PARNELL. 



141 



the vote on it cannot be reconsidered. It supersedes 

 all other motions except the motion to fix the time to 

 which to adjourn. The latter motion does not adjourn 

 the meeting, but is intended to fix the time to which 

 the adjournment will stand when the meeting does 

 adjourn. This motion takes precedence of a}l other 

 questions, and may be made after the meeting has 

 voted to adjourn if the presiding officer has not 

 announced the result of the vote. It may be amended 

 by altering the time. 



The general rule as to the rank of questions is that 

 of the U. S. House of Representatives, which is as 

 follows : " When a question is under debate no motion 

 shall be received but to fix the day to which the House 

 shall adjourn, to adjourn, to take a recess, to lay on the 

 table, for the previous question, .... to postpone to 

 a certain day, to refer or amend, or to postpone indefi- 

 nitely, which several motions shall have precedence in 

 the foregoing order. ' ' 



The motion to recotisiib-r is intended to bring back 

 before the house a question that has been decided, and 

 to place it before the house just as it stood before the 

 vote was taken upon it, but as the rule of the U. 8. 

 House of Representatives puts it, " The fact of a ques- 

 tion having Seen decided under the operation of the 

 previous question does not prevent debate on the motion 

 to reconsider if the original question was otherwise 

 debatable. " The motion to reconsider may be applied 

 to votes on all questions excepting on motions to ad- 

 journ, to suspend the rules, affirmative votes on motions 

 to lie on the table or take from the table, on matters 

 which have passed from the possession of the house, 

 and on the previous question when it has been partly 

 executed. It may be made when other business is 

 before the house. In such a case the motion is entered 

 upon the minutes, the business before the house pro- 

 ceeds, and the motion to reconsider is held over to be 

 called up at any time before the close of the session. 



The general rule is that the presiding officer must 

 recognize the member who is first up and first addresses 

 the chair, but there are a few exceptions. Thus, the 

 member upon whose motion the subject has been 

 brought before the body, if he has not spoken to the 

 question, has the prior claim. No member can be de- 

 prived of his rights by the chair as long as he is in 

 order, and it is not within the province of the presiding 

 officer to cut off debate. Even after a vote has been 

 taken and the result declared, if it appears that a mem- 

 ber did rise and address the chair, but was not recog- 

 nized, then his right to speak must be admitted, and 

 the question will stand as tHough no vote had been 

 taken. 



In Congress and in the State Legislatures bills are 

 read three times. Where the Legislature is a double 

 body, consisting, for example, of a Senate and a House 

 of Representatives, a bill after passing one body is sent 

 to the other. If both bodies agree to its passage, then 

 it is sent to the president or chief-executive for his 

 signature. If the second body makes amendments in 

 the bill, then, when it is returned, the house where it 

 originated considers the amendments. If there is not 

 agreement between the two houses, each house selects 

 a committee of conference, and this committee en- 

 diMvoi-n to acne upon amendments which will meet the 

 approval of both bodies. If the chief-executive vetoes 

 the bill it i returned to the house where it originated ; 

 then, if it receives a two-thirds vote of each house, 

 the hill becomes a law without the approval of the 

 executive. 



Parliamentary law has become a vast study. The Law 

 null I'ructice of Legislative Assemblies, by L. S. Gushing 

 IJ'i-tiin), is a large octavo of 1063 pages. Besides this 

 standard work, the following may be consulted: Jefferson's 

 Mn a mil; Digest of Rulet and Practice of the U. S. Haute 

 of Representatives ; O. M. Wilson's Digest of Parliamentary 

 Law; Warrington's Manual ; Cushing"s Manual ; Roberts' 

 Rules of Order (Chicago) ; G. T. Fish's Parliamentary Law ; 

 Rufus Waples' Hand-Soot on Parliamentary Practice; T. 

