THE WEEK'S GREAT DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 236, 6 October 1930, Page 6

THE WEEK'S GREAT DAY.

OCTOBER 6.—DEATH OF PARNELL. E r (Copyrighted.) : Thirty-nine years ago, on October 0, 1891, s Charles Stewart Parnell, the great outstanding r figure in the arena of Irish politics during the | latter part of the nineteenth century, died at the \ age of forty-five. He was born in Dublin on June 27, 184G, and ' liis father was a member of an English Protestant family, whose ancestor, Thomas Parnell, •had (been compelled to migrate to Ireland at the Restoration of the Monarchy in IGGO owing to 1 his activities as a supporter of the Commonwealth " Government, while his mother was tlie daughter s of a naval officer of the U.S.A. For nearly two 3 centuries members of the Parnell family played 3 a prominent part in Irish political life, and C. S. ■ Parnell inherited from both his parents a hatred I of England and of her supremacy in Ireland. t He received his education at English private 1 schools and at Cambridge University, and during ' his younger days he displayed but little active interest in politics, but in 1875 lie was elected Nationalist member of Parliament fqr Meath. ; Two years later he a small group of jj his colleagues to assist him in & systematic • obstruction of public business in the House of i Commons, such as had been hitherto unknown in r England, with the object of drawing attention to r the aims of the Home Rule party and in the hope | of forcing the British Government to comply with its demands. • Parnell speedily became leader of the Home T Rulers, and during several successive Parliamenf tary sessions he pursued his obstructive tactics in the Commons, where he treated with scorn every attempt of the Government to remedy Irish grievances, and refused to consider any moasuie t but the establishment of an independent Parlia- , ment in Dublin, while in Ireland the people were ' encouraged to adopt every conceivable method, 3 short of positive crime, to impede the English i administration of the country. [ The dastardly assassinations of Lord Frederick ■ Cavendish and Thomas Burke in Phoenix Park, r Dublin, in 1882, which was the foulest of the i numerous outrages committed during the cami paign for Home Rule, did more than any other incident in Parnell's time and career to frustrate ' his efforts to secure the independence of the Irish [ nation. The universal outburst of indignation . forced him to make a public denunciation of such 1 crimes and to deny his own complicity in them, but for some time public opinion held him at least morally guilty, and finally led to the holding of what was virtually a State trial. This trial, which is commonly known as the Parnell Commission, was one of the most sensa--5 tional judicial inquiries of the 19th century. It 3 was instituted by a special Act of Pirliament r in order to investigate the truth of many grave r charges made by the London "Times" newspaper 1 against Parnell' and his colleagues, and its eit--1 tings occupied a period of nearly eighteen months 2 from September, 1888. The most memorable mei- - dent in connection with the inquiry was the I proving that an alleged letter of Parnc!! a, which T would have been damning if genuine, was a forgery - and the report of the commissioners resulted in ! Parnell receiving a pledge from the English Liberal party to bring in a Home Rule measure on its next return to power. Parnell, however, was almost immediately cited 1 as co-respondent in a divorce suit brought by . his friend and agent, Captain O'Shea, who, producing ample evidence of his wife's guilty J relationship with Parnell, was granted a decree 1 in November, 1890. The Liberals demanded Par--1 nell's resignation from the leadership of the Irish - party, but his followers were divided in their - opinions on the subject, and no definite decision 1 had been arrived at when the fierce controversy 1 which had raged was stilled by the sudden death , of the man who at one time was known as "the • uncrowned king of Ireland." t .