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CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
-^tci'T'n' -6^ ^uu'n'&^a, t^ ■::^,<:^Tieu- &*■ i:r&^
CHARLES STEWART
PARNELL
BY
HIS BROTHER
JOHN HOWARD PARNELL
JBOSTOK coT.i.irat libraIW
CHESTNUT tttLL, MAB8,
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1914
iiidd^i
CONTENTS
FOREWORD ------ vii
BOOK I
EARLY DAYS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HOME AND FAMILY ----- 3
II. IN THE NURSERY - - - - - l8
III. CHILDHOOD - - - - - 26
IV. WARDS IN CHANCERY - - - - 38
V. AT WISHAW'S - - - - - 47
VI. NEARING MANHOOD - - - - 54
BOOK II
STEPS TO THE THRONE
I. THE FENIANS - - - - - 67
II. NEARLY MARRIED - - - - 73
III. CHARLEY IN AMERICA - - - - 82
IV. ADVENTURES IN THE COALFIELDS - - - 89
V. THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT - - - - 96
VI. BACK TO EUROPE - - - - - IIO
VII. Charley's entrance into politics - - 119
vin. first blood - - - - - ^33
IX. in parliament - - - - - 141
X. OBSTRUCTION - - - - - 1 49
XI. A TRIUMPHAL TOUR - - - - - I56
XII. LEADER AT LAST - - - - - 165
vi CONTENTS
BOOK III
IN POWER
CHAPTER PAGB
I. MY brother's personality - - - 17I
II. THE RIGHT TO LIVE - - - - 183
III. IN PRISON ------ 193
IV. THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS - - - 1 99
V. THE ARREARS ACT ----- 205
VI. A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN - - - - 211
VIL THE PIGOTT LETTERS - - - - 22T
BOOK IV
A LOSING FIGHT
I. THE DIVORCE AND AFTER - - - - 23I
II. THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE - . - 241
III. Charley's betrayal _ - _ - 246
IV. after the death ----- 254
V. A VISION ------ 258
APPENDICES
A. Charley's superstitions - - - - 263
B. Charley's influence in America - - 268
C. AVONDALE industries - - - - 2yy
D. where the tribute went to - - - 286
E. A friend's appreciation - - - - 290
F. the manifesto of 1890 - - - - 294
G. - - __--- 302
A FOREWORD
Though it is not possible that anything I may
write will add to the lustre that circles the name
of Charles Stewart Parnellj or deepen the affection
in which that name is held by Irishmen all over
the world, still, as a Cork man and a devoted and
life-long follower of the illustrious Tribune, and
as one who was honoured with his acquaintance
for many years, I would desire in this foreword to
pay a sincere, if humble, tribute to his memory.
Mr. Parnell found his countrymen in serfdom; he
aroused them from theii lethargy, he raised them
up and made them determined and self-reliant.
He awakened hope in a crushed and despondent
people, he devoted his life to their cause, and he
showed them the way to liberty. The genius of
Parnell revolutionized procedure in the British
Parliament, and the methods which his brain
designed bear the hall-mark of perfect statesman-
ship. His brilliance as a leader was not less re-
markable. Gifted with a keen insight into affairs,
he was superficially cold, unemotional, and appar-
ently detached. He utilized to the fullest these
vii
viii A FOREWORD
remarkable qualities, but nothing could conceal
his burning love of his country and of his country-
men. Parnell the calm, calculating statesman
and politician has been pictured and described
by many writers, but few have penetrated the
armour that concealed the real man. The in-
scrutable, sphinx-like Irish gentleman, who was
in habit and manner diametrically opposed to
what Britons conceived to be the typical Irish-
man, mystified his political opponents and critics.
They could not understand Parnell, neither could
they comprehend how it was that he, whom they
regarded as being essentially un-Irish in his
personality, could awaken the wildest enthusiasm
in his feUow-countrymen. They only knew that
he was beloved by Irishmen, that he lived in their
hearts, that he dominated political thought in
Ireland, and that his word was a supreme law to
its people. Parnell has been appropriately de-
scribed as " the Uncrowned King " of Ireland,
and while he lived that descriptive phrase was
true. Now that he is dead, the Irish people have
placed a nation's diadem on his brow, and as long
as the shamrock grows in Irish ground they will
honour his name and his memory.
Parnell the statesman was known, respected
and possibly feared, in the British Parliament;
A FOREWORD ix
Parnell the Patriot was idolized in Ireland. And
if I may develop this view a little further, I would
add, with a full knowledge and a personal
acquaintance with the facts, that nowhere in
Ireland was Parnell' s genius more appreciated,
and nowhere was he held in greater affection, than
in the city of Cork, which he represented in Parlia-
ment for many years. In this work Mr. John
Howard Parnell writes of his brother from what
might be termed the " personal point of view,'*
and, as the book speaks for itself, it is not necessary
to say more than that it will be welcomed and
warmly appreciated by Irishmen in all parts of
the globe, as well as by everyone who has admired
the Titanic political achievements of one of
Ireland's most devoted and illustrious sons.
During my three years of of&ce as Mayor of Cork,
I was in constant and intimate touch with Mr.
Parnell, and I saw him and knew him, if I may so
express it, " behind the scenes." The more I
explored the depths of his mighty mind, and the
more I realized the attributes of his character,
the greater my esteem — I might say my affec-
tion— grew for the patriot whose every thought
was for his country's welfare. Two things that
impressed themselves on me were his intense
interest in everything that helped to establish or
X A FOREWORD
develop Irish industries, and his absolute detesta-
tion of any British intermeddling, which in many
instances tended to hamper such Irish industries
as already existed. Mr. Parnell's view was that
British-made laws affecting trade and commerce
were drafted and designed mainly to suit British
conditions, and little or no consideration was
given to the effect that such laws might have upon
Irish industries. He knew that in Ireland the
conditions were different, and he always insisted
that Irishmen themselves were the best judges
of what their country required. The Home Rule
principle was constantly in his mind, and his
first thought regarding every general legislative
measure was, " How will it affect Ireland?" An
instance occurred over twenty years ago which
illustrates Mr. Parnell's extreme interest in the
conservation of Irish industries. A millers' strike
was in progress in Cork, when I was called to
London on urgent business. Meeting Mr. Parnell
in the House of Commons, he asked me to return
immediately, and to use every effort to terminate
the dispute. " Try and end it at once," he said.
" We have very few Irish mills at work — ^let us
endeavour to keep what we have."
