PARNELL BEFORE THE PEOPLE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 357, 20 February 1880, Page 19

PARNELL BEFORE THE PEOPLE.

On Sunday, January 4, Ur. Parnell fairly opened in America his agitation of the Irish Land Question. On that day he addressed nearly ten thousand people in New York, in a speech that fairly quivered with earnestness and power. Around him sat old and able heads, eminent lawyers, clergymen, politicians, and merchants, and before him spread a wide field of faces, eager for the word, and quick to judge the proposition. Five minutes after his opening he had established his power. The coldest' critic must admit his surpassing qualities as an agitator. His sentences were terse, clear-cut, important. He flung no idle words away, not one. At first when he arose to speak and faced the multitude, who made the air thrill in those short vibiations of resonance only produced by the cheers of an excited crowd, he showed emotion to those near him who watched him keenly. His dark eyes grew fuller and brighter, and his nervous but determined lips trembled a moment. No man could receive such a welcome unmoved. But next minute his first sentence stilled the meeting, and re-instated his own wonderful self-control.

As he stands on the platfoim, Parnell is a striking figure. He has been described as of delicate appearance, and frail build. This is quite wrong. He is tall and graceful, but his body is rounded and powerful. His coat is buttoned closely. His full beard is a light tawny cut short, and his hair is perhaps a shade darker. His features are straight and finely moulded. An observer is struck first and last by his dark eyes and flexible, foicible mouth. He stands erecr, with his head slightly bent forward, as if thinking out to the end each sentence before he speaks it. And as he speaks he often raises his eyes above the audience, and fixes them in a far-off reflective look, while the swelling veins in his throat and forehead plainly show the continuance of the mental process. His voice is clear and strong; and he uses it with judgment. It is not musical ; it is argumentative, manly, convincing. When he wishes to stamp a particular sentence on his audience, he utters it in a raised tone with extraordinary precision and force, and drops it at the last word. He repeats nothing — not even to explain ; indeed his sentences are so direct thßt they are more like missiles than propositions. His case is so good, and his conviction so intense that he is a man uttering self-evident truths, and so he impresses his audience. These are splendid qualities for an agitator ; and to these are added remarkable self-control, rare political insight, and a judgment balanced to audacity. Obseiye his first step. On the day of his arrival a paper in New Yort, in the interest of the English Government and the Irish landlords, publit-hed a whole page of letters from the latter class, staling their position and its complete justice. This was regarded as a master-stroke against Parnell. He seizes it with a grip of joy, and makes it the very key-note of his address ! He rejoices that the Herald has published those letters, which prove that the haughty aristocracy of Gieat Britain are brought at last as culprits to the bar, and are forced to appeal to the public opinion of this great democracy. He rejoices that the Irith landlords have selected their ablest men to make the best defence they can "for the a cursed system that prevails in Ireland." As he speaks these words, hs nostrils dittend, and the veins of his forehead swell with the force of the though*. But he does not say one word too much. One thinks, looking at him, this man knows when to speak, and exactly when to sop.

The object of Messrs. Painell and Dillon's mission is two-fold, or rather three-fold,— to ask America to practically help the Iribh land agitation ; to ask for temporary relief for the sufferers in L-eland ; and to prevent any further misconception as to the true meaning of the Irish land movement.

For these objects they represent the Irish Land League, a tody composed of the leading men and most trusted representatives in Ireland. The money subscribed here will be at once transmitted to that body. To prevent misunderstanding, Mr. Parnell has announced that two separate funds will be formed, one for the political agitation and the other for the relief of the sufferers. Parties contributing may send for either or divide with both.

The aim of the English Government and its subsidised Press in America is to have only one fund, to help the distress. But, says Pamell, seeing through the flimsy cheat, the cause of the distress is ths wicked system of holdiug Irish land : and while we do our best to assist the present poor in Ireland, we must remove forever the cause of their poverty. Unless this be done. Ireland- must come btfore the world every few years as a mendicant. We hail the coming of Mr. Parnell as a potent sign of Ireland's future. Great needs evolve men equal to their emergency. Unquestionably this man is marked for his age. He fits his place admirably. He is in full harmony with the times. Already he has struck a note of tremendous omen — Irish politics must be settled by reason and adjustment, not by arbitrary will on one side, or passionate refusal on ihe other. This method has the deepest significance for both England and Ireland.— Pilot.