 
 Charley, as being the mainspring of all the trouble 
 
 193 13 
 
194 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 in Ireland, and Mr. Gladstone gave a plainly- 
 worded warning in a speech delivered at Leeds on 
 October 7, that Charley had gone as far as he 
 would be allowed to do. Two days later Charley 
 replied by a vigorous speech delivered at Wexford, 
 in which he rather ridiculed than denounced Mr. 
 Gladstone's attitude towards the Irish as a nation, 
 and himself as their leader. 
 
 After this both he and his friends regarded his 
 arrest as certain. They were justified in this view, 
 for on October 12, at the conclusion of a meeting 
 of the Cabinet, Forster wired to the Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland a prearranged 
 word which authorized the arrest of my brother. 
 
 Charley was stopping at that time at Morrison's 
 Hotel, and had arranged to go down to Naas early 
 the next morning to address a meeting. When 
 the boots came up to call him, he said there were 
 two men downstairs whom he believed to be police 
 officers waiting to arrest him. The man offered 
 to try to get him safely away over the roofs, but 
 Charley refused, knowing that his arrest was cer- 
 tain, and not wishing to suffer the ignominy of 
 being caught while trying to escape. When he 
 was nearly dressed. Superintendent Mallon knocked 
 at the door, and handed him a warrant for his 
 arrest. Charley was driven away quickly in a cab, 
 which was afterwards joined by an escort of 
 mounted police, and arrived at Kilmainham Prison 
 without anybody being any the wiser. 
 
IN POWER 195 
 
 He was treated at Kilmainham as a political 
 prisoner, being given a well-furnished room and 
 allowed to smoke and get his meals in from outside. 
 He was able also to write and receive letters, 
 subject to their being inspected by the police 
 authorities, and his fellow-suspects in the prison 
 were allowed to dine with him. He was also 
 allowed to receive visitors, and a great many of 
 his friends availed themselves of this opportunity. 
 Another concession was his being allowed a few 
 days' absence on parole, in order to go over to 
 Paris to his sister Theodosia (Mrs. Thompson), 
 whose son was at the point of death. 
 
 The " No Rent " Manifesto. 
 
 Owing to the freedom which he was allowed, 
 Charley was as free to rule from Kilmainham as 
 Napoleon was from Elba. In his sitting-room at 
 the prison he openly held conferences with his 
 lieutenants, and carried on the business of the 
 League which it had been designed io crush by 
 his arrest. Of course, the first idea, once the 
 news was known, was retaliation. That was 
 not so much due to any vindictiveness on the 
 part of Charley himself, as to the unanimous 
 resolve of the officials of the League, who were 
 backed up by a tremendous wave of feeling 
 throughout Ireland, where the agrarian outrages, 
 instead of being checked, as Mr. Gladstone 
 
196 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 expected, now burst forth to a perfectly appalling 
 extent. 
 
 I believe that the idea of the " No Rent " mani- 
 festo, which was the League's crushing reply to 
 Forster's arrest of Charley, originated with Patrick 
 Ford of the Irish World, who had latterly con- 
 siderably modified his views and become a firm 
 adherent of Charley's. Egan, who had taken the 
 funds of the League into safety in Paris directly 
 the Coercion Bill was introduced, warmly co- 
 operated with Ford, and finally a manifesto was 
 drawn up by William O'Brien, and taken to 
 Charley at Kilmainham. There, in the State 
 prison, surrounded by armed guards, the chiefs 
 of the proscribed League conferred long and 
 earnestly as to how best to defeat the objects of 
 the Government. Charley finally signed the docu- 
 ment, owing to the pressure brought to bear on 
 him from America, but he had little real belief in 
 its efhcsLcy. He was thoroughly justified in taking 
 this view, for the manifesto was condemned by 
 the priests, and, as was the case with regard to 
 himself after the " Split," what they banned as 
 a body was foredoomed to failure. The peasantry, 
 as a matter of fact, never really took the mani- 
 festo seriously, alluring as the title was in their 
 impoverished condition. 
 
IN POWER T97 
 
 " The Kilmainham Treaty." 
 
 If Mr, Gladstone, acting on Mr. Forster's repre- 
 sentations, expected that Charley's arrest would 
 result in an immediate falling off in the number of 
 agrarian outrages, he was doomed to grievous 
 disappointment; for, instead of decreasing, they 
 increased to an unparalleled extent. This was 
 not due, as has been alleged in some quarters, to 
 a desire on the part of Charley to avenge himself 
 at all costs, but, on the contrary, to the check 
 which he had exercised over excesses of this nature 
 being removed by his imprisonment. The only 
 way in which he could keep a tight hand on the 
 more desperate section of his party was by con- 
 tinually paying personal visits to the districts 
 where evictions were most prevalent, and, while 
 advising them to resist English tyranny by all 
 constitutional methods, discountenancing murder, 
 maiming, and similar crimes. This, however, he 
 could no longer do when confined at Kilmainham, 
 and many of his colleagues were by no means 
 averse to a campaign of outrage so long as it 
 terrorized the landlords, and through them 
 England. 
 
 What is known as the " Kilmainham Treaty " 
 was an informal contract entered into between 
 Charley, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Chamberlain. 
 No written agreement was ever made, but to all 
 
198 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 intents and purposes it was a treaty between the 
 English Government and the Irish party, the con- 
 ditions of which were faithfully carried out by 
 both sides. 
 
 The purport of the whole understanding, as it 
 may perhaps be accurately described, was that 
 Charley should be released, the Coercion Act re- 
 pealed, and the Habeas Corpus Act brought into 
 force again, while Charley on his part should use 
 his entire influence to pacify Ireland. 
 
 The chief difficulty was for Mr. Gladstone to 
 persuade Lord Cowper, the Viceroy, to sign the 
 order for release. He finally consented, and 
 Charley walked out again a free man in May, 1882. 
 
 Although Charley was well treated at Kilmain- 
 ham, his health certainly suffered by his imprison- 
 ment, and, from what he told me when I met him 
 in 1884, his already delicate constitution never 
 recovered from the effects of his imprisonment, 
 which led to a severe illness in 1883, and un- 
 doubtedly sowed the seeds of his final breakdown 
 in health (see Appendix A) . 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS 
 
 Return to Parliament. 
 
 Charley's release, being a direct admission of the 
 failure of the policy of coercion adopted by the 
 Irish executive, resulted in the immediate resigna- 
 tion of Lord Cowper and Mr. Forster from the Lord 
 Lieutenancy and Chief Secretaryship respectively. 
 Forster was in the middle of a speech defending 
 his action in Ireland when Charley entered the 
 House, being welcomed with a wild burst of cheer- 
 ing from the Irish benches. In a speech which 
 attracted much attention, Charley denied that any 
 definite compact had been entered into between 
 himself and the Government, but said that a settle- 
 ment of the arrears question would have much to 
 do towards ending the reign of outrage in Ireland, 
 which he so much deplored. It was proposed to 
 enable those tenants who were unable to pay their 
 rents, owing to the famine, to avoid eviction by 
 the Government advancing a sum out of the funds 
 derived from the disestablishment of the Church 
 of Ireland. This proposal, after much discussion, 
 afterwards bore fruit, as will be seen. 
 
 199 
 
200 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 But the cup of victory was to be dashed from 
 Charley's Hps, owing to a circumstance over which 
 he had no control. Just as later, when he had 
 emerged triumphant from the Pigott trial he was 
 to meet with the crushing blow of the O'Shea case, 
 so now the Phoenix Park murders to a great extent 
 nullified the Kilmainham Treaty. 
 
 Lord Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish 
 had taken the places of Lord Cowper and Mr. 
 Forster. The state entry of the Lord Lieutenant 
 into Dublin took place on May 6. When the 
 pageant had concluded, Lord Frederick Cavendish 
 told Lord Spencer that he would prefer to walk 
 to the Chief Secretary's Lodge instead of accept- 
 ing the Lord Lieutenant's offer of a seat in his 
 carriage. As he entered the park he was joined 
 by Mr. Burke, the Under-Secretary, and they 
 walked together towards the Chief Secretary's 
 Lodge. Just opposite the Viceregal Lodge a 
 small group of men who were standing by suddenly 
 fell on them and stabbed them both to death. 
 Lord Spencer, from within the Viceregal Lodge, 
 heard repeated shrieks of agony, and ran to the 
 window. A man came rushing along at full speed, 
 crying: " Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish 
 are killed !" The Viceroy attempted to rush out, 
 but was stopped by the members of his household, 
 who were anxious for his safety. 
 
 Numerous arrests followed, and six men were 
 tried and hanged for the crime, chiefly on the evi- 
 
IN POWER 201 
 
 dence of a man named Carey, who turned informer, 
 and was afterwards murdered on the high seas. 
 
 There is Uttle doubt that this terrible murder 
 was the work of a small body of desperate men 
 belonging to a society called the " Invincibles," 
 which had come into being with the avowed pur- 
 pose of removing political opponents by assassina- 
 tion. They had no connection whatever with an^^ 
 of the recognized Irish political bodies. Still, of 
 course, that fact was not appreciated in England. 
 
 The indignation with which this outrage was 
 received was intense, both in England and Ireland. 
 To speak plainly, it was generally believed in 
 England that Charley was the direct instigator of 
 the crime. The people clamoured savagely for 
 his blood, and great crowds assembled in front of 
 the Westminster Palace Hotel, where he was 
 staying. In spite of this, he insisted upon moving 
 freely about in the streets, although his life was 
 really in more danger than had been those of 
 Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke. Cer- 
 tainly, hardly anyone in England at that time 
 would have thought it other than meritorious to 
 have killed him, and no jury would have dreamt 
 of convicting his murderer. Owing to his dis- 
 regard of danger, the days succeeding the an- 
 nouncement of the Phoenix Park crime were 
 amongst the most anxious which Scotland Yard 
 ever experienced, as in the state of public feeling 
 it was impossible to have any idea from what 
 
202 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 quarter the blow might be struck. It was there- 
 fore useless to watch any particular body or group 
 of persons, political or otherwise, and the whole 
 energies of the Yard had to be devoted to shadow- 
 ing Charley himself, over whose safety a veritable 
 army of the most experienced detectives in the 
 kingdom watched by day and night. 
 
 In Ireland the news was received with horror, 
 disappointment, and disgust. It was felt that it 
 was a cowardly murder, and one which deeply 
 dishonoured the Irish sense of hospitality, as this 
 was Lord Frederick Cavendish's first visit to 
 Ireland, where he had never taken any part in 
 political affairs. Moreover, it was a useless and 
 irresponsible crime, which recoiled, not so much 
 upon the actual perpetrators, as upon the whole 
 Irish party. Had it only been Mr. Burke the 
 thing would have been bad enough, but it was 
 felt that there was no possible excuse for the un- 
 provoked murder of an innocent stranger, which 
 could only bring into disrepute an entire nation 
 which had taken no act or part in it. 
 
 Charley's Feelings. 
 
 The blow was a terrible one for Charley. He 
 was completely unnerved. His first idea was to 
 retire at once from public life, though from this 
 course he was dissuaded, not only by his friends, 
 but even by his great opponent, Mr. Gladstone, 
 
IN POWER 203 
 
 who assured him of his complete beUef in his 
 innocence of the slightest complicity in the matter. 
 But it is certain that for once Charley com- 
 pletely lost his usual cool head, and allowed his 
 nervous temperament, which as a rule he kept 
 strictly under control, to dominate him completely 
 for the time being. I know myself that for years 
 after this horrible event preyed on his generous 
 and sensitive nature, and I realized so well how 
 even a slight reference by him, to a matter which 
 was completely past, showed that he must have 
 thought very long and deeply about it. 
 
 On the very day when the news was received in 
 England, Charley issued a manifesto, which was 
 also signed bj^ Dillon and Davitt, addressed to 
 the Irish people, in which, after expressing the 
 horror with which they received the news of the 
 crime, the Irish leaders said: ** We feel that no 
 act has ever been perpetrated in our countrj^, 
 during the exciting struggle for social and political 
 rights of the past fifty years, that has so stained 
 the name of hospitable Ireland as this cowardly 
 and unprovoked assassination of a friendly 
 stranger." That exactly expresses Charley's 
 views on the matter, as I know from his 
 subsequent conversations with me. I think for 
 once that his faith in the righteousness of the cause 
 for which he had fought so consistently was 
 shaken for the first time by the dread that any- 
 thing in his policy, directed though it had always 
 
204 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 been for the bettering of the conditions of his 
 poorer fellow-countrymen, should have given even 
 the faintest encouragement, to minds disordered 
 as were those of the " Invincibles/' to the com- 
 mission of such a dastardly crime. His intense 
 pride, his sensitiveness, and his genuine love of 
 Ireland, caused him to suffer horribly, and the 
 wound was never healed. 
 
 He entered the House of Commons on May 8, 
 almost a broken man. Though a victor, the 
 spoils of war had been more than torn from him, 
 and his personal honour was assailed in a way which 
 only allowed him to refute the accusations by his 
 own personal word, in which he knew the English 
 would put no belief. His speech in the House was 
 brief, and marked with obvious emotion. In the 
 course of it he expressed the fear that owing to 
 this deplorable event all his efforts towards peace 
 would be thrown away, and the Government would 
 find no other course open to them than to resort 
 to coercion once more. This was indeed the case, 
 for Sir William Harcourt's Crimes Bill was imme- 
 diately rushed through, in spite of wild scenes of 
 obstruction on the part of the Irish party, in the 
 course of which eighteen members were suspended. 
 Charley and his party finally ceased to take an^- 
 further part in the discussion of the Bill, protesting 
 against the suspension of their fellow-members at 
 a time when a measure affecting vitally the rights 
 and liberties of Ireland was before the House. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 THE ARREARS ACT 
 
 A Concession. 
 
 In spite of the Coercion Act, Charley scored one 
 signal victory, for an Arrears Bill was passed, to 
 a great extent, on the lines for which he had been 
 agitating. The Bill, which applied to tenancies 
 under £30, provided that, subject to the tenant 
 satisfying the Court that he was unable to pay 
 the whole of the arrears, and paying the rent due 
 in 1881, he should only be liable for the rent during 
 one of the two years 1879 ^^^ 1880, the State 
 paying the remaining portion. Charley, having 
 obtained to a certain degree the land reforms 
 which were the subject of his campaign, was now 
 able to slacken the land agitation, which he had 
 almost regarded as a measure of necessity, and had 
 secretly disliked, owing to its leading to outrage. 
 After the Phoenix Park murders he was determined, 
 both on their account and on account of the in- 
 formal promise he had made in connection, with 
 what was known as the Kilmainham Treaty, to 
 end the reign of terror in Ireland. The Land 
 League had to a great degree effected this purpose, 
 and, being proscribed by the Government, its or- 
 
 205 
 
2o6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 ganization was scattered; and the Ladies' Land 
 League, which he had regarded at the outset as 
 being of some possible use, but had soon come to 
 look upon as an uncontrollable and even mis- 
 chievous agency, which tended to upset his own 
 policy, he had deliberately starved to death by 
 refusing to advance any more funds. 
 
 It was clear that at this time Charley wanted 
 to devote himself to what, after all, was his great 
 ambition — the obtaining of Home Rule for Ireland 
 by constitutional methods. An exceptional out- 
 burst of murders — some of them for the slightest 
 causes — were making the year 1882 memorable, 
 even in the bloodstained annals of agrarian out- 
 rage. Charley was sick to death of these ignoble 
 crimes, which lowered the status of his country 
 without in any way advancing the prospects of 
 its independence. 
 
 The trial of the " Invincibles " who were sup- 
 posed to have been connected with the Phoenix 
 Park murders, which took place in February, 1883, 
 again concentrated English public opinion on the 
 horrors of the crime itself and on the general 
 lawlessness existing in Ireland. This was followed, 
 in the House of Commons, by a violent attack made 
 upon Charley by Mr. Forster, who used these 
 words, which summarize the general feeling against 
 my brother at the time : " It has been often enough 
 stated and shown by statistics that murder followed 
 the meetings and action of the Land League .... 
 
IN POWER 207 
 
 It is not that he himself directly planned or per- 
 petrated outrages or murders, but that he either 
 connived at them, or, when warned, did not use 
 his influence to prevent them." Charley listened 
 unmoved to this damning accusation, and, in- 
 stead of replying to it, immediately moved the 
 adjournment of the debate until the next day 
 (February 23, 1882). 
 
 A Defiance. 
 
 On the eventful day the House was crowded, in 
 expectation of a detailed and elaborate defence, on 
 the part of Charley, of his action with regard to 
 the Land League. If the House expected any- 
 thing in the nature of an apology, or even an expla- 
 nation, they were doomed to disappointment, for 
 from beginning to end his speech was a proud and 
 contemptuous defiance. 
 
 After saying that it was impossible for anyone 
 to stem the torrent of prejudice that had arisen, 
 he entered into a series of bitter gibes at the Irish 
 Executive. He asked why Mr. Forster was not 
 sent back to help Lord Spencer in the congenial 
 work of the gallows in Ireland. " We invite you," 
 he said with scathing sarcasm, " to man your 
 ranks, and to send your ablest and best men to 
 push forward the task of misgoverning and op- 
 pressing Ireland." Of the future he was sanguine, 
 and he ended his speech with a calm prophecy of 
 
2o8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 success. He said: ** Although the horizon may be 
 clouded, I believe our people will survive the 
 present oppression, as they have survived many 
 and worse misfortunes; and although our progress 
 may be slow, it will be sure." 
 
 But the whole speech was summarized in one 
 famous sentence: " By the judgment of the Irish 
 people only do I, and will I, stand or fall." 
 
 This was not at all the kind of speech which the 
 House had expected, and they received it with 
 feelings of mixed amazement and disgust. 
 
 About this time the Fenians began to become 
 anxious concerning Charley's attitude and the 
 moderate policy which he was now adopting. 
 They invited him to attend a convention which 
 was being held at Philadelphia on April 25. He 
 declined the invitation to attend personally, but 
 sent a cablegram in which he suggested that their 
 platform should be so framed as to enable the 
 Irish national party to continue to accept help 
 from America, while at the same time avoiding 
 offering a pretext to the British Government for 
 entirely suppressing the national movement in 
 Ireland. After this convention the existing 
 American Land League was replaced by the 
 National League of America, which was intended 
 to co-operate with the newly-formed National 
 League of Ireland. The Fenians thus regained 
 somewhat of their hold on Irish policy, as Charley 
 found it impossible to break openly with them. 
 
IN POWER 209 
 
 The Tribute. 
 
 My brother, as I explain elsewhere (Appendix C), 
 had for many complicated reasons been getting 
 gradually into low water so far as regarded 
 finance. It came as a shock to the Irish people 
 to hear that a mortgage on Avondale had been 
 foreclosed, and that he had filed a petition for 
 sale. This resulted in a desire, which was spon- 
 taneous on the part of all classes throughout 
 Ireland, to aid their beloved leader, who had 
 risked so much on their behalf. Accordingly, a 
 gigantic collection was set on foot, and by De- 
 cember II, 1882, when it closed, it had reached 
 the sum of £37,011 17s. His reception of this 
 amount, large as it was, was characteristic. He 
 was handed the cheque on December 11, just before 
 a grand banquet was given in his honour. He put 
 it in his pocket as if it were a matter of course, 
 and neither then nor in the course of his subse- 
 quent speech made the slightest reference to it. 
 
 The Dynamite Outrages. 
 
 During 1883 and 1884 the extremists, not satis- 
 fied with agrarian outrages, started to carry the war 
 right into the enemy's country, by a series of 
 attempts to blow up public buildings in London. 
 The explosive used was dynamite, a factory for 
 
 14 
 
210 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the making of which was discovered by the poUce 
 in Birmingham. It was found that the Govern- 
 ment offices, the principal railway-stations, Scot- 
 land Yard, and even the Houses of Parliament 
 themselves, were marked out for destruction, and 
 in several cases attempts, more or less abortive, 
 were made to carry these plans into effect. 
 
 Some suggestions of complicity were made 
 against my brother even in this connection, but I 
 know that his attitude towards the dynamitards 
 was not in the slightest degree s^^mpathetic. He 
 regarded them as fools and madmen, who were 
 only upsetting his own plans. He felt a very keen 
 resentment against the Irish World, whose violent 
 articles, written by the American Fenians, had 
 undoubtedly inspired the outrages. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN 
 
 Inactive, but not Idle. 
 
 For two years previous to the General Election of 
 1885, Charley did not do anything very startling, 
 and his quiet attitude led to a little grumbling 
 among the more unruly members of his party. He 
 made speeches in various parts of the country, but 
 they simply urged a strictly constitutional policy. 
 He was, however, as it turned out, not so much 
 resting as preparing to spring. For one thing, he 
 was gradually educating the Irish people to the 
 absolute necessity of self-government, and pre- 
 paring the English Government to resign them- 
 selves to the fact that sooner or later they must 
 pass a Home Rule Bill. 
 
 Moreover, he was in bad health for a good part 
 of this time, and had many family and financial 
 troubles. The sudden death of his sister Fanny 
 also affected him deeply, as it did also our sister 
 Anna, who on hearing the sad news fell into a 
 fit which very nearly proved fatal. Prior to the 
 General Election, however, he made a tour of 
 
 Ireland, delivering a number of forcible speeches. 
 
