THE MEMORY OF PARNELL.
UNDAY last was the political saint-day of the Par- nellites in Ireland, and, drawing their inspiration from the occasion, they have begun one last desperate effort to win back their former position and influence. The memorial demonstration on Sunday must have been full of encouragement for the remnant which remained faithful to the great leader in misfortune, and still cherishes his memory and name. A vast crowd of Dubliners, reinforced by large contingents from the other chief towns and from the country, assembled and marched in solemn procession to the grave in Glasnevin where Mr. Parnell is buried. There was no disorder and no melo- drama ; the demonstration was on a considerably larger scale than that of the year before ; and, according to all the accounts, the spirit of reverence and devotion to the dead which seemed to animate the throng that filled the streets, was most impressive. There were no political speeches to mar the dignity of the proceedings ; but on Monday evening Mr. John Redmond addressed his followers in that famous Round Room in the Dublin Rotunda, which is the historic meeting-place of Irish agitation, and made it clear that, in the eyes of the Parnellites at least, the celebration of the previous day was a profession of political faith on the part of the living as well as a tribute to the memory of the dead. Mr. Redmond vigorously denounced the abandonment of Mr. Parnell's policy by the Nationalist majority ; the surrender, as he deems it, of their independence to an English party ; their ostentatious acceptance of the Home-rule Bill as satisfactory and final, and their tacit acquiescence in the proposal of the English Radicals for hanging up the Irish question during the Session of 1894. " Mr. Parnell's greatest achievement was when he converted the Irish National question into an impassable barrier between English democracy and the granting of English reforms ; " but now "English voters were about to have proved to them by Irish representatives that Ireland does not block the way, but that their Parliament can pi:tweed effectively to the consideration and settlement of great English reforms without having to deal effectively with, and settle, the Irish question." That is in marked contrast to the tone of Mr. Dillon in the conciliatory speech which we commented on last week, and it shows that the difference between Parnellites and Anti-Parnellites is now taking definite shape on questions of policy and tactics. Mr. Redmond's words will also be an unpleasant reminder to those G-ladstonians who fancied that their party had a compact and effective majority in the House of Commons for all purposes, and that there was nothing to binder them from proceeding next Session to deal with the various articles of the New- castle programme, " as if the items in the Newcastle programme were the things most near to the hearts and minds of the Irish representatives." We have before now pointed out that the final decision as to future legislation is with Mr. Gladstone alone ; and Mr. Gladstone thinks chiefly of Home-rule, and not at all of the Newcastle pro- gramme. If he should decide to devte next year also to the Irish question, his hands will be strengthened by the activity of the Parnellites, and the danger, in the event of its postponement, of seeing Ireland slip into their hands,—a possibility which Sunday's demonstration will bring home to the minds of all Gladstonians.
But is there really any likelihood that the Parnellites will succeed in their latest move, and so recover their hold on the Irish constituencies ? The question is an important one, for their success—though it would be a very sinister omen for the future Government of Ireland — would probably so discredit Home - rule as to make it an impossible policy for, the present. We do not think their chances are great. Mr. Redmond's speech was certainly a very able and adroit appeal to the old spirit of irrecon- cilable Nationalism, and a very effective indictment of his opponents from that point of view. They had voted, as lie pointed out, " against the Irish Legislature being called by the historic name which was written deep in the.history of that country,—namely, that of the Parliament of Ireland. They voted against giving the Irish Legislature any power over any portion of Irish taxation for six years. They voted against permitting the Irish Executive to have control in Ireland of one single policeman, They voted against the proposal to grant a substantial surplus to Ireland during the six years of British financial control. They voted in favour of the reduction of Ireland's representatives in the Imperial Parliament from a hundred and three to eighty ; and finally—and this, to his mind, was the greatest sin and greatest shame of it all—they solemnly declared in Parliament, through the voice of Mr. Dillon, that the Bill was a full satisfaction of the demands of the Irish people." No party could live in Ireland after such an indictment as that, if the people were still animated by the spirit which prevailed, say, ten years ago. But that is just what we do not believe. Mr. Redmond's speech was cheered in every sentence ; and that the Parnellites are in earnest is proved by the announcement that the meeting was only the first of a great series of public meetings to be held throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. But in spite of their efforts, in spite of the cheers and the demonstration on Sunday, the Parnellites, we are convinced, can never again play a great part in Ireland. It requires very little deftness in an orator to make a crowd of Irishmen cheer, though it by no means follows that any permanent impression will remain such as would influence votes in an election ; and the demon- stration on Sunday only proves what everybody knew before, that Dublin is Parnellite to the core,—the one fact which makes the doings of the party of any importance. Of the six seats in the city and metropolitan county, they hold four, while the other two return Unionist representatives. Mr. Parnell's memory is still supreme in Dublin, and it has not lost its power throughout the country ; but it must in the nature of things be a declining force, and it is prac- tically the solo stock-in-trade of the Parnellites. Their policy, in so far as they have got a policy, is rapidly be- coming an anachronism. The wave of discontent, on which Mr. Parnell rose to supremacy, is now subsiding, and in attempting to re-create his united and independent Nationalist Party, after the necessary conditions have slipped away from them, his followers are setting them- selves an impossible task. History does not repeat itself in any literal sense; and we shall certainly never see emerge from the ruins of one Irish movement another identical in its aims and methods.
When we prophesy continued failure for the Parnellites, we do not mean to imply that their rivals have either de- served or obtained a much larger measure of success. The Catholic Hierarchy succeeded to Mr. Parnell's position, and they continue, and may for some time to come con- tinue, to fill the place which was left vacant by his deposi- tion and death. But they have undoubtedly failed—and their failure will become more manifest as time goes on- to control the forces of Irish agitation. Under their guidance, whether through their fault or not, the Nationalist forces have lost much of their fighting power. It seems probable that, after the turmoil of the last fifteen years, Ireland will enter before long on a period of political lassitude, such as prevailed, for instance, in the years 1855-65. Parnellites and Anti-Parnellites may both linger on for many a day, for in one respect Ireland resembles France rather than England in her political history. There is no such thing as the gradual and steady and almost automatic evolution of public opinion and political movements to meet altered conditions, which we see in England. In Ireland, as in France, every change in the political situation is effected by a coup, and people continue to walk in the old groove, and act and think in the old ways, till some man of power or insight arises to point them to something new. Sooner or later the man will come ; but he will have to offer the Irish people some- thing more inspiring than the petty domination of a priesthood on the one hand, and more substantial than the memory of a dead leader on the other.
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