PARNELL AS A LEADER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 12, 12 July 1889, Page 29

PARNELL AS A LEADER.

Tnrc cross-examination of Mr. Parnell (says Trutli), has revealed no new fact. When 11 r. Parnell became a member of Parliament, the Parliamentary part)' was under Mr. Butt, a clever, brilliant mm, but nd» her ti listed nor wcr'hy of tuist. Thenrnjorityof the Irish M.P.'s who followed him were more anxious for place than for Home Rule. Outfide Pirhament the Irish, both in Ireland and in America, distrusted the I'ailiamenlAiy paity, and looked to physical force as the only means to secure to lieland hei just light?. Ireland was honeycombed with secret societies. Mr. Parnell peiceived that if Parliamentary action was to replace revolution, the former must be conducted upon very d.ffeient lines to those adopted heretofore. By his determined energy he foiced Irelan 1 to the front in Parliament, and made the Irish question the Parliamentary question of the day. He neither denounced Irishmen who did not suate his views, nor did he inquire what had been the views of any individual. lie invited them all to join him, and urged all to be Parliamentarians, much as the Apostles c tiled upon saints and sinners to become Christians. As his party grew, Fenianisni and secret societies lost their hold upon the Irish people, uutil ..t length the Irish weie banded together in one great Parliamentary Party. Mr. P^ruell'd mode of winning adherents was to assure all that, it only they would su; p irt him in his Parliamentary action, Home Rulq must eventually be won, and so long as the Irish believe that Me will win it for them, so long will he retain his power. His great glory is that he has substituted Parliamenary action tor the outrages and the revolutionary tactics that were rife before he came to the fore. Of course in the liish party, as in every party, there arc men who either disbelieve in Parliamentary action, or who find that their occupation is gone so long as their countrymen believe in ii. Many of them have seen themselves obliged to accept the Parnell gospel because it is popular ; some of them still remain obdurate. Mr. Parnell has pursued the even tenor of his way, neither idling the former out of the fold, nor shutting the gate to those who persut in remaining outside. To blame him for this is to blame him for being a statesman.