 211 
 
212 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 At Arklow he stated definitely what, in his view, 
 the demand of Ireland should be. ** We cannot," 
 he said, " ask for less than the restitution of 
 Grattan's Parliament, with its important privi- 
 leges and wide, far-reaching constitution. But," 
 he said significantly, " no man has a right to fix 
 the boundary of the march of a nation." 
 
 It is noticeable that, during the visit of the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales to Ireland in 1885, Charley, 
 while recommending that the royal visitors should 
 not be given an official reception on behalf of the 
 Irish people, pleaded that they should be treated 
 with courtesy, and that there should be no hostile 
 demonstrations . 
 
 Mr. Gladstone had announced his intention to 
 renew the Crimes Act, though in a modified form, 
 and this Charley was determined to prevent. He 
 did so by throwing his full force on the side of the 
 Tories when an amendment was moved to the 
 Budget Bill on June 8. The result was that the 
 Government were defeated by twelve votes, the 
 announcement being greeted by triumphant cries 
 of " No coercion !" from the Irish benches. The 
 Tories formed a temporary Ministry, but, being 
 placed entirely at the mercy of the Irish party, a 
 dissolution was soon necessary. 
 
 Charley seized the opportunity of the English 
 being entangled in their own affairs to have a 
 really beneficial Land Bill passed through the 
 House, whereby advances could be made by the 
 
IN POWER 213 
 
 State to enable tenants to purchase their holdings 
 from the landlords. The repayment of the pur- 
 chase money was spread over a period of forty- 
 nine years, and a sum of £5,000,000 was set aside 
 for the purpose out of the surplus fund of the 
 Irish Disestablished Church. 
 
 Home Rule was now Charley's one idea, as he 
 explained in a speech at Dublin during the General 
 Election campaign, in which he said: " It is not 
 now a question of self-government for Ireland; 
 it is only a question as to how much of the 
 self-government they will be able to cheat us 
 out of. . . . I hope that it may not be for us in 
 the new Pailiament to devote our attention to 
 subsidiary measures, and that it may be 
 possible for us to have a programme and a 
 platform with only one plank, and that one 
 plank national independence." 
 
 The result of the election was a Liberal majority 
 of eighty-six over the Conservatives, which was 
 exactly equalled by the number of Nationalists 
 returned. Charley therefore was the entire master 
 of the situation. If he joined Mr. Gladstone, the 
 combined Liberal and Nationalist parties had an 
 overwhelming majority over the Tories; if he 
 opposed Mr. Gladstone, and threw his eighty-six 
 votes into the Tory scale, the Government majorit}^ 
 was nullified. 
 
214 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 The Home Rule Bill. 
 
 Towards 1886 it became rumoured more and 
 more seriously that Mr. Gladstone was considering 
 the form which a Home Rule Bill should take. 
 There is no doubt that the Liberal Premier had for 
 some time past been coming nearer and nearer to 
 the belief that it was time that legislative inde- 
 pendence should be granted to Ireland. 
 
 Directly Mr. Gladstone returned to office he 
 set to work on the Home Rule Bill. On the ques- 
 tion of the powers to be granted to the Irish 
 Parliament, Mr. Gladstone soon found himself in 
 complete disagreement with Mr. Chamberlain, 
 who was the President of the Local Government 
 Board. In spite of each making small concessions 
 to one another's views, they had to come to the 
 conclusion that at the bottom their principles 
 were diametrically opposed. The inevitable result 
 occurred on March 26, 1886, when Mr. Chamber- 
 lain resigned his position in the Cabinet. 
 
 The details of Mr. Gladstone's measure were re- 
 vealed to a tensely expectant House on April 8, 
 1886, when he formally moved the first reading of 
 the Home Rule Bill. 
 
 Under his scheme there was to be both an Irish 
 Executive and Irish Parliament, though the latter 
 was not to make any laws dealing with certain 
 subjects, such as the restraint of educational 
 freedom, the endowment of religion, and the 
 
IN POWER 215 
 
 Customs or Excise. The Imperial Parliament alone 
 should have power to decide as to peace or war, 
 and to control the army, navy, and other forces, 
 regulate relations with the colonies and foreign 
 countries, supervise trade, the Post -Office and 
 coinage, and have the disposal of titles and honours 
 and other dignities. All the Irish police were 
 finally to come under the control of the Irish 
 Parliament, the Dublin Metropolitan Police after 
 two years, and the Constabulary after a period to 
 be fixed. Ireland was not to be represented in 
 the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 After the Home Rule Bill had been read the 
 first time, Mr. Gladstone brought in a Bill that 
 had for its intention the establishment of a peasant 
 proprietary in Ireland. This was a rather far- 
 reaching measure, enabling the land to be obtained 
 by the State at twenty years' purchase, and then 
 sold to the tenants on a system of instalments 
 spread over forty- nine years. It certainly was 
 not welcomed by either the landlords or the 
 tenants. Mr. Gladstone himself realized this so 
 much that he practically shelved this Land Bill, 
 which died a natural death when the Government 
 went out in July. 
 
 The second reading of the Home Rule Bill was 
 moved by Mr. Gladstone on May lo, and the 
 debate on it lasted for a month. Mr. Bright, after 
 earnest consideration, finally declared himself 
 against the Bill. 
 
2i6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 . Charley waited until the final night of the debate 
 to express his opinion. He warned the House 
 that their rejection of the Bill (which, with his 
 customary foresight, he expected) would mean an 
 outburst of indignation in Ireland, with which 
 not even the many stringent measures already in 
 force would be sufficient to cope. 
 
 The second reading was, however, rejected by 
 343 to 313 votes, and Mr. Gladstone and his party 
 went to the country, strange to say, in complete 
 alliance with the Irish Nationalists. The result 
 of the election showed a tremendous swing of the 
 pendulum, the Unionists coming in with 394 votes 
 against the 276 of the combined Liberal and Irish 
 parties. England was certainly not prepared at 
 that time to grant Home Rule, especially with 
 two such influential members of the Liberal party 
 as Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Bright opposed to it. 
 
 The " Plan of Campaign." 
 
 Towards the end of 1886 considerable trouble 
 occurred in the South of Ireland, the Tories' boast, 
 that in spite of the rejection of the Home Rule 
 Bill peace would prevail in Ireland, proving at 
 best the pious hope. In order to prevent evic- 
 tions, Mr. William O'Brien concocted a scheme 
 whereby, when landlords refused to make reason- 
 able reductions in rent, the tenants should be 
 enabled to hold out by money provided partly by 
 
IN POWER 217 
 
 the League in Dublin, and partly by local sym- 
 pathizers. He proposed that in every district a 
 managing committee should be established, with 
 whom the rent was to be banked, being used, if 
 the landlords proved obstinate, as a weapon 
 against them. That is a very rough sketch of this 
 famous scheme, to which O'Brien soon gained the 
 adherence of Dillon. 
 
 Charley was ill at the time, otherwise things 
 might not have gone so far as they did. He re- 
 fused to discuss the Plan of Campaign, with which 
 he was not at all in agreement, as he believed at 
 that time in a peaceful agitation with regard to 
 the land question, whereas what was proposed 
 would bring back the agrarian troubles, with all 
 their consequences of outrage and murder. How- 
 ever, before it had been properly discussed, and 
 certainly before the scheme had been approved by 
 the chief of the Irish party, details of it were 
 published in the newspapers. Charley found him- 
 self unwillingly committed to the scheme, which 
 had immediately produced the outburst of violence 
 which he feared it would, and which led to the 
 passing of the Crimes Act. This measure, which 
 was of a permanent nature, suspended the right 
 of trial by jury in a number of cases of agrarian 
 disorder, substituting instead trial by magistrates. 
 Power was given to the Lord Lieutenant to pro- 
 claim disturbed districts and dangerous associa- 
 tions. Of course, the only result was, as before, 
 
2i8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 scenes of violence on the part of both the authori- 
 ties and the tenants^ which lasted for about two 
 years. 
 
 The Crimes Act practically drove the National- 
 ists into the arms of the Liberals. It was curious 
 that, when Mr. Gladstone's portrait became nearly 
 as popular in the West of Ireland as Charley's, the 
 latter said, in reply to a question as to what he 
 thought of Mr. Gladstone: "I think of Mr. Glad- 
 stone and the English people what I have always 
 thought of them. They will do what we can make 
 them do." He seemed rather amused at the 
 enthusiastic friendship which many of his followers 
 displayed towards the Liberal party, and said on 
 one occasion: "I do not object to an English 
 alliance which we can control; I object to an 
 English alliance which the English control." To 
 such a pitch did this friendship between old 
 enemies extend that on one occasion Charley drove 
 with Lord (then Mr.) Morle}/ to a great meeting 
 at St. James's Hall, London, where he actually 
 succeeded in rousing his English audience to a 
 state of wild enthusiasm. 
 
 His health by this had become very bad indeed, 
 and he himself was only too sensible of it. He 
 surprised the members of the Eighty Club, in a 
 speech delivered before them in 1888, by an ad- 
 mission, of a startlingly frank nature for him, not 
 only of his state of health, but also of the fact that 
 to it was due the adoption of the Plan of Cam- 
 
IN POWER 219 
 
 paign, against his better judgment. In his speech 
 he said: 
 
 I was ill, dangerously ill. It was an illness 
 from which I have not entirely recovered up 
 to this day. I was so ill that I could not put 
 pen to paper, or even read a newspaper. I 
 knew nothing about the movement until 
 weeks after it had started, and even then I 
 was so feeble that for several months, abso- 
 lutely up to the meeting of Parliament, I was 
 positively unable to take part in any public 
 matter, and was scarcely able to do so for 
 months after. If I had been in a position to 
 advise about it, I candidly admit to you that 
 I should have advised against it. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, in a speech delivered a month 
 afterwards, exonerated to some extent the Plan 
 of Campaign, using the following words, which 
 are noteworthy in view of these and more modern 
 occurrences : 
 
 Do not suppose that I think the Plan of 
 Campaign is a good thing in itself, or that I 
 speak of it as such. I lament everything in 
 the nature of machinery for governing a 
 country outside the regular law of the country. 
 But there are circumstances in which that 
 machinery, though it may be an evil in itself 
 — and it is an evil, because it lets loose many 
 bad passions, and gives to bad men the power 
 
220 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 of playing themselves off as good men, and in 
 a multitude of ways relaxes the ties and bonds 
 that unite society — I say there are many 
 circumstances in which it is an infinitely 
 smaller evil to use this machinery than to 
 leave the people to perish. 
 
 In another speech, delivered at Bingley Hall, 
 Birmingham, in 1888, Mr. Gladstone, in eloquent 
 and even in passionate words, appealed to his 
 audience on behalf of Home Rule. He said : 
 
 Our opponents teach you to rely on the use 
 of this deserted and enfeebled and super- 
 annuated weapon of coercion. We teach you 
 to rely upon Irish affection and goodwill. 
 We teach you not to speculate on the forma- 
 tion of that sentiment. We show you that it 
 is formed already, it is in full force, it is ready 
 to burst forth from every Irish heart and from 
 every Irish voice. We only beseech you, by 
 resolute persistence in that policy you have 
 adopted, to foster, to cherish, to consolidate, 
 that sentiment, and so to act that in space 
 it shall spread from the north of Ireland to 
 the south, and from the west of Ireland to 
 the east; and in time it shall extend and 
 endure from this present date until the last 
 years and the last of the centuries that may 
 still be reserved in the counsels of Providence 
 to work out the destinies of mankind. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PIGOTT LETTERS 
 
 The " Times " Campaign. 
 
 My brother's policy had always been more or 
 less condemned, and even referred to as the 
 cause of the agrarian outrages, by the English 
 Times. 
 
 But a shock passed through the whole of the 
 English-speaking races when, in the course of the 
 first of a series of articles appearing under the title 
 " Parnellism and Crime," the Times printed the 
 following letter: 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am not surprised at your friend's 
 anger, but he and you should know that to 
 denounce the murders was the only course 
 open to us. To do that promptly was plainly 
 our best policy. But you can tell him and all 
 others concerned that, though I regret the 
 accident of Lord F. Cavendish's death, I 
 cannot refuse to admit that Burke got no 
 more than his deserts. You are at liberty 
 
 221 
 
222 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 to show him this, and others whom you can 
 trust also, but let not my address be known. 
 He can write to the House of Commons. 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Charles S. Parnell. 
 
 The letter was given in facsimile, and the article 
 stated that, though the body of the manuscript 
 was not in Charley's handwriting, the signature 
 and the words ** Yours very truly " were obviously 
 his. " If any member of Parliament," said the 
 writer of the article, ** doubts the fact, he can 
 easily satisfy himself in the matter by comparing 
 the handwriting with that of Mr. Parnell in the book 
 containing the signatures of members when they 
 first take their seats in the House of Commons." 
 
 I came over to England from America when the 
 Commission was sitting, and then carefully ex- 
 amined the original letter. I had no hesitation 
 in saying that the signature was not that of my 
 brother, while the style in which the letter was 
 written was not at all like that which he used in 
 either writing or speaking. 
 
 The news spread like wildfire, and I am afraid 
 was generally believed in. On the evening of the 
 publication of the letter Charley went into the 
 House of Commons without having the slightest 
 idea of what had happened, as he had not read 
 the Times, and had not been informed by anybody 
 of the serious allegation that had been made 
 
IN POWER 223 
 
 against him. Before he entered the Chamber he 
 met Mr. Harrington, who told him what had hap- 
 pened, and they went into the library and care- 
 fully examined the facsimile letter in the Times. 
 Charley seemed perfectly unconcerned, and simply 
 pointed to the S in his supposed signature, and 
 observed in a casual tone of voice: " I did not 
 make an S like that since 1878." 
 
 Charley's Explanation. 
 
 On that same evening Charley rose from his 
 place in the House, amid an intense hush, and 
 made a statement with regard to the Times letter 
 which incidentally gives some interesting sidelights 
 on his character and shows his own methods of 
 writing. 
 
 After referring to the letter as a ** precious con- 
 coction," he said that he supposed at first that 
 the blank sheet containing his signature, such as 
 many members are frequentl}^ asked for, had fallen 
 into improper hands and been misused ; but when 
 he actually saw the facsimile he at once recognized 
 that it was an " audacious and unblushing fabrica- 
 tion," there being only two letters in the whole 
 signature which bore any resemblance to his own 
 method of writing his name. He continued : 
 
 Its whole character is entirely different. I 
 unfortunately write a very cramped hand, 
 
224 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 my letters huddle into each other, and I write 
 with great difficulty and slowness. It is, in 
 fact, a labour and a toil for me to write any- 
 thing at all. But the signature in question 
 is wiitten by a ready penman, who has 
 evidently covered as many leagues of letter 
 paper in his life as I have yards. . . . The 
 letter does not purport to be in my hand- 
 writing. We are not informed who has 
 written it. It is not even alleged that it was 
 written b}'^ an5/one who was ever associated 
 with me. The name of the anonymous letter- 
 writer is not mentioned. I do not know who 
 he can be. The writing is strange to me. I 
 think I should insult myself if I said — I think, 
 however, that I perhaps ought to say it, in 
 order that my denial may be full and complete 
 — that I certainly never heard of the letter. 
 I never directed such a letter to be written. 
 I never saw such a letter before I saw it in 
 the Times. The subject-matter of the letter 
 is preposterous on the surface. The phrase- 
 ology of it is absurd — as absurd as any phrase- 
 ology that could be attributed to me could 
 possibly be. In every part of it it bears 
 absolute and irrefutable evidence of want of 
 genuineness and want of authenticity. 
 
 The matter was not openly referred to again for 
 some time, but the articles under the heading 
 " Parnellism and Crime " still continued to appear 
 in the Times. Then, owing to certain references 
 
IN POWER 225 
 
 made to him in the course of the articles, Mr. 
 F. H. O'Donnell, a former M.P., brought an action 
 for libel against the Times. During the hearing 
 of the action further allegations were made against 
 my brother and his party. 
 
 The Commission. 
 
 Charley now found himself obliged to do some- 
 thing to clear his character. Accordingly, he 
 asked the Government to appoint a Select Com- 
 mittee to inquire as to the authorship of the letter. 
 The Government would not agree to this, but 
 instead appointed a Special Commission on 
 August 13, 1888, to investigate the accuracy of the 
 charges made by the Times throughout the articles 
 complained of — a reference about as wide as could 
 possibly be conceived. The Special Commission 
 consisted of Mr, Justice Hannen, Mr. Justice Day, 
 and Mr. Justice Smith, with the Attorney-General 
 leading for the Times, and Sir Charles Russell 
 leading for Charley. 
 
 The preliminary proceedings were very lengthy, 
 and dealt with all manner of irrelevant subjects, 
 witnesses being called from all parts of Ireland. 
 Finally, however, Pigott, who was said to have 
 sold the letters to the Times, was put into the box. 
 His cross-examination by Sir Charles Russell was 
 one of the most searching and merciless on record. 
 Pigott was given a number of words to write, and 
 
 15 
 
226 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 it was found that those misspelt in the letters were 
 also misspelt by him. This was a very important 
 point, because it was known that my brother was 
 accurate to a degree about his spelling. 
 
 On the day following his cross-examination, 
 Pigott was found to be absent, and news of his 
 death was received latei, under circumstances 
 which are descnbed farther on in my book. 
 
 I was in court with Charley during the Pigott 
 trial, and noticed that he watched the proceed- 
 ings with extreme nervousness. He was in very 
 bad health at this time, and the publication of 
 these forgeries, with the calumnies to which they 
 gave rise, and the strain of the long trial, visibly 
 affected him, weighed down as he already was 
 with the presentiment of impending calamity. 
 
 One evening, after the case had concluded for 
 the day, I went round with Charley to Sir Charles 
 Russell's office, where an angry scene occurred. 
 Sir Charles refused to follow Charley's advice on a 
 certain point connected with the conduct of the 
 case, and heated words weie exchanged. Charley 
 and I went round to the Charing Cross Hotel for 
 dinner, and I remember his remarking in a tone of 
 utter weariness and depression: "Everyone is 
 against me — even my own counsel and the Irish 
 people. They are all right so long as they have 
 their hands in your pocket. But I know that I 
 shall have a fairer trial in England than in Ireland, 
 where both Judge and jurors are bought." 
 
IN POWER 227 
 
 Charley, who was looking very ill, then entered 
 the box, and calmly denied the accusations against 
 him, though with the disappearance of Pigott 
 the purpose of the proceedings was really at an 
 end. The Commission, however, still continued 
 for some weeks, and there was a further lapse 
 before the report was issued. 
 
 In their finding, the Commission held that the 
 NationaUst M.P/s had not collectively engaged in 
 any conspiracy to obtain the independence of 
 Ireland, but that certain Nationalists inside and 
 outside Parliament were anxious for separation, 
 and that some of them wished to use the Land 
 League as an indirect means towards separation. 
 
 The report of the Commission, the text of which 
 was very lengthy, really produced nothing of any 
 value. What everyone wanted to know was 
 whether the letter signed "Charles S. Parnell" 
 was actually in my brother's handwriting. That 
 was decided once and for all by Pigott' s evidence 
 in the witness-box, and his subsequent flight and 
 confession, followed by his suicide. 
 
 An Ovation. 
 
 Charley's next appearance in the House was the 
 sign for a demonstration almost unique in history. 
 When he walked to his place, the whole of the 
 Liberal party, including the Front Bench, rose to 
 their feet and cheered, while a large number of 
 
228 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the Tories followed their example. The wildest 
 enthusiasm, of course, prevailed on the Irish 
 benches. 
 
 Charley's attitude was characteristic. As he 
 sat down, apparently unconcerned, though his 
 pale face and the twitching of his hands betrayed 
 his deep emotion, he remarked to the member next 
 him: ** Why do you fellows stand up ? It almost 
 frightened me." 
 
 This was the height of Charley's glory. Few, 
 however, realized — perhaps not even himself — that 
 the clouds which had for some time been gathering 
 over his head, were so soon to burst. 
 
BOOK IV 
 
 A LOSING FIGHT 
 
 " Wail ye, wail ye for the Mighty One ! Wail ye, wail ye for 
 the dead ! 
 Quench the hearth and hold the breath — ^with ashes strew 
 the head." 
 
 Davis 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE DIVORCE, AND AFTER 
 
 I FEEL bound briefly to refer to this unfortunate 
 affair, as it proved to be the turning-point of 
 Charley's career. Charley had known Captain 
 O'Shea for many years. He had, as I have stated, 
 acted as an intermediary between my brother, 
 Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Chamberlain, with the 
 result that the understanding known as the 
 Kilmainham Treaty was arrived at. The first 
 meeting between Charley and Mrs. O'Shea was at 
 a dinner-party in London, when she referred to 
 him by the name under which he is still known in 
 the West of Ireland — " The Uncrowned King." 
 
 An intimate friendship had sprung up between 
 Charley and the O' Sheas, who were then living near 
 to one another at Eltham in Kent. In 1881 
 Captain O'Shea found a portmanteau belonging 
 to Charley in his house. He immediately chal- 
 lenged him to a duel in France, but the matter, 
 through the intercession of Mrs. O'Shea, was 
 smoothed over. 
 
 At the General Election of 1886, Mr. T. P. 
 O'Connor having been elected for both Galway 
 
 231 
 
232 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 and the Scotland Division of Liverpool, chose to 
 sit for the latter constituency. Charley insisted 
 upon putting up Captain O'Shea for the vacant 
 seat, in spite of strong opposition, even among 
 his own adherents, including Mr. Biggar. The 
 crowd at Galway, which Charley addressed, was a 
 sullen and even a hostile one ; but Charley managed 
 to bring it round to his views, or at any rate to 
 arouse sufficient loyalty to himself to get Captain 
 O'Shea returned at the head of the poll. The 
 incident, however, roused many of Charley's most 
 devoted supporters to very plain language as to his 
 using his political influence on behalf of a man 
 with the name of whose wife rumour associated 
 him. 
 