The people of Cork have always taken pride in
the fact that Parnell represented their city in
A FOREWORD xi
Parliament, and that he was enrolled an Honorary
Burgess of their ancient municipality. An affec-
tionate regard for his name is still characteristic
of the people who live within earshot of Shandon
Bells; and Cork men, in common with their country-
men in Ireland or in exile, will always pay dutiful
homage to the memory of the man who served
his country so faithfully and well. While a stone
stands on a stone in the city that Finn Barr
founded, the most cherished heritage of its
citizens will be the glorious name of Charles
Stewart Parnell.
DANIEL HORGAN,
Mayor of Cork, 1 890-1 892.
Cork, 1914.
BOOK I
EARLY DAYS
" Oh ! he stands beneath the sun, the glorious Fated One,
Like a martyr or conqueror, wearing
On his brow a mighty gloom — be it glory, be it doom.
The shadow of a crown it is bearing."
Lady Wylde.
CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
CHAPTER I
HOME AND FAMILY
The Avondale Tea-House.
I begin the life of my brother, Charles Stewart
Parnell — or, as I cannot help calling him, Charley
— in a small cosy room in the old tea-cottage on
the banks of the Avonmore, near the Meeting of
the Waters on my brother's demesne at Avon-
dale.
This cottage took the place of the historical tea-
house, of which two rooms are left in a somewhat
ruined state. The old tea-house stood on the
same spot two hundred years ago, and was then
the rendezvous for all the Wicklow nobility and
gentry, who came there to drink tea when on a
visit to the Parnell and Hayes families. I re-
member specially that Lord and Lady Wicklow
used to drive round there to recall old memories
on their way to visit my mother. My brother
Charley always called in there on his daily walk
down to the sawmills.
3
4 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
While the original tea-house has practically dis-
appeared, the old trees and shrubs all remain, as
well as young trees planted since by my brother
during his ownership. One feature is the im-
mense old silver firs — the largest in Ireland.
As I write this [in 1905] on a fishing visit, they
stand there, looking as if they kept lonely guard
with their funereal plumes, sorrowing, as it were,
for the departed tea-drinkers and the ancient
associations of Avondale.
This cottage is built on the banks of the beauti-
ful River Avonmore, about half a mile from
Charley's old home of Avondale. The road from
Avondale winds in and out along a charming
wooded valley, with the demesne meadows be-
tween the woods and the cottage, and is looking
its best on this beautiful spring day.
The young lambs are gambolling around; the
rooks are building their nests in the fine old
beeches, offsprings of the former generations of
rooks who used to circle round the old tea-drinkers ;
the wood-pigeons are cooing in the silver firs; the
pines are sighing overhead; and through the trees
I can hear the singing of the waters meandering
along the river's rocky bed. It is no wonder that
I should feel inspired in these lovely surroundings
to begin the writing of my brother's life, where
many a time I used to come in search of the wary
trout while he looked on. Meanwhile I am wait-
ing solitary for the time to come for me to go out
EARLY DAYS 5
and cast the fly, and the memories of old associa-
tions crowd upon me.
Whilst writing here I seem to feel my brother's
presence so near me. His portrait that looks
down upon me from the wall was placed there by
Mr. Michael Merna, his devoted sawmill manager,
who lived here. This picture was a newspaper
cartoon issued on the first anniversary of Charley's
death. It represents my brother attacked by
wolves, and asking his country not to fling him
to them until it has got his full value, showing
how prophetic were these words ; for not only was
he flung to the wolves, but his beautiful home of
Avondale as well.
Little did Charley think, when he and I used to
ramble here during our man}/ periods of com-
panionship throughout his varied career, that
Irish politics and his endeavours to make a new
Ireland, and free her white slaves from the land-
owners, would cause such a change. Little did he
expect to see his home in the hands of the English
Government, under the Board of Agriculture, and
the estate worked by English and Scotch labourers.
An Explanation.
I may say at once that this book is intended
rather as a memoir than a history of my late
brother.
The salient points of his striking career have
6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
often been recounted, and I shall pass over them
very lightly, devoting attention more to the causes
which inspired and directed them.
What I aim at towards him is to be what
Bourrienne was to Napoleon, rather than what
Carlyle was to Frederick the Great — a humble
follower of Boswell, elucidating character by
seemingly trivial anecdotes, rather than a didactic
historian, overwhelming his readers with dates
and facts.
I must, however, in order to explain the sub-
sequent events and the gradual development of
my brother's life, touch briefly on our family —
their history, characteristics, and personal ap-
pearance— and on Avondale, the charming home
of our childhood in Wicklow, and my brother's
seat after he came of age.
So I freely grant that this opening chapter may
be skipped over with a yawn, as verging on the
dull. But I am afraid that it is necessary, and
its dulness inevitable, as it contains the steel
framework of facts on which the more fragile
edifice of anecdote and psychology and comment
is subsequently built.
If a few inaccuracies may occur from time to
time, I trust it will be remembered that I am
looking back over a period of seventy years — one
of the most eventful in the history of our nation —
and that my own personal career (which I hope to
describe in a subsequent volume) has been one
EARLY DAYS 7
spent in many lands, and includes wild and even
thrilling adventures. It is hard now for me to
look back through the dust of all that turmoil and
see clearly with the recollection of yesterday.
Ancestral Influences.
A family history is rarely of very intense in-
terest to those unconnected with the family itself.
But the influence of the really outstanding char-
acters of certain ancestors upon the later genera-
tions is not only interesting, but important.
Our family is derived from one Thomas Parnell,
who was Mayor of Congleton in Cheshire during
the reign of James I. He purchased an estate in
Ireland, which descended (I skip the intervening
branches of the family tree) to his great-grandson,
the famous Sir John Parnell, whose father had
been created a Baronet in 1766.
Sir John threw himself heart and soul into Irish
politics. A member of the Irish Parliament from
1776 onwards, he held in succession the offices of
Commissioner of Customs and Excise and Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. A sturdy supporter and
defender of Grattan, he resisted to his utmost
Pitt's scheme of legislative union. His death fol-
lowed closely on the merging of the Irish Parlia-
ment into the British one.
His son, Sir Henry Parnell, created Lord Congle-
ton in 1841, warmly opposed the continuance of
8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the Irish Insurrection Act, on the ground that the
necessity for such an extreme measure had passed,
opposed the Bill for the suppression of the Catholic
Association, and took a prominent part in obtain-
ing Catholic Emancipation. He died in 1842,
after having held the of&ces of Minister for War
(under Lord Grey) and Paymaster-General of the
Forces (under Lord Melbourne).
By his wife. Lady Caroline Elizabeth Dawson,
daughter of the Earl of Portarlington, he had
five children, the youngest of whom, William, was
our grandfather.
