GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



401 



dent magistrates, should be retained in the hands 

 of the Imperial Government for ten or twelve 

 years. Mr. Parnell, claiming constabulary con- 

 trol, judicial appointments, and agrarian reform 

 as essential to home rule, was willing to humor 

 English prejudices by proceeding by slow stages. 

 He was indifferent as to the ultimate representa- 

 tion of Ireland in the Imperial Parliament after 

 the attainment of powers of self-government 

 equivalent to those possessed by a State of the 

 American Union : but during tne period of pro- 

 bation he insisted on retaining the full parlia- 

 mentary strength of the party, deeming it " the 

 height of madness for any Irish leader to imi- 

 tate Grat tan's example and consent to disband 

 the army which had cleared the way to victory." 

 He explained his vacillating attitude toward Mr. 

 Balfour's land purchase bill by saying that Mr. 

 Morley had induced him to oppose its second 

 reading in order to appease the discontent of 

 Mr. Labouchere and the Radicals, and even dis- 

 closed the tactics in regard to the measure that 

 had been agreed on for the coming session. The 

 fate of the evicted tenants having been advanced 

 as an argument for his expulsion, he alluded to 

 Mr. Morley's despair because a Liberal Gbvern- 

 ment could not venture to assist them directly 

 and an Irish Parliament would have no power to 

 do anything for them, and boasted that he had 

 provided for them so far and would be able to 

 do so in the future. The manifesto ended with- 

 the following peroration : 



Sixteen years ago I conceived the idea of an Irish 

 parliamentary party independent of all English par- 

 ties. Ten years ago I was elected leader of the inde- 

 pendent Irish Parliamentary party. During these 

 ten years this 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 the party will obtain home 

 rule only provided that 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 na- 

 tional rights by the acceptance of a measure which, 

 would not realize the aspirations of our race. 



Mr. Gladstone published a letter purporting to 

 deny, yet in the main corroborating, Mr. Par- 

 nell's account of the conversation at Hawarden, 

 but disavowing the formal, unanimous, and final 

 character imputed to his proposals. He ended 

 it with the following declaration : 



(1) I have always held, in public as well as in pri- 

 vate, that the National party of Ireland ought to re- 

 main entirely independent of the Liberal party of 

 Great Britain. (2) It is our duty, and my duty in 

 particular, conformably to the spirit of Grattan and 

 0' Conn ell, to study all adjustments in the great mat, 

 ter of home rule which may tend to draw to our side 

 "moderate and equitable opponents : but for me to 

 propose any measure except such as Ireland could ap- 

 prove on the lines already laid down would be fatu- 

 ity as regards myself and treachery to the Irish na- 

 tion, in whom, even by the side of Mr. Parnell, I may 

 claim to take an interest. 



Mr. Morley also published a statement, in 

 which, without gainsaying the disclosures of the 

 manifesto, he endeavored to remove the impres- 

 VOL. xxx, 26 A 



sion they produced. The Irish delegates in 

 America, who had suspended judgment pending 

 the appearance of Mr. Parnell's manifesto, tele- 

 graphed that they had read it with the deepest 

 pain and were convinced that his continued lead- 

 ership was impossible, Mr. Harrington alone dis- 

 senting. This was followed by a long manifesto, 

 in which they paid tribute to the matchless 

 genius and imperishable services of Mr. Parnell 

 and ascribed the dangers into which he had 

 plunged Ireland, compelling them to choose be- 

 tween his deposition and the destruction of their 

 country's cause, to the resentment of a strong 

 and proud spirit against ungenerous attacks. 



The postponed meeting of the Nationalist 

 members " to give Mr. Parnell an opportunity to 

 reconsider his position " was called on Dec. 1, 

 when Col. Nolan, in the interest of Mr. Parnell's 

 retention, moved that the decision be deferred 

 until they could ascertain the views of their 

 constituents and meet in Dublin. Mr. Parnell 

 accused Mr. Sexton and other opponents of hav- 

 ing taken counsel with Mr. Labouchere and 

 Prof. J. Stuart, a statement which they repelled, 

 and called on the meeting not to sell him for 

 nothing, but only for his full value. After two 

 days of stormy debate, Col. Nolan's amendment 

 was rejected by 44 against 29 votes. On Dec. 3 

 and 4 a compromise amendment, offered by Mr. 

 Clancy, one of Mr. Parnell's supporters, with his 

 approval, was discussed and adopted. Taken to- 

 gether with Mr. Parnell's statements during the 

 debate, its effect was that Mr. Parnell should re- 

 tire for a time from the leadership if assurances 

 were obtained from Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Morley, 

 and Sir William Harcourt, pledging them to a 

 home rule measure giving the control of the 

 agrarian question, the constabulary, and the ap- 

 pointment of judges, to the Irish Legislature. 



A similar" proposition had been discussed at a 

 previous meeting, and, with Mr. Parnell's sanc- 

 tion, had been conveyed by Mr. McCarthy to Mr. 

 Gladstone, who declined to give the guarantee 

 because he did not think it right to interfere in 

 the internal discussions of the Irish party and 

 because it could not be kept secret. He also 

 declined to treat with Mr. Parnell as leader of 

 the Irish party. In explaining his position, on 

 Dec. 4, Mr. Parnell spoke of Mr. Gladstone as an 

 " unrivaled sophist," with whom it is as impossi- 

 ble to give a direct as it is for himself (Parnell) 

 to give an indirect answer to a plain and simple 

 question. 



My responsibility [he said] is derived from you to 

 some extent, to a large extent, but it is also derived 

 from a long train of circumstances and events in 

 which many of you, and I speak to you with great 

 respect, have had no share. My position has been 

 granted to me not because I am the mere leader of a 

 parliamentary party, but because I am the leader of 

 the Irish nation. It has been granted to me on ac- 

 count of the services which I have rendered in build- 

 ing up this party, in assimilating' ^prejudices, in 

 smoothing differences of opinion, and in keeping to- 

 gether the discordant elements of our race within the 

 bounds of moderation all over the world ; and you, 

 gentlemen, know, and 1 know, that there is no man 

 living if I am gone, who could succeed in recpncil- 

 ino- the feelings of the Irish people to the provisions 

 oflhe Hawarden proposals. I have explained to you 

 why I can not surrender my responsibility in this 

 matter : but I will go on to say, further, that, since 

 you ask me to declare beforehand my views upon 