 I always suspected Captain O'Shea of being a 
 false friend of Charley's, and simply waiting his 
 time to strike a fatal blow. As I said to a gentle- 
 man who knew both parties: " Don't you think, 
 if there was anything in it, that Captain O'Shea 
 would have found it out and taken some action 
 long before the divorce suit ?" 
 
 It was just when Charley's career never seemed 
 more promising that Captain O'Shea filed his 
 petition for divorce, on December 28, 1889. 
 When served with the divorce papers, Charley, as 
 usual, showed no emotion, but negligently threw 
 them on one side. I do not think, however, that 
 he entirely realized how critical his condition was. 
 
 The trial commenced on Saturday, November 15. 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 233 
 
 To my knowledge, it was Charley's original inten- 
 tion to defend the proceedings, but some of his 
 friends persuaded him not to do so. I do not pro- 
 pose to revive any of the evidence given in the 
 course of the case. It is sufficient to say that a 
 decree nisi was pronounced, which in due course 
 was made absolute. As far as our family was 
 concerned, we were unanimous in regarding the 
 institution of proceedings at this time as being 
 due to a political plot, having for its object the 
 ruin of Charley. Personally I was of opinion that 
 O'Shea himself was directly responsible, and was 
 not acting simply on his own accord. Our mother's 
 views, given in her usual direct language, seem 
 worth quoting. She said in her letter to me: " It 
 was a Government plot to ruin him and get rid of 
 him out of Irish political life." Not alone from 
 her, but from many people in a position to know, 
 I gathered that, unable to beat Charley in fair 
 fight, his political enemies had chosen this means 
 of attacking him from behind. 
 
 Directly the divorce decree was declared abso- 
 lute — I think in June, 1891 — Charley married Mrs. 
 O'Shea. I was not in England at the time, but 
 friends who were present at the ceremony say 
 that Charley's appearance was a very painful one. 
 He looked thoroughly miserable and worn-out, 
 and a physical wreck. After the marriage they 
 went to live at 9, Walsingham Terrace, West 
 Brighton. 
 
234 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 A Visit to Mrs. Parnell. 
 
 It was after my brother's death that the 
 settHng up of his legal affairs necessitated my 
 having an interview with his widow, whom I 
 had not met up till now. I therefore went 
 across from Avondale to Brighton, where I 
 spent a few days helping Mrs. Parnell to arrange 
 matters. 
 
 When I arrived at the house, I was shown into 
 Charley's sitting-room. It looked dreary enough, 
 with many of his familiar possessions meeting the 
 eye on every side; and it seemed to me still more 
 sad when two of his favourite setters came in, and 
 rushing up to the arm-chair where I was sitting — 
 his own arm-chair — overwhelmed me with caresses. 
 In a few moments Mrs. C. S. Parnell herself came 
 in and welcomed me with a very sad smile. She 
 insisted that I should remain in the arm-chair, 
 saying how very much I resembled Charley, who 
 was always talking about me and my fruit-growing 
 in America. 
 
 She seemed just such a woman as would attract 
 Charley — a brilliant conversationalist, keen on 
 society, and giving the impression that alto- 
 gether, with her talent and fascination and her 
 undoubted regard for him, she might have, under 
 other circumstances, exercised a great influence 
 in Irish pohtics. The two of us, with Mr. Hawks- 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 235 
 
 ley, her solicitor, and Mr. Campbell, who had come 
 over with me from Ireland, discussed the arrange- 
 ment of Charley's affairs during this and several 
 subsequent visits. 
 
 I remained in Brighton for about a week, going 
 out walking every day with Charley's dogs, who 
 became very fond of me. In the evenings Mrs. 
 Parnell, the Misses O'Shea, and Mr. Harrison, a 
 great friend of Charley's, used to visit me in my 
 parlour. I frequently played chess with my sister- 
 in-law, who was quite a good player, and who said 
 that she often tried to get Charley to have a game 
 of chess with her in order to distract his mind, but 
 after playing for a little time he usually complained 
 of a headache. 
 
 On the whole, considering the unfortunate occa- 
 sion of my visit, I spent a pleasant time during 
 my week at Brighton. I noticed that on every 
 occasion when I called on her, Mrs. Parnell made 
 me sit in Charley's arm-chair. When I was 
 leaving and saying good-bye to her at the door, 
 she asked me to come and see her again before I 
 went back to Ireland. I wrote to her just before 
 going, saying that I proposed coming down to see 
 her, but she wired me not to come, as she was ill. 
 That was the only time that I saw Mrs. Parnell, 
 and I have had no direct communication with her 
 since, though she wrote on one occasion to her 
 solicitor to say that she would be glad to see me, 
 but not any other members of my family, owing 
 
236 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 to the bitterness which prevailed between them. 
 I often wished for an opportunity of seeing her, 
 but it never came. 
 
 The Party's Attitude. 
 
 The decree nisi was pronounced on November 17, 
 1890. 
 
 The question was, What was going to be the 
 attitude of Charley's party towards himself under 
 these altered circumstances ? 
 
 On November 18, the day following the an- 
 nouncement of the judgment, a crowded meeting 
 of the National League was held in Dublin, with 
 Mr. John Redmond in the chair. The attitude of 
 all the speakers was one of unswerving loyalty 
 towards their leader. The divorce proceedings 
 were regarded simply as a side-issue which did not 
 in any way interfere with Charley's political posi- 
 tion or future. A unanimous resolution embody- 
 ing these views was passed by the meeting, and on 
 the following day an inspired statement was issued 
 by the Freeman's Journal, stating that Charley 
 had no intention of resigning his position. Indi- 
 vidual members of the Irish party expressed in 
 newspaper interviews their intention of loyally 
 supporting their leader, and even Mr. Labouchere 
 supported him in Truth. 
 
 A mass meeting of Irish NationaUsts and 
 Liberals held on November 20 at the Leinster 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 237 
 
 Hall, Dublin, still more emphatically voiced the 
 support of the Irish people. A few sentences from 
 the speeches of the principal members of the party 
 give some idea of the spirit that then prevailed : 
 
 I say it would be foolish and absurd in the 
 highest degree were we at a moment like this, 
 because of a temporary outcry over a case 
 that in London would be forgotten to-morrow 
 if there were a repetition of the Whitechapel 
 murders ... to surrender the great Chief who 
 has led us so far forward {Mr. Healy). 
 
 I ask you, Suppose a man has gone morally 
 wrong in some case, through whatever tempta- 
 tion we know not, is that the least reason to 
 excuse him from doing his duty to the 
 people whom he is leading to victory ? (Mr. 
 McCarthy) . 
 
 Were the soldiers of the Nile and the sol- 
 diers of Waterloo to stand still in the moment 
 of combative battle to inquire whether their 
 commander had observed one of the ten 
 commandments ? (The McDermoU). 
 
 The resolution passed unanimously at this meet- 
 ing was couched in the following terms : 
 
 That this meeting, interpreting the senti- 
 ment of the Irish people that no side-issue 
 shall be permitted to obstruct the progress 
 of the great cause ofjHome Rule forjireland, de- 
 clares that in all political matters^Mr. Parnell 
 
238 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 possesses the confidence of the Irish nation, 
 and that this meeting rejoices at the deter- 
 mination of the Irish ParUamentary party to 
 stand by their leader. 
 
 That a similar feeling existed in America was 
 shown by the following cablegram, sent by four 
 of the five delegates* who had just been sent to 
 the United States to collect funds for the Irish 
 cause: 
 
 We stand firmly by the leadership of the 
 man who has brought the Irish people through 
 unparalleled difficulties and dangers, from 
 servitude and despair, to the very threshold 
 of emancipation, with a genius, courage, and 
 success, unequalled in our history. We do 
 so, not only on the ground of gratitude for 
 those imperishable services in the past, but 
 in the profound conviction that Parnell's 
 statesmanship and matchless qualities as a 
 leader are essential to the safety of our 
 cause. 
 
 The above assurances would seem to be as 
 definite pledges of support as could possibly be 
 given by a party to its leader. The facts of the 
 divorce case were public property. They had 
 
 * The four delegates who signed this cablegram were 
 Messrs. T. P. O'Connor, William O'Brien, John Dillon, and 
 T. Harrington, while Mr. T. D. Sullivan was the one who 
 refused to sign it. 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 239 
 
 long been the subject of rumour, but had now 
 been confirmed by sworn evidence in court, and 
 by the granting of the decree by the Judge. In 
 spite of this, the Irish party had declared that they 
 would stand by their leader whatever had hap- 
 pened. 
 
 The matter therefore might have been con- 
 sidered at an end. It would, of course, have left 
 a slur upon Charley's character. But such a slur 
 would only have been of a passing nature. 
 
 It might have been thought that the Irish 
 party, and they alone, were the fitting tribunal, 
 so far as poUtics were concerned, to sit in judg- 
 ment upon their leader. They had, as a matter 
 of fact, as we have seen, actually done so, and 
 returned a unanimous verdict of " Not guilty." 
 How far they were justified in reversing their de- 
 cision, on the ground that, when they had first 
 decided to support Charley, they had forgotten to 
 take into consideration the effect that the divorce 
 would have in other quarters, is a question which 
 nobody seems to have answered very satisfactorily. 
 The best defence of those who ruined my brother, 
 by breaking away from his leadership and creating 
 a split in the party, is the plea of policy. So 
 far as that policy was a personal one, there may 
 have been some slight, if shortsighted, reason for 
 their going back on their word in this manner. As 
 a matter of national policy, it was amply dis- 
 credited by future events. 
 
240 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 The considerations which the Irish party in 
 their first flush of enthusiasm completely ignored 
 were, first, the attitude of the Liberal party, and 
 above all of Mr. Gladstone; and, secondly, the 
 attitude of the Irish priests. I think I am right 
 in saying that at this time the Irish party neg- 
 lected to consider, or at any rate minimized, these 
 two very important considerations. Charley on 
 his part fully appreciated their value, but put his 
 whole faith in the loyalty of his party. 
 
 How mistaken both were events will show. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE 
 
 Danger. 
 
 At first it would seem that Charley's position was 
 unaffected. But this, as I have said, was due to 
 leaving two important considerations out of the 
 question. Moreover, the Irish mind is much 
 quicker at arriving at decisions than the English 
 one, which is slower but more stable. 
 
 Signs of opposition to Charley in England on 
 the ground of the divorce case became gradually 
 more and more evident. The newspapers and 
 other periodicals of both parties, and especially 
 the religious and labour organs, started the cry 
 which became more general every day: " Parnell 
 must go." 
 
 But their agitation would have died a natural 
 death had it not received official support. The 
 first sign that the Liberal party were going to turn 
 on Charley was shown at the meeting at Sheffield, 
 on November 21, of the National Liberal Federa- 
 tion. The speeches actually delivered in public 
 were non-committal. But in private Mr. Morley 
 
 241 16 
 
242 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 and Sir William Harcourt, both of whom were 
 present at the conference, learned that the English 
 Nonconformists were determined, as usual, to 
 show no mercy towards moral delinquency, how- 
 ever high the character borne by the delin- 
 quent. The Nonconformist party have always 
 had a strong influence in English politics, and, 
 of course, the Liberals would in any event be 
 unable to stand without their support. Indeed, 
 the Irish Nationalists might very well have seen 
 that the Nonconformists would be certain to 
 judge Charley on the moral issue alone, and that 
 their judgment was certain to be implacably un- 
 favourable. Mr. Gladstone, besides being in- 
 fluenced by them from party motives, was also 
 one who could not dissociate private morality from 
 public usefulness. His decision was therefore 
 soon made up. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone's Letter. 
 
 On November 24, 1891, he wrote that letter to 
 Mr. Morley which proved to be the turning-point 
 of Charley's whole career. In it the Liberal 
 leader unhesitatingly threw his whole weight into 
 the scale against his ally. I shall content myself 
 with quoting a single sentence from the long letter, 
 which expresses Mr. Gladstone's attitude in a 
 nutshell. After referring to the fact that, in view 
 of the opening of the session on the following day, 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 243 
 
 he had felt himself compelled to arrive at a deci- 
 sion at once, he refers to that decision in the follow- 
 ing words: 
 
 It was that, notwithstanding the splendid 
 services rendered by Mr. Parnell to his 
 country, his continuance at the present 
 moment in the leadership would be produc- 
 tive of consequences disastrous in the highest 
 degree to the cause of Ireland. 
 
 It was not so much the letter itself which did the 
 harm, but the fact that it was communicated to 
 the Press before the Irish party and Charley him- 
 self had had an opportunity of considering. The 
 means by which it was hurried into publication on 
 the very day on which Parliament had assembled 
 appears to have been that it was given by Mr. 
 Gladstone to Mr. John Morley, who passed it on 
 to the Chief Whip, Mr. Arnold Morley, who dictated 
 it in his own room to a repiesentative of the Press 
 Association. It was published in that evening's 
 papers, and many of the Irish members actually 
 in the House did not know of its existence until 
 they saw it in print. 
 
 Earlier in the day the Irish party had met as 
 usual to elect their chairman for the session. 
 Amidst many enthusiastic expressions of undying 
 support, Charley was unanimously re-elected to 
 that position. 
 
 Then the rumour spread, becoming more and 
 
244 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 more certain, that Gladstone had thrown Charley 
 overboard, and that by a communication pub- 
 lished behind his back. 
 
 It was felt that the election which had just been 
 held to decide the leadership must, under the cir- 
 cumstances, be a void one, and a fresh meeting was 
 therefore fixed for the next day (November 26) . 
 
 But in that short space of time the undying 
 loyalty of a section of Charley's supporters had 
 already begun to melt away, once he was publicly 
 disowned by Mr. Gladstone and the Liberal party. 
 Charley's attitude when he took the chair at this 
 meeting showed not the slightest sign of concern. 
 He arrived a little after time, and directly he 
 entered Mr. Barry rose with a suggestion that it 
 might be advisable for him to retire, at any rate 
 for a period, from the leadership of the party. 
 His voice was not the only one that showed that 
 the Irish party were no longer united in support 
 of their leader, though there were many members 
 who expressed their adherence to Charley and 
 urged him to fight to the last. The meeting, at 
 which Charley did not utter a word, was finally 
 adjourned until the following Monday, December i. 
 
 It is important to note that it was at this meet- 
 ing that the question was first raised as to how 
 the position of the evicted tenants who were being 
 supported under the Plan of Campaign would be 
 affected by the continuance of Charley's leader- 
 ship. The fear expressed then and afterwards 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 245 
 
 was that the aUenation of EngHsh Liberal and most 
 hkely of American Nationahst sympathies would 
 make it impossible to continue to provide the funds 
 to enable them to resist the landlords. This ques- 
 tion of how far his continuance in the chieftain- 
 ship would result in the starvation of those whose 
 interests he had ever at heart, and for whom he 
 had devoted his whole life, was undoubtedly the 
 one that weighed most heavily with Charley. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 CHARLEY'S BETRAYAL 
 
 A Party Conclave. 
 
 Charley now decided that it was time for him to 
 place his views definitely before his party. He 
 accordingly invited a number of his more intimate 
 friends to meet him at Dr. Fitzgerald's rooms, 
 near Victoria Station. Among those who arrived 
 were Messrs. John and William Redmond, J. J. 
 O' Kelly, Leamy, and Colonel Nolan. 
 
 Charley at once announced, pointing to a pile 
 of manuscript on the table before him, that he 
 had written a letter to the Press which he intended 
 reading to them. He wished, however, to have 
 Mr. Justin McCarthy present also, and he was 
 sent for. Directly McCarthy arrived, Charley 
 began to read, in low but distinct tones, his famous 
 manifesto (see Appendix F). 
 
 When Charley had finished reading the mani- 
 festo, Mr. McCarthy said that he was opposed to 
 it, and that, as there was no likelihood of Charley 
 altering his opinion, he would leave. The others, 
 however, welcomed Charley's utterance, and re- 
 iterated their promises of support. 
 
 246 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 247 
 
 The split in the Irish party then definitely began 
 with the signature by the American delegates 
 (except Mr. Harrington) and Messrs. Dillon, 
 William O'Brien, and T. P. O'Connor, repudiating 
 Charley's leadership, and ranging themselves on 
 the side of the Liberals under Mr. Gladstone. 
 
 A series of important conferences, which soon 
 came to take more of the nature of battles, were 
 now held in Committee Room 15, the headquarters 
 of the Nationalist organization in the House of 
 Commons. The Anti-Parnellites opened fire point- 
 blank by moving: ** That Mr. Parnell's tenure of 
 the chairmanship of this party is hereby termi- 
 nated." Charley, however, ruled this resolution 
 out of order, as he pointed out that a motion was 
 already before the party in the following terms: 
 ** That a full meeting of the party be held on 
 Friday to give Mr. Parnell an opportunity to 
 reconsider his position." Colonel Nolan, a keen 
 supporter of Charley's, then moved: *' That the 
 party should meet in Dublin and settle the ques- 
 tion there"; but this resolution was defeated by 
 44 votes to 29. During the course of this meeting, 
 at which no definite result was arrived at, Mr. John 
 Redmond remarked: " When we are asked to sell 
 our leader to preserve the English alliance, it 
 seems to me that we are bound to inquire what we 
 are getting for the price we are paying." Charley 
 had ready his comment on this, and it was an 
 apt one. " Don't sell me for nothing," he said. 
 
248 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 " If you get my value, you may change me to- 
 morrow." 
 
 At the next conference, Mr. Clancy, an Anti- 
 Parnellite, moved: " That the Whips of the party 
 be instructed to obtain from Mr. Gladstone, Mr. 
 John Morley, and Sir William Harcourt, definite 
 information on the vital questions of the con- 
 stabulary and the land." Four delegates were 
 according^ appointed to wait on Mr. Gladstone 
 and obtain his views on these matters. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone, however, refused to be drawn 
 from the track by any red herring of Home Rule. 
 " The question we have now to decide," he said, 
 ** is the leadership of the Irish party." 
 
 The discussions in Room 15, after becoming 
 more and more embittered, resulted in the with- 
 drawal of Mr. McCarthy at the head of a section 
 consisting of forty-four members, while Charley 
 continued to command a faithful following of 
 twenty-six. 
 
 The Kilkenny Election. 
 
 Finding that there was a vacancy in North 
 Kilkenny, Charley determined to open his cam- 
 paign against Mr. Gladstone and the members 
 who had seceded from his own party by making 
 certain that the candidate returned would support 
 him. Sir John Pope Hennessy was the official 
 Nationalist candidate, but he had fallen under 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 249 
 
 the influence of the Anti-ParnelUtes, and Charley 
 determined to oppose him by Mr. Vincent Scully, 
 in whom he felt he could rely implicitly. 
 
 Charley was at this time in very bad health 
 indeed, and the strain of his position was already 
 beginning to tell badly upon him. He had lost a 
 great deal of the invariable smartness of dress and 
 appearance for which he was formerly noted. 
 His stoutness, which had become so marked about 
 1885, had now deserted him, and for the first time 
 in his life his former erect carriage was replaced 
 by a slight stoop. His hair was already beginning 
 to show traces of grey in parts, as The O'Donoghue, 
 who was very much with him during these later 
 years, once told me; his eyes had a wild, defiant 
 look in them which was entirely new. He did not, 
 however, allow his bodily health to interfere with 
 his usual promptitude of action. Finding that 
 United Ireland, his own newspaper, had come 
 under the control of his enemies, he dismissed the 
 editor and appointed Mr. Leamy in his place. He 
 next attended a meeting at the Rotunda, one of 
 the greatest which he ever addressed, where his 
 reception was perhaps the most enthusiastic 
 which he had received during his whole career. 
 Then, hearing that the offices of his newspaper had 
 been occupied by the seceders, who had driven 
 out his own staff, he stormed the premises at the 
 head of a large crowd, and put his men once more 
 back in charge. 
 
250 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 In spite of all attempts to keep the platform 
 clear, there was a gigantic crowd at Kingsbridge 
 Station to see Charley off to Cork, whither he was 
 bound to rally his own constituents. He then 
 went on to Kilkenny, where his terrible alteration 
 in health was soon the subject of alarmed discus- 
 sion among his supporters. He was able, how- 
 ever, both there and at Cork, to deliver a series 
 of vigorous telling speeches, and to get his organiza- 
 tion into full swing. 
 
 The Power of the Church. 
 
