PARNELL DEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 239, 8 October 1891, Page 9

PARNELL DEAD.

LATER,

An Unexpected End.

A FATAL CHILL.

SEIZED WITH RHEUMATIC FEVER,

STORY OF HIS CAREER.

[PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

[n>r ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.]

(Received October Bth, 10 a.m.)

London, October 7. Obituary: Mr C. S. Parnell, aged

He caught a chill while in bed on Friday, and developed acute rheuma-

tism

He was unconscious for several hours, and died at midnight yesterday

in intense agony,

He was staying at Brighton.

AN UNSIGNED LETTER

SUICIDE ALLEGED

London, October 7.

Mrs Parnell's solicitors have received an unsigned telegram stating that Mr Parnell committed suicide.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Chas. Stewart Parnell, whose death is recorded above, was undoubtedly one of the mosb nobeworbhy men of bhe reign. His immense individuality has resisted shocks which would have killed men who have beon accounted greater. He was born at Avondale, County Wicklow, in 1546, and is a descendenb of Parnell bhe poeb, and his family have been associated with Irish Parliamentary life for upwards of a century. His greatgrandfather, Sir John Parnell, was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Grattan's Parliament, and the most vigorous opponent of the Act of Union, for bis denunciation of which he Was dismissed from office, he having previously resisted all efforts of the Imperial'Goyernment to allure him into accepta'ncb of their proposals. '; The family came originally from Congletbn, Cheshire : and Sir Henry Parnell, grand-uncle of Mr Parnell, and a prominenb member of the English Parliament, in the time of Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne, under whom he held offices of distinction, when raised to the peerage took the title of Lord Congleton. Mr Parnell was educated-at Cambridge University, but did not take any degree. After a tour in America—his mother is an American by birth, daughter of Admiral Charles Stewart, a famous American sailor —he settled down on his property in Avondale ; was High Sheriff of tho county in 1874 ; wished to stand for the county, but was not allowed to resign his office. A month later, when Colonel Taylor, on appointment to the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster, sought re-election, Mr Parnell opposed him, bub was defeated.

HE STOOD FOR COUNTY MEATH on bhe deabh of John Martin (1875), and was elecbed. First took an active part in Parliamentary affairs session of 1876, when in association witn Mr Biggar he initiated what wan known by the various names of tho "obstructive" and the "active policy. He opposed with great persistence the Bill for annexing the Transvaal; the flogging clauses in the Mutiny Act; and the Prisons Bill ; and there were many scenes of violence and excitement and several all-night sittings of the House. He finally succeeded in getting some modifications in tho treatment of political prisoners introduced into the Prisons Bill; and, being joined by Mr Chamberlain and other leading Radicals, he led to the abolition of flogging in the army, He joinod in the foundation of the Land League, and in October, '79, was elected its first president. Ho first, ab a meeting at Westport in the previous June, used the phrase, "Keep a firm grip of your homesteads," which became the watchword of the agitation. He went to America in December, '79, raised tbe sum of £70,000 in aid of the distress then widespread in Ireland, and for the Land League movement. At the general election of 1880 he waa elected for counby Meabh, counby Mayo, and bhe ciby of Cork ; and elecbed to sit for the last mentioned place. He was elected in May, 1880, leader of tho new party, by twenty-three votes to eighteen for Mr Shaw. He took an active part in the Land League agitation outside Parliament, and in the debates in the House ; and after the Land Acb was passed

WAS ARRESTED in October, 1881, on a charge of intimidation, and obstructed the working of that Acb. He was released on parole in April, 1882, and finally in May. Ab bho general election of 1885 he was re-elected for Cork, and his action in influencing the Irish vote secured the return of many Conservative candidates, and proportionately weakened the Liberal party, with whom, however, Mr Parnell later on formed an alliance, and, by the vote of the Irish party, overthrew the former Goverment of Lord Salisbury on Mr Jesso Collings' amendment to the Address (January 26th, 1886). Mr Parnell's name has been prominently before the public in connection with the Home Kule proposals of Mr Gladstone. He introduced a Land Bill in the boginning of ISB7, which was rejected, though its leading provisions with modifications were subsequently embodied in the Government's own measure. Later iv the session a sensation waa caused by the publication in the " Times " newspaper of tho

