THE IRISH LEADERS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4833, 5 February 1887, Page 2

THE IRISH LEADERS.

_, Ml DILLON. /The Pall Maf Gazette is publishing a series of articles en "The Msk Leaderf" from.whichwe qioteihe foUowiriJSr Dillon everyone; knows-Mr Dillon, of whom his colleagues say, in aimnJ • credulous «£ word that he stys." . « a «,.. 7»iu DiUon » «aid myelin - on! rf thought sort he Is. Hewouldkketotho pistol as soon a s look at you, he and faith tliere' s nothing left but thatmow '' R-iendstmd foes alike O adinit tha? amonß all the inotieyhofcifcat pbeys ]V&- Q. there marches. nofoUower more tnlceS no patriot more .disinterested than He shares with jfrehael Davitt the rem vof the N a& party He has leen in smol—everv m™ his salt in "™f 7 W. except Lor&Mayjn: ifv no one who stand* better \ to gaolagam thai tho. mei4eE-If6?WtS 1 WQuld bu* make him as first-class imsdeneanant,, fay worse things for £ 0 cause ..of ,' to pbl again Dillon I is subjecting his frail constitution to a dan, ' gerousstrain thwWtjtinii.4gitiitingin li-e, •'. i: the country 1 fjpiaone'ttnvn to another mo, ' fcst-elaßscaniagoispne thing ;tb drive teh, : fifteeki twenty, aid, twenty-five njilee in the ■ rain outsido an Irish car along muddy roads; , Jβ 'altogether anotlier thing. : It fithelatter ■ ■ which falls toihe lot of Mr Dilloni Nor is 'v tt pa)y the travepiqjj.;; ie no eaey.tliipg tot:

address five thousand persons in the.open air for an hour at a time, and then to spend all the rest of the tw.enty-four given ;'io.«l3ep in discussing plans of campaign with. i local committees, dof policy of the ,. League, and making after-dinner speeches (id Übi. That, howo ye sis what; Mr Dillon lias been doing for six weeks past: and if tho Government lock him up they may save hia, life, and they will certainly strengthen his cause. When he stood forward to speak at -■ Wpodfard, his . fiuej 'melancholy features hardly showed even a responsive glow as a wikl,"shrill cheer, went up from the crowd. He had got a message to deliver, and ho delivered it, not with great fire and fervor, but with'that quiet, ready earnestness of his which has occasionally compelled hostile majorities iv the House of Commons to listen with respect to arguments which ( they despised and to facts which they ignored. Mr Dillon's speech was not to my thinking h particularly judicious one ; but it should not bo forgotten that he was charged with a peculiarly delicate t-isk. The National League has left Woodford in-the lurch at a critical moment. Considerations of policy

had led tho Central Executive to counsel r concession when tho local branch has in- ' "sfsi&l upon fighting. There had been a .temporary breach, and Mr Dillon had comb -'to heal it by accepting on tho part of the t- League full responsibility for Woodford s ( action, and co to reassert the leadership of H;he Central Executive over its local branch. He had also to promulgate the new plan of • campaign subsequently formulated in United Ireland, and bo to proclaim a new land war at the very moment when all were prophesying pVace. And, lastly, he had to dissuadethe tenants from buying their under Lord Ashboume s Act. His speech was closely reasoned, vigorous, and full of points; but it was open to tho criticism that it was unnecessarily provocative, and cxposedtho League to tho unjust imputation of being anxious to stir up strife, instead of beiug, as it really is, a regulating and restraining force.