 Although he fought with incredible energy to the 
 very end of the contest, Charley realized, long 
 before the figures were announced, that he would 
 lose Kilkenny. The reason was that the priests 
 as a body were against him, and he then, as ever 
 before, appreciated the power of the Catholic 
 Church in Ireland, especially when now, for the 
 first time, he came into open conflict with it. Of 
 course, it was one thing for politicians to continue 
 to regard him as Chief of his party, and to regard 
 moral considerations as being entirely outside 
 their scope of judgment. If the entire Irish party 
 had done so, no one could have been very much 
 surprised. Indeed, they would have been com- 
 mended generally, both for their loyalty towards 
 one who had led them so successfully in the past, 
 and for their patriotism in still choosing the same 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 251 
 
 means to secure their country's independence. 
 But with the Church it was a different matter. 
 They were bound to uphold private morality by 
 the articles of their creed, and they were also 
 forced to do so by the strong pubHc opinion exist- 
 ing among their flock, the Irish peasantry always 
 having been one of the most strictly moral peoples 
 of the world. But, as Charley had already 
 observed, the influence of the priests was tre- 
 mendous. Without them he could do nothing, 
 in spite of his great name, the great services he 
 had rendered to his country, and the great love 
 the people bore him. With them, as had been the 
 case in the past, he could do everything. Their 
 attitude, however, was one of resolute opposition. 
 It had to be so, and there was no possibility of its 
 changing. Still Charley, his pride prevailing over 
 his intellect, chose to continue the hopeless struggle. 
 Prolonged conferences then took place at Bou- 
 logne between Charley and Mr. O'Brien and Mr. 
 Dillon as to the chairmanship of the party. The 
 seceders had elected Mr. McCarthy to that posi- 
 tion, but Charley proposed, if satisfactory assur- 
 ances should be obtained from Mr. Gladstone with 
 regard to Home Rule, that he himself should 
 resign the chairmanship of the party in favour of 
 Mr. O'Brien or Mr. Dillon. The negotiations, 
 however, proved abortive, and Mr. Dillon and 
 Mr. O'Brien were arrested, on warrants that had 
 been enforced some time, when they returned to 
 
252 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 England, and, on being released from prison about 
 five months later, declared themselves openly to 
 belong to the Anti-Parnellite party. 
 
 He still, however, attempted to regain his foot- 
 ing among the Irish electorate, but without success. 
 At North Sligo and Carlow his candidates were 
 beaten, but he still continued the fight. His last 
 public speech was at Creggs, on September 27, 
 1891. He looked terribly ill then, and after the 
 meeting went to Dublin, where he stopped for 
 three days at the house of his friend Dr. Kenny. 
 He then went to London, and on to his house at 
 Brighton, where he was compelled to take to his 
 bed. On October 5 he wrote to Sir Henry 
 Thompson, but his death occurred on October 6. 
 
 How the Irish nation mourned their dead 
 leader, how I myself received the sad news in 
 America, will be told in the following chapter. 
 But I think the most poignant expression of grief 
 in connection with my poor brother's death was 
 that which was contained in a letter which I 
 received from our mother about three weeks later. 
 I give some passages of it as a fitting close to this 
 chapter: 
 
 I have been so weak I could not write to 
 you. The cruel blow prostrated me almost 
 irrevocably — left me all but dead. 
 
 Anger kept me up enough to see two or 
 three reporters to tell what I thought — alas ! 
 with but too much truth. I would have died 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 253 
 
 rather than not denounce poor, poor Charles' 
 murderers and called down vengeance on 
 them. Gladstone will suffer for his knavish, 
 brutal wickedness to his dying day. The 
 Roman Catholic organization has become an 
 abomination to man and to God. 
 
 Knowing how ill he had been for years, 
 instead of healing his wound, his griefs, they 
 had no mercy on him — they vowed his death. 
 God will render to them full measure for 
 their murderous, fiendish thoughts and ac- 
 tions. The widow — the mother — is heard in 
 heaven. Your brother's blood cries aloud 
 for vengeance. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 AFTER THE DEATH 
 
 The Funeral. 
 
 The body was brought to Dublin on Sunday, 
 October ii, and, after a public lying-in-state in 
 the City Hall during the morning, was borne to 
 its last resting-place in Glasnevin Cemetery, ac- 
 companied by a gigantic concourse of people 
 drawn from the remotest parts of Ireland. 
 
 Since then October 6 has always been a day in 
 Dublin set apart for the commemoration of the 
 lost Chief, whose emblem, the ivy leaf, is worn by 
 countless thousands. I give the text of the card 
 issued at the first anniversary of my brother's 
 death, the words being by an intimate friend and 
 supporter of his: 
 
 IN MEMORY OF THE CHIEF. 
 
 Gathered from Aughavannagh's rugged side, 
 
 Where we together oft in friendship came. 
 Where Lugnacuilla rears its crest of pride, 
 
 And Glenmalure enshrines a Nation's fame. 
 Emblem of soHtude, from his own hills, 
 
 I lay this wreath where lies our glorious Chief, 
 To symbohze the solitude that fiUs 
 
 The Nation's lonely heart, that aches with 
 endless grief. 
 
 W. J. CORBETT. 
 
 Spring Farm, 
 
 October 6, 1892. 
 
 254 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 255 
 
 How I LEARNED THE NeWS. 
 
 I was in Atlanta, Georgia, when I heard the news 
 of my brother's death, which I refused to beheve. 
 I went to the Western Union Telegraph office and 
 asked them if they had heard anything of the sad 
 news, but on their telHng me that nothing what- 
 ever had come over the cable concerning it I felt 
 considerably relieved, and thought that the whole 
 thing must be simply a baseless rumour. How- 
 ever, to make quite certain, I went round to see 
 my friend Mr. Patrick Moran, the editor of the 
 Atlanta Constitution, who said he had not heard of 
 it, but asked me to call round at twelve o'clock 
 that night, when he would know for certain about 
 it. After walking about restlessly during the 
 whole of the day until midnight, I returned to the 
 newspaper office, where Mr. Moran told me that he 
 had received confirmation of the sad news. 
 
 I went back to my hotel deeply shocked and 
 grieved, for Charley, besides being my brother, 
 had been my best friend from boyhood. I felt 
 sad for our family, especially for our poor mother, 
 whose favourite son he was; while I was bitterly 
 angry with his political foes, and above all with 
 his treacherous colleagues, for having ruined and 
 practically killed him. 
 
 I went home and spent a few days thinking 
 over my future plans, and then decided to return 
 to Ireland. I took with me my mother, whom I 
 
256 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 found perfectly broken down with grief in New 
 York. We set sail for Europe in December, 1891. 
 The weather was so bad when we arrived off 
 Queenstown that we were unable to land, having 
 to go on to Liverpool, whence we got another 
 steamer back to Dublin. I left my mother at 
 Mr. McDermott's, my brother-in-law and our 
 family solicitor, while I hastened to Avondale to 
 arrange for the winding up of the estate. Every- 
 where I found desolation and mourning for my 
 late brother. It gave me a shock when I found 
 in what a bad condition Charley's finances were, 
 and how his sister Emily, who had been dependent 
 on him, was almost starving. When I got there, 
 Charley's workmen all gathered round me in a 
 body, imploring me, with tears and outstretched 
 hands, to do something for them. 
 
 A Desperate Hope. 
 
 The sight of these men without work or food 
 made me take a sudden resolve, which may have 
 seemed foolish at the time, but which experience 
 justified. I had no money with me, my funds 
 being all invested in my American fruit farms, but 
 I determined to make Avondale pay, though 
 Charley had never done so. 
 
 The foreman of the sawmills was a man named 
 Pat Bennet, extremely capable at his work, and a 
 most genial and pleasant fellow to talk to. After 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 257 
 
 talking to him for some time/and asking him what 
 work it was possible for him to get on with, he 
 suddenly said: "Well, Mr. John, if you will let 
 me cut down an elm-tree, I'll go into town now 
 and try to get some orders for sawn timber." I was 
 rather sceptical about Pat's getting sufficient orders 
 in Rathdrum to pay the men at the sawmill, let 
 alone the other men on the place, but I said : " WeU, 
 try and get some orders, and good luck to you." 
 
 When Pat returned from Rathdrum he brought 
 with him orders for pieces of elm timber for 
 making coffins — a good omen, though it did not 
 strike me at once as being so; and I felt certain 
 that in my place Charley, with his superstitions, 
 would have rejected the order. When the next 
 Saturday came round, Pat came to me, and, to 
 my astonishment, said: " Well, Mr. John, I have 
 paid the sawmill men, and here is ten shillings 
 left over for your honour." This, though amusing, 
 was a good beginning, and afterwards the money 
 began to flow in. 
 
 Out of that small beginning grew quite a thriving 
 business, in which I might still be engaged, both 
 pleasurably and profitably, if Charley's debts had 
 not forced me to sell Avondale. 
 
 Still, I always felt a sadness at being alone down 
 there, where Charley and I had spent so many 
 happy hours together, and where I so often 
 thought of him, even when the country was at 
 its loveliest, with a pang of bitterness and regret. 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 A VISION 
 
 Charley's Bedside Visit. 
 
 I AM going, at the risk of being laughed at, to 
 recount an experience which befell me several 
 years after my brother's death, when I am con- 
 vinced I was visited by his spirit. 
 
 Throughout his lifetime, when we happened to 
 be together, Charley, if he wished to talk to 
 me particularly, always walked into my bedroom 
 about two o'clock in the morning and woke me up. 
 Some of the more striking instances of these early 
 visits, all of which occurred almost exactly at the 
 same hour — 2 a.m. — are the following : 
 
 In 1874, when he persuaded me to stand for 
 County Wicklow in the place of himself, he came 
 into my bedroom under circumstances I have 
 already described, and woke me up exactly at 
 that hour. 
 
 When he began to take an interest in the Whin- 
 stone quarry at Arklow, he woke me up, once again 
 at 2 a.m., and tried to persuade me to drive out 
 with him and inspect the site, as Lord Carysfort's 
 men might prevent him doing so in the daytime. 
 
 258 
 
A LOSING FIGHT 259 
 
 However, as I had got a bad cold, and had just 
 returned from the warm cHmate of Georgia, I 
 excused myself and stopped in bed. 
 
 Another time he came to my bedroom, once 
 more exactly at 2 a.m., and woke me up, saying: 
 " John, I want to walk over the mountain to 
 Aughavannagh to look at the turf on Blackrock." 
 On this occasion I went with him, having a very 
 enjoyable walk of about nine miles over the 
 hills. 
 
 The same thing occurred frequently during his 
 political career, whenever he experienced difficulty 
 in arriving at an important political decision. 
 
 In 1897 I was stopping at Avondale, having 
 come from the House of Commons, of which I had 
 been a member, of the Nationalist party under 
 Mr. John Redmond. 
 
 I was lying in bed in the same room to which 
 Charley had come to see me on previous occasions. 
 I was half asleep and half awake. I saw my brother 
 Charley sitting at my bedside with the collar of his 
 great-coat turned up round his neck, as he gener- 
 ally wore it when he came to see me at that time. 
 I noticed by my watch that it was then two 
 o'clock. For some reason I did not feel strange 
 to see him there and to hear his voice: he was 
 talking about politics, a subject which he very 
 rarely discussed. I remember asking him what 
 were the prospects of Unit}^ He replied that 
 the parties would unite under John Redmond. 
 
26o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Then he got quite angry, and cried out that 
 Harrington was standing in the way. 
 
 The vision then vanished. 
 
 I did not understand why he said that Har- 
 rington was standing in the way, because I con- 
 sidered that Mr. Harrington was for Unity, with 
 myself. Doubtless there was some explanation 
 of this, but I never learned it. Naturally, I did 
 not sleep again that night, and for days after I lay 
 wide awake, waiting for my brother to return. 
 But the vision never came back. 
 
 If, however, Charley's spirit has never since 
 returned to me, as I am certain it did that night, 
 his image is often visibly present in my dreams, 
 and his memory is never absent. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 " In her deepest hour of sorrow, in her hour of darkest shame. 
 Thy country still will treasure the glory of thy name. 
 In her greatest hour of triumph, when her history shall bear 
 To the future all her glory, thine shall be foremost there." 
 
 Vision of King Brian. 
 
 AN EXPLANATION. 
 
 In case the reader should, as is often the way, lay this 
 book aside, fearing that anything in the nature of an 
 appendix must of necessity contain matter too hope- 
 lessly dry for insertion in the body of the book, I hasten 
 to assure him that such is not the case in the present 
 work. 
 
 That is to say that, far from considering the following 
 pages as being so heavy that they would have been 
 skipped if I had introduced them in order of date, they 
 have been kept separate because I feared that they might 
 prove too interesting in themselves, and so destroy the 
 continuity of the story of my brother's life. 
 
 261 
 
APPENDIX A 
 CHARLEY'S SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Luck and Ill-Luck. 
 
 I DID not notice any particular instances of superstition 
 in Charley during his childhood and boyhood. But in 
 later life a tendency to ascribe an omen for good or ill to 
 the most trivial occurrence, and to see the finger of Fate 
 in the most commonplace objects, became very noticeable. 
 I think it was after the railway accident in America that 
 Charley first began to develop this curious trait in his 
 character. 
 
 One of his most remarkable superstitions was his 
 aversion to the colour green, although it was the national 
 colour of Ireland. Accordingly, he never wore a coat or 
 tie that had the slightest tinge of green in its material, 
 and, as I mention elsewhere, steadily refused to wear 
 the fine green travelling-rug which was presented to him.* 
 He carried to strange limits this dislike to the colour green 
 in an^^ shape or form. Once he wrote home to one of 
 his sisters — I believe Mrs. Dickinson — who had told him 
 that she had just had his room at Avondale repapered, 
 saying: " I hope you have not had my room done in 
 green, as, if so, I shall never use it." 
 
 Another time a lady whom he knew well called to see 
 him at the House of Commons. He came along the 
 corridor to the Lobby, where she was waiting, and had 
 already stretched out his hand in welcome, when he 
 
 * See Appendix B. 
 263 
 
264 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 suddenly put it behind his back, and said, with a mixture 
 of horror and disgust: " Excuse my asking, but what is 
 the colour of the dress you are wearing ?" The lady, 
 who did not know Charley's idiosyncrasy in that direc- 
 tion, replied, quite innocently: " Why, Mr. Parnell, are 
 you colour-blind ? Of course it's green." Charley re- 
 plied: " In that case I am afraid that I must ask you to 
 excuse my shaking hands with you." He made a few curt 
 remarks with an obviously uneasy manner, and then, 
 pleading an excuse, hurried away, leaving the lady very 
 much puzzled, and somewhat offended at his strange 
 manner, the reason for which was afterwards explained 
 to her. 
 
 The Unlucky Number. 
 
 The number 13, of course, was always an unlucky one, 
 in his opinion. He steadily refused, even at the risk of 
 anno^dng or offending his host, to sit down thirteen at 
 table. On one occasion he had put up at a country hotel 
 during election time, and had gone up to his room to 
 prepare himself for dinner. The friend who was travelling 
 with him, and who occupied a room next to Charley's, was 
 surprised a moment or so later to hear a knock on his 
 door, and to fmd, when he opened it, Charley standing 
 in the passage with his bag, looking very much upset. 
 The friend asked what was the matter, and he replied by 
 pointing to the number on his door, which was 13, and 
 remarking: " What a room to give me ! I suppose the 
 landlord is a Tory, and has done this on purpose." The 
 friend insisted on exchanging rooms, although Charley 
 declared that if No. 13 was slept in they would lose the 
 election. The election, however, was won, but two little 
 incidents which occurred confirmed Charley in his opinion 
 as to the ill-luck attached to the number 13. His friend, 
 on trying to open the window in the ill-fated room, let it 
 fall heavily on his hand, and, being unable to extricate it. 
 
APPENDICES 265 
 
 had to cry out for help. Charley rushed in and lifted 
 the window, advising his friend very strongly to take 
 warning by this preliminary mishap, and leave the room 
 at once. The friend declined, and at lunch what served 
 as another manifestation occurred. The friend, in trying 
 to open a bottle of soda-water with his bad hand, let the 
 cork jump out and hit him full in the eye. This Charley 
 considered quite decided the fate of the elections, and he 
 could hardly be persuaded to believe that the figures were 
 correct when the result was announced. 
 
 Funerals always caused him intense dread, and he 
 never could be persuaded to attend one, even when the 
 deceased happened to be one of his most intimate friends. 
 He caused on one occasion a thrill through Ireland by a 
 remark with regard to a funeral, the real meaning of which 
 was, I think, generally misinterpreted. It was during 
 the desperate fight for Kilkenny in 1890, when his own 
 candidate was opposed by Mr. Pope Hennessy. Charley 
 was in the midst of addressing a meeting, when a space 
 was made in the ranks of the crowd to allow a funeral 
 cortege to pass. Stopping short in his speech, Charley 
 pointed his finger at the hearse, and made the extra- 
 ordinary remark, which was taken in very bad part, even 
 by his own supporters, in many parts of Ireland: " There 
 goes the corpse of Pope Hennessy." I think what he 
 really meant was that the fact of the funeral passing 
 while he was delivering his speech was a bad omen for 
 his opponents, towards whom, or towards the actual 
 corpse itself, he intended no disrespect. 
 
 A somewhat similar superstition was shown during his 
 illness in 1882, when he and Mr. Healy were working at 
 the draft constitution of the National League in October, 
 1882. My brother was then in bad health, and was lying 
 in bed while Mr. Healy was writing at a table by the 
 light of four candles. Mr. Healy relates that after writing 
 for several hours one of the candles went out, Almost 
 
266 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 immediately Charley leaned out of bed and blew out one 
 of the remaining candles, crying as he did so: " Don't you 
 know that there is nothing more unlucky than to have 
 three candles burning ? You would have found that your 
 constitution would not have proved very successful." 
 The superstition as to the three candles is, however, a 
 very general one in Europe, and in Ireland it is generally 
 associated with the three candles which are burned at 
 wakes. 
 
 Ill-Omened October. 
 
 With regard to October, he always regarded that as an 
 unlucky month, and began to show signs of uneasiness 
 when it approached, often remarking : " Something is sure 
 to happen in October." 
 
 His superstition, to a certain extent, was borne out by 
 facts, many of the important crises of his life, both of a 
 favourable and unfavourable nature, occurring in October. 
 For instance, his election as President of the Land League 
 took place in October, 1879. In October, 1880, the 
 Government instituted the State prosecutions which 
 were due to the agrarian outrages. In October, 1881, 
 he was arrested, and the date was doubly ominous, for 
 it was the 13th of October. In October, 1886, after the 
 rejection of the Home Rule Bill, he became critically ill, 
 and for a time lay at the point of death. It was at the 
 same time that the Plan of Campaign was published 
 without his consent, considerably obstructing his policy. 
 Finally, it was in October, 1891, that he died at Brighton. 
 
 Charley always had a great dread of the bad results 
 that would follow the falling of an object (such as a 
 picture or ornament) without any obvious cause. He 
 was seriously upset on one occasion by a statue falling 
 close beside him in a country chapel where he happened 
 to be standing listening to the priest. Spiritualism and 
 palmistry, however, he always regarded with great con- 
 
APPENDICES 267 
 
 tempt, and laughed at Fanny and myself for going round 
 to have our fortunes told. On the other hand, I do not 
 share his superstition as to the figure 13. For one thing, 
 my marriage, which has been a most happy one, took 
 place on the 13th of the month, in spite of the advice 
 of friends to choose a more propitious date, and I remem- 
 ber winning an important chess tournament when seated 
 at table No. 13. I distinctly remember, however, our 
 mother keenly inspecting the street-cars in New York 
 to make quite certain that she was not getting on a 
 No. 13. 
 
 Although these superstitions may seem trivial, and 
 even ridiculous, they certainly had a great influence on 
 Charley's actions, and sometimes even decided him at a 
 critical turning-point in his affairs. 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 CHARLEY'S INFLUENCE IN AMERICA 
 
 The Emigrants. 
 
 At the time of Charley's visit to America in 1880, he found 
 a large number of newly-emigrated Irish who had been 
 driven from their own country during the famine years. 
 They were mostly to be found in the Northern States. 
 The Land League did not arouse immediate enthusiasm 
 in America, as the people over there said: " If the Irish 
 complain, why don't they come over here where there is 
 plenty of land for them ?" Another section of the native- 
 born Americans believed that, no matter what was done 
 for the relief of the famine sufferers, things would be as 
 bad again in a few years' time. Charley's tour, however, 
 did a great deal to rouse the Americans from their apathy. 
 Branches of the Land League were opened all over the 
 country. As I have already mentioned, Mr. Patrick 
 Moran, the night editor of the Atlanta Constitution, asked 
 me to assist him in the opening of a branch at Atlanta. 
 I spoke at the inaugural meeting, which was very suc- 
 cessful. A few days later the President of the Irish 
 Society wrote to me asking me to come down to Savannah, 
 Georgia, to organize the Land League there. Mr. Doyle, 
 one of the most prominent Irishmen in the city, presided 
 at the open-air meeting, and I was called upon to speak, 
 but deferred doing so until the massed meeting held in 
 the opera-house, which proved to be a large and enthu- 
 siastic one. Next day I went to see the Irish Rifle Team 
 
 268 
 
APPENDICES 269 
 
 doing some excellent practice on their grounds near 
 Savannah. 
 
 Then I went to New York, and attended a great many 
 meetings there, including several at which Mr. T. P. 
 O'Connor and Mr. Healy were present. It was at one 
 of these that my mother delivered her first public speech* 
 which was very much to the point, and was very well 
 received. Besides attending meetings and speaking at 
 them, I was also present at several Irish language gather- 
 ings. My mother and Miss Ford showed great energy in 
 organizing branches of the Ladies' League, travelling 
 incessantly up and down the country. 
 
 By then Charley's name and fame had spread through- 
 out the States, and at the hotels and on the railroads my 
 mother and myself were constantly asked whether we 
 were related to the great Irish agitator. 
 
 A Negro Parnell. 
 