 B. Neely'a Parliamentary Practice. (T. B. N.) 



PARNELL, CHARLES STEWART, the Irish agita- 

 tor, is descended from an English Protestant family 

 originally settled in Cheshire. His paternal grand- 

 father, Sir Henry Parnell, was a member of Parlia- 

 ment, and in 1841 was raised to the peerage as Lord 

 Congleton. His maternal grandfather was Rear- Ad- 

 miral Charles Stewart (1778-1869) of the U. S. Navy, 

 familiarly known as "Old Ironsides." Parnell was 

 born in June, 1846, at Avondale. County Wicklow, 

 Ireland. He was educated in English schools and at 

 Cambridge University, where he remained two years. 

 After travelling through the United States he settled 

 down on his estate in Ireland, and in 1874 was made 

 sheriff of Wicklow county. In the next year he was 

 elected to Parliament from Meath as a Home-Ruler. 

 Isaac Butt (q. v.) was then the leader of this party, 

 but Parnell and Biggar soon introduced a policy of ob- 

 struction which he did not favor. Their ooject was to 

 compel the Parliament to redress the grievances of 

 Ireland under a penalty of having all the parliamen- 

 tary work greatly delayed or entirely stopped. By 

 persistent speaking on every subject that afforded an 

 opportunity they wearied out the patience of the Eng- 

 lish members and at last obliged them to take some 

 action on Irish questions. The Home Rule party had 

 sought for a reform in the Irish land laws which was 

 summed up in the three F's Fixity of Tenure, Fair 

 Rent, and Free Sale. In 1879 the potato crop in Ire- 

 land failed for the third time in as many successive 

 years. Evictions of tenants from their little holdings 

 of land followed in great numbers. Parnell, now 

 recognized as the leader of the Irish party in Parlia- 

 ment, was induced by Michael Davitt to give his as- 

 sent to the formation of the National Land League, 

 which aimed at peasant-proprietorship. In October 

 the league was organized, Parnell was chosen president, 

 and branches formed in all parts of Ireland. In 1880 

 the Liberal party under Mr. Gladstone returned to 

 power with overwhelming majority. The case of Ire- 

 land had not been considered in the election campaign, 

 and the Parnellites, now thirty-five in number, re- 

 solved to remain in opposition in Parliament and con- 

 tinue the policy of obstruction. Mr. W. E. Forster, 

 the Secretary for Ireland, soon brought in Coercion 

 Bills which justified Parnell's forecast of the situation. 

 Under the pretence of the increase of outrages in Ire- 

 land they suspended the Habeas Cotyms and required 

 the disarming of the Irish people. Then Mr. Glad- 

 stone introduced his Land Bill, which went far towards 

 meeting the original demands of the league. Yet 

 Parnell and his adherents resolved to maintain the or- 

 ganization until it was sure that the action of the 

 courts under the new act would be equitable and satis- 

 factory. The government, on the other hand, guided 

 by Mr. Forster, determined to crush all opposition, 

 and in October, 1881, arrested Parnell and others 

 under the Coercion Act and imprisoned them in Kil- 

 mainham Jail, Dublin. The league was outlawed, but 

 it replied with a " No Rent " manifesto. The ensuing 

 struggle proved too severe for the administration. Mr. 

 Forster was dismissed and Parnell was released on 

 parole in April and unconditionally in May, 1882. He 

 returned to Parliament in triumph, but tne victory of 

 the Irish cause was overthrown by the assassination in 

 Dublin of the new Chief Secretary, Lord Frederick 

 Cavendish, and of Edmund Burke, the under sec- 

 retary. A Crimes Act was speedily passed and 

 Home Rule sank out of sight. The policy of obstruc- 

 tion had been neutralized by the cloture acts which in- 

 creased the power of the Speaker of the House of 

 Commons over the members. However, the electorate 

 of Ireland was soon increased from 250,000 to 750,000, 

 and a Redistribution Bill promoted a fairer represen- 

 tation of the people in Parliament. But the strength 

 of the Liberal party steadily declined, and in June, 

 1885, it was overthrown. In the November elections 

 the Tories had the aid of Irish votes, but when they 

 refused guarantees of their action in Parliament, they 