The Fighting Commodore.
Our mother, Delia Stewart, was the daughter of
the American Nelson, Commodore Charles Stewart.
His countless exploits, his indomitable bravery,
and his many conflicts with and victories over the
English fleet during the American War of Inde-
pendence, are such that to recount them with any
justice would need a volume to itself.
The fact that the blood of one of America's
greatest national heroes ran in my brother Charles's
veins, in addition to the sympathy with which the
Irish cause has always been received in that land
of freedom, where so many of our brothers have
been driven to a hospitable and even glorious
exile, accounts for much of that reverence with
which, during my own solitary experiences in
EARLY DAYS 9
America, I have found the name of Parnell re-
ceived even among the most lawless and desperate
characters. Those experiences, however, in which
my brother did not participate, are, I think, more
fittingly reserved for my account of my own life.
Father and Mother.
Our father travelled in America and Mexico at
the age of twenty-one, finally meeting our mother
in the latter country.
After his marriage he settled at Avondale as a
quiet country gentleman, keeping fine horses and
hounds, and hunting with all the Wicklow gentry.
He was very fond of agriculture, at which he was
recognized as an expert, and gave great employ-
ment to the people in reclaiming land at Avon-
dale. He was a prominent magistrate and D.L.
for Wicklow. High- tempered when aroused, he
was of a quiet disposition as a rule. He was fond
of shooting and preserving the game all over the
country, and had his shooting-lodge at Augha-
vannagh, an old military barracks in the mountains
of Wicklow, where he often went to shoot. He
was a very fine cricketer, and maintained a first-
rate cricket club.
My mother was the daughter of Commodore
Charles Stewart, of the American Navy, to whose
career I have already made a brief reference. She
was considered an American beauty, and moved
10 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
in the best of American society. She and her
mother frequently accompanied her father on his
voyages. A charming woman, brilHant in both
pubhc and social life, she was also very generous
amongst the poor. Among her other gifts, she
was a very keen and clever politician, Charley
taking after her in that respect, her prophecies as
to our futures all having proved correct. The
taste for art, which I have inherited from her, she
possessed to a very marked degree, and was in
addition extremely well-read and a brilliant con-
versationalist. In appearance she was of medium
height, with dark hair and bluish eyes.
Our father and mother used to visit a great deal
amongst the Wicklow families, Lord and Lady
Wicklow, Lord and Lady Carysfort, and Lord and
Lady Powerscourt, their relatives, being among
their most intimate friends.
My Brothers and Sisters.
Our father had twelve children, whose names
and the dates of whose births and deaths, as far
as I remember, are given on p. ii.
William, the eldest, died, as I have shown,
before my own birth.
Hayes, who died from consumption, which
developed after a fall from his pony, was of dark
complexion. He was a clever boy, being excep-
tionally fond of mechanics and model shipbuild-
EARLY DAYS
11
ing, I had his watch after^his death, but gave it
afterwards to my sister Anna. He was very quiet
and studious, slightly built, and was called Hayes
after Colonel Hayes, an intimate friend of our
father.
Henry Tudor I remember as a baby. He was
Name.
Date of Birth.
Date of Death.
William Parnell
1837
1838
Delia Parnell; married Mr.
Thompson . .
1838
1881
Hayes Parnell
1839
1855
Emily Parnell; married (i)
Captain Dickinson, (2) Cap-
tain Ricketts
1841
Alive
John Howard Parnell ; married
Mrs. Matier
1843
Alive
Sophy Parnell; married Alfred
McDermott
1845
1875
CHARLES STEWART PAR-l
/June 27,
\ 1846
October 6,
NELL; married Mrs. O'Sheaj
1891
Fanny Parnell
1849
1882
Anna Parnell
1852
1911
Theodosia Parnell ; married
Captain Paget
1853
Alive
Henry Tudor Parnell ; married
Miss Lonby . .
1851
Alive
Also one child, a boy, stillborn
born in France, and had light auburn hair. I
remember seeing him in my father's room pushing
a chair before him when he was not more than
two years old. He went through Cambridge, but
was too nervous to pass his examination for a
degree. He is a barrister, but does not practise.
Charley comes after myself. When young he
12 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
was a wiry little boy, very bright and playful,
making fun of everybody and everything. He
was fond of mechanics, like his elder brother,
Hayes. He had dark brown hair, a pale com-
plexion, very dark brown and very piercing eyes.
His figure was slender, and he was very small for
his age. He did not grow until late, and was
nicknamed " Tom Thumb " at home.
As for the girls, Delia was considered a great
beauty. She had dark hair and complexion. She
was educated in Paris, and brought up in French
society. She married a rich American, Mr. Thomp-
son, and had one son, Henry, who showed a great
aptitude for music. He died of typhoid fever,
and my sister Delia died from grief at the loss
of her only son.
Emily was always very fond of music, and
played the piano extremely well. She was the
family dancei, and used to teach me. She had
as a girl a crossbar placed higher than herself,
which she used to clear at a standing jump. She
was a great favourite of her father's, but when
she wanted to marry Captain Dickinson father
objected and disinherited her, owing to the rumour
circulated by people, that she had run away with
him, which was absolutely untrue. She, however,
ultimately married Captain Dickinson, and later
Captain Ricketts. She had dark hair and eyes,
and when young was very delicate. She was
very fond of horses and donkeys, and went hunt-
EARLY DAYS 13
ing when quite young with Hayes and my
father.
Sophy was a beautiful bright-haired girl. She
was educated in Paris, like Delia. She married
Mr. McDermott, and had several children. Her
death was due to nursing some of her children
who were suffering from scarlet fever, which she
caught from them.
Fanny, the poetess of the family, and our blue-
stocking sister, knew every book in the library at
Avondale. She was a regular little Irish rebel.
When in America, she took up the Ladies' Land
League, and was Charley's favourite sister and
chum. She had dark hair and hazel eyes, and
was very witty. Her end, like that of many of
our family, was a sudden one, she being found
dead in bed at Bordentown.
Anna was Fanny's special chum, and a fine
painter. She studied art in England at the
academies. She took up politics with Charley in
the Irish cause, and, like Fanny, belonged to the
Ladies' Land League. Her death was also a
tragic one, for she was drowned accidentally three
years ago. A real Irish patriot, she held up Lord
Spencer's carriage in Dublin, when he was Lord
Lieutenant, and made him promise certain con-
cessions to Irish prisoners. She was dark-haired,
with dark eyes, slight, of medium height, and
delicate in constitution.