 Some time later I was asked by the postmaster at 
 West Point, where I lived, if I would come with him to a 
 negro meeting. Although it was not the custom for whites 
 to attend the meetings of coloured persons, we went round, 
 and became very interested in the speeches. I remember 
 one negro concluding his speech by saying, " I wish we 
 poor black folk had a black Parnell," a remark which they 
 all cheered. This was some considerable time after my 
 brother's visit in 1880, but it showed, as I found every- 
 where, how his memory was an endvuing one among all 
 those interested in the cause of freedom. One night, when 
 I was lodging in Atlanta, I was coming away at a rather 
 late hour from the chess club, and had to walk through 
 one of the dangerous parts of the city where there had 
 recently been several murders and robberies. I was just 
 passing out of the shadows of a railway bridge, when I 
 heard rapid footsteps behind me. Thinking it was a 
 
270 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 robber, I turned round sharply, but found it was a negro 
 who knew me, and wished to speak to me. He cried out 
 directly he got within speaking distance: " Boss, how is 
 that terrible brother of yours ? He is a great man. I 
 saw him at your place when I was a little coon. I wish 
 we had one like him here in the States." 
 
 Even when I was crossing to Ireland as late as 1889, 
 I found the conversation at meals almost always drifting 
 round to my brother. On one occasion, when several 
 people opposite me were discussing Charley's career, a 
 gentleman who knew me by sight leant over and whis- 
 pered to them, and I just overheard the remark: " Be 
 careful what you are saying ; that man sitting there is the 
 great man's brother." 
 
 Charley, in fact, during the height of his career became 
 a sort of national hero in America, and his influence on 
 the Irish population over there was felt throughout his 
 life. His character especially appealed to the American 
 idea, and the fact that he was essentially a fighter, and 
 above all a successful one, also gained him their admiration. 
 
 I was spending a good deal of time during these days in 
 America, where I was attending to my own fruit-farming 
 business in Atlanta, Georgia, though, of course, I was in 
 constant communication with my brother, and followed 
 his career in the newspapers. My experiences were many 
 and varied, and the following is a typical instance, and 
 will give some idea of the conditions of life in the wildest 
 parts of America at that time, and how even among the 
 most desperate and lawless characters the name of my 
 brother served me as a passport. 
 
 A Trip to the Mountains. 
 
 A number of my friends persuaded me to go with them 
 for a trip to the mountains of North Georgia, which were 
 then a very inaccessible portion of the State, inhabited 
 
APPENDICES 271 
 
 by a lawless body of men who lived principally by trading 
 in corn and honey, and — what was far more profitable — 
 illicit whisky. However, no revenue officer dared to ven- 
 ture into these mountain fastnesses and seize the stills 
 without running a very great danger of being shot. 
 
 With the exception of the captain of the expedition and 
 myself, our party consisted of hardy young men, only 
 too glad for an adventure with the spice of danger. We 
 brought with us, not only our guns, but plenty of fishing 
 rods and tackle, as the place for which we were bound 
 was the only part of Georgia where the real speckled trout 
 could be obtained. I do not consider, however, that they 
 were at all like our own trout, which I used so often to 
 catch round Avondale and Aughavannagh. They had 
 yellow flesh, and would not take the fly as bait, but only 
 a form of chrysalis that is found under the rocks. 
 
 We went by train from Atlanta to a place called 
 Marietta, from which we took an ox-waggon to carry our 
 things to the mountains, following ourselves in a wagon- 
 ette. We had to go for about thirty miles through a wild, 
 uninhabited country, and had to cross several rivers at 
 considerable risk. Before we left civilization completely, 
 on account of the rough " Moonshiners " living in the 
 mountains, who were very chary of allowing strangers to 
 enter their country, we had to get a letter from a local 
 storekeeper to one of the more friendly .mountaineers. 
 The storekeeper, who knew I was a brother of the " Irish 
 King," which was the name by which they knew Charley 
 in those wild parts, readily consented ; and as he did a big 
 trade with the mountaineers from his village, which was 
 the nearest point on the railway to them, his influence 
 stood us in very good stead. 
 
 WTien we arrived, we found that the man to whom we 
 had been recommended lived close to the place where we 
 intended camping out, and it was arranged that he should 
 come with us to the camping-ground to introduce us to 
 
272 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 the " Moonshiners." At the time when we got to his 
 house it was dark, and the family had all gone to bed, and 
 we had to shout ourselves hoarse before we could get 
 anyone to hear. Then the head of the family came out 
 to the gate, dressed simply in his shirt, which, however, 
 was quite sufficient garb for that hot weather and those 
 uncritical regions. We presented our letter and asked 
 him if we could put up for the night, as it was so late- 
 He said that we could, and provided us with a really nice 
 hot supper, which we were very glad of, as we were 
 terribly hungry, and gave us some of the finest honey that 
 I have ever tasted. I don't know, however, whether the 
 young ladies of the family, who had to get up out of their 
 beds to prepare our supper, quite welcomed our arrival. 
 
 Primitive Sleeping Conditions. 
 
 After supper we were allotted our beds. The head of 
 the family said that he had only one room, so that the 
 captain and I, being, as he said, the steady ones of the 
 party, would have to sleep in the same room as himself 
 and the rest of the family, while the young fellows would 
 have to sleep together in the garret. The captain and I 
 were given one bed, while the father and mother slept in 
 another, and, to our astonishment, the two young ladies 
 slipped into their own bed, where they looked very inno- 
 cent and comfortable. We were very tired, and dropped 
 straight off to sleep, and the next morning when we woke 
 the two young ladies had already been up for some time 
 preparing breakfast. After a good wash in sparkling 
 mountain water, we sat down to a delicious breakfast of 
 hominy, rice, fried chicken, hot biscuits, and honey. 
 No one need be afraid of starving in those mountains, as 
 there are plenty of both chickens and bees, the latter 
 making honey all the year round. 
 
 After breakfast we said good-bye to the ladies of the 
 
APPENDICES 273 
 
 family, and set off on foot with our ox-team to the 
 camping-ground with our host, who was to introduce us 
 to the mountaineers. After about two hours' walk we 
 arrived at the camping-ground, which was in a beautiful 
 valley close beside a stream which was full of speckled 
 trout. 
 
 " The Moonshiners." 
 
 Once we got there, we were surrounded by a very rough 
 crowd, all armed with guns and revolvers, whose first 
 business was to find out whether we were revenue officers. 
 Our guide soon satisfied them that we were only travelling 
 for pleasure, and told them that I was a brother of the 
 " Irish King " of whom they had heard so much. This 
 resulted in my being subjected to a good deal of close 
 scrutiny, though of a very friendly, and even deferential, 
 nature. 
 
 We fixed up our tent, and slung up hammocks between 
 different trees, though I preferred to sleep on a good 
 Irish rug which had been presented to Charley, but which 
 he would never use because its colour happened to be 
 green. The mountaineers gathered round us all night, 
 and seemed very sociable, jolly fellows, in spite of their 
 rough appearance. After buying some mountain whisky 
 from them and wishing them all good-night, we went to 
 sleep, though not very easily. We had -asked some of 
 the mountaineers to come round in the morning and show 
 us good places in which to shoot and fish, which they 
 readily promised to do. The breakfast next morning 
 for the lot of us had to be cooked by the single negro we 
 had brought with us. In order to make a good blaze, he 
 lighted some twigs under a big log, and was surprised a 
 little later to see a large snake glide out from underneath 
 the log. However, he promptly knocked it on the head 
 and killed it. 
 
 Getting a mountaineer as a guide, I took my rod and 
 
 18 
 
274 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 went fishing while the others went in search of game. 
 We all had good sport, and soon made some very good 
 friends among the illicit distillers. One day an old man 
 who had been right through the war in the South came 
 up to me, and said that he would take me up the moun- 
 tains and show me how to catch the trout, as he knew their 
 best places, and wished to hear from my lips all I could 
 tell him about the " Irish King." While I was fishing, I 
 gave him a full account of Charley's fight for the poor 
 starving peasants of Ireland against the landlords and the 
 English Government, and explained how Charley wished 
 to enable the people to get the land for themselves and 
 obtain Home Rule. He asked me several questions, and, 
 in order to explain Charley's policy, I said: " What he 
 has been trying to do is to provide land for all, just like 
 you and your people have in these mountains." He 
 seemed greatly impressed, but could not understand how 
 there could be a country where there was not land for all 
 who wished to make a living out of it. 
 
 Lost in the Wilderness. 
 
 I set to work fishing in the river, and caught some fine 
 trout ; but when I had finished, and turned round to look 
 for my guide, I found that he had disappeared. I waded 
 across the river, and then started to make my way back 
 to the tent, as it was beginning to grow dark. I did not 
 know my way well, but thought I was in the right direction. 
 After walking for some considerable way, I got tangled 
 up in the huge laurel swamps which were the favourite 
 feeding-ground of the bees. The swamp where I found 
 myself was not a very pleasant place to be in alone, as 
 there were no end of large snakes coiled up on the 
 branches of the laurel-tree, threatening to drop down on 
 my head as I passed, crawling under the bushes; and as 
 I also smelt the odour of bears, I thought it best to beat 
 
APPENDICES 275 
 
 a hasty retreat. I crossed the river, and eventually found 
 my way back to the tent, where I found the old man whom 
 I had missed anxiously waiting for my return. 
 
 That night the " Moonshiners " had quite a party, 
 gathering around our camp-fire, singing, dancing, and 
 telling stories of their adventures with the revenue 
 officers. 
 
 Next day we went up the mountain river with about a 
 dozen " Moonshiners " to catch the trout by means of 
 nets. The method we adopted was to walk along the 
 river-bank, stirring the mud with our feet, so that the 
 trout, who could not see where they were going, ran 
 right into the nets. 
 
 Our captain had brought up some whisky for the 
 " Moonshiners," with rather disastrous results for them; 
 for, hearing a little later some desperate yells, I found 
 them all floundering about up to their necks in a deep 
 pool. One man ran out of the pool with a whisky bottle 
 in his hand, which he tried to persuade me to take. I 
 attempted to get rid of him, but, as he insisted on clinging 
 to me, I said I was going to cross the river. He told me 
 that the best way to get across was by means of a tree 
 that was hanging over the river. It looked a very risky 
 job even for a perfectly sober man, and he was hardly 
 able to keep on his feet. However, he pressed me so much 
 that I agreed to go across. Once he got to the tree he 
 seemed to recover his balance perfectly, and led me over 
 to the other side in grand style ; but once he got on land 
 again he collapsed hopelessly, whisky bottle and all. I 
 stopped with him for an hour, but as he was still in a 
 hopeless condition, and the rain was beginning to come 
 on, I left him to sleep off his orgy. That night we did 
 not have a chance of sleeping a wink, as the " Moon- 
 shiners " gathered round our camp-fire, and kept dancing 
 and singing all night long. The next morning we packed 
 up our things and bade farewell to the " Moonshiners," 
 
276 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 who were very sorry to part from us. On our way back 
 we called at the storekeeper's house, and were once more 
 warmly welcomed. I gave him my fishing-rod as a 
 parting gift, and he was delighted, saying that he would 
 cherish it greatly, in memory of the '•' Irish King's " 
 brother, and would hand it down to his heirs to be kept 
 by them in the family. 
 
 We got safely back to Atlanta after our interesting 
 little trip to the mountains, and I returned to my fruit- 
 farming. 
 
APPENDIX C 
 AVONDALE INDUSTRIES 
 
 A Trip Home. 
 
 Towards the end of autumn, 1885, I was in New York 
 with our mother, and she suggested that we should take 
 a trip to Ireland and see Charley. When I arrived in 
 Dublin, the city looked very desolate, and the lack of 
 sunshine made me long to be back in my Southern climate 
 again. We found on our arrival that all our family had 
 left the city, except our solicitor, Mr. McDermott, from 
 whom I discovered that Charley was at Morrisson's 
 hotel, and Emily down at Avondale. 
 
 When I went round to Morrisson's, about noon the 
 next day, Charley was still in bed, and I had to send the 
 porter up to him to wake him. When he came down half 
 an hour later, he seemed delighted to see me, and said that 
 I had hardly changed since our last meeting. On my 
 part, however, I found that he had grown very stout. 
 We chatted about family matters for some time, and then 
 went in to breakfast, where we were joined by Mr. T. P. 
 O'Connor. We all had chops, tea, and toast, according 
 to our usual Avondale menu. Charley asked me if I 
 would go in to Parliament, but I said I would not, because 
 I was not a good speaker. He said: " We have plenty 
 of speakers, and we don't want them." I said, however, 
 that I was too busy with my fruit in America. We then 
 went into the smoking-room, where we met Mr. J. O' Kelly, 
 with whom Charley began talking about the stone-works 
 
 277 
 
278 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 at Avondale. I went away then, after arranging to meet 
 Charley by the six o'clock train at Harcourt Street that 
 evening. 
 
 On our way down to Avondale he pointed out to me 
 the Wicklow Chemical Manure Works, because they got 
 their phosphates from Georgia and South Carolina. When 
 we arrived at Rathdrum, Charley's coachman, Jack 
 Gaffney, and his horse, Home Rule, were waiting for him. 
 Emily met us at the door of Avondale, and welcomed me 
 very warmly. I was glad after dinner to find myself 
 comfortably installed once more in the cosy library of 
 Avondale in front of a blazing wood fire. Charley got 
 out his engineering books and his compass and rule, and 
 began measuring some of the plans of his buildings. I 
 found that since my visit to Alabama in 1871 he had 
 already completed the sawmills which he was then 
 projecting, and was now engaged on his new cattle-shed. 
 
 Immediately after breakfast next morning he said to 
 me: " John, come and take a walk with me; I am going 
 down to the new sawmill under Kingston, which you have 
 never seen." First of all we went doM-n towards the 
 river, where he had some young cattle grazing. He met 
 Henry Gaffney, his herd, and had a long consultation 
 with him about his cattle. After that we walked down 
 along the road past the new tea-house which he had built 
 as a residence for Mr. Michael Merna, his mill -manager. 
 When we got near the sawmill we inspected the mine- 
 shaft, where four or five men were trying to find the vein 
 of sulphur and copper which was lost by the Conoree 
 Copper Company some years before ; but, on account of 
 finding part of the copper vein when the railway company 
 were making the bridge over the Avon River, Charley 
 decided to sink a shaft opposite it, though up to that 
 time neither the Conoree Copper Company on their side 
 of the river, nor Charley on his side, had found it. It was 
 supposed that the vein had run with the river, and had 
 
APPENDICES 279 
 
 been washed away, as there was a fault in the railway 
 cutting close to the spot. 
 
 Charley and I often inspected that fault to see which 
 way it ran, but never could come to any definite decision 
 as to its direction. 
 
 The Sawmill. 
 
 We then went on to the new sawmill, a very line wood 
 and iron structure, the roof of which was modelled on the 
 Warrior River bridge which we had inspected in 1871. 
 Charley evidently took a great deal of interest in this 
 mill, as he worked in it himself along with the men, 
 and, I was told, planed harder than anyone there. He 
 constructed the waterway and race-lock and dam in the 
 river, by which the mill was run with the turbine wheel 
 which he had bought in America. After spending a 
 couple of hours with great interest at the sawmill, we 
 went back to Avondale, where we had lunch together. 
 We went to see the cattle-shed which he was building, 
 and which was finished so far as the walls were concerned. 
 We then went on to his original small sawmill, where he 
 was making beech paving sets for the Corporation of 
 Dublin. 
 
 He had a lot of workmen engaged on various tasks in 
 different portions of the estate. Fully twenty-five were 
 occupied in the sawmills and timber business, and there 
 were a lot of farm hands, stable men and boys, not count- 
 ing the household. After dinner Charley again busied 
 himself with the plans of his new cattle-shed, and at about 
 ten o'clock Emily, her niece Delia, and myself, went to 
 bed, leaving Charley to sit up until goodness knows what 
 hour. Charley went off to Dublin for a couple of days, 
 leaving me to fish for trout, which I did with considerable 
 success. The day after Charley returned from Dublin, 
 he said to me: " John, come along with me to see some of 
 the quarries which I am working to try and get sets 
 
28o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 made for street paving in Dublin." The first quarry we 
 went to was on the other side of the Avonbeg River, and 
 Mr. Feeney, the owner of the mill near-by, brought out 
 some planks, which he placed upon the rocks to enable 
 us to get across the river. There were at least twenty 
 men working at the quarry, hauling out stones with a 
 great windlass. He said he was going to have the stones 
 carted all away from the quarry to Rathdrum, the nearest 
 railway-station. However, I heard, on my return from 
 America next year, that the stone had not proved suit- 
 able for set-making, being too brittle. While standing at 
 the quarry, Charley noticed that the men were cutting 
 too much stone under the bank where the windlass was 
 standing. He had hardly called them to get out of 
 danger when down came the windlass, and would have 
 killed a couple of men if he had not uttered his warning in 
 time. On the way home to Avondale we went through 
 the wood at the Meeting of the Waters. We stopped at 
 another quarry in Mount Avon Wood, but this was not 
 working at the time. 
 
 Charley during these years was looking for a suitable 
 stone-quarry to make sets for the Dublin Corporation, as 
 he had a contract with them at the time, thus disturbing 
 the set-making monopoly which Wales had hitherto held 
 of the Irish trade. He knew that if he could find a 
 suitable stone, such as whinstone, a volcanic or basaltic 
 stone, he could start a large business in making sets, and 
 thus create a new Irish industry at the expense of England. 
 He often told me that Ireland had hundreds of industries 
 lying idle for the want of working, and he was particularly 
 anxious to have them opened up. He also believed that 
 Ireland was full of mineral wealth hidden beneath her soil. 
 
APPENDICES 281 
 
 Home Rule. 
 
 One day, while we were standing round the library 
 fire, I asked him whether we should have Home Rule 
 soon. He immediately said, with emphasis: " We will 
 have Home Rule next year, and will have Dublin Castle 
 for our Parliament House." I told him that, in my 
 opinion, we were not near Home Rule yet, as the people 
 were not educated up to it ; but Dublin Castle would be 
 better than the old Bank, as there would be more room. 
 
 He said: " You will see that we will be there next 
 year." I may mention that he always had a great am- 
 bition to have the new Irish Parliament, which he firmly 
 believed he would live to see, installed in Dublin Castle. 
 
 Soon after this Charley left Avondale for Brighton, as 
 he said he could not stand the east wind. I remained 
 there, however, for some time, shooting and fishing, and 
 finally went back to America in October. 
 
 My Visit in 1886. 
 
 I returned to Avondale in the following year (1886), and 
 on arrival went shooting with Charley, Mr. Campbell, 
 his Secretary, and Mr. Corbett, his great sporting chum. 
 I found Charley looking better than I had expected, as 
 he had been ill in the meantime, though he was still very 
 stout. 
 
 When Charley returned to Avondale, there was a very 
 touching greeting between his mother and himself, after 
 so many years of separation. To his amused amazement, 
 she kept on patting him on the head like a small boy (our 
 mother was a very tall woman), while she informed him 
 that she intended finishing the work on the terrace at 
 Avondale which she had left off in our father's time. 
 
 " That would be a very good thing to do," he said. 
 " I have no time, but you can gladly have all the help 
 
282 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 you want from the men on the place, and get them to do 
 all you tell them." 
 
 Accordingly, she set to work with great glee, ordering 
 the men to carry out her instructions, and before I left 
 she had constructed several nice terraces round the house, 
 and had removed a lot of bushes which were hiding the 
 view from the lower windows. 
 
 One morning Charley woke me up early and asked me 
 to come with him to Aughavannagh to look at some turf 
 on his estate there. After having breakfast at the game- 
 keeper's house, we walked all over Blackrock Hill, care- 
 fully examining the different qualities of turf. The turf 
 on Blackrock was considered to be the best in the whole 
 country, and Charley wished to get a market for it. 
 
 A few days later we paid another visit to the sawmill, 
 where the men were hard at work cutting beech sets for 
 the Dublin Corporation. The demand, however, was 
 more for stone than wooden sets, and, unfortunately, the 
 stone which he was getting out of his quarries was not 
 suitable, although those whom he consulted advised him 
 to continue quarrying it, with the result that he lost many 
 thousand pounds. We also had a look at a flag quarry, 
 which, however, was not paying, and was dropped. 
 
 One day, after Charley had despaired of getting any 
 stone from Avondale which was really suitable for set- 
 making, an engineer, Mr. Patrick McDonald, came to see 
 him, and told him he knew where there was a splendid 
 whinstone quarry, or, rather, a hill of whinstone, which 
 would do splendidly for set-making. Charley, when he 
 heard where it was, said: " Oh, it is on Lord Carysfort's 
 land, and he won't let me have it, because he disapproves 
 of my politics." Mr. McDonald thought that Lord 
 Carysfort would not mind the hill being worked, so long 
 as he got the royalties from the stone that was quarried. 
 However, Charley thought it was not worth while asking 
 him. Still, he paid a secret visit to the hill in company 
 
APPENDICES 283 
 
 with Mr. McDonald, and brought back samples of the 
 stone, which seemed to be admirably adapted to the 
 purpose for which he required it. Finally, through 
 the agency of Mr. McDonald, a twelve years' lease was 
 granted by Lord Carysfort. When, however, Lord 
 Carysfort found out to whom he had actually leased the 
 quarry, he said: " Oh, Parnell could have easily come to 
 me, instead of going behind my back. I would willingly 
 have given it to him if only to provide work for the people." 
 
