682 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (PEDRO II DE ALCANTARA.) 



mating of this word is also claimed for James Ked- 

 path. See article " boycott " in the " Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia " for 1890). Boycotting spread all over Ireland, 

 and became the great instrument of the Land League. 

 The Government was not quite sure whether the acts 

 of the League were illegal, but in November, 1880, 

 Mr. Parnell and others were indicted and tried in 

 Dublin, the trial lasting from Dec. 28 to Jan. 16, 1881, 

 and resulting in a disagreement of the jury. Mean- 

 while crime had largely increased throughout Ireland, 

 and when Parliament met the Government brought 

 forward three bills : one of coercion, allowing the 

 detention of suspected persons without trial for any 

 length of time ; one of suppression, making it a 

 felony to keep or distribute arms in proclaimed dis- 

 tricts ; and a third, of pacification, offering a land 

 act that established a commission to arbitrate be- 

 tween landlord and tenant. The two coercive meas- 

 ures were opposed line by line and word by word by 

 Mr. Parnell and about thirty of the Irish members. 

 All-night sessions were frequent, and the discussion 

 was only ended by the Speaker arbitrarily declaring 

 the debate closed, Feb. 2. Michael Davitt was arrested 

 the next day in Ireland, and on the Irish members 

 protesting against the conduct of the Government, 

 Mr. Dillon, Mr. Parnell, Mr. Finnigan, and twenty- 

 eight others were one after another " named " by the 

 Speaker, suspended, and forcibly removed from the 

 House. Then the coercion acts were quickly passed, 

 and the land bill came up. This land act, intro- 

 duced by Mr. Gladstone, was the greatest blow to 

 private ownership of land ever given by any legisla- 

 tive body. A commission was appointed, before 

 whom the tenant could appear if he thought 'his rent 

 too high and secure the fixing of rent by the court, 

 irrespective of the wishes of the landlords. Natu- 

 rally they regarded it as socialistic. But it passed the 

 House in July, the Lords did not dare to reject it, and 

 it received the royal assent in August. Mr. Parnell 

 and his followers opposed its passage, on the ground 

 that it did not go far enough, and the leader then de- 

 clared that he would notoe satisfied with anything 

 less than that the land should belong to the cultiva- 

 tors thereof. The bill having become a law, it was 

 decided to test its value, and Mr. Parnell advised 

 that no appeals be taken to the land court without 

 first having been submitted to the Land League 

 executive. Mr. Gladstone construed this as a defiance 

 of the law, declared that " the resources of civiliza- 

 tion were not yet exhausted," and on Oct. 13 arrested 

 Messrs. Parnell, Sexton, O'Kelly, William O'Brien, and 

 Quinn % and lodged them in Kilmainham jail. .Re- 

 taliation quickly followed, Oct. 18, in the shape of the 

 " No Eent Manifesto," signed by the imprisoned 

 leaders, counseling the tenants to pay no rent until 

 they were released and constitutional government was 

 restored. The Government replied, Oct. 20, by pro- 

 claiming the League an illegal organization, and the 

 manifesto itself broke down, being condemned by the 

 clergy everywhere. Naturally crime increased with 

 the repressive measures of the Government, and 

 thousands were arrested throughout Ireland on sus- 

 picion and without trial. The Liberal party soon 

 began to see the folly of attempting to imprison a 

 whole nation, and peace was determined upon. Capt. 

 O'Shea was the intermediary between Gladstone and 

 Parnell, and the famous Kilmainham treaty was 

 concluded, in which the latter intimated that if the 

 arrears of rents of the smaller tenantry were wiped 

 out and the coercion act abandoned, he would " co- 

 operate cordially for the future with the Liberal party 

 in forwarding Liberal principles." Mr. Parnell and 

 his associates were released May 2, 1882, and the 

 abandonment of the coercion act was announced. Mr. 

 Forstcr, Chief Secretary for Ireland, was succeeded by 

 Lord Frederick Cavendish, and Thomas Burke became 

 under secretary. Two days later both gentlemen 

 were brutally murdered in Phoenix Park, Dublin. 

