THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20251, 10 May 1929, Page 8

THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

REMINISCENCES OE " T.P. r

[IRISH. CONFLICT DEEPENS^

(THE ARREST OF PARNELL.

MANY SCENES OF VIOLENCE.

(Copyright.) XXIL Tho first indication of tho now policy ©n behalf of the Government was . given by Mr. Gladstone, above all men, in a memorable speech he made at Leeds. He dressed up with his usual eloquence the thesis of Mr. Forster that Mr. Parnell represented not the majority, but a minority of tho Irish people. The fact that nearly a thousand nion and women had been sent to gaol by Mr. Forster was in itself, to anybody accustomed to popular movements, a sure indication of tho realities of Irish opinion. To this insane misapprehension of the situation Mr. Gladstone gave full adhesion. " Tho peoplo of Ireland, we believe," said Mr. Gladstone, " desire, in conformity with the advice of the old patriots and their bishops and their best friends . • « to make a full trial of the* Land Act; and if they do make a full trial of that Act, you may rely upon it, it is as certain as human contingencies can be, to give peace to the country. We shall rely on the good sense of the people, because wo aro determined that no force, or fear of ruin through force, shall, as far as wo aro concerned, and, as it is in out power to decide the question, prevent the Irish people having the full and free benefit of the Land Act. And then came the ominous passage which prepared Ireland and England for the tremendous events that were iromediately to follow: "When we have that short further experience to which I have referred, if it should then appear that there is still to be fought a final conflict in Ireland between law on tho ona side and sheer lawlessness on the other—if the law, still purged from defects, is still to be rejected and refused, the first condition of political society remains unfulfilled, and then, I say without hesitation, the resources of civilisation against its enemies aro not yet exhausted." Passionate Speech by Parnell.

Nobody could mistake the meaning of these words. They meant that the Irish leaders were to be imprisoned. Parnell himself so interpreted the words of Mr. Gladstone. On October 9, two days after the Gladstone speech in Leeds, Parnell attended a meeting at Wexford. The reception given to him at this meeting is described by tbose who saw it as perhaps the most tremendous of the many receptions of almost frenzied enthusiasm which ho received during thfkt momentous year. Triumphal arches were erected in the streets; bands came from several parts of the country, and special trains brought thousands from the surrounding districts. Mr. Parnell's speech was in the same passionate tones as those of the speech to which it was a reply. Mr. Gladstone had complained that the want of all support to the efforts of the Cabinet from the landlords and other classes weakened the action of the Government, and finished up by saying that " the Government are expected to keep the^ peace with no moral force behind them." " The I Government," said Mr. Parnell, taking up this point. " has no moral force behind it in Ireland. The whole Irish people are against them. They have to depend for their support upon the interest of a very small minority of the people of this country, and therefore they have no moral force behind them, and Mr. Gladstone, in these few short words, admits that English Government has failed in Ireland. ... I say it is not in his power to trample on the aspirations and the rights of the Irish nation with no moral forcfi behind him.' Irish Leader Sent to Prison.

In another speech the next day Mr. Parnell used words which showed he had Bome presentiment of what was coming. " I am frequently disposed to think," he said, " that Ireland has rtot yet got through the troubled w f aters of affliction to be crossed before we reach tho promised land of prosperity to Ireland. . . . There may k e —probably there will be—more stringent coercion before us than we have yet experienced." The next day (Tuesday) Parnell went to his home in Avondale, but he was back in Dublin on Wednesday evening, as he had promised to attend the Kildare County Convention of the Land League, \yhich was to be held at Naas on Ihursday. But on Wednesday a Cabinet Council' had been held in England, and in the evening Mr. Forster had crossed to Ireland, authorised to arrest his clue! opponent. Here is Mr. Parnell s own occount of what actually occurred

Intending to proceed to Naas thiß mora-i-n5. T ordered, t efore retirinj? to bed on ■Wednesday night, that X should be called at half Sast eight o'clock. When the man came to my bedroom to awaken me, be told me that two gentlemen 7" e ,/f;^ n ? n b ! ak thei? wanted to see me. I told him to ask tneir names and business. Having gone out, he came back in a few moments, and said that one was the superintendent of police and the other was a policeman. .1 to.d him to esy that I would be dressed in half-an-hour, and would see them then. • The man went away, but came back again to tell mo that lie had been downstairs to *ee the gentlemen, and had told them I was not stonping at that hotel. He then naid that I should get out through the back part of the house and not allow themi to catch me. I told him I would not do that if it were possible, because the police authorities would be sure to have every way most closely watched. He again went down, and this time showed the detectives up to my bedroom. A Strange Procession. The following is from the Freeman's Journal of October 14, the day after Parnell's arrest: — In case of any emergency a force of one hundred policemen was held in readiness in Foster Place. When Mr. Mallon. the detective, entered Mr. Parnell's bedroom, he handed him two documents without au7 explanation, and Mr. Parnell received them with perfect calmness; as ho had had privafe advices from England regarding the Cabinet Council, he was well aware that the Government meditated some coup d etat. Superintendent, Mallon was lest ft crowd should collect and interfere with the arrest, and requested Mr. Parnell to come away as quickly as possible. Mr. Parnell responded to his anxiety, and a cab was called and the two detectives and the prisoner drove away. When the party reached the Bank of Ireland, five or six Metropolitan pblire, evidently by preconcerted arrangement jumped upon two outside cars and drove in front of the party. On reaching the quays at the foot of Parliament Street, n, number of horse police_ joined the procession at the rear. In this order the four ■vehicles drove to Kiimainliam. This strango procession passed along the thoroughfares without creating any remarkable notice. The curiosity of a few people who stonned to look at it was probably aroused by the presence of " the force rather than by any knowledge that, after a short lull, the Coercion Act was again being applied to the elite of the League. ... At half-past nine o clock Mr. Parnell appeared in front of the dark portals of Kilmainham. Violent Scenes in Dublin.

Interviewed by a reporter of the Freeman's Journal a few hours afterwards, Mr. Parnell closed the interview by one of those mots which marked important epochs in his career: "I shall take it," he said, " as an evidence that the people did not do their duty if I am speedily released."

In Ireland (lie arrest of Parnell was accepted throughout llio country as a national challenge. Indignation meetings ■weie held, unless they were dispersed by the police or the soldiery, in every town and village in the country, and in most cases, the shutters •were put on the windows as was the custom in times of death and funerals. The country was swept by a passion of anger and grief, the more bitter becauso it had to bo suppressed. Troops were poured into the country. Dublin was given over for two days to the police, and there occurred scenes of unnecessary violence. (To bo continued daily.)