TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7781, 7 February 1891, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Ma W. T. Stead relates, i a hie 1 -eristic fashion, in the Review of jsJ_ f§ the story of Mr Parnell's fall, /Jj M main features of the nauseou. nitn_! B the public have already heard tarn tk I enough. Mr Stead, however, ia ]_! I' gossiping way. throws one or t»'eJ_! I; side-lights on the affair. It ia fc years since that indefatigable 1. gatherer first heard rumors wna*__" R the names of Mr ParneU and Mr. o2f f It was during his first visit' to h 1836 that ho happened incidentally „!l -.'* a prominent official of the National _J? ■whether there was any ever for the stories about 2_ra o , s__ Mr Stead has never forgotta jj ' alarm with which the $*-oaiaa2|2 answered his question. "ForGodw!* • said he, "never breathe that m J name in Ireland. We hope thttei»u, I thing in it, aud there I it. If (which God forbid) ; _*•»'••«» anything in it, then it would b* with ParneU in Ireland. No pjfo£*„ ; earth could savo ParneU then.*' -*' far too much tied up with .. priests for it to be possible for us toko. ' the leading of any man who, waa of such an offence." Whexifc Mr . ] turned to England a paragraph app y in the Pall Mall Gazette and other _i ?a , I to the effect that Mr Parnell waa _taji_g % at Eltham in the absence of Capt CSia, 1 He received an indignant telegHuafrca § Captain O'Shea, asking him to eoßtn&t I i the statement, and later on th. „_4ia ! \ called at tho office and insisted oo j editor " interviewing " _im on th. eabjsct I —which strikes us as ;boing aa oi, ,1 way of vindicating the honor o! ou„ J wife. However, Captaia o'She*. deetoj J in the strongest terms that there vasnoi I the slightest ground for the stories thai f were afloat, and that the different, Mum jf himself and the Irish leader *Ar&_\_sr_y E political. Mr Stead accepted the smsm, p of course, but a year or two later __#f_ 1= curious thing happened, A _.po&'*f.'§ peared in the papers to the effect faiMt f. Parnell's stables at Eltham bed 6ee_«. i fire, and that his horse, had narroti; _ escaped destruction. Remembering vM f had happened before, Mr Stead sent to lit IParnell to ask whether this was true « | not, as he wished to know before I the paragraph,' Mr Parnell asked ®k 1 the paragraph should not be inserted, ssi | soon after came down to the | explain why he did not wish the par-* | graph to appear. "He said.' lemKii | Mr Stead "that the horse? Few T Invaluable, and that if it were known tt~ | thay were kepUt Eltham jj'; secret societies would probably go dosa £-' and mutilate them 1 In order te save t_ |. horses from the emissaries of the least | societies the paragraph was not inserted | and the incident passed | comment" . . ( . ■ ■ ' $

Acoosdisa to Captain O'Sheii, it ««*« remark incidentally dropped by Mr S_» in the course of the singula* ®f view, already referred 'te, 1 first led ' _lm to suspeci i_s ? *•** This was to the effect that ho _ilWreport written by a oorreßpoa_€3l d@ American paper which <k.cri.s- » Parnell as living; at Eltham in Mi to* He then determined to pat '**» * under observation and the r_s- «• the institution of tha dlwwe «* This, seems to us one cfi'tiA'"**' remarkable incidents ,in ths wk*«* It is not for, jo-tnwilsU to A-f !* importance and far the Pres_, but so _w aa wekao^■J****' first occasion on record in -wWcfc * «"* been .the means of conveying tie W intimation to a his domestic affairs required WsfJ**-**

