THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20257, 17 May 1929, Page 8

THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

REMINISCENCES OF " T.F,"

PASSIONS IN PARLIAMENT*,

PIERCE ATTACKS ON PARNELL.

MR. FORSTER'S BITTER SPEECH.

(Copy right.) No. XXVIII

But tlio more immediate effect of this Thunderclap ftho developments regarding the Phoenix Park murdersj was tho renewal of the warfare waged so persistently and so skilfully by Mr. Forster against Mr. Gladstone, and, of course, against Parnell. Again, and still again, tho Conservative leaders, and especially the Fourth Party, endeavoured to proclaim the alleged understanding and cooperation between Parnell and the Ministry. Side by side with this thero was a dead set made against Mr. Chamberlain. He was credited with being one of the influences which broke down the policy and tho official lifo of Mr. Forster; and against him attacks were made in some respects almost as bitter as those against Parnell.

The first move in the now renewed and even more hitter campaign over the socalled Kilmainham Treaty was mado by ]\l r . John Gorst. There could havo been no better ctioice for leading such an assault. In his cold, clear, apparently passionless way—though every word subtly breathed passion—he made his .indictment, and, above all, his indictment of Mr. Chamberlain. I can still remember the bitter passage in which he drew an analogy - between Mr. Chamberlain and /'Number Ono"—that terrible and sinister figure who remained anonymous for many years, and whose identity is still a matter of controversy. Gorst's Deadly Indictment. " Number One" appeared and reappeared in the mouths of ' somo of the witnesses" in the murder trials, and apparently was the originator, tho inspirer, and tho guide of tho deadly conspiracy. Ho obtained greater prominence, deadlier importance, more ruthlessness, from the mystery by which he was surrounded. It will thei'efore be understood what deadly effect these words had when uttered in this clear, cold voice of Gorst. The language did not directly call Mr. Chamberlain an assassin, but the closeness of the comparison on which Mr. Gorst insisted between the assassin creator of the Invincible Society and Mr. Chamberlain was enough almost to suggest that the English Cabinet Minister -was as great a criminal as the Irish conspirator. It is over 40 years since I hoard these sentences, but they still ring as clear and as deadly to my inner ear, and I can make no better comparison of their effect than with the words with which a Judge recedes his sentenco of death on the murderer in the dock. There wero other speeches of a similar character, but though there might have been more passion and fury in" the other speeches from the leaders of the Opposition, Gorst's indictment always remains with mo as far and away more deadly than any of the rest. Mr. Forster Denounces Parnell. These incidents were, however, but the raising of the curtain on what was to prove the central scene of the tragic drama now being enacted on the floor* of the (House; but they had created the atmosphere. which was electric, eager, vindictive, that Mr. Forster required. All the old hatred and suspicion of Parnell and his party had been revived from the temporary grave in which they had been buiied aftei -what was called the Kilmainham Treaty and the release of Parnell. Never in the whole course of his Parliamentary career did Mr. Forster rise more dexterously, more effectively, with deadlier blows, than in this indictment he proceeded to utter against the Irish leader.' He had evidently thought out every word and every count of his indictment. By way of leading up to the deadlier blow's /which ho was about to deal, he began in a light and almost airy vein; he tried to put himself right with his fellow-Liberals —who naturally saw in the Tory onslaught an attack on their leader and on their party—by expressing somo opposition to the motion that had been proposed by the Fourth Party: a somewhat innocuous and meaningless motion. ~ Having thus liberated himself from any possible charge of lack of fealty to his old leader or to his party, Mr. Forster proceeded to his attack on Parnell. He came fully documented, and every document was brought out at the exact and most telling moment. Every violent speech by every man closely or distantly connected with the Land League—most of them quite insignificant persons, was quoted. Irish Newspaper Quoted. United Ireland was also quoted—a great newspaper which had been founded by Sir. William O'Brien, recently returned to Parliament, one of the most brilliant journalists of his time, arid destined to play a very large part in tho Irish conflict for several years, afterwards. But the paper had fallen from his control; be was .in gaol. His paper had been suppressed and it had to be produced furtively, sometimes in Paris, sometimes in Liverpool, and always was brought into Ireland against the vigilant and übiquitous efforts of the Government' to exclude it.

At the moment the paper was being quoted as a weapon against Mr. Parnell, Mr. O'Brien was in gaol. My recollection is that the paper had fallen almost entirely under the control of the chief of the female figures in the revolution "who formed what was the Ladies' Land League, which had as its dominating personality Anna Parnell; and, as is usually the case, the woman revolutionary was much more violent than the male. Among the most effective counts in Mr. Foster's indictment was his quotation of a heading—''lncidents of the Campaign." ft. was a dreadful title, for the so-called incidents of the campaign where every violent act, including even murder, as a demonstration of the lin-t-onquered spirit under coercion of fhe Irish people. As Mr. Forster read out paragraph after paragraph that appeared under this heading the blood of the House ran cold. A Terrible Summing Up. Having thus built up so laboriously and po skilfully the counts of his indictrrient, Mr. F orster summed it all up in H these terrible words:

It has been often enough slated and shown by statistics that murders followed ■flie nicotines and the action of the Land League. Will the lion, member [Mr. Parnell] deny and disprove fhat statement? I will repeat again what the charge is which I make against him Probably a more serious charge was never made by nny member of the House of Commons against onoiher member. It is not that lie himself directly planned or perpetrated outrages or murders, but that he either connived at them or, when warned by facts and statements, he determined to remain in ignorance, that he took no trouble to test, the truth of whether these outrages liad been committed or not, but that lie was willing to guin the advantage of them.

Such was the indictment. It would be difficult to ex.'i Liberate its tremendous effect on the House in the temper to /which it had been driven by t-lie revelations in the trial of the Phoenix Park assassins, and in the renewal of all hatred and dread with which Parnell had been invested, and the bitterness of feeling against Mv. Chamberlain, and all the other deadly passions that had once more affected the Paiiiamuutary and public atmosphere. (To be continued daily.).