MR. PARNELL'S SPEECH OF THURSDAY. T HE speech delivered on Thursday
by Mr. Parnell at the Westminster Palace Hotel is by far the most important one which has been reported this year. The Corporations or leading corporate bodies of eleven Irish cities and towns had sent deputations to congratulate the Home-rule leader upon his delivery, as they consider it, from the charges now under trial before the Special Com- mission. Mr. Parnell, therefore, though speaking in England, was addressing Irishmen, and it might have been expected that, as he was receiving an honour he greatly values, as he has gained a real victory about the forged letters, and as his allies are every day predicting their immediate success in the next Election, his tone would have been one of hopefulness, if not of exultation. On the con- trary, it was at once angry and desponding. So far from exulting in the unprecedented opportunity secured to him by Parliament of clearing himself, an opportunity which, according to those who addressed him, has been used with triumphant success, he declared that he "had never accepted the justice of the reference;" that it had been forced on him; that he and his colleagues " had never admitted that this tribunal was a fair tribunal, or one of a character and con- stitution competent to inquire into the issues laid before it ;" that, indeed, no tribunal except a Home-rule one could be fair, for "no tribunal of Judges ignorant of the history of Ireland, knowing nothing of the character of her people, without information as to the surrounding circumstances, by education, birth, feeling, habits of thought, political conviction, and training, averse to the aspirations of Ireland, is fitted or able to decide the grave issues that have been laid before us for decision." He believed his friends would come out of the inquiry " untouched and unharmed," but the " dice had been loaded against them, and the trump-cards were up their sleeves," the italicised word " their " referring, let us hope, not to the Judges, but to those who had compelled the inquiry. That is the tone of a man who expects an adverse verdict, and is preparing his friends to meet it by questioning, if not the impartiality, at least the intellectual competence of the investigating tribunal. We say nothing of the well-known facts, that the inquiry was granted as an act of justice to the accused, that Mr. Parnell could have stopped it in a moment by appealing to the Courts, and that he has fully acknow- ledged the uprightness and competence of those Courts by claiming before them heavy damages from the Times. Our object is in no way to answer him, but to point out the querulous despondency, the angry apprehensiveness visible in his tone. His followers are dancing with delight, or so they say, at the whole current of events ; but their leader, who is neither of their temperament nor hampered by their ignorance, instead of feeding their excitement, devotes himself, with all the resources of his practised skill in depreciation, to destroy in advance the moral authority of the tribunal before which he is pleading.
Mr. Parnell's tone when he turns to the general prospects of his cause is equally foreboding. He declares, indeed, his certainty of victory, and, practised dialectician as he is, invents a word to indicate to his countrymen, and conceal from Englishmen, the completeness of the victory he seeks. ‘. I believe," he says, " we are very near reaping that richest and highest reward of all, in the realisation of those hopes which have always gladdened the heart of every Irishman, whether in times of trial, of suffering, or of martyrdom, that some day or other it would be possible for the public opinion of Ireland to assert itself freely, and to lead our country, our self-governing country, along the path of nationhood." But, nevertheless, Mr. Parnell, who years ago expressed his distrust of the English democracy, admits the possi- bility of failure, and even states distinctly what his course will be in the event of the failure occurring. " We are told," Mr. Parnell said, " that it was our intention in this agitation of ours to subvert the authority of the Crown and to organise an armed rebellion. Speaking for myself, I cannot admit, I cannot recollect, that I have ever—cer- tainly not in a public speech, but even in my own mind— contemplated the contingency of failure of our movement, and I have certainly never contemplated what our action would be if that movement failed. But I will say to you, gentlemen, to-night that, if our constitutional movement were to fail—and I believe when I speak thus that I speak the opinion of my eighty-five colleagues in the House of Commons—I say, if our constitutional movement were to fail—if it became evident that we could not by Parlia- mentary action and continued representation at West- minster restore to Ireland the high privilege of self- government and of making her own laws in our own House at home—I, for one, would not continue to remain for twenty-four hours longer in the House of Commons at Westminster, and I believe, as I have said, that in that sentiment I speak the views of my colleagues. But, more than that, gentlemen, I believe the Irish constituencies would not consent to allow us to remain, and that has been the view which our countrymen at home and abroad have always taken of our action." Many meanings may be placed upon that remarkable passage. It may only mean that Mr. Parnell intends, should the next Election go against him, to try the Bohemian plan, and with- draw the Irish representation from Parliament, thus depriving the Legislature of moral authority to deal with Irish questions. It may mean that, constitutional means having failed, he will leave the course free to the far nobler and older Irish Party, which has always maintained that the freedom of Ireland must be sought through secession and battle in the open field. Or it may mean that Mr. Parnell intends, by declaring that he is beaten and must retire, to leave the path clear for the action of the secret societies, which, as he claims, he has hitherto held in an unwilling and discontented restraint. Any one of these meanings may be drawn from the words which we quote textually from the careful report in the Times ; but there is one meaning which forces itself on the intelligence, —Mr. Parnell is doubtful whether Home-rule will be secured at the polls. He may be aware of facts entirely hidden from Englishmen, even though they are his allies. He may know that the very Irish electors are growing restive, and will shortly give up their marvellous, and in one way most admirable, unanimity in his favour. Or he may be aware that supplies are failing, and that without supplies the discipline of his members, discipline as of Prussian soldiers, will give way, for he makes this astounding admission :—" The most advanced section of Irishmen, as well as the least advanced, have always thoroughly under- stood that this Parliamentary policy was to be a trial, and that we did not ourselves believe in the possibility of main- taining for all time, or for any lengthened period, an incorrupt and independent Irish representation at Westminster." But whatever the source of his conviction, this much is clear, that the man who is the brain of the Irish Revolution, who found out the weak place in our constitutional system, and who was for a moment believed to have shattered it to pieces, doubts at last whether his whole method was not a mistake. Samson was tortured by the grain of sand in his eye, but he was not bound. The infinite patience of the stupid people which rules bright-witted Ireland has, Mr. Parnell fears, for the hundredth time proved too strong for resistance, and the Irish Chat Moss may be filled up. We shall never be really hopeful of Ireland till her peasantry are, as against all chance of eviction, freeholders ; but of all reasons for hope we have heard, this utterance of Mr. Parnell's is the most hopeful.
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