The manifesto of the seceding brigade of former Parnellites appeared
on Thursday, and is not a very able document. They have to admit that they elected Mr. Parnell after the decision in the divorce suit, " under the influence of gratitude," " in the desperate hope that his leadership might be reconciled with the safety of our cause," and then they go on to complain of his leadership even in the past, and before the divorce suit, and to say that he left the party " derelict," to struggle as it best could with its difficulties in his absence. If that were true, surely the gratitude need not have been so extreme as to over- power all moral considerations; and we do not believe that grati- tude was the real motive. The seceding brigade had to choose between Mr. Parnell's Irish influence, which they knew to be almost immeasurable, and Mr. Gladstone's English influence, which they thought indispensable; and they chose the latter. But it is with them a question of mere policy, into which no moral considerations appear to have entered. They take great credit to themselves for their reluctance to break with Mr. Parnell, and the patience with which they tried to bring the negotiation to a peaceful con- clusion ; but their dilatoriness and patience were overdone, and indicated more fear of Irish opinion than it did con- fidence in their own cause. It is not the manifesto of a party which can exert any great influence in Ireland, in spite of the support given them by the Irish Bishops. Even the majority of the delegates in the United States appear to be slightly vacillating. They decline by telegraph to adhere to Mr. Justin McCarthy's manifesto, and have drawn up one of their own, which is rather more conciliatory to Mr. Parnell, and which omits the taunt that he left them alone some months ago to fight their battle without his aid. That is not a compromise which will serve their purpose.
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