Theodosia, the youngest, was a real society
14 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
belle, though of a very quiet disposition. Unlike
most of us, she did not take much part in politics.
She married Captain Paget, of the Royal Navy,
and had one son, and is living at present at Wey-
bridge, England.
The Home of Parnell.
Avondale, the cradle of all our family, was given
to the Parnell family by the late owner, Colonel
Samuel Hayes (no relative of the Parnell family).
It descended from Sir John Parnell to Charles
Stewart Parnell, and thence to myself after
Charley's death.
It is beautifully situated on the top of a
high hill, with the demesne lands and meadows
sloping gently down to the Avonmore Valley,
celebrated by Thomas Moore in his poems, and
is about two miles from the celebrated Meet-
ing of the Waters, so vividly described by
Moore.
The valley is well wooded, the River Avon run-
ning down it a short distance from the house.
There are magnificent views from Avondale of
the valley and river and the opposite hills, with
the old copper-mines and works in the distance.
At the top of the lawn at Avondale is the cele-
brated cricket-ground — a large level area, where
many a game was played against the crack teams
in Ireland.
EARLY DAYS 15
Next to the cricket-ground is a beautiful little
cosy house called Casino, which was generally the
home of the managers of the Avondale estate.
The lawn round the cricket-field is surrounded by
some of the finest beech, elm, and silver-fir trees
to be found in Ireland.
On the slope from the cxicket-lawn down
to the house is the place where Charley and
I used to play cricket with the work -boys
in the evenings. He could not have been older
than ten at the time, just beginning to learn
cricket.
From the turreted old gate-house at Avondale
runs a fine winding avenue, lined with beautiful
beech-trees, up to the house.
The House of Avondale.
The house itself is of old style, square structure,
not imposing outside. There is a granite porch at
the hall door, supported by large granite pillars.
The back of the house is more imposing, as
it is partly circular, rendered so by the bay-
windows, which look out on the lovely scenery.
It really ought to have been the front, had the
architect any appreciation of the beauties of
Nature.
Taking the interior, before the furniture was
removed after the sale, as you enter, a large hall
as high as the house, and taking up at least one-
i6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
third of the whole area, meets your view. On the
inside of the door is inscribed the date when it
was built by Colonel Hayes — 1777. In the hall
were displayed the antlers of the largest Irish elk
in existence, found near the house in one of the
bogs on the estate. On the walls were sundry
trophies from Canada and other parts of the
world. The Irish colours of the Volunteers used
to hang there, but are there no longer, having
been lost. There were heads of deer and various
inscriptions on the walls, the latter mostly of a
Scriptural nature. A large billiard-table was also
set in the hall.
The library was a very fine room, where log
fires were always burned. Bookshelves were all
round the room, filled with works from all parts
of the world. In the room were antique tables,
chairs, and sofas. Scripture scenes and texts
were on the walls.
The drawing-room was a splendid room with a
large bow-window looking out on the country-
side. It was full of antique furniture, and very
fine old oil-paintings, all of a Scriptural character,
by celebrated artists. The chimney-piece was of
marble, and the inlaid inscriptions were by the
celebrated Italian painter Bossi, and were valued
at £1,000.
The parlour was an imposing room, every
article of furniture being of mahogany, with fine
chairs and tables and a magnificent sideboard.
EARLY DAYS 17
Once again inscriptions of Scripture were on the
walls.
That concludes my somewhat detached remi-
niscences of our old home, which now, since it has
been converted into a School of Forestry under
the Board of Agriculture, has much altered in
appearance.
CHAPTER II
IN THE NURSERY
Life in the Nursery.
My first recollection of Charley was when he was
about two or three years old, and an inmate of
the nursery, from which I had not long been
promoted. I faintly remember him toddling
about in his baby clothes.
When he grew a little older they wanted to put
him into petticoats, but he created such an uproar
that special breeches, made of the thinnest
material, were provided for him, and also for
myself. This was to make us hardy, as our
father wanted to give each of us his own iron
constitution. However, in the very cold weather
our nether garments were plentifully coated with
frost and icicles.
Charley was immensely proud of his victory,
and then refused to wear boots once he was clear
of the house, kicking them off and walking bare-
foot, especially in the snow I'm afraid I usually
followed his example.
One of poor Charley's most poignant griefs in
his tender years was the frequent loss of his night-
EARLY DAYS 19
cap. His roars were incessant until it was found
and safely fixed on his head.
Charley once had a very narrow escape of
having his career cut short before he had even
learned how to talk. Our mother was nursing
him one day, when a visitor was suddenly an-
nounced. She hastily stowed away the future
Irish leader in the drawer of a large press, which
she closed without thinking, and hurried to the
drawing-room. When the visitor left, about half
an hour later, she found that she had clean for-
gotten what she had done with Charley, and a
frantic search was made, until muffled yells from
the drawer where he was imprisoned resulted in
his release.
Mrs. Twopenny.
His nurse, Mrs. Twopenny (invariably pro-
nounced by us "Tupny''), was a tall, buxom
Englishwoman, with dark hair and fine hazel eyes.
She was very fond of the scenery around Avon-
dale, and instilled a love of the country into me,
which Charley, however, did not show until later
years.
Mrs. Twopenny, who was a most respectable
woman, quite different from the succession of un-
educated nurses who had charge of us elder
children, was very firm with Charley, but at the
same time very kind to him. She used to lead
him by the hand on her favourite rambles through
20 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the woods. When he was naughty, which was
pretty often, she gave him a few slaps, but not
very hard ones, and he never was whipped. Even
later, when he had indulged in some special piece
of mischief, he was never actually castigated by
our father, but only shut in a room by himself,
where he howled himself to sleep.
Mimic Warfare. -
When we got a little older, he, I, and Fanny, were
always fond of playing with tin soldiers. We each
had a regiment set up on the floor, and, once
ready, opened a furious fusilade on one another's
forces with little pea-shooters fashioned in the
form of cannon. Charley entered into the game
with the greatest spirit, and was determined to
win at all costs. Once, I remember, he reached
the field of battle before us, and carefully gummed
down his army to the floor, much to the disgust
of Fanny, who did not detect the ruse until her
own forces were annihilated, while his stood their
ground.
Fanny, by the way, was always Charley's
special chum, and they often used to go up to
an old loft under the roof and shut themselves in,
even from me. There they would discuss their
pet schemes and have furious tin-soldier battles.
In these battles, it is curious to relate, Fanny,
who even at that early period was a thorough
EARLY DAYS 21
little rebel at heart, used to consider her army as
one composed of Irish patriots fighting for their
freedom ; while Charley had to be content with an
English army, doomed by consent to defeat, but
often, owing to his hatred of being beaten, proving
victorious.
