THE MEMORY OF PARNELL

New Zealand Tablet, 30 November 1911, Page 2431

THE MEMORY OF PARNELL

HIS MONUMENT UNVEILED IN DUBLIN .. Wonderful scenes of enthusiasm were witnessed in Dublin on Sunday, October 1, on the occasion of the unveiling of the great Parnell memorial by Mr. John E. Redmond, M.P., the Leader of . the Irish People. The whole nation joined in paying a tribute to the memory of the chief whose death took place with such dramatic suddenness nearly twenty years ago. Since that sad epoch took place a new generation of Irishmen has sprung up; but the personality of the great man still dominates the Irish situation and fills the Irish heart and mind. In the marvellous procession (says the Irish Weekly) marched veterans who shared with Isaac Butt and his contemporaries in the first struggles of the Home Rule Movement, and youths who were unborn when Parnell's life-work was progressing; and the demonstration was a striking proof that the spirit of Nationality lives and throbs behind the hearts of the people with a strength undiminished by the passing of the years, and with a determination unalterable as the hills of Parnell’s native county. Many stirring Nationalist meetings have been held in the Capital of Ireland since the Home Rule Movement was inaugurated : but in size and in character none has ever equalled that which was witnessed on Sunday. Great gatherings have been called to voice some particular popular political demand; but the sentiment pervading the breasts of all at the immense assembly on Sunday was one of gratitude to the unequalled leader who made Ireland’s name respected among the nations of the world, and who

brought her forces to the verge of victory. Every class and every creed joined in paying respect to the memory of Charles Stewart Parnell, and the crowning triumph of Saint-Gaudens’ art, which now adds yet another charm to one of the • , - . Most Magnificent Thoroughfares in 'the Three Kingdoms, will serve in the best possible manner to keep Parnell’s name enshrined in the hearts of posterity oven when Ireland, after many years in the enjoyment of freedom and prosperity, has halfforgotten the long period of sorrow and suffering through which she has passed. When the date of the unveiling ceremony was announced, every town and even every village made its own arrangements in order that each might take its part in Sunday’s demonstration. On all the railway lines in the country special trains were chartered; but the unfortunate railway strike intervened, and in consequence of it the great province of Munster was most inadequately and only very partially represented. Every contingent from the South was debarred from travelling ; and this naturally took away very considerably from the magnificence and impressiveness of the procession. In spite of the absence of railway facilities, however, a great many prominent southerners travelled on Saturday. Excepting that one province, every single county in the rest of Ireland was represented in the immense demonstration ; and if the names of the really prominent and representative men from all parts were printed by themselves they would fill many pages of a newspaper. Every public board sent some of its members to Dublin, and every single branch of the United Irish League, Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and of the Irish National Foresters in the city of Dublin, (he surrounding counties, and from the greater part of Ulster appeared, in full force. These organisa-

tions in the other provinces also, although handicapped mostly by very long railway journeys, sent their members in huge numbers to take part in the procession. Sixteen special trains took 20,000 people from Belfast alone. After Dublin itself and the city of Belfast, probably ■ d The Largest Representation in the Procession *came from the South-eastern counties of Leinster. From Waterford up practically every centre of population on the Dublin and South-eastern system had arranged for special • travelling facilities. Parnell’s own county of Wicklow sent an enormous number of people, the procession being headed by a contingent of two thousand Wicklow men resident in Dublin, The whole of Connaught was touched through the Great Midland line, the contingents from Athlone and Mullingar being immense ones. It may be mentioned, as giving an idea of the vastness of the numbers who came from Connaught, that from County Roscommon alone twenty-five divisions of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, with an average membership of one hundred and fifty each, Travelled Almost to a Man to Dublin. The ! Citie of the Tribes ’ sent about three-quarters of its population on the long journey right across Ireland in order that the ancient capital of the West should take its proper place in the National tribute of honor to a Man and fidelity to a Cause. After Dublin itself it was naturally expected that Munster would be responsible for by far the largest contingent amongst the provinces. A very large number of special trains had been arranged to run from Kerrv —the county which so largely contributed to the Parnell Monument Fund ; and from Cork City and County, but owing, to the unhappy dispute between Sir William Goulding and Mr. Dent on one side and the railway employees on the other, no less than forty-six trains did not run from places south of Maryborough. Some of the Corkmen, a number of whom belonged to the old Parnell Guards were so anxious to be present at the ceremony that they tried to charter a special steamer when they found that the trains were not to run, but it was too late to do so.

To give an idea of the length of the procession it will be sufficient to state that it took over two hours before the tail end of the procession got away from the starting point, and from the fact that Mr. Redmond had concluded his speech and unveiled the memorial before many of the rear divisions reached O’Connell Bridge. When Mr. John Redmond, M.P., began his address at the unveiling, ceremony there were fully 100,000 persons, and yet thousands of the processionists had not arrived at the monument until the end of the speech-making. The Monument. The monument, which is built of Shantalla granite, is an obelisk triangular on plan, rising to a height of 5/ feet above the street level, and crowned with a bronze tripod eight feet high. The base or pedestal lests on a platform 26 feet in diameter standing some nine inches over the street paving, and in which is inlaid a large trefoil of Barna granite embracing the area of the base. The bronze statue of Parnell, eight feet high, stands on a projecting pedestal at a height of about nine feet over the street, and around the pedestal and the base of the monument are carved ox skulls and swags, underneath which are inlaid bronze wreaths and plaques with the names of the provinces and the counties of Ireland. Bronze torches ornament the three angles. The harp, which appears on the obelisk above the figure, is in low relief and.gilded, and the inscription, which is incised and also gilded, is as follows:—‘To Charles Stewart Parnell.—“ No man has a right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has a right to say to his country: Thus far shalt thou go and no further. We have never attempted to fix the ne plus ultra to the progress of Ireland’s nationhood, and we never shall.” ’ The Statue. Saint-Gaudens attacked with keen enthusiasm his great woik for the Irish, as he had long been anxious to erect a shaft of this character, and also as he said himself he felt in his element with this nationality— his mother being an Irishwoman. He took endless pains to make the design a success and worthy of the man it was intended to honor. He procured every particular in the way of maps, plans, photographs, measurements.

etc., and had a model made of the streets and buildings bordering the site in order to determine the scale for the monument, and later he had erected in a field near his studio a full size timber model of the structure j 70 feet high, with a plaster cast of the figure placed l„ in front of it. He also obtained all the photographs, sketches, drawings, etc., procurable of Mr. Parnell, and he even got from a firm of Dublin tailors replicas of the clothes they had last made for the Chief. The monument is a triumphant tribute to the genius of Saint-Gaudens, who in departing from conventional methods has given to Ireland a work of art of subtle force and refinement that bespeaks the power of a great artist to master the task of honoring a great name.