Ireland Since Parnell | Page 2

acting on behalf of the
tenants of County Cork, he individually negotiated the sales of more
landed estates than any other man, or combination of men, in Ireland,
and that with the good will and, indeed, with the gratitude of the
landlords and their agents, and by reason of the fact that he applied the
policy of Conference, Conciliation and Consent to this practical

concern of men's lives, he secured for the tenants of County Cork a
margin of from one and a half to two years' purchase better terms than
the average rate prevailing elsewhere.
For the rest he devoted himself during the better part of a quarter of a
century to the housing and the social betterment of the workers in town
and country, with results which are reflected in their present vastly
improved condition.
But his greatest effort, and what he would wish most to be remembered
for is that, with a faithful few and against overwhelming odds, he took
his stand for Mr William O'Brien's policy of National Reconciliation,
which all thoughtful men now admit would have saved Ireland from
countless horrors and England from a series of most appalling political
blunders if only it had been given fair play and a fair trial.
It is no use, however, in a very sordid and material world, sighing for
the might-have-beens. What the writer seeks in the present work is to
give, fairly and dispassionately, a narrative of what has happened in
Ireland since Parnell appeared upon the Irish scene and the curtain was
rung down upon the tragedy that brought the career of the one and only
"Uncrowned King of Ireland" to a close--and until, in turn, the downfall
of Parliamentarianism was accomplished by means which will, in due
course, appear in these pages.

IRELAND SINCE PARNELL

CHAPTER I
A LEADER APPEARS
There are some who would dispute the greatness of Parnell--who would
deny him the stature and the dignity of a leader of men. There are
others who would aver that Parnell was made by his lieutenants--that
he owed all his success in the political arena to their ability and fighting
qualities and that he was essentially a man of mediocre talents himself.
It might be enough to answer to these critics that Parnell could never
hold the place he does in history, that he could never have overawed
the House of Commons as he did, nor could he have emerged so

triumphantly from the ordeal of The Times Commission were he not
superabundantly endowed with all the elements and qualities of
greatness. But apart from this no dispassionate student of the Parnell
period can deny that it was fruitful in massive achievement for Ireland.
When Parnell appeared on the scene it might well be said of the country,
what had been truly said of it in another generation, that it was "as a
corpse on the dissecting-table." It was he, and the gallant band which
his indomitable purpose gathered round him, that galvanised the corpse
into life and breathed into it a dauntless spirit of resolve which carried
it to the very threshold of its sublimest aspirations. To Isaac Butt is
ascribed the merit of having conceived and given form to the
constitutional movement for Irish liberty. He is also credited with
having invented the title "Home Rule"--a title which, whilst it was a
magnificent rallying cry for a cause, in the circumstances of the time
when it was first used, was probably as mischievous in its ultimate
results as any unfortunate nomenclature well could be, since all parties
in Ireland and out of it became tied to its use when any other
designation for the Irish demand might have made it more palatable
with the British masses. Winston Churchill is reported to have said, in
his Radical days, to a prominent Irish leader: "I cannot understand why
you Irishmen are so stupidly wedded to the name 'Home Rule.' If only
you would call it anything else in the world, you would have no
difficulty in getting the English to agree to it."
But although Isaac Butt was a fine intellect and an earnest patriot he
never succeeded in rousing Ireland to any great pitch of enthusiasm for
his policy. It was still sick, and weary, and despondent after the Fenian
failure, and the revolutionary leaders were not prone to tolerate or
countenance what they regarded as a Parliamentary imposture. A
considerable body of the Irish landed class supported the Butt
movement, because they had nothing to fear for their own interests
from it. They were members of his Parliamentary Party, not to help him
on his way, but rather with the object of weakening and retarding his
efforts.
It was at this stage that Parnell arrived. The country was stricken with
famine--the hand