I certainly think that Fanny's impassioned
patriotism had a great influence on Charley's
convictions in after-life.
Other Games.
** I spy " and " Follow my leader " were
favourite games with us, and we used to play
them all over the house, and out on to the lawn,
and through the shrubberies.
Charley was also an expert at the ancient, if
somewhat plebeian, game of marbles.
When Delia came back from school in
France, she brought with her a new game, which
consisted in her hiding her presents all over the
house and getting us to search for them. The
result was, as might be expected, pandemonium,
followed frequently by punishment, seeing that
the presents were generally hidden in ornaments,
in the lining of chairs and sofas, up disused chim-
neys, and behind books.
I learnt billiards at a very early age, and used
often to play with my father. Charley was always
fond of sitting on the edge of the billiard-table
22 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
and throwing the balls about. He often attempted
to do this when we were actually playing, and,
when lifted off the table, yelled vociferously,
indignant as ever that his slightest whim should
be thwarted.
Emil}^, who was always full of originality,
started a little mint of her own in her room.
She used to make her money out of gun-wads,
and distribute it to the rest of us. I forget the
exact nature of the currency, but it did quite well
enough for our childish games.
Cricket, in after-life his favourite pastime, as I
shall relate, had attractions for Charley even in
his nursery days, for he used to toddle down to
our private cricket-ground, generally hand in hand
with Mrs. Twopenny, and watch with the keenest
interest every phase of the game.
As far as I can carry my mind back, his earliest
form of recreation was riding a rocking-horse, and
I can just remember him, a very small creature
indeed, being held on a big wooden steed in the
nursery by Mrs. Twopenny.
An Exciting Incident.
Both Charle}^ and I often recalled in after-years
a thrilling little episode that occurred when we
were both small boys. We had a dog — a black
cocker named Rover — who was a general
favourite with us children. One day we found
EARLY DAYS 23
poor Rover struggling desperately on the far side
of a mill-race, which had been swollen by recent
rains. We were, of course, much too small to
jump over the intervening space of about ten feet,
and, even if we had got round by a long detour,
we would have been of very little use, and would
probably only have tumbled in ourselves. So we
ran back to the house, and on the way met our
father. Directly he gathered what had happened
he hurried to the spot, and, taking without a
moment's hesitation a flying leap over the mill-
race, soon had the exhausted Rover safely on
land.
During Charley's nursery days I was afflicted
with stammering, which I finally cured myself
of with some trouble. Charley, with his natural
spirit of mischief, set to work to mimic me, and
carried the joke to such an extent that he became
a hopeless stammerer himself, and had to be sent
away to school at an early age to be cured, while
I stopped on at Avondale.
We were once in church, Charley and I, on a
very hot day, and, my four years' seniority result-
ing in a considerable difference in stature, I had
to keep my head bent down very much in order
to follow the place in the prayer-book, which he
held. The blood gradually flowed to my head,
and I became very dizzy, until finally I fell out
of the pew, half fainting, and had to be taken out
of church.
24 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
His First Love Affair.
Charley's first love affair was at a very early age
— I think he was not more than four or five at the
time. We used very often to visit the family of
Mr. Charles Brooke at Castle Howard, where the
children were about the same age as ourselves.
Charley, who was the gayest and most vivacious
of us all (as also the most domineering), used
always to pair off with Dot Brooke, a little girl of
about his own age. They romped about so much
together that Mrs. Brooke used often to say:
** Well, now, when those two grow up, I should
like to see them married." Dot, however, when
she grew up, married another, and, owing to
politics, the families became estranged, so Charley's
first little romance came to naught.
We had many fights, or rather tussles, for there
was rarely any ill-feeling. He used to aim a blow
at me, and then run, catching up anything he saw
and flinging it over his shoulder at me. I fol-
lowed at full speed, also catching handfuls of
ornaments, knick-knacks, sofa-cushions, and even
flower-pots, and hurling them at him. During
one of these pell-mell chases, leaving a trail of
destruction in their wake, I remember seizing a
poker from a grate and breaking it over the back
of a sofa, with no intention of hurting him, but
just in order to give him a thorough good fright,
which it did !
EARLY DAYS 25
The Germ of Character.
As far as I can picture him after this long gap
of eventful years, Charley in his nursery days was
a child of charming appearance, with curly brown
hair and piercing dark eyes. In temper, however,
he was headstrong and self-willed, often to the
point of rudeness, while at times he showed a
curious mixture of jealousy and suspicion, which
developed strongly in later years. His love of
mischief was unbounded, but underlying every
action was the rooted desire to have his own way
at any cost.
His jealousy cropped out in many ways, but
the one I remember most vividly was when we
used to go 'out with the guns and act as retrievers.
Charley was bent on bringing home the largest
number of dead birds, and if by luck or quickness
I happened to beat him in this respect, he used
to fly into a violent passion.
Still, in the days of his childhood, as throughout
life, he and I were the best of friends, and I think
that I was one of the ver}/ few who thoroughly
understood the complexities of his strange and
often baffling character.
CHAPTER III
CHILDHOOD
Born to Rule.
Charley, having been petted from his babyhood,
became unmanageable, and even at the early age
of six evinced the desire to rule the household.
His special delight seemed to be to get the upper
hand of me, in which he generally succeeded. So
strong was this characteristic in him that his old
nurse, Mrs. Twopenny, often said: " Master
Charley is born to rule." Prophetic words, I
think, for was not my brother in after-years a
great ruler, and by his wonderful personality and
single-hearted devotion to the great cause (the
bettering of the dear country that we both so
much loved) did he not keep united Ireland at
his feet, and even to-day, in spite of all the dark
clouds that have passed over him, is not his
memory cherished as much as ever throughout
Ireland ?
Little in those days did our mother dream of
the great triumphs and bitter sorrows that were
to come to the petted child of the house. Still,
owing to his disposition, after much anxious
26
EARLY DAYS 27
thought, it was decided that for the boy's good
he had better be sent to school. So our mother
took him over to Yeovil, where his school-days
commenced at the early age of six.
A Wolf in the Fold.
It was a girls' school, and only as a great com-
pliment was Charley admitted. He soon en-
deared himself to the lady principal, and was
always happy in her company. He went there
with great ideas of having his own way, seeing
that he had only mere girls to deal with. He was
thoroughly defeated, however, by feminine
strategy, for, as he complained to me afterwards,
they all made love to him and bothered him out
of his life. In any case, he resented being sent
to a girls' school, on the ground that it was not
manly. He always had a wish to be transferred
to my own school, but on account of my stam-
mering it was thought advisable to keep us
separate, for, as I have said, owing to his mimicry,
he had begun to contract the habit himself.