 As soon as Charley had had McDonald's lease trans- 
 ferred to himself, he set to work excavating the stone. 
 Finding that the local men were not sufficiently expe- 
 rienced, he imported several stone-cutters from Wales, 
 who had been brought up to the work from their boy- 
 hood. These were housed on the mountain-side in a 
 number of little huts. 
 
 In November my fruit business necessitated my return- 
 ing to America, and I said good-bye to my mother, 
 Emily, Delia, and Charley, and returned to New York. 
 
 Back again. 
 
 I returned to Ireland again in 1887, filled with a longing 
 for the fresh mountain air of Aughavannagh. I found 
 Charley very busy working his new quarry at Arklow. 
 He experienced considerable difficulty, however, as set- 
 making by itself did not pay. The trouble was that an 
 immense amount of refuse accumulated, which was very 
 much in the way and very costly to remove, and he and 
 his friends devoted a great deal of time to considering 
 what could be done with it. He finally sent an expert 
 to \A^ales to find out there what was done with the refuse 
 stone. He adopted the Welsh system of crushing the 
 waste stone into macadam by machinery, sorting it into 
 different grades by means of large iron sieves, even the 
 dust being utilized for making cement. The installation 
 
284 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 of the machinery cost Charley several thousand pounds, 
 and necessitated the employment of many additional 
 workmen, but began to pay almost immediately it was 
 adopted. 
 
 One great improvement that he had effected since 
 my last visit was the building of an inclined railway 
 line from the mountains to the coast, enabling him to 
 transport his stone by sea, instead of by land, at a con- 
 siderable reduction of expense. Directly the Welsh 
 quarries discovered that Charley had started to under- 
 mine their monopoly, they started to cut their prices, 
 but the Dublin Corporation, acting in a very fine patriotic 
 spirit, offered Charley more for his sets than the Welsh 
 quarry owners were asking them, in order to provide 
 work for Irish labourers. 
 
 A Great Scheme. 
 
 Charley took me to examine the old lead-mines which 
 were worked a generation ago. He was trying to find 
 out if any of the veins in these disused mines ran across 
 to the mountains on his own estate. Naturally, he heard 
 many curious stories when he came to make inquiries. 
 One of his tenants told him that his father, whilst driving 
 his cattle across the mountain, found that one of them, 
 while cropping the short grass, had scraped bare a vein 
 of lead. The man, however, had forgotten the exact 
 place where this was believed to have occurred, and 
 Charley and I spent much time in fruitless searches for it. 
 
 Charley during this time described to me in detail his 
 great scheme for the development of the minerals and 
 coalfields of Wicklow and Kilkenny. He said: " When 
 I am able, I will get the Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford 
 Railway, in conjunction with the Great Southern Rail- 
 way, to build a line from the Meeting of the Waters, right 
 through Glenmalure, to the Kilkenny coalfields, tapping 
 
APPENDICES 285 
 
 the lead and iron mines on their way." His great idea 
 was to connect the iron at Avoca and Rathdriim with the 
 coal in Kilkenny. His scheme no doubt originated from 
 the observations which he made of the coal and iron fields 
 in Alabama dming our visit there in 1871. 
 
 We also went to look at a shaft which he had sunk in a 
 field belonging to his tenant, Mr. Nicholas Devereux. 
 He was looking here for gold, as there was a quaitz vein 
 which, on analysis in his laboratory at Brighton, he had 
 found to contain gold to some extent. In the same field 
 he had found a bed of yellow ochre, which we examined, 
 but he said it would not pay unless he could find the 
 copper which almost always run in company with it. He 
 was then and afterwards engaged at intervals in searching 
 for this copper vein, which he had reason to believe was 
 in existence close by. 
 
 These brief references I have made to Charley's indus- 
 trial activities will show that, quite apart from politics, 
 he took a very keen interest in mineralogy, as also in the 
 different works carried on on his estate. How engrossing 
 this hobby of his was, few of those who only knew him as 
 a politician ever guessed. He took a great pride in his 
 industries, which formed really quite a separate part of 
 his life ; but his shyness prevented his talking about them 
 to any but very intimate friends, especially as, on the 
 whole, they did not prove a financial success. StiU, 
 their influence upon his character must be taken into 
 consideration when forming a general estimate of the 
 man as he really was beneath his mask of ice. 
 
APPENDIX D 
 
 WHERE THE TRIBUTE WENT TO 
 
 Financial Difficulties. 
 
 I HAVE been often asked what Charley did with the sum of 
 nearly £40,000 subscribed for him by the Irish nation. 
 People have also wished to know how it was that, having 
 been left by his father the fine estate of Avondale, free and 
 unencumbered, he came to be in such straits that he had 
 to mortgage it, and how it was that on his death, in spite 
 of the £40,000 tribute, he was so heavily in debt. They 
 are not easy questions to answer, but I shall endeavour to 
 do my best. 
 
 Charley's financial embarrassment had reached a head 
 in 188 1, after returning from America. He was very 
 anxious then to find money to send to his mother in New 
 York, as, owing to the loss of the property her brother 
 had left her, in the Black Friday panic, she was practically 
 destitute. He wrote to me saying that, if I would mort- 
 gage my National Bank shares, he would back bills for 
 £3,000, which I agreed to do. This shows that he had 
 actually no money left, not even to help his own family. 
 
 Once he became leader, his expenses, of course, in- 
 creased enormously. A great number of the members 
 of the Irish party had no money of their own, and he had 
 not only to finance them in their election campaigns, but 
 in many cases actually to keep them. So, by December 11, 
 1883, he was in desperate need of money. Still, he formed 
 the resolution not to allow a penny of the £40,000 to go out 
 
 286 
 
APPENDICES 287 
 
 of the country. I remember him telling me this, and also 
 giving me some idea to what purposes he intended to 
 devote the tribute money. There was a mortgage on 
 Avondale of £5,000, which he paid off, though he after- 
 wards remortgaged the property for £6,000. A mortgage 
 of £10,000 in favour of our aunt, Mrs. Wigram, he left out- 
 standing, and I had finally to pay it off. On his quarries 
 he also sank a great deal, and an attempt to develop the 
 gold resources of the Wicklow Hills, which, although a 
 certain amount of gold was found, never paid, cost him 
 fully £500. At the start the Arklow quarry cost him 
 £10,000, and before it began to pay he had to spend 
 another £5,000 on machinery. In addition he bought 
 up the head-rent of the Kingston demesne, near Avon- 
 dale, for £3,000, and spent fully £1,500 in doing up Mount 
 Avon House. He also paid off a number of debts which 
 he had contracted in Wicklow and elsewhere. It must 
 be remembered, of course, that the wages he was paying 
 to his men at Avondale, who were engaged in various 
 occupations, amounted to quite £50 a week. Then, 
 during the famine years very few of the tenants on the 
 Avondale estate paid their rents, and even after the 
 famine was over they kept up this custom largely, finding 
 that he was an easy-going landlord and could not bear 
 the idea of eviction. 
 
 You do not wonder, under these circumstances, at his 
 occasionally showing the attitude described in the follow- 
 ing anecdote, which I believe to be perfectly true. He 
 had addressed a crowded meeting one day in his own 
 county of Wicklow, and was driving away to another 
 meeting some distance off, when a friend who was with 
 him in the car noticed one of the men, who had been 
 cheering Charley's speech most enthusiastically at the 
 meeting, following the car with doglike devotion mile 
 after mile. The man kept on following, cheering and 
 waving his hat as he went, but Charley sat upright and 
 
288 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 expressionless in the car. His friend, taking pity on so 
 much unrequited loyalty, said to Charley: " You might 
 just say a word of encouragement to that poor fellow; 
 he has followed you for seven miles, and hasn't got so 
 much as a smile from you." " Let him run a little longer," 
 said Charley, " seeing that I have let his rent run for 
 seven years." 
 
 In addition to his quarries, the erection of his new 
 sawmills and cattle-sheds cost him at least £3,000, and 
 the iron-mine near Rathdrum cost him several hundred 
 pounds. His travelling expenses were very heavy, and 
 he had, of course, to live a good deal in London, which cost 
 him a considerable amount. 
 
 Before his death he mortgaged Avondale to the 
 National Bank for a further sum of £6,000. 
 
 His debts, which I had to pay after his death, com- 
 pelling me to sell Avondale, amounted to over £50,000, 
 a figure which I have just verified. 
 
 The sum total which he spent between 1881 and 1891 
 amounted to about £90,000. 
 
 I was unable to help my brother at all, as the fortune 
 left to me by Sir Ralph Howard came to an end very 
 shortly, owing to the company going bankrupt. Moreover, 
 Charley's bills, which he had persuaded me to draw in 
 order to provide money for our mother, fell due, and I 
 had to sell what little capital I had, while my promising 
 fruit business was crippled for want of money. 
 
 The foregoing will give some idea of the many expenses 
 which Charley had to meet, and will show that even such 
 a sum as £40,000 could be easily swallowed up by his 
 liabilities and current expenses. 
 
 I remember him in 1887 complaining of the financial 
 difficulties in which he again found himself involved, and 
 saying to me: " Well, John, politics is the only thing I 
 ever got any money from, and I am looking for another 
 subscription now." I think he was quite serious when 
 
APPENDICES 289 
 
 he said it, but, of course, a fresh tribute was not forth- 
 coming. 
 
 To illustrate how largely his private money went in 
 financing his party, I distinctly recall a remark he made 
 to me once when driving from Rathdrum to Avondale. 
 We passed on the road a couple of M.P's., both prominent 
 members of his party, making their way on foot to Avon- 
 dale. To my surprise, Charley drove right past them, 
 with a curt nod but no slackening of speed. I asked him 
 why he had not stopped and offered them a lift, as there 
 was plenty of room in the car. He replied grimly: " Let 
 them walk, it'll do them good; they are only coming up 
 to put their hands in my pockets and get some more 
 money." This showed that, lavish as he was towards 
 his party, he was only too aware that advantage was very 
 often taken of his generosity. 
 
 19 
 
APPENDIX E 
 
 A FRIEND'S APPRECIATION 
 
 Just when this book was going to press, I received a 
 letter from Mr. Joseph McCarroU of Wicklow, one of 
 Charley's oldest friends and supporters. It contains 
 many vivid touches, such as only an eyewitness of the 
 critical portions of my brother's life could have given, 
 and I make no apology for giving it in full : 
 
 Dear Mr. Parnell, 
 
 I rejoice to learn you are writing the life of 
 your illustrious brother, the late Charles Stewart 
 Parnell. No other writer but yourself could deal so 
 fully and faithfully with his early days, his boyhood 
 and glorious manhood. You understood his every 
 fibre, and his ardent love for Avondale, the historic 
 home of the Parnells. You knew that under his cold 
 self-restraint there beat a heart passionately throb- 
 bing with love for home and country. That love 
 doubtless was inflamed by the flag of the Irish 
 Volunteer waving in the halls of Avondale. It must 
 have brought to his mind glories of '82, when " Dun- 
 gannon spoke, and the thunders of her cannon woke 
 the echoes of Liberty." Who can say how much 
 this old flag influenced a silent resolve in Parnell 
 that he himself might one day do similar work for 
 Ireland ? The example of his father, too, in espousing 
 the popular side in local contests, must have had 
 much to do in strengthening his innate love for free- 
 dom and justice. The late Father Maloney, P.P., 
 290 
 
APPENDICES 291 
 
 of Barndarrig, then the Catholic curate in Rathdrum , 
 used to revel in describing the scenes and successes 
 won by Mr. H. Parnell for local rights and popular 
 control. 
 
 It is remarkable how unerring is the national 
 instinct in the choice of a leader. After the founding 
 of Butt's Home Rule, its founders turned to Avondale, 
 and a deputation, headed by Mr. A. J. Kettle, was 
 sent to enlist Charles Stewart Parnell in the new 
 movement. Mr. Parnell received the deputation 
 graciously, and after a long interchange of views he 
 assented to join the Home Rule organization. His 
 first appearance as a public speaker in the Rotunda 
 was hailed with great delight, the audience cheering 
 wildly as he walked up the floor to the platform. 
 He was introduced to the audience by the late A. M. 
 Sullivan. His speech was slow but thoughtful. After 
 the meeting Mr. Sullivan declared that the silent and 
 reserved young man would prove worthy of " Parnell 
 the Incorruptible," whom neither the peerages of 
 Castlereagh nor the gold of Pitt could seduce into 
 voting for the Union. So great was the confidence 
 inspired by Parnell that he was solicited to contest 
 for County Dublin, and to this he consented, which 
 cost him £15,000. Of course he was defeated, the 
 country only just awakening to the new spirit. 
 Many a time I have listened with rapture to Mr. 
 Kettle's account of the selection and the uphill 
 fight that the Home Rulers made. The sacrifices 
 Mr. Parnell made in contesting County Dublin were 
 not forgotten, and it is to the credit of County Wicklow 
 that the first resolution for a Parnell testimonial was 
 carried with acclamation by a large meeting in 
 Greenare. I drafted the resolution, and wrote to 
 the Chief asking his permission formally to inaugurate 
 the testimonial. He replied thanking me, but de- 
 clined permission, sajdng he could get on very well. 
 Subsequently the Avoca Land League (T. A. iByrne, 
 President) had the honour of opening the Parnell 
 
292 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 testimonial, the late W. J. Corbett being one of the 
 tirst subscribers. 
 
 In Parnell's struggle to wipe out Whiggery and give 
 representation to the nation, of course he met with 
 the fiercest opposition from the old ascendancy, the 
 Whigs and mongrels. The Enniscorthy fight was 
 one of the earliest and the worst. Parnell received 
 some rough handling. In the end he triumphed. 
 Indignant at the treatment he received in Ennis- 
 corthy, Wicklow called a great meeting to sustain 
 Parnell, and to show him he had the nation at his 
 back. The Market Square was packed and the 
 enthusiasm unbounded. The scene was an inde- 
 scribable one, and the Chief never forgot it. The 
 addresses breathed the spirit of the hills, and he was 
 accompanied to the railway-station by a large crowd 
 and a torchlight procession. Standing up at his 
 departure, all his old faith full in him, he declared 
 that nothing would turn him from his course till 
 Ireland was free; for he recognized that Wicklow, 
 despite the oppression of centuries, was as true to 
 Ireland as when she routed Lord de Grey in Glen- 
 malure. 
 
 I was present with Parnell at the great meeting at 
 Wexford. It looked like a rising of the nation. 
 His speech replying to Gladstone's famous utterance 
 at Leeds, touching the " resources of civilization," 
 was scathing. It cost him his liberty, and as a 
 " suspect " he soon found himself in Kilmainham. 
 It was thought that his imprisonment would drive 
 the Land League into open rebellion; but, though 
 Parnell was in prison, his spirit and counsel were 
 free outside, and even more potent. I had the honour 
 of visiting him in Kilmainham. He looked pale, 
 but never complained, though his soul chafed under 
 the confinement. With two spies standing by, no 
 political question could be touched. He made many 
 inquiries about the Wicklow harbour, in which he 
 took a warm interest; and no wonder, as it was his 
 
APPENDICES 293 
 
 influence in the county and in London that enabled 
 the Wicklow Town and Harbour Commissioners to 
 obtain the loan from the Treasury that built the fine 
 Wicklow breakwater and steamboat pier. It was 
 singular that, with his life swallowed up in political 
 convulsions, he yet always manifested a keen interest 
 in industrial questions. The large sums he spent in 
 exploring for lead in Avondale and the Bally Capple 
 copper and iron ore mines illustrate this. Had he 
 been spared, these latter mines of Bally Capple 
 would now be giving employment and diffusing 
 wealth over a large area. There is no question what- 
 ever of the ore being there, and in abundance. With 
 motor lorries the difficulties of transit to the port of 
 Wicklow would vanish. The Parnell quarries re- 
 main, a standing proof of his fostering of industrial 
 development. There was a huge rock that Lord 
 Carysfort, though a man of unhmited capital, never 
 thought of developing. It remained to Parnell to 
 make it the centre of industries giving much em- 
 ployment to Arklow and the neighbourhood. 
 Nothing so much delighted him as to see his country- 
 men actively employed in remunerative work in 
 their own land, happy and contented. 
 
 I have made this letter far too long, but the 
 subject — the memory of the greatest Irishman of our 
 own or of any age — must plead my excuse. 
 
 Wishing your book great success, dear Mr. Parnell, 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Joseph McCarroll. 
 
APPENDIX F 
 
 THE MANIFESTO OF 1890 
 
 Although as a rule I have abstained from making 
 quotations of any length in this book, and have specially 
 avoided the inclusion of lengthy documents in extenso, 
 yet I feel I must make an exception in the case of this 
 manifesto, seeing that it is one of the very few cases in 
 which Charley has committed to writing his innermost 
 thoughts, and that those deal with the Home Rule 
 question in detail. Although long, I do not think it will 
 be found in the slightest degree wearisome, and being, as 
 it is, the supreme declaration of my brother's policy, I do 
 not like to run the risk of spoiling it by resorting to con- 
 densation, which would mean the exercising of my own 
 judgment as to the parts which I considered to be im- 
 portant or the reverse. It would therefore, in my opinion, 
 be fairer to give this very interesting document in full, 
 and allow my readers to exercise their own judgment 
 with regard to it. The following is its form as it appeared 
 in the Times of November 29, 1890 : 
 
 Mr. ParneU issued at a late hour last night the 
 following manifesto to the Irish people : 
 
 To THE People of Ireland. 
 
 The integrity and independence of a section of 
 
 the Irish Parliamentary party having been sapped 
 
 and destroyed by the wirepullers of the Enghsh 
 
 Liberal party, it has become necessary for me as 
 
 294 
 
APPENDICES 295 
 
 the leader of the Irish nation to take counsel with 
 you, and, having given you the knowledge which 
 was in my possession, to ask your judgment upon 
 the matter which now solely devolves upon you to 
 decide. 
 
 The letter from Mr. Gladstone to Mr. Morley, 
 written for the purpose of influencing the decision of 
 the Irish party in the choice of their leader, and 
 claiming for the Liberal party and their leaders the 
 right of veto upon that choice, is the immediate cause 
 of this address to you, to remind you and your 
 Parliamentary representatives that Ireland considers 
 the independence of her party as her only safeguard 
 within the Constitution, and above and beyond all 
 other considerations whatever. The threat in that 
 letter, repeated so insolently on many English plat- 
 forms and in numerous British newspapers, that 
 unless Ireland concedes this right of veto to England 
 she will indefinitely postpone her chances of obtain- 
 ing Home Rule, compels me, while not for one 
 moment admitting the slightest probability of such 
 loss, to put before you information which until now, 
 so far as my colleagues are concerned, has been solely 
 in my possession, and which will enable you to under- 
 stand the measure of the loss with which you are 
 threatened unless you consent to throw me to the 
 English wolves now howling for my destruction. 
 
 In November of last year, in response to a re- 
 peated and long-standing request,' I visited Mr. 
 Gladstone at Hawarden, and received the details of 
 the intended proposal of himself and his colleagues 
 of the late Liberal Cabinet with regard to Home 
 Rule, in the event of the next General Election favour- 
 ing the Liberal party. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to do more at present 
 than to direct your attention to certain points of 
 these details, which will be generally recognized as 
 embracing elements vital for your information and 
 the formation of your judgment. These vital points 
 
296 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 of difficulty may be suitably arranged and considered 
 under the following heads : 
 
 1. The retention of the Irish members in the 
 
 Imperial Parliament. 
 
 2. The settlement of the land or agrarian difficulty 
 
 in Ireland. 
 
 3. The control of the Irish Constabulary. 
 
 4. The appointment of the Judiciary (including 
 
 Judges of the Supreme Court, County Court 
 Judges, and resident magistrates). 
 
 Upon the subject of the retention of the Irish 
 members in the Imperial Parliament, Mr. Gladstone 
 told me that the opinion, and the unanimous opinion, 
 of his colleagues and himself, recently arrived at 
 after most mature consideration of alternative pro- 
 posals, was that, in order to conciliate English public 
 opinion, it would be necessary to reduce the Irish 
 representation from 103 to 32. 
 
 Upon the settlement of the land, it was held 
 that this was one of the questions which must be 
 regarded as questions reserved from the control of 
 the Irish Legislature, but at the same time Mr. 
 Gladstone intimated that, while he would renew his 
 attempt to settle the matter by Imperial legislation 
 on the lines of the Land Purchase Bill of 1886, he 
 would not undertake to put any pressure upon his 
 own side or insist upon their adopting his views — 
 in other and shorter words, that the Irish Legislature 
 was not to be given the power of solving the agrarian 
 difficulty, and that the Imperial Parliament would 
 not. 
 
 With regard to the control of the Irish Constabu- 
 lary, it was stated by Mr. Gladstone that, having 
 regard to the necessity for conciliating English public 
 opinion, he and his colleagues felt that it would be 
 necessary to leave this force and the appointment 
 of its officers under the control of the Imperial 
 authority for an indefinite period, while the funds 
 
APPENDICES 297 ' 
 
 for its maintenance, payment, and equipment, would 
 be compulsorily provided out of Irish resources. 
 
 The period of ten or twelve years was suggested as 
 the limit of time during which the appointment of 
 Judges, resident magistrates, etc., should be retained 
 in the hands of the Imperial authority. 
 
 I have now given a short account of what I 
 gathered of Mr. Gladstone's views and those of his 
 colleagues during two hours' conversation at Hawar- 
 den — a conversation which I am bound to admit 
 was mainly monopohzed by Mr. Gladstone — and pass 
 to my own expressions of opinion upon these com- 
 munications, which represent my views then as now. 
 