 Mr. Parnell issued a proclamation expressing his 

 horror of the crime, but the Government was torced 

 into another and severer coercion act. Mr. Parnell 



attempted to recover the ground lost by his party 

 through the Phoenix Park murders, and assisted the 

 Government in passing the arrears act in 1882 and 

 the tramways and laborers acts in 1883. A sum of 

 35,000 was raised for him in Ireland and America in 

 the spring of 1883, and the Land League, which had 

 been suppressed, was revived under the name of the 

 National League. He secured the extension of the 

 franchise to every householder in Ireland, and in 

 the session of 1885 forced the Government to assent to 

 a land-purchase bill, which was postponed by the 

 overthrow of Mr. Gladstone in June. In the succeed- 

 ing elections Mr. Parnell nominated every candidate 

 of the Irish party, and returned to Parliament with a 

 compact body of 85 members ready to vote on every 

 proposition in accordance with his wishes. Finding 

 that he could obtain nothing from the Conservatives, 

 Mr. Parnell threw in his vote on the side of Mr. 

 Gladstone, and the Liberals came into power January, 

 1886. Mr. Gladstone proposed a home-rule measure 

 that secured the support of all the Irish members, but 

 split the Liberal party in twain and restored Lord 

 Salisbury to power in July, 1886. Near the close of 

 the session of 1887 the London " Times " published a 

 series of articles entitled " Parnellism and Crime," 

 attempting to connect Mr. Parnell with the Phoenix 

 Park murders and other assassinations and outrages, 

 and in support publishing letters purporting to have 

 been written by Parnell. These were proved to be 

 forgeries, and their author, one Piggott, fled to Mad- 

 rid, where he committed suicide. Mr. Parnell brought 

 suit for libel against the " Times " and recovered 5,- 

 000 damages, the suit being compromised on that 

 basis. He was then at the height of his power, wel- 

 comed with cheers when he rose to speak in the 

 House of Commons, presented with the freedom of 

 Edinburgh in July, 1889, and invited by Mr. Gladstone 

 to llawarden to settle the details of the Liberal pro- 

 gramme. But just then his downfall was prepar- 

 ing. Capt. O'Shea filed a petition for divorce from 

 his wife, naming Mr. Parnell as corespondent, Dec. 

 28. It was proved that Parnell's relations with Mrs. 

 O'Shea had been maintained with increasing intimacy 

 ever since 1881, a circumstance which accounted for 

 his frequent and mysterious absences from his seat in 

 Parliament. Neither party put in any answer, but 

 privately Mr. Paruell emphatically denied that he 

 had " betrayed friendship, abused hospitality, or 

 broken up a happy home." The divorce was granted 

 in November, 1890. On the assembling of Parlia- 

 ment in the same month, Mr. Parnell was unanimously 

 elected chairman of the Irish party. Mr. Gladstone 

 and Michael Davitt demanded his retirement as the 

 only chance of saving the home-rule cause. Mr. Par- 

 nell refused, and a bitter faction fight was the result. 

 Both sides put up candidates for a parliamentary 

 vacancy in North Kilkenny, and Parnell's candidate 

 was defeated Dec. 22, 1890. The Irish bishops took 

 sides against him, and every one hurled stones at the 

 falling leader. But the woman for whom he had 

 sacrificed his political future remained affectionately 

 devoted to him, and on June 25, 1891, Mr. Parnell 

 and Mrs. O'Shea were married at the registrar's of- 

 fice, in Steyning, Sussex. They resided at Brighton, 

 Mr. Parnell going over to Ireland on several occasions 

 to speak in the interests of his candidates, but meeting 

 with uniform defeat. He grew broken-hearted and 

 despondent, while constant attacks imbittered his 

 life and began to break down his constitution. He 

 took cold at a public meeting in Ireland, Sept. 27, re- 

 turned to Brighton, Oct. 2, and died four days later. 

 His body was buried in Glasnevin cemeterv, near 

 Dublin, Oct. 12, 1S91. 



Pedro II de Alcantara, Joan Carlos Leopold Salvador Bi- 

 biano Francisco Xavier da Paul Leocadio Mignel Eafael 

 Gonzaga, Prince of Braganza, ex-Emperor of Brazil, 

 born in Eio Janeiro, Dec. 2, 1825, died in Paris, Dec. 

 5, 1891. He was the son of Doni Pedro I of Braganza 

 and Bourbon, the first Emperor of Brazil, and of 

 Leopoldina, Archduchess of Austria. The royal fam- 

 ily of Portugal fled to the colony of Brazil in 1807 