When he removed to Avondale on his first
vacation, the greatest improvement was noticeable
in him. He seemed to have lost his old habit of
domineering over the family, especially over his
sisters. During his second term at school he fell ill
with typhoid fever, and was nursed through it very
devotedly by the principal herself. On his recovery
28 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
his head seemed to be peculiarly affected, and our
parents placed him under Dr. Forbes Winslow
for a time.
Home Tuition.
He did not return to this school afterwards,
though, in spite of his having no special love for
his books, his reports were always good, even the
good conduct ones.
After leaving school he was taught by our
sisters' governess. He was then eight years old,
and more strongly than ever resented being taught
by a woman, and so constantly did he protest that
our parents judged it wiser to get him a tutor.
From this time forward he seemed to take a
greater interest in his lessons, but in spite of this
he was by no means an easy pupil to teach. His
ambition (marked even in those days) was never
satisfied, and he always wanted to be with bigger
boys. Consequently the arguments between tutor
and pupil were many and fierce, and in the long-
run, if the truth be told, it was the boy who
generally proved the victor. Nor was the effort
to give him religious instruction attended with any
better success. When he was not in the mood
to listen he turned everything into ridicule, and
sent his instructor away hopelessly saddened.
This high-spirited boy gave his confidence to
very few, but, once given, it was deep and true
and lasting. As he grew in later years, he rapidly
EARLY DAYS 29
became more and more reserved. He had all the
healthy boy's love of games, especially cricket,
which he already played well in those early years.
Even then he loved to lead in games, as he did
subsequently in politics.
However, it was soon thought best that he
should return to school, and eventually he was
sent to Kirk Langley in Derbyshire. Here, so
far as lessons went, he was pretty much a law unto
himself. Under-masters he ignored as far as
possible, but always obeyed without hesitation
the Head. This spirit followed him throughout
life, as will be seen.
While Charley was at Kirk Langley, I was sent
to M. Marderon in Paris to see if he could cure
me of stammering. This purpose was effected
after some considerable trouble, and, I fear, at
the expense of my education. So all I know with
regard to my brother's experiences at Kirk
Langley is what I recollect of his having told me
when we came together again. He certainly said
that it was at Kirk Langley that he learned all his
boyish games, and he always referred to it as a
bright spot in his memory, owing to all the fun
he had there.
Back at Avondale.
After leaving Kirk Langley, he returned home
to Avondale, where he spent four happy years,
until the death of our father. He was about ten
30 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
yccirs of age at that time, so that he and I were
more of real companions, although his nurse, Mrs.
Twopenny, still used to take him for walks.
I remember one day I went with them to the
Meeting of the Waters, taking a pet dog of ours
with us. In those days he was full of life and fun,
delighting in all sorts of mischievous pranks, and
nearing home we missed the dog. For hours we
searched the woods, but never found any trace of
our missing pet, who must have fallen down one
of the mining shafts. Charley and I were terribly
upset over his loss, and it was only the motherly
sympathy of Mrs. Twopenny that succeeded in
comforting him.
We had many a good fight in those days, but
were always good friends a few moments after-
wards. I used to tell him that he was jealous of
me, but that he would never allow.
A favourite game with us, as in earlier childhood,
was '* Follow my leader," and we used to scramble
over the ditches and through the hedges and plan-
tations madly following the leader, who was always
our sister Emily. Once Charley knocked me off
the top of a ditch into the gripe (bottom) of it.
He had done it purely in fun, and immediately
he saw what had happened, jumped in himself to
keep me from sinking in the mud and help me out.
Donkey races were another great sport with us,
and it was no uncommon sight to see three donkeys
on the lawn of Avondale, being raced at top speed
EARLY DAYS 31
by Emily, Charley, and myself, Emily, somehow,
always winning. However, as she was our sister,
Charley did not mind so much being beaten by her
as by one of his own sex.
When I came home for my holidays, Charley
and I used to go out with our father when he went
shooting woodcock, and we boys took the grey-
hounds to the end of the wood, watching for hares
to come out, when we loosed the greyhounds after
them.
Our Prowess at Cricket.
At that time Charley and I used assiduously to
practise cricket with our father. I, being the
elder and bigger boy, was able to bowl to our
father, while Charley kept wicket. Under our
father's teaching we soon learnt to play a good
game, and at the matches with other teams
Charley was invariably chosen to replace any
player who did not turn up. I sometimes helped
to fill a gap, but Charley was the better cricketer,
and also the more popular. I remember many a
jolly match that we boys had against the Bally-
arthur boys' team, which were generally held on
the same day as our father's matches for grown-
ups. We always drove to the matches in donkey
traps, and, when victorious, kicked up no end of
a hullabaloo on the way home.
Even at that time, during the cricket matches,
I used to notice Charley's extreme nervousness.
32 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
His fingers twitched anxiously, even while he was
watching the match, and I know that in after-
days he was just as nervous, though perhaps he
did not show it to outsiders, in the greater game
played in the House of Commons.
We used to take donkey drives to Aughrim to
fish and dig for gold in the river, an occupation
which we often recalled in after-days. Charley
was fond of collecting eggs, and used to climb the
trees — as Mrs. Twopenny used to say, " like a
regular little monkey " — to rob the nests. One
day he had the floor of Miss Zouche's room (our
relative and housekeeper) spread out with his
whole collection of eggs. One of the clumsy
maid-servants happened to come in, and, like a
bull in a china shop, spread destruction through
the collection. Charley flew into a violent passion,
and threatened to smash her head, so much so
that she ran away and hid in the servants' quarters
for some time. The remnants of this collection
he kept until we left Avondale for Temple Street,
Dublin, and the gold found in the river he
treasured, I believe, until the end of his life.
Charley and I used to drive over with our father
to Aughavanagh, where he used to go shooting,
supervising his tenants, and looking after his turf
bogs. One day, when I was fishing in the river
at Aughavannagh (or rather, to be candid, making
one of my earliest attempts at fly fishing), I asked
Charley to help me to tie on the flies, and he came
Early days 33
over and showed me most skilfully. How he
had managed to learn the art I cannot make out
to this day; however, I have been tying them as
he showed me ever since. The curious fact is
that Charley never fished himself.
Commerce, Building, and Pyrotechnics.