 And, first, with regard to the retention of the 
 Irish members, the position I have always adopted, 
 and then represented, is that, with the concession 
 of full powers to the Irish Legislature equivalent to 
 those enjoyed by a State of the American Union, 
 the number and possession of the members so re- 
 tained would become a question of Imperial concern, 
 and not of pressing or immediate importance for the 
 interests of Ireland. But that, with the important 
 and all-engrossing subjects of agrarian reform, con- 
 stabulary control, and judiciary appointments, left 
 either under Imperial control or totally unprovided 
 for, it would be the height of madness for any Irish 
 leader to imitate Grattan's example, and consent to 
 disband the army which had cleared the wa^^ to 
 victory. 
 
 I further undertook to use every legitimate in- 
 fluence to reconcile Irish public opinion to a gradual 
 coming into force of the new privileges, and to the 
 postponements necessary for English opinion with 
 regard to constabulary control and judicial appoint- 
 ments, but strongly dissented from the proposed 
 reduction of members during the interval of proba- 
 tion. I pointed to the absence of any suitable 
 prospect of land settlement by either Parliament 
 as constituting an overwhelming drag upon the 
 
298 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 prospects of permanent peace and prosperity in 
 Ireland. 
 
 At the conclusion of the interview I was informed 
 that Mr. Gladstone and all his colleagues were en- 
 tirely agreed that, pending the General Election, 
 silence should be absolutely preserved with regard 
 to any points of difference on the question of the 
 retention of the Irish members. 
 
 I have dwelt with some length upon these subjects, 
 but not, I think, disproportionately to their im- 
 portance. Let me say in addition that, even when 
 full powers are conceded to Ireland over her own 
 domestic affairs, the integrity, number, and inde- 
 pendence, of the Irish party will be a matter of no 
 importance ; but until this ideal is reached it is 3^our 
 duty and mine to hold fast every safeguard. 
 
 I need not say that the questions — the vital and 
 important questions — of the retention of the Irish 
 members on the one hand, and the indefinite delay 
 of full powers to the Irish Legislature on the other, 
 gave me great concern. The absence of any pro- 
 vision for the settlement of the agrarian question, 
 of any policy on the part of the Liberal leaders, fills 
 me with concern and apprehension. On the intro- 
 duction of the Land Purchase Bill by the Govern- 
 ment at the commencement of last session, Mt. Morley 
 communicated with me as to the course to be adopted. 
 Having regard to the avowed absence of any policy 
 on the part of the Liberal leaders and party with 
 regard to the matter of the land, I strongly advised 
 Mr. Morley against any direct challenge of the 
 principle of State-aided land pmxhase, and, finding 
 that the fears and alarms of the English taxpayer 
 to State aid by the hypothecation of grants for local 
 purposes in Ireland as a counter-guarantee had been 
 assuaged, that a hopeless struggle should not be 
 maintained, and that we should direct our sole 
 efforts on the second reading of the Bill to the asser- 
 tion of the principle of local control. In this I am 
 
APPENDICES 299 
 
 bound to say Mr. Morley entirely agreed with me, 
 but he was at the same time much hampered — and 
 expressed his sense of his position — in that direction 
 by the extreme section of his party, led by Mr. 
 Labouchere. And in a subsequent interview he im- 
 pressed me with the necessity of meeting the second 
 reading of the Bill with a direct negative, and asked 
 me to imdertake the motion. I agreed to this, but 
 only on the condition that I was not to attack the 
 principle of the measure, but to confine myself to a 
 criticism of its details. I think this was false strategy, 
 but it was a strategy adopted out of regard to English 
 prejudices and Radical peculiarities. I did the best 
 that was possible under the circumstances, and the 
 several days' debate on the second reading contrasts 
 favourably with Mr. Labouchere' s recent and abor- 
 tive attempt to interpose a direct negative to the first 
 reading of a similar Bill yesterday. 
 
 Time went on. The Government allowed their 
 attention to be distracted from the question of land 
 pm-chase by the Bill for compensating English 
 publicans, and the agrarian difficulty in Ireland was 
 again relegated to the future of another session. 
 Just before the commencement of this session I was 
 again favoured with another interview with Mr. 
 Morley. I impressed upon him the policy of the 
 oblique method of procedure in reference to land 
 purchase, and the necessity and importance of pro- 
 viding for the question of local control, and of a 
 limitation in the application of the funds. He 
 agreed with me, and I offered to move, on the first 
 reading of the BiU, an amendment in favour of this 
 local control, advising that, if this were rejected, it 
 might be left to the Radicals on the second reading 
 to oppose the principle of the measure. This ap- 
 peared to be a proper course, and I left Mr. Morley 
 under the impression that this would fall to my duty. 
 But in addition he made me a remarkable pro- 
 posal, referring to the probable approaching victory 
 
300 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 of the Liberal party at the polls. He suggested some 
 considerations as to the future of the Irish party. 
 He asked me whether I would be willing to assume 
 the office of Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, or to allow another member of my party 
 to take the position. He also put before me the 
 desirability of filling one of the law offices of the 
 Crown in Ireland by a legal member of my party. 
 I told him, amazed as I was at the proposal, that I 
 could not agree to forfeit in any way the indepen- 
 dence of the party or any of its members ; that the 
 Irish people had trusted me in this movement because 
 they believed that the declaration I had made to 
 them at Cork in 1880 was a true one and represented 
 my convictions, and that I would on no account depart 
 from it. I considered that, after the declarations 
 we had repeatedly made, the proposal of Mr. Morley, 
 that we should allow ourselves to be absorbed into 
 English politics, was one based upon an entire mis- 
 conception of our position with regard to the Irish 
 constituencies and of the pledges which we had given. 
 In conclusion, he directed my attention to the 
 Plan of Campaign estates. He said that it would be 
 impossible for the Liberal party when they attained 
 power to do anything for these evicted tenants by 
 direct action ; that it would be also impossible for the 
 Irish Parliament, under the powers conferred, to do 
 anything for them ; and, flinging up his hands with a 
 gesture of despair, he exclaimed: " Having been to 
 Tipper ary, I do not know what to propose in regard 
 to the matter." I told him that this question was 
 a limited one, and that I did not see that he need 
 allow himself to be hampered by its future con- 
 sideration ; that, being limited, funds would be avail- 
 able from America and elsewhere for the support of 
 those tenants as long as might be necessary; that, 
 of course, I understood it was a difficulty, but that 
 it was a limited one, and should not be allowed to 
 interfere with the general interests of the country. 
 
APPENDICES 301 
 
 I allude to this matter only because within the 
 last few days a strong argument in many minds for 
 my expulsion has been that, unless the Liberals 
 come into power at the next General Election, the 
 Plan of Campaign tenants will suffer. As I have 
 shown, the Liberals propose to do nothing for the 
 Plan of Campaign tenants by direct action when they 
 do come into power; but I am entitled to ask that 
 the existence of these tenants, whom I have sup- 
 ported in every way in the past, and whom I shall 
 continue to support in the future, shall not constitute 
 a reason for my expulsion from Irish politics. I 
 have repeatedly pledged myself to stand by these 
 evicted tenants and that they shall not be allowed 
 to suffer, and I believe that the Irish people through- 
 out the world will support me in this policy. 
 
 Sixteen years ago I conceived the idea of an Irish 
 Parliamentary party independent of all English 
 parties. Ten years ago I was elected the leader of 
 an independent Irish Parliamentary party. During 
 these ten years that party has remained independent, 
 and because of its independence it has forced upon 
 the English people the necessity of granting Home 
 Rule to Ireland. I believe that party will obtain 
 Home Rule only provided it remains independent of 
 any English party. 
 
 I do not believe that any action of the Irish 
 people in supporting me will endanger the Home 
 Rule cause or postpone the establishment of an Irish 
 Parliament; but even if the danger with which we 
 are threatened by the Liberal party of to-day were 
 to be realized, I believe that the Irish people through- 
 out the world would agree with me that postpone- 
 ment would be preferable to a compromise of our 
 national rights by the acceptance of a measure which 
 would not realize the aspirations of our race. 
 I have the honour to remain, 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 Charles Stewart Parnell. 
 
APPENDIX G 
 
 AvoNDALE is not, as is commonly believed, an old pos- 
 session of the Parnell family. The ancestral estate is that 
 of Colure in Armagh. The house at Avondale was built 
 by Colonel Hayes, its original proprietor, in 1777, this 
 date being inscribed inside the hall door. Colonel Hayes 
 was a Colonel in the Irish Volunteers during the Irish 
 Rebellion, and the flags of his regiment used to hang up 
 in the hall at Avondale, until, on the death of my brother 
 Charley, they were taken down and placed on his coffin. 
 Colonel Hayes planted a great deal of timber on the 
 estate, and it was through a common interest in forestry 
 that he formed a friendship with Sir John Parnell, the 
 last member of the old Irish House of Commons. This 
 friendship lasted until his death, and was so warm that 
 by his will Colonel Hayes provided that Avondale should 
 pass to his widow if she desired to live there; but in the 
 case of her not wishing to do so, it was to become the 
 property of his friend, Sir John Parnell, and his heirs. 
 Mrs. Hayes refused to live at Avondale, and so the estate 
 passed to the Parnell family. The will of Colonel Hayes 
 contained a curious provision that the estate of Avondale 
 should always pass to a younger member of the family 
 (it being considered, no doubt, that the older members 
 would be sufficiently provided for out of the Parnell 
 ancestral estates in the counties of Armagh and Queens) ; 
 and it also stipulated that the owners of Avondale should 
 take the name of Hayes, or Parnell-Hayes. My grand- 
 father was known as William Parnell-Hayes, but the 
 
 302 
 
APPENDICES 303 
 
 name Hayes has for some reason been dropped by the 
 subsequent heirs of the property. I came across this will 
 of Colonel Hayes's in my father's desk, by accident, after 
 Charley's death, and it explained to me why my father 
 should have left Avondale to Charley. The latter, I 
 think, never knew about it, because he often expressed 
 regret that the property should have been left to him, 
 as he felt that it ought to have come to me, as the eldest 
 son. 
 
 My father only owned the Avondale estate through 
 the generosity of his sister Catherine, the late Mrs. 
 Wigram, to whom my grandfather had left it. My father 
 and Lord Powerscourt were rivals for the hand of Miss 
 Delia Stewart, the American beauty, daughter of Com- 
 modore Charles Stewart, and, to enable him to win her, 
 his sister gave him Avondale, in return for a mortgage 
 of £10,000, which was to bring her in an income of £500 a 
 year. My father left Avondale to Charley and an income 
 of £4,000 a year; whilst I was left the old Parnell estate 
 in Co. Armagh, with only a small income, because my 
 uncle, Sir Ralph Howard, had given my father to under- 
 stand that I should be his heir, which would have made 
 me as well provided for as Charley. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abercorn, Duke of, 114 
 Alabama, C. S. Parnell in, 77-79, 
 82-108, 147 
 coal-fields of, 8, 91-94, 103, 
 
 112, 285 
 America, Parnell as a hero in, 8, 
 
 268-270 
 American Civil War, the, 43, 55- 
 58, 67, 85, 125, 127 
 influence in Ireland, 68 
 
 on Parnell, 196 
 
 National League, 208, 238, 269 
 
 sympathy with the Irish, 150, 
 
 154, 156-164, 238, 245, 268 
 
 War of Independence, the, 8 
 
 centenary of, 145, 147 
 
 Arklow, Parnell at, 136, 212, 258, 
 
 283, 287 
 Armagh Light Infantry, the, 54, 
 
 55. 71 
 
 Army Reserve, the, 150 
 Arrears Act, the, 205 
 Athlone, Parnell at, 172, 173 
 Atlanta Constitution, The, 160, 
 
 255. 268 
 Atlanta, Georgia, 158, 160, 255, 
 
 268-270, 276 
 Aughavannagh, Parnell family at, 
 
 9, 32, 63, III, 117, 155, 254, 259, 
 
 282. 283 
 Aughrim, 32 
 
 Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., 56 
 Avoca, 285 
 
 Land League, the, 291 
 Avonbeg River, 280 
 Avondale, 234, 259 
 
 description of, 14-17, 33 
 inherited by C. S. Parnell, 3, 
 
 9. 14. 39. 58, 114 
 mortgages on, 209, 256, 286, 
 
 288 
 Parnell at, 130, 176, 178, 257, 
 
 263, 278, 281, 287, 290 
 quarries at, 147, 293 
 sawmills at, 59-62, 76, 88, 93, 
 
 113, 147, 256, 257, 278-280, 
 
 293 
 
 Avonmore, the river, 3, 4, 14 
 
 Ballyarthur cricket team, 31 
 Bally Capple mines, the, 293 
 Barndarrig, 291 
 Barry, Mr., 167 
 
 advises Parnell's retirement, 
 244 
 Bennet, Pat, 256, 257 
 Biggar, Joseph, arrest of, 188 
 
 his campaign of obstruction, 
 
 143. 149 
 opposes Parnell, 232 
 supports Parnell, 167 
 Birmingham, Alabama, 79, S9-97, 
 
 lOI 
 
 Birmingham, England, dynamite 
 factory in, 210 
 Gladstone in, 220 
 Black Friday panic, the, 138, 286 
 Blackrock, 259, 282 
 Blake, Mr., 167 
 Blindfold, walking, 60 
 Bookey, Captain, 62 
 Bordentown, 13 
 Bossi, his work at Avondale, 16 
 Boston, U.S.A., 44 
 Boswell, James, 6 
 Boulogne, Parnell in, 251 
 Bourrienne, 6 
 
 Boycott, system of, 184-187 
 Brabazon, Lord, 47, 48 
 Brennan, Thomas, secretau'y of 
 
 the Land League, 188 
 Brett. Sergeant, 69, 129 
 Bright, John, opposes the Home 
 
 Rule Bill, 215, 216 
 Brighton, Parnell in, 233-235, 252, 
 
 266, 285 
 Brooke, Charles, 24 
 Brooklyn, Land League meetings 
 in, 163 
 Parnell at, 152, 158 
 Brooks, Mr., 167 
 Brownrigg, Mr., 56 
 Budget Bill, 1885, 212 
 Bullock Harbour, 42 
 Burke, Mr., murder of, 200-206, 221 
 Butt, Isaac, his leadership, 149- 
 
 152, 166 
 
 305 20 
 
3o6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Butt, Isaac, his tenant-right cam- 
 paign,ii3,ii8,i20,i3i, 142,291 
 Byrne, T. A., 167, 291 
 
 Cahawba, Parnell at, 89 
 Callaghan, Miss, 103 
 Callan, Mr., 167 
 Cambridge, Parnell at, 49, 52 
 Campbell, Mr., 235, 281 
 Canada, Fenian raid on, 67 
 Candles, superstition as to, 266 
 Carlisle, Earl of, as Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant, 54, 55, 72, 122 
 Carlow, 252 
 
 property, inherited by Henry 
 
 Parnell in, 39, 115 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 6 
 Carysfort, Lord, 10, 117 
 
 his estate at Arklow, 258, 282, 
 
 283, 293 
 Casino, the, 15, 34, 36, 44, 51 
 Castle Howard, 24 
 Castlereagh, Lord, 291 
 Catholic Association, the, 8 
 Cavendish, Lord Frederick, mur- 
 der of, 200-206, 221 
 Chamberlain, Joseph, his share in 
 
 the Kilmainham Treaty, 
 
 197, 231 
 opposes the Home Rule Bill, 
 
 214-216 
 supports Parnell, 153 
 Chambers, Colonel, 86 
 Chester, 51 
 Chipping Norton, Parnell at, 47- 
 
 52, 97 
 Churchill, 51 
 
 Clancy, Mr., opposes Parnell, 248 
 Clan-na-Gael, the Parnells' rela- 
 tions with, 152, 154, 162, 165 
 Clarinda Park, 43 
 Clarke, Wilham, tutor, 35 
 Cliphart, Mr., 94, 98 
 Clover Hill mines, 88, 106-108, 148 
 Coalfields, Parnell's interest in, 
 80, 88-95, 98, 104-108, 112, 130, 
 
 131 
 
 Coercion Bill, the, 189-193, 196, 
 198, 204, 205, 220 
 
 Collins, Terry, 84 
 
 Collure, inherited by J. H. Par- 
 nell, 39, 61, 112, 123, 131, 302 
 
 Colthurst, Mr., 167 
 
 Congleton, Henry Parnell, Lord, 
 his career, 7, 8 
 Thomas Parnell, Mayor of, 7 
 
 Conoree Copper Company, the, 278 
 
 Corbett, W. J., on Parnell, 254 
 supports Parnell, 63, 167, 
 281, 292 
 Cork, Daniel Horgan, Mayor of, 
 ix-xi 
 Parnell M.P. for, 119, 166 
 
 250, 300 
 pride in Parnell in, x, xi 
 Cowper, Lord, Viceroy of Ireland, 
 
 198-200 
 Creggs, Parnell at, 252 
 Cricket, Parnell's love of, 22, 29 
 
 31, 38, 48, 51, 181 
 Crimes Act, the, 204, 217 
 Cummins, Dr., 167 
 
 Dalkey, Parnell family at, 40 
 
 Daly, 167 
 
 Davitt, Michael, 132 
 
 in America, 153, 187 
 supports Parnell, 153, 203 
 
 Dawson, 167 
 
 Dawson,LadyCarolineElizabeth,8 
 
 Day, Mr. Justice, 225 
 
 Derrybawn, 62 
 
 Devereux, Nicholas, 285 
 
 Dickinson, Captain, acts as agent, 
 59, 60, 112 
 in Dublin, 117, 119, 121-123, 
 
 133 
 marries Emily Parnell, 11, 
 
 12, 37. 45. 59 
 Dickinson, Emily, in Dublin, 119- 
 123, 138 
 at Avondale, 256, 263, 277, 
 278, 283 
 Dillon, John, arrest of, 188, 251 
 joins the Liberals, 247 
 supports Parnell, 203, 238, 
 
 251 
 supports the Plan of Cam- 
 paign, 217 
 suspension of, 190 
 visits America, 156 
 Doyle, Mr., 268 
 Drink, dog, 86 
 Dublin Castle, 281 
 
 Parnell at, 188 
 County, contested by Parnell, 
 
 137-139. 291 
 and South-Eastern Railway, 
 the, 44 
 Dublin, Parnell family in, 32, 38, 
 39, 45. 50. 54. 62, 119, 126, 
 130 
 Parnell in, 213, 249, 252, 279 
 Parnell's funeral in, 254 
 
INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 Dunne, Mr., 91 
 
 Dynamite outrages, the, 209 
 
 Edward VII., King, as Prince, 
 
 visits Ireland, 212 
 Edwards, Mr., engineer, 44, 50 
 Egan, Patrick, treasurer of the 
 
 Land League, 188, 196 
 Eighty Club, the, 218 
 Elba, 195 
 Eltham, 231 
 England, Parnell's hatred oi, 128, 
 
 130, 177. 218 
 Ennis, Parnell at, 186 
 Enniscorthy, Painell at, 163, 165, 
 
 293 
 Enniskerry, 68 
 Erne, Lord, 186 
 Errington, Mr., 167 
 
 Feeney, Mr., 280 
 
 Fenian Movement, the, its history, 
 67-72 
 its influence on C. S. Parnell, 
 
 72, 118, 127, 129, 145 
 Parnell's relations with, 152, 
 154, 161-163, 167, 185, 208 
 Field, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph, 105 
 FitzGerald, Dr., 246 
 Flanigan, Mr., 167 
 Flogging, abolition of, 150, 153 
 Foley, Mr., 167 
 Ford, Miss, 163, 269 
 Ford, Patrick, editor of the Irish 
 
 World, 152, 163, 164, 196 
 Forster, Mr., as Chief Secretary 
 for Ireland, 184-200 
 his attack on Parnell, 206, 
 207 
 Foy, Mr., 167 
 
 Frederick the Great of Prussia, 6 
 Freeman's Journal, 121, 236 
 Frozen fruit and meat, importa- 
 tion of, 137, 147 
 Funerals, Parnell's dread of, 44, 
 265 
 
 Gabbett, Mr., 167 
 GafEney, Jack and Henry, 278 
 Gafiney, Peter and Mary, 60 
 Galbraith. Rev. Henry, 34 
 Galvin, Father, supports Parnell, 
 
 103, 136 
 Galway, representation of, 141, 
 
 231, 232 
 Gibbons, Pat, 85 
 Gill. Mr., 167 
 
 Gladstone, William Ewart, as 
 Premier, his Irish policy, 
 167, 190, 193-198, 212, 213, 
 219, 231, 247, 248, 251, 292 
 
 his collars, 175 
 
 his Home Rule Bill, 214-216, 
 220 
 
 his Land Act, 190 
 
 Parnell on, 218 
 
 Parnell's relations with, 132, 
 190, 193, 202, 240-244, 253. 
 
