The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell Vol - I

•JET. 31] A SIGNIFICANT INCIDENT 147
steer her into an Irish port, and perhaps a port not far from the one of their choice/
The following incident, related to me by an official of the Home Eule Confederation of Great Britain, shows how from the beginning Parnell kept in touch with the advanced men. ' The first time I saw Parnell was in 1875—the time of the O'Connell centenary. The members of the Confederation resolved to attend the Dublin demonstration in honour of O'Connell. We came in great force from Liverpool, Manchester, and other northern towns. On arriving in Dublin, I was deputed to call on the Dublin organisers and to arrange for the place which our men should take up in the procession. I waited on a gentleman whose name I now forget. He met me very bluntly and said, " Oh, we are not going to give a place in the procession to Fenians." I replied: " We are not Fenians. We represent the Home Eule Confederation of Great Britain, and surely we ought to have a place/' But he would not give way. Of course there were Fenians amongst us, and there were a good many Fenian sympathisers; we appreciated the earnestness and grit of the Fenians, and we sympathised with the men who had suffered for Ireland. But the majority of the men who came from England were not, so far as I know, sworn Fenians. I came back and told our people what had happened, how we had been refused a place in the procession. " Oh ! " said they, "very well; if they do not give us a place, we will take one ourselves/1 Accordingly, when the day came we formed in order with our cars and banners, and took up a position in advance of everybody else—in fact, we headed the procession—and marched forward. Some of the Dublin organisers were much annoyed, and very foolishly told the coal-