The garden at Avondale was a very fine one,
and Kavanagh, the old gardener, took a great
pride in it, and to prevent Charley and myself
from stealing the fruit and trampling on the plants
he kept the door locked ; but we used to climb on
top of the very high wall and lie flat there, like
prisoners escaping from a fortress, waiting until
he had gone home. Charley and I had a plot of
ground given to us on which we planted potatoes,
which we sold to an old woman in the town, and
so earned pocket-money.
We were very busy at this time constructing
a big pond at Avondale, near the gate lodge, which
may still be seen there. We used to be up to our
knees in mud while making this pond, and would
return home in a horribly dirty state, thus earning
many a scolding from our mother. When the
pond was completed we built a flat-bottomed boat
out of canvas and wood, and when the boat was
finished we insisted upon the work-boys of the
estate making the trial trip in it, with the result
that the boat promptly turned over, and the boys
3
34 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
had to be dragged out of the water. I am afraid
our ambition to use our pond as a rowing-pool was
never accomphshed.
There is an old fort at Avondale where we used
to go and drop molten lead down through a sieve
in order to make shot. We built up the old walls,
and our workmanship stands as an enduring
monument to this day.
The Rev. Henry Galbraith, then Rector of
Rathdrum, was engaged to teach us Scripture.
Charley hated this, and whenever he got a chance
ran off and hid in the shrubberies or in the old ivy
which is still around the house.
One day Charley conceived the idea that a fire-
work exhibition would be a splendid means of
amusing ourselves and the tenants on the estate,
so we set about making, first the powder, and then
the rockets, and then collected all the workmen.
It was a grand sight, and no one was blown up,
which was a wonder. But when our parents heard of
this they put a perpetual veto on firework displays.
The year before our father died, our sister
Fanny got scarlet fever, and the epidemic spread
to the other members of our family, Sophy and
myself only escaping. Charley was the last to
take it, and Mrs. Twopenny took charge of him,
and could not be induced to leave his bedside until
he was well on the road back to health. I missed
my brother very much in those days of infection,
for Sophy and I were quarantined at Casino, the
EARLY DAYS 35
dower-house, in charge of Miss Zouche. Although
I had Sophy's company and was very much
attached to her, that did not make up for the loss
of Charley's vivacity and ever-charming manner.
Our instructor at that time was Mr. William
Clarke, son of Dr. Clarke of Rathdrum, and
Charley, as usual, did not get on very well with him,
and was in the habit of making awful faces at him
behind his back, so as to make me laugh, which I
did, getting into severe disgrace with Mr. Clarke.
At this time we took up hockey and hand-ball,
which we played at dinner-time with the work-
boys on the estate. Charley would never take
the same side as myself, but always tossed up for
choice of sides. When we were playing hockey,
I had to keep a sharp lookout for my shins, because
Charley always tried to go for me.
The Haunted Cottage in the Woods.
There was a little lonely cottage surrounded by
dark woods some distance from Avondale, which
was said to be haunted by the ghost of a former
tenant. Mysterious voices, blood-curdling appari-
tions, and the clanking of chains, were believed to
guard its sanctity, especially at the dread hour of
midnight. We children made a bet with our
sister Emily, that she dared not go there by her-
self at midnight prompt. She accepted, and set
out boldly, but when she came back she had seen
36 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
and heard nothing out of the ordinary. How-
ever, we cheered her for her pluck. Charley,
young as he was, could not bear to be outdone,
especially by a girl. So he set out the next night,
but returned very much disappointed at having
obtained no better result.
When we were at Casino a few years later, I
was asked to play chess with the agent of Avondale,
Mr. Charles West, who lived at Mount Avon, near
the Meeting of the Waters. I had never imitated
Emily and Charley in their expeditions to the
haunted cottage, so when I found that I had to
pass by the cottage on my way home, just about
midnight, I felt distinctly nervous. When I got
to the most lonely part of the road, just by the
cottage, I heard distinctly the rattling of chains
behind the hedge. As I quickened my pace, the
rattling still followed me on the opposite side of
the hedge. I expected every moment to be con-
fronted by some horrible apparition, and when I
came to a large gap in the hedge my legs refused
to act. As I stood there, waiting in horror for
what should appear, the real explanation offered
itself. It was a donkey that had broken from
its moorings, and, desirous of company, had
followed the sound of my footsteps along his own
side of the hedge. I believe the whole ghost story
had been started by body-snatchers in order to
cover their midnight depredations from a neigh-
bouring churchyard.
EARLY DAYS 37
The Birth of a Romance.
During our father's lifetime there Hved at
Kingston (a beautiful mansion near Avondale
belonging to our father) a Mr. Dickinson and his
family. Our father did not like them, because
their sons had the reputation of being wild, and
were inclined to make love to our sisters, especially
to Emily, who was a very attractive girl. At
last they were forbidden to come to Avondale.
However, our family, with the exception of our
father, made arrangements some time later with
the Dickinsons to give a performance of " She
Stoops to Conquer." Emily was the heroine of
the play, and young Dickinson (afterwards her
husband) the hero, while Charley was the page
and I the butler. The play proved a great success,
the love scenes being particularly realistic, though
our father refused to come to it, and there is little
doubt that it influenced his attitude towards
Emily in later years.
CHAPTER IV
WARDS IN CHANCERY
A Great Bereavement.
Charley was at this time (1859) about thirteen,
and living at Avondale with our father, while I
was at school in Paris with M. Roderon, learning
French, drawing, and a little painting. My sisters
were also in school at Paris. Our uncle, Charles
Stewart, of Ironside, Bordentown, U.S.A., the son
of Commodore Charles Stewart, our mother's
father, was living in 51, Champs ^filysees, with his
mother, Mrs. Stewart. Our married sister, Mrs.
Thompson, was also in Paris, living in the
Faubourg St. Germain, We were all very happy,
when a telegram arrived to say that our father had
died suddenly at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.
He was always an enthusiastic cricketer, and had
gone up to Dublin to play in a big match between
the Leinster and the Phoenix teams, although
for some time he had been under the doctor's
care, suffering from rheumatism of the stomach,
and had been warned by Sir Frederick Marsh not
to indulge in violent exercise. But he had a de-
termined will, and, like Charley, when he had
- made up his mind to a thing, carried it out at all
38
EARLY DAYS 39
cost. The result was that, although in a high fever,
he insisted on playing in the match. He felt worse
on his return to the hotel, and sent for a doctor ;
but it was too late, and he died next day. His death
came as a thunderbolt to us all, as he was always
regarded as the healthiest of the whole family.