 295 
 Glenmalure, 254, 284, 292 
 Glens, The O'Donoghue of the, 172 
 Government Army Bill, the, 153 
 Grant, President, 145, 146 
 Grattan, Henry, his Parliament, 
 
 7, 212, 297 
 Gray, Mr., 167 
 Green, Parnell's aversion to. 174, 
 
 263, 264, 273 
 Greenare, 291 
 Grey, Lord. 8 
 Grey, Lord de, 292 
 
 Habeas Corpus Act, suspension of 
 
 the, 188-193, 198 
 Hacketstown, 136 
 Hamilton, Lord Claude, 114, 115 
 Hamilton, merchant, 52 
 Hannen, Mr. Justice, 225 
 Hansard, consulted, 142 
 Harcourt, Sir William, his Crimes 
 Bill, 204 
 his Irish policy, 242, 248 
 Harrington, T., supports Parnell, 
 
 223, 238, 247, 260 
 Harrison, Mr., 235 
 Hawarden, Parnell at, 295-298 
 Hawksley, Mr., solicitor, 234 
 Hayden, Mr., M.P., 172, 173 
 Hayes, Colonel Samuel, bequeaths 
 
 Avondale to the Parnells, 14, 
 
 16, 302 
 Hayes family, the, at Avondale, 3 
 Healy, Timothy, assists Parnell, 
 265 
 in America, 160, 269 
 on Parnell, 237 
 Hennessy, Sir John Pope, con- 
 tests Kilkenny, 248, 265 
 Hicks-Beach, Sir Michael, as Chief 
 
 Secretary for Ireland, 129, 145 
 Hill, Matt, 85, 125 
 Hill. Senator, 85 
 Home Rule Bill, Gladstone's, 214- 
 
 216, 220, 266 
 
3o8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Home Rule Conference, 1878, 152 
 League, the, 152 
 Paxnell's efEorts for, 138, 
 141, 148, 152-168, 183, 
 206, 274 
 Paxnell's prophecy con- 
 cerning, 281 
 struggle for, 68, 118, 131 
 138, 141, 274 
 Horgan, Daniel, Mayor of Cork, 
 
 his tribute to Parnell, vii.-xi. 
 Howard, Sir Ralph, guardian, 39, 
 
 59, III, 113-115, 288, 303 
 Hunting, Parnell's love of, 61, 181 
 
 Invincibles, the, 201-206 
 Ipswich, 70 
 
 Ireland, American sympathy with, 
 150, 154, 156-164, 238, 245, 
 268 
 disestabUshment of the 
 
 Church of, 199, 213 
 famine in, 155-161, 167, 183, 
 
 199 
 Home Rule for, 68, 118, 131, 
 
 134. 141 
 outrages in, 184, 197, 199, 209 
 Irish Insurrection Act, the, 8 
 
 ParUament, the, 7, 134, 212, 
 
 281, 291, 297, 302 
 party in ParUament, Parnell 
 as leader of, vii., 131, 
 162, 166, 167, 183, 189, 
 213, 216, 239-252, 294- 
 301 
 tactics of the, 142-146, 
 
 149-153, 190, 227 
 under Redmond, 259 
 priests, their attitude to Par- 
 nell, 240, 250 
 Irish World, The, 152, 196, 210 
 
 James I., 7 
 
 Jersey City, 108, 163 
 
 Johnson, Mr., guardian, 40 
 
 Kavanagh, gardener, 33 
 
 Kenny, Dr., 252 
 
 Kettle, A. J., 291 
 
 Kilkenny, coalfields of, 284, 285 
 
 Kilkenny election, the, 248, 250, 
 
 265 
 Killarney, 58 
 
 Kilmainham Prison, Parnell in, 
 194-198, 292 
 Treaty, the, 197, 205 
 King, Harry, in Ireland, 56-58, 125 
 
 Kingham, 51 
 Kingsbridge, 58, 119, 250 
 Kingston, near Avondale, 37, 278, 
 
 287 
 Kingstown, Parnell family at, 41- 
 
 44. "4 
 Kirk Langley. Peirnell at school 
 at, 29 
 
 Labouchere, ?Ienry, 299 
 
 supports Parnell, 236 
 Ladies' Land League, the activi- 
 ties of, 13, 153, 163, 206, 269 
 Lalor, Mr., 167 
 Lancaster, R.A., loS 
 Land Act, Gladstone's, 190, 212, 
 
 215 
 League, the, activities of, 
 153, 163, 185, 191. 195, 
 266, 291 
 its responsibility for out- 
 rages, 184, 206, 227 
 suppression of, 188, 193, 
 205 
 Lanier, Mr., 82 
 Leahy, J., 167 
 Leamy, Mr., supports Parnell, 167, 
 
 246, 249 
 Leeds, 194, 292 
 
 Liverpool, Pcu-nell in, iii, 148, 
 256 
 T.P. O'Connor, M.P. for, 232 
 Lonby, Miss, 11 
 Long Leaf pine lands, 104 
 
 Mahon, Mr., 167 
 Mallon, Superintendent, 194 
 Maloney, Father, 290 
 Manchester murders, the, 6g, 71, 
 
 129, 145 
 Mangan, J. C, quotation from, 65 
 Marderon, M., 29 
 Marietta, 271 
 Marsh, Sir Frederick, 38 
 Martin, John, M.P., 139 
 Martin, P., 167 
 Marum, Mr., 167 
 Maryborough, 191 
 Matier, Mrs., 11 
 Mayo, Parnell elected M.P. for, 
 
 166 
 McCarroU, Joseph, his tribute to 
 
 Parnell, 290-293 
 McCarthy, Justin, opposes Par- 
 nell, 246, 248, 251 
 supports Parnell, 167, 237 
 McConn, Mr., 167 
 
INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 McDermott, Alfred, solicitor, 11, 
 
 40, 256, 277 
 McDermott, Sophy, 11, 13, 40, 
 
 45. 112 
 McDermott, The, supports Par- 
 
 nell, 237 
 McDonald, Patrick, 282 
 McFarlane, Mr., 167 
 McKenna, Mr., 167 
 Meath, Parnell returned for, 139- 
 141, 166 
 Earl of, 47 
 Meeting of the Waters, the, 3, 14, 
 
 30, 36, 280, 284 
 Melbourne, Lord, 8 
 Meldon, Mr., 167 
 Merna, Michael, 5, 278 
 Merna, Mrs., 79, 82 
 Mexico, Pamell's father in, 9 
 Militia, Parnell as a member of 
 
 the, 54, 71, 72, 148 
 Mineralogy, Parnell's interest in, 
 
 25S, 278-2S5, 293 
 Montgomery, U.S.A., 89, 95-97 
 Montreal, Parnell in, 161 
 Moonlighting, 187, 270 
 Moore, Thomas, 14 
 Moran, P. J., 160, 255, 268 
 Morley, Arnold, publishes Glad- 
 stone's letter, 243 
 Morley, Viscount, 248 
 
 Gladstone's letter to, 241- 
 
 243. 295 
 his Irish policy, 218, 298 
 Mount Avon, 36, 40, 280, 287 
 Mount Jerome, 39, 44 
 Mutiny Bill, the Marine, 149, 150 
 
 Naas, 194 
 Napoleon I., 6, 195 
 National League, the, activities 
 of, 208, 236, 265 
 Liberal Federation, the, 241 
 New Orleans, Parnell at, 94-98 
 Newport, Rhode Island, 77-80 
 New York, 256, 269, 277, 282, 286 
 Davitt in, 153 
 
 Land League meetings in, 163, 
 Parnell in, 108, 117, 146, 148, 
 156-161 
 Nolan, Colonel, M.P., supports 
 
 Parnell, 141, 149, 246, 247 
 Nonconformist opposition to Par- 
 nell, 242 
 "No Rent" Mxnifesto, the, 196 
 North and South Railway, acci- 
 dent on the, 98-101, 105 
 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, 151 
 North Georgia, 270 
 North Sligo, 252 
 
 O'Brien, Sir P., 167 
 O'Brien, William, arrest of, 251 
 his " No Rent " Manifesto, 196 
 hisplan of compaign, 216, 219, 
 
 266 
 joins the Liberals, 247, 251 
 supports Parnell, 238 
 Obstruction, Parnell's campaign 
 
 of, 143, 149-153. 162, 189 
 O'Connor, Arthur, 167 
 O'Connor, T. P., in America, 238, 
 269 
 in Dublin, 277 
 joins the Liberals, 247 
 M.P., for Liverpool, 231 
 supports Parnell, 167 
 O'Connor Don, The, 43 
 October, regarded as ill-omened, 
 
 266 
 O'Donnell, F. H., his action 
 
 against the Times, 225 
 O'Donoghue, The, his reminis- 
 cences of Parnell, 172, 173, 177, 
 249 
 O'Gorman, Mr., 167 
 O'Kelly, J. J., supports Parnell, 
 
 167, 246, 277 
 Orangemen, Canadian, 160, 161 
 O'Shea, Captain, divorces his wife, 
 200, 231-236 
 returned for Galway, 232 
 supports Parnell, 167, 231 
 O'Shea, Misses, 235 
 O'Shea, Mrs., her marriage with 
 
 Parnell, 11, 81, 231, 234 
 O'Sullivan, W. H., 167, 188 
 O'Toole, Patrick, 63 
 Oxford, 51 
 
 Paget, Theodosia, 11, 13, 14 
 
 in Newport, 80 
 Paris, C. S. Parnell in, 62, 73-81, 
 
 III. 195 
 Parnell family in, 38, 62, 74, 
 
 113. 115 
 Parliament, Parnell as a member 
 
 of, 141. 149-153. 162, 177, 183 
 Parnell family, the, at Avondale, 
 
 3. 9-17 
 Parnell, Anna, 13, 45, 211 
 Parnell, Charles Stewart, appears 
 after death, 258-260 
 as a conversationalist, 48, 125 
 
310 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Parnell, Charles Stewart, as an 
 
 engineer, 58, 62, 79, 92, 
 
 147, 279 
 as leader of the Irish party, 
 
 vii., 131, 162, 166, 183, 189, 
 
 213, 216, 239-252, 294-301 
 as a member of Parliament, 
 
 141, 199, 211, 227, 
 as a militia-man, 54, 72 
 as a mineralogist, 42, 79, 88, 
 
 107, 258, 278-285, 293 
 as the " Uncrowned King " 
 
 of Ireland, viii, 231 
 at Aughavannagh, 63, iii, 
 
 117 
 at Avondale, 60 
 cartoon of, 5 
 
 contests Dubhn, 138, 291 
 decides to enter pohtics, 118- 
 
 122, 130 
 deserted by his party, 236- 
 
 252 
 his aloofness from his partv, 
 
 131 
 
 his childhood, 11, 15, 18-46 
 his death and funeral, 252- 
 
 256 
 his early love-affairs, 24, 49, 
 
 73-81, 116, 130 
 his education, 27-29, 34, 41, 
 
 45. 47-53 
 his financial affairs, 80, 88, 
 
 94, 103, 108, 209, 286-289 
 his horror of the Phoenix Park 
 
 murders and all outrages, 
 
 200-208, 210, 217 
 his ill-health, 181-198, 217- 
 
 219, 226, 252, 281 
 his imprisonment, 193-198, 
 
 292 
 his interest in coalfields, 88- 
 
 95. 103, 106, 130, 148 
 
 his love of his own way, 25, 26 
 his love of sport, 31, 48, 55, 
 
 56, 61, 117, 120, 181 
 his loyalty to the Throne, 
 
 128, 212 
 his manifesto, 294-301 
 his many superstitions, 174, 
 
 263-267, 273 
 his nervous attacks, 32, 83, 
 
 177 
 his patriotism, x, 5, 21 
 his personal appearance and 
 
 characteristics, 171-182, 281 
 his pohcy of obstruction, 144, 
 
 149-153, 162, 189 
 
 Parnell, Charles Stewart, his rela- 
 tions with the Fenians, 70- 
 72, 118, 127, 129, 145, 152, 
 154, 161-163, 167, 185, 208 
 his relations with Gladstone, 
 132, 190, 193, 202, 218, 240- 
 244. 253, 295 
 his resentment against Eng- 
 land, 122, 130, 177 
 his reserve, viii, 29, 126, 174 
 his sawmills at Avondale, 62. 
 
 See Avondale 
 his sense of humour, 1 72 
 his struggle for Home Rule, 
 
 X, 142, 148, 213, 281 
 in Paris, 62, 195 
 in a railway accident, 96-103 
 influence of the American 
 Civil War on, 55, 67, 85, 
 125-127 
 inherits Avondale, 39, 59, 114, 
 
 277, 302 
 marries Rirs. O 'Shea, 231-233 
 M.P. for Cork, ix, xi, 166 
 M.P. for Meath, 139, 166 
 organizes the Lamd League, 
 
 154, 163, 185, 191 
 prosecution of, 188 
 repudiates Pigott's forgeries, 
 
 221-227 
 suggests boycotting, 186 
 supports his brother's can- 
 didature, 123, 124, 133- 
 137. 258 
 tributes to, vii-xi, 290-293 
 visits America, 77-11 1, 146, 
 156-164, 268 
 Parnell, Delia, 11,21. 5ee Thomson 
 Parnell, Emily, childhood of, 11, 
 12, 22, 30. 31, 35, 37, 43, 45. 
 See Dickinson 
 Parnell, Fanny, as President of 
 the Ladies' Land League, 
 153, 154, 163 
 childhood of, 11, 20, 34, 45, 46 
 death of, 210 
 in America, 146, 147, 154, 
 
 160, 163 
 in Paris, 116 
 patriotism of, 13, 20, 70 
 superstition of, 116, 267 
 Parnell, Hayes, 10-12 
 Parnell, Henry Tudor, 11, 45 
 
 inherits Carlow property, 39. 
 
 115 
 Parnell, Sir Henry. See Lord 
 
 Congleton 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 Parnell, Sir John, career of, 7, 14, 
 
 134. 302 
 Parnell, John Howard, acquaint- 
 ance with Mrs. C. S. Par- 
 nell, 234-236 
 
 American experiences of, 59, 
 77-109, 146, 255, 268-276 
 
 as a member of Parliament, 
 128, 259 
 
 at Avondale, 59, 62, 256, 278- 
 285 
 
 attends Land League meet- 
 ings, 154, 160, 163. 268, 
 269 
 
 contests Wicklow, 123, 124, 
 
 133-137 
 C. S. Parnell's bedside visits 
 
 to, 258-260 
 education of, 29, 34, 38, 45- 
 
 52 
 entertains C. S. Parnell in 
 
 Alabama, 77-95, 105-109 
 heir of Sir Ralph Howard, 59, 
 
 114 
 in the Armagh Light Infantry, 
 
 54. 71. 72 
 
 inherits Collure, 39, 59, 61, 
 112, 123, 131, 303 
 
 in Paris, 29, 38, u6 
 
 interest in the American Civil 
 War, 55 
 
 inventor of method of export- 
 ing frozen fruit, 137, 147 
 
 railway accident to, 96-105 
 
 recollections of childhood, 18- 
 
 53 
 Parnell, Mr. H., father of C. S. 
 
 Parnell, 291 
 death of, 38 
 marriage of, 9 
 Parnell, Mrs., mother of C. S. 
 
 Parnell, her devotion to 
 
 the cause of freedom, 69-72 
 her financial affairs, 61, 106, 
 
 115-117, 138 
 her loyalty and her hatred of 
 
 England, 128 
 in America, 160, 163, 277 
 in Dublin, 32, 45, 50, 54, 62, 
 
 70-72 
 in Paris, 38, 62, 113, 115 
 on her son, 132, 233, 252, 255, 
 
 281 
 supports the Land League, 
 
 154, 158, 163, 269 
 Parnell, Mrs. C. S., at Brighton, 
 233-236 
 
 Parnell, Sophy, 34, 45. See 
 
 McDermott 
 Parnell, Theodosia, 45. See Paget 
 Parnell, Thomas, 7 
 Parnell, William, grandfather of 
 
 C. S. Parnell, 8 
 Petty, Mr., 157 
 Philadelphia, Davittin, 153 
 
 Land League meetings in, 
 
 163, 208 
 Parnell in, 147 
 Phoenix Park murders, the, 200- 
 
 206 
 Pierce, Dr., in a railway accident, 
 
 97-101 
 Pigott forgeries, the, 200, 221- 
 
 227 
 Pilkington, Mr., M.P., 48 
 Pitt, William, proposes the union 
 
 of Ireland, 7, 291 
 Plan of Campaign, O'Briens, 
 
 216, 217, 219, 244, 266, 300, 
 
 301 
 Portarlington, Earl of, 8 
 Powell, Colonel, 90, 91 
 Power, O'Connor, in America with 
 Parnell, 145-148 
 supports Parnell in Parlia- 
 ment, 183 
 Power, R., 167 
 
 Powerscourt, Lord, 10, 48, 303 
 Prisons Bill, the, 149 
 Providence, Rhode Island, 163 
 
 Quan-Smith, Mr., 43 
 Queenstown, in, 165, 256 
 
 Ran, boss, 87 
 
 Rathdrum, 34, 35, 103, 135, 256, 
 278, 280, 285, 288 
 
 Read, Mr., 90 
 
 Redmond, John,- as leader of the 
 Irish Party, 259 
 at Aughavannagh, 63 
 in Dublin, 236 
 supports Parnell, 246, 247 
 
 Redmond, William, 246 
 
 Ricketts, Captain, 11, 12 
 
 Robinson, Mr., attorney, 108 
 
 Roderon, M., 38 
 
 Rome, Parnell in, 75, 76, 115 
 
 Rossa, O'Donovan, editor of 
 United Ireland, 70, 71 
 
 Rossin, M., 45 
 
 Rossina, MdUe., 50 
 
 Russell, Sir Charles, defends Par- 
 nell, 225, 226 
 
312 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL 
 
 Savannah, 268 
 
 Scotland Yard, 201, 210 
 
 Scully, Vincent, 249 
 
 Sexton, Mr., 167, 188 
 
 Shank, Mr. and Mrs Felix, 88 
 
 Shaw, William, leader of the Irish 
 Party, 94, 152, 166, 183 
 
 Sheffield, 241 
 
 She Stoops to Conquer, 37 
 
 Shooting, Parnell's love of, 181 
 
 Smith, Catterson, artist, 46 
 
 Smith, Mr. Justice, 225 
 
 Smithwick, Mr., 167 
 
 Smyth, Mr., 167 
 
 South African Bill, the, 151 
 
 South Carolina, 278 
 
 Spencer, Lord, Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, 13, 200, 207 
 
 St. Aldwyn, Lord, 145 
 
 Stepaside police barracks, 68 
 
 Stewart, Charles, uncle of C. S. 
 Parnell, 38, 58, 69, 106, 
 138 
 in Paris, 74-75, iii, 115 
 
 Stewart, Commodore Charles, and 
 Mrs.. 8-10, 38, 43, 55, 128. 
 303 
 
 Stewart, Delia, marries Mr. Par- 
 nell, 8-10, 303 
 
 Sullivan, A. M., 291 
 
 Sullivan, T. D., in America, 238 
 joins the Liberals, 247 
 supports Parnell, 167. 188 
 
 Synan, Mr., 167 
 
 Tallaght, Battle of, 68 
 
 Taylor, Colonel, M.P. for DubHn, 
 
 137 
 Tenant Right System, the, 113, 
 
 117, 120, 131 
 Thirteen, Parnell's dislike of the 
 
 number, 264, 267 
 Thompson, Mr., Mrs., and Henry, 
 
 II, 12, 38, 116, 148, 195 
 Thompson, Sir Henry, 181, 252 
 Times, the, on Parnellism and 
 Crime, 221-225 
 Parnell's manifesto in, 294- 
 301 
 Tipperary, 173, 300 
 Toronto, Parnell in, 160, 161 
 Trim, Parnell in, 139 
 Trinity College head rent, 113 
 Truth. 236 
 
 Twopenny, Mrs., nurse, ig, 22, 26, 
 30, 32, 34. 51 
 
 Ulster Tenant Right, the, 134 
 Uncrowned King, the, viii, 231 
 United Ireland, 70, 249 
 
 Valley of the Seven Churches, the, 
 
 62 
 Victoria, Queen, Parnell's loyalty 
 
 to, 128, 129 
 Virginia, Parnell's interest in the 
 
 mines of, 80, 88, 106, 148 
 
 Walsh, Martin, 40 
 
 Warrior Coalfield, the, 91-94, 103, 
 
 147, 279 
 Welsh quarries, the, 283, 284 
 West, Charles, agent, 36, 40 
 West Point, Alabama, 269 
 
 C. S. Parnell visits his brother 
 at, 77-79, 82-89, 95, 105 
 Wexford, Parnell at, 194, 292 
 Wey bridge, 14 
 Whateley, game-keeper, 56 
 Whinstone Quarry at Arklow, the, 
 
 258, 282, 293 
 Whitechapel murders, the, 237 
 Wicklow, coalfields of, 284, 287 
 Chemical Manure Works, 278 
 contested by J. H. Parnell, 
 
 124, 125, 133-137, 258 
 Harbour, 293 
 Parnell, High Sheriff of, 122, 
 
 133, 135, 137 
 Parnell in, 68, 73, 117, 136 
 
 287, 290, 292 
 Rifles, the, 54, 71 
 Wicklow, Lord and Lady, at 
 
 Avondale, 3, 10 
 Wigram, Mrs., 287, 303 
 Wingfield, Louis, 48 
 Winslow, Dr. Forbes, 28 
 Wishaw, Rev. Mr., tutor, 47-50, 
 
 58 
 Wood, Katharine. See Mrs. 
 
 O'Shea 
 Woods, Miss, Parnell's engage- 
 ment to, 74-81, 130 
 Wylde. Lady, quotation from, i 
 
 Yeovil, Parnell at, 27 
 
 Zouche, Miss, 32, 34, 40 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD 
 
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