THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20271, 3 June 1929, Page 6

THE O'CONNOR MEMOIRS.

(REMINISCENCES OE 8 ' T.P."

PARNELL'S GREAT, BLUNDER,.

NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES.

SELECTION OF! CANDIDATES, ) ( No. XLI. I flo not remember presiding over more lhau 0110 of theso conventions [for which purpose Mr. O'Connor was specially called to Dublin in connection with tho selection of candidates], but it was a difficult convention, and I doubt that I could have carried it through if it had not been for tho astuteness and promptitude of Mr. Healy. The candidate we were instructed to get selected if possible was Sir Joseph McKenna—uncle, by tho way, of tho Keginald McKenna of our day. There was a strong local candidate whom we suspected of being of that factious spirit that ,would make him an unoasy companion in la party whore discipline was strictly enforced.

The deputation from Dublin was met at the railway station by, among others, the bishop of tho dioceso, who know our man [tho local candidate], and who was just as much opposed as anybody else to his seloctiou. This candidate had, however, a certain amount of support among the priests, and when the convention met a priest got up and proposed, with every appearance of exuberant partisanship, the name pf this particular candidate. I took tho proposition in all seriousness, "but later on Mr. Healy described it as a plant, with the purpose not of having the candidate chosen, but of having him withdrawn in favour of tho candidate of the party. This, of course, forced the hand of the candidate, and he protested loudly at the close of tho convention; but his protest was in vain, and I was able to get jny man chosen, I think unanimously.

What Parnell Might Have Done. It will be evident from these facta that this little committee in Dublin had the representation of Ireland entirely in its hands. Parnell, if he had taken, tho trouble—but he was a lazy man, and the Jure of Brighton made any lengthened Etay in Ireland extremly obnoxious to him —might have made a list of candidates of his own which he could easily have carried. He again and again alluded to this neglect of his opportunities ' when the tragic struggle came over his leadership. He was quite I'ight in suggesting that with more .trouble and more assistance ho could have created a party which would have been so frankly and unmistakably partisan where ho was concerned that he would never have been rejected by a majority pf his party. . Another thing which influenced the choice of candidates was that there was a small group, of which Mr. Healy was the most prominent figure, who did bring into the choice of candidates their personal feelings and perhaps their ■ political interests. Thus it came to pass that the partv which might have consisted almost entirely of men bound by their feelings or their interests to Parnell, consisted, at the end, of men much more tied to "Mr. Healy than to Parnell. Among the members who were thus chosen were several members of Mr. Healy's own family. Mr. Healy was doubtless conscious—for he had a keen and accurate eye for the future—of the strength which this would give him in the future activities of tho party: Parnell sat on, looking as a rule distrait and uninterested; but, as he afterwards often lamented, ho was preparing for himself the rod that afterwards Was to scourge him out of his leadership jand his life. Mrs. O'Shea's Secret Eole.

'And here there appeared one of the many disadvantages which came from Parnell's unbroken secrecy with regard to the negotiations carried on with the Government/through the agency of Mrs. O'Shea. Little did I or anybody else realise that, at the time when the destruction of Gladstone's chance of obtaining a majority at the election seemed to be the best hope for Ireland, at that very moment Mrs. O'Shea was constantly being received by Mr. Gladstone and with him Was constantly discussing a means of reconciliation —if not actually of co-opera-tion —between Parnell and himself. It -was also one of the vices of the situation that Gladstone kept his intentions iwith regard to Irish self-government practically within his own bosom. If I and other Irishmen of the period had been more vigilant and perhaps less suspicious, yve might have read between some of the •utterances of Gladstone the foresbadowing3 of'tbo great project that was already forming, if not formed, in his mind, of making an .attempt to give Ireland selfgovernment. But blind passion, I now .think, /father obscured our vision. Besides, it looked as if Gladstone, in Spite £rf the enlargement of the electorate through the enfranchisement of the agricultural labourers, would have an independent majority over the Tories and ourselves, and we thought our interest was that the two parties should bo so evenly balanced that wo should be the controlling factors.

More Secrecy and Mystery. There was equal ambiguity in the attitude of tho Tory Party. Lord Carnarvon had been sent to Ireland during tho short Tory regime [Lord Salisbury's Administration of a few months in 1885-86] J as Lord Lieutenant, and he immediately proceeded to a series of actions, some of ■which I was able to exploit in my speeches as strong arguments for the support of tho Tories. Among the many people convicted during tho Spencer regimo, of course by a packed jury, was a man named Bernard Kelly. The advent of Lord Carnarvon as Lord Lieutenant was immediately followed by tho release of this man, though his term of penal servitude had not yet expired. To make tho episode more conspicuous, when tho Lord Lieutenant went on a visit to a town in Western Ireland tho man who drove his car through the ,wilds was this very Bernard Kelly. Tho world was also startled by the »ews which leaked out that Lord Carnarvon had had a secret meeting with Mr. Parnell; tho mvstery surrounding it "was increased by the fact that, as it afterwards turned out, tho meeting took ydaco in practically an empty house in Grosvenor Square. What actually took placo between Lord Carnarvon and Mr. Parnell was never quite demonstrated. It was a fact, howfever, that Lord Salisbury knew of the intended visit and did not express disapproval.

Conservatives in Minority. In some of the constituencies this semitilliance between 'the"Tories and ourselves jwas indicated in ways that could not be misunderstood. Ono candidate, aftcra very ardent and consistent supporter of the policy of coercion on which Iho Tory Cabinet embarked not many months afterwards, put on one of his •placards the words: "Vote for and no Coercion." Not altogether explicitly, but so far a3 they could go, tho Tory Party promised not to renew coercion. [At the general election in November, 1885,.. tho Liberal Party, then in Opposition, won 333 seats, ilio Conservatives securing 251. The Irish Party had at last, demonstrated its claim, denied for so many-years, to represent tho opinions of *h© ,Irish people by winning 85 out of the-103 seats of tho entire Irish represent, on- -H r * Gladstone -was thus just snort of the numerical strength required a possiblo combination of ConWJ&ktives and Parnellites.] 'V-V bft continuo4 iJaily.K