The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell Vol - I

&T. 271 AMNESTY 63
the Iranian voice could reach—was throbbing with the belief that I was giving utterance to the one thought that was actuating all. That scene was worth the memories of a life. Into every human form in that great multitude God had breathed the breath of life as each of them became a living soul. In the voice of that multitude spoke the spirit which that breath had sent into the heart of man. There was an awe and solemnity in the presence of so many living souls. Dense masses of men, outnumbering the armies that decided the fate of Europe on the field of Waterloo, covered a space of ground upon the far-off verge of which their forms were lost in distance. Around that verge the gorgeous banners of a hundred trades' unions, recalling to the mind the noblest glories of the Italian free republics, glistened in the brightness of a clear autumn sun. Words fail to describe—imagination and memory fail in reproducing—the image of a scene which, like recollections of Venice, is so different from all the incidents of ordinary life that it seems like the remembrance of a vision or a dream/
Amnesty meetings were now held throughout the country. Amnesty became a rallying cry. Constitutional-Nationalists and Fenians stood shoulder to shoulder on the amnesty platforms. No word was now raised against the Fenians by any Eepealer; and even outside the Nationalist ranks altogether there was a feeling of admiration and pity for the men who had shown their readiness to sacrifice liberty and life in the cause they held dearer than both. Many people did not see that these amnesty meetings were making all the time for Home Eule. They were bringing all Irish Nationalists, constitutional and revolutionary, together. They were inspiring Isaac Butt, they were inspiring