FACSIMILE OF A LETTER purporting to have been written by Mr Parnell to a member of the party of Irish Invincibles, excusing tho murder of Mr Burke, though reletting thab of Lord Frederick Cavendish. On the night of the publication of this document Mr Parnell returned to the House of Commons, from which he had been absent, and in an animated speech denounced the letter as a base and infamous forgery. Subsequently, on a motion of Sir Charles Lewis, which, though demanding that the publisher of the " Times " should be brought to the bar of the Houee, was nob framed in the interests of the Irish Party—the prominent Irish members promptly demanded that tho question of the authenticity of the letter should be investigated by a committee of the House of Commons, composed, if the House thought lit, entirely of Conservative mombers. The Governmenb declined bo grant) a committee, bub promised bhab if Mr Parnell liked to take action against tho " Times," ho should have the assistance of the law officers of the Crown—a proposal which was treated with ridicule by the Irish members and their friends. Mr Parnell refused to bring an action for libel on accounb of the alleged forgeries and tho charges of complicity with assassins, broughb against him and his associates in the series of articles published by the " Times " under the title of

" PARNELLISM AND CRIME." because he had no confidence in a Middlesex jury. After tho collapse of tho action brought against the "Times" in May, 1888, by Mr Frank Hugh O'Donnell, a former colleague, at which other damaging letters wore put in by the AttorneyGeneral, Mr Parnell again demanded a Parliamentary inquiry, and alleged that these other letters were also forgeries. The Governmenb refused to grant a Committee of tho Bouse on a question of privilege, bub decided thab the whole of tho charges againsb Mr Parnell and bhe Irish party should be investigated by a commission of judges, consisting of Sir James Hannen, Mr Justice Smith, and Mr Justice Day. Mr Parnell was represented at tho Commission by Sir Charles Rusaell, Q.C., M.P., who delivered a most eloquent oration, and by Mr H. H. Asquibh, M.P. Up bo bhe exposure of the Pigott forgeries he was a regular attendant at the Court. On Aprif3oth, 1889, he entered the witness-box, and with remarkable coolness wenb through the ordeal of several days' examination and cross-examina-tion. Subsequently he attended great meetings ab bho Memorial Hall and St. James's Hall, and was leceivod wibh extraordinaryenbhusiasm. He Eoughb bo bring an acbion for damages againsb the "Times" in Edinburgh, but Lord Kinnear held there was no jurisdiction. Ho was presented with the freedom of Edinburgh, July 20th, 18S9, and was presont at a large meeting in the Corn Exchange, when an address by 145 Liberal Associations was presented to him. On June tho 28th, 1890, he was entertained by his colleagues at a banquet to celebrate his 44th birthday. The tide of Mr Parnell's fortune had now reached the flood. Ho was adulated by everyone except the extreme Conservatives. The whispers of a scandal in which his friend, CAPTAIN O'SHBA'S WIFE, was implicated, were simply laughed atMr Parnell declared that he would clear his name of tho charges of adultery as easily as he had of the charges of forgery and the allegations of the " Times " in Parnellism and crime. He told his most intimate and trusted friends that he was guiltless. Mr Dillon would appear to have doubted his leader, and pub a straight question, to which in answer Mr Parnell solemnly'swore thab he was innocent, and that the witness box bad no terrors for him. He would, he declared, come out of the ordeal scatheless. That he did precisely the reverse is now a matter of history. On the 17th November he was condemned in costs, The feeling aroused when the verdict was known was intense. His best and closest friends execrated his name. Tim Hoaly christened him " Mr Fox," this being the name under which he had visited Mrs O'Shea, and he was the butt of the press of the entire country for weeks, and was castigated ivithoiit mercy. It was now that a quite unknown quantity showed itself in Mr Parnell's character. The man was quite carried away by passion. He refused to resign. He fought with the utmost bitterness and courage. With but a handful of followers he kept the separatists under Mr McCarthy entirely at bay, and DISORGANISED THE ENTIRE IRISH PARTY. Hia allegation and accusation against Gladstone are fresh in everyone's remembrance. More revelations of Hawarden doings and sayings were promised, but wero nob looked for with interest, the mare-nesb character of former revelations acting against him. A wordy war was carried on between Parnell and his former colleagues, and ab several election meetings riots of a serious character took place. On one occasion lime wa3 thrown into his eyes. Tho struggles for the possession of " United Ireland " office will be well remembered. For nearly a fortnight Mr Parnell and his former colleague and editor spent their time turning each other out of the office, destroying each other's "copy," and setting up new in its place. Several elections having gone against him including North Kilkenny, which took place immediately after the trial, Mr Parnell got moro and more enraged. Envoys were sent to America, bub meb withscanb success. Mr Parnell himself stumped England and Ireland. In certain places his reception was enthusiastic, in others unfavourable. The latest important action of his life was his marriage with Mrs O'Shea some three months ago.