__r StjsA- gives a really path_fcl. *»•■* I of tho cruel manner ia which _£f & 1 * 58 t' deceived hia devoted friend ft-* iW* Mr Davit.. When the latter wfts & 1 told of tho scandal he disbelieved ifc * said if it was true there was aa esa ;, ! ParneU'a leadership. Ha -*jd » **J I I view «_ three houra with the «Bi«n"»| king," and after that he made h* B • - ! ance among hia Mends sad-sat **** #• ; I Mr ParneU told him there wai ! word' of truth in the dWP X Ithat it was all an *■*-■*•L fc on th© part otThs Times* AO« ■ lf Jl h , [" implicitly believed him. " ?«•?* • f said to Mr Stead, " has never y g in his life. Over and over again *Ja «J f < last ten years I have bean rf tiona withMr Parnell, '$ been very much to his -.teres* *> . £ misled mc. I never knew hUn «»«* T* wordthatwaafal.se. I trtit «» 7 citly, and when P-rnsU has gfraf* | word I am quite sure that he "P 6 i tenth." Mr Davitt went fßt&f* „ .member/Vhef-aidto theEoJ&*« 1 in your character Bketchof Mr Ff j quote two opinions about hi» 1 i-lness. One waa by I was myself, who said that»« * I had always s_o_ett truthfuUp ■* w never deealved him. The otf«r «» / an enemy (that said he waa the snprema Ite * world. neli had any thin* to do with ***** * ih j then the friend and the «* •*-!& I same opinioii." That was I Davitt pat it before the * 1 iUcondnsioa he **» on* « ™ i

•filiate the leadership of his old chief—* toienonnce his fsllen idoL

just we have Mr Jameson's own account . the cannibalism episode. The follow_ag passage from the dead man's diary rtrhi-h has jast been published) is ghastly but ought in fairness to be after the publicity given to Mr grey's charges:— ••Tippo Tib, who came in before it was m ~ T told mc that they usually kill f!f_rftl people, and have a grand feast, #«_ tbe Wacusu are terrible cannibals. „_ then told mc, among other stories, that t«<r a_o, when fighting near Malela, they & a great many of the enemy. The "rives who were with him were cannibals, *dnos-a body could be found next *° Vninz (He tells mc that two men will He sent rwater in tbe night to wash his handed to drink, the water there being in a TL When it was brougut, be could not 1f v_ nut why it stuck to his hands, and ®2 bo oily and bad to drink. Next Jnfneand several Arabs went up to see *___& waß the iflatter with the water, and ]____ tbey saw a most horrible sight. The *_Tof the water was all covered with a ; -# er of yellow fat * wh ich was "Ifi-ing o ver tne Blt * e ' an( * Qe found that ffaatfye. bad taken all the human meat fe/the well to wash it before eating. At ♦Lnext place be camped by a stream, a made the natives camp below him. fL ld -him that people at Home generally Lheved that these were only 'travelW tale-/ *» they are caUed in our m—_trV or » * Q °kber words, lies. *H_tbe_ said something to an Arab called _T seated next him, who turned round to and said, ' G\ve mc a bit of cloth, and 106 » I sent my boy for six handkerchiefs, !_______■ it was all a joke, and that they __J__otia earnest; but presently a man a young girl of about SKS $b" t/e hand* and I then Snessed the most horribly sickening ffhfc I a*_ ever likely to see in my life. H_nlußtfed-* 1 I™** 6 quicWy into her ££_!_ trfiee, aid she tell on her face, tSgcVer on her aide. Three men t_fnr_n forward, and began to cut up tbe body of the girl; finally her head was cut 3_ ahd not a particle remained, each man __ing bis piece away down to the river _Hr___ it Tu«*- mosfc extraordinary thing __, that the girl never uttered a sound, ■ _ -fruggled, until she fell. Until the I could not believe tbat they «&*_i earnest."

«j_egj„ waa a slave who had been captoned from a neighboring village, and the 'cMiribA- were slaves. When Mr Jameson !want -home he tried to make some small ! setese. while still fresh in Mb memory. «*__"_ve heard many stories of this kind jiacel have been in this country," he renever could believe them, and Inerer would have been such a beast as fow-nesß this, but I could not bring mylt_|&'_&i.ve that it -was anything save %mga?fc> get money, out of mc, until the j&_fc Bwment/' That is his justification as by himself. We may safely |i&VIUi- public to say how far it clears and absolves him from for what took place.