He was buried quietly at Mount Jerome, my
brother Charley being the only member of the
family to see him laid at rest, as all the others
were abroad. After the funeral, my mother, my
sisters, and myself, returned to Dublin, where we
stopped in lodgings near Gardiner Street.
It was here that our father's will was read.
Avondale was left to Charley; the Armagh estate
(Collure) to myself; and the Carlow property to
Henry. I well remember Charley standing by
our mother's bed discussing our father's will, and
saying, " I suppose John has got Avondale," and
when mother told him it was his, he was greatly
surprised and said he never expected it.*
Wards in Chancery.
After this our mother took steps to have us all
made wards in Chancery, after consulting the
guardians, Sir Ralph Howard, Bart., and Mr.
* The reason why, although I was the eldest son, Avondale
was left to Charley was one which neither of us knew at this
time. I explain it, however, in a subsequent chapter. See
Book II., Chapter VI.
40 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Johnson. Sir Ralph Howard was annoyed at
being joint guardian with Mr. Johnson, who was
a Scotch agricultural expert, and an old friend of
our father's.
Once we were made wards in Chancery, Mr.
McDermott (our father's solicitor), who managed
our affairs under the direction of the Court of
Chancery, arranged to have us placed in our
mother's charge, and we all went down to Avon-
dale. It was a sad home-coming for the young
heir, my brother Charley. Mr. McDermott came
down to take charge of father's affairs and to go
through the papers. He found everything in a
very confused state, and his first act was to pay
off all the workmen not actually required ; while,
by order of the Court, the live-stock and farming
implements were sold by auction. Sufficient
horses for the use of the family were kept, and the
rest sold. Mr. West, of Mount Avon, was ap-
pointed agent. The servants were kept on, and
one of them, indeed — a faithful old retainer
named Martin Walsh — would have refused to
leave us under any circumstances. Miss Zouche,
a devoted relative, who had been acting as house-
keeper, remained at Avondale for a year to take
charge of the house while our affairs were being
put in order.
We then moved to Dalkey, about eight miles
from Dublin, along the sea-coast, the Court de-
ciding on a house named Khyber Pass as being
EARLY DAYS 41
a suitable residence for us. This house was situ-
ated on a very high hill, overlooking the sea and
the railway, and I remember clearly the beautiful
view we had of the sea in the distance.
Charley was now more of a companion for me,
and he and I spent most of our time together.
My sisters had a governess, and Charley and I
a tutor. When our steadies were over, he and I
used to go out together.
A Narrow Escape.
It was at this time that we both learnt to swim,
and we used to go down to the gentlemen's
bathing-place on the West Pier at Kingstown.
We used to have a belt on us and a rope tied to
it when we started to learn, and we then ran down
a plank and jumped into deep water. Once the
rope attached to Charley's belt broke, and he was
struggling desperately for some time before the
bathing-master could reach him and bring him
to safety. There is little doubt that a moment
or two's delay would have resulted in his being
drowned. We soon became good swimmers, and
used to bathe with Mr. McDermott off the rocks
at Dalkey. I remember catching plenty of fish
off those rocks, too. Mr. McDermott, I may men-
tion, was at this time paying attention to our
sister Sophy, who afterwards became his wife, so
that he was a constant visitor at our house.
42 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Charley and I were very fond of boating, and
spent as much time as we possibly could on the
water, having many a rough row against the tide
and currents round Dalkey Island. We used to
catch off the Mugglins Rocks quantities of
flounders and plaice on our trips, and bring them
home to be cooked. Bullock Harbour was
another favomite resort of ours, and we used also
frequently to row to Kingstown and back from
Dalkey, though we found the currents very swift
close to land — a fact which, however, made us
enj oy the outing all the more.
From the windows of Khyber Pass Charley shot
many a rabbit, and we used often to go out ferreting
at Dalkey, taking with us the porter at the railway-
station.
Treasure Trove.
On one of these expeditions I discovered a vein
of lead in the rocks on the railway cutting, not
far from the tunnel, and Charley and I spent a
lot of time chipping it out. Probably no one
knows now of its existence.
A favourite walk of ours was from Dalkey to
Bullock Harbour, and then on to Kingstown.
We used to argue about the round towers that
stood between Dalkey and Kingstown, and marvel
at them as being a useless protection. I re-
member the whole-hearted admiration with which
we always gazed at the ivy-clad ruins of Bullock
EARLY DAYS 43
Castle. This old ruin has now been restored, and
is the residence of my valued friend, Mr. Quan-
Smith. This walk by the sea was, I think, our
favourite of all. We also delighted in taking
trips on the old atmospheric railway and the tram-
track from Dalkey quarries, where they excavated
the stone for Kingstown Pier.
We remained a year at Khyber Pass, and
then moved to Kingstown, taking The O'Conor
Don's house near Clarinda Park. This house was
beautifully situated in a large wooded park full
of fine elm, beech, and ash trees. There was also
a large fruit and vegetable garden, protected by
a high wall, where in summer and autumn Charley
spent a great deal of his time, much to the annoy-
ance of the gardener, who wished to keep the fruit
for the table. I was a loyal supporter of Charley's
in this respect, for we both loved fruit.
Our grandmother, Mrs. Stewart, came over from
Paris to spend a few months with our mother.
This was during the great American Civil War,
and grandmother fretted much over this unnatural
conflict between brother and brother. Charley
was very fond of his grandmother, and, before
going out anywhere, always went to say good-
bye to her. One day in August he went, as usual,
to see her before going boating, and she gave him
some pocket-money. She was resting in mother's
arm-chair after lunch, and apparently expired
just after Charley had seen her, for Emily, coming
44 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
in a little later, found her dead in the chair. It
was a terrible shock to our mother, as she was
devoted to Mrs. Stewart, who to the last was a
fine, handsome, kindly old lady, and had en-
deared herself to the whole household. Charley,
on his return from his boating expedition, was
terribly upset to hear of her death. He and I,
who were both very keen on science, dashed off
to a doctor to fetch a galvanic battery, hoping
to revive her, as we could not believe that she
was really dead; but the doctor whom we brought
back with us pronounced life to be quite extinct.
The body of our grandmother was placed in a
vault at Mount Jerome, pending its removal to
her relations' burial-place at Boston, U.S.A. It
was noticeable that from this time onward Charley
never, if he could possibly avoid it, attended a
funeral.
After this sad affair Charley and I went down
to Casino, the dower -house near Avondale,
for a change. We had many friends there, and
were asked out repeatedly to dinners and to
cricket matches, and spent many pleasant even-
ings with Mr. Edwards, the engineer of the Dublin,
Wicklow, and Wexford Railway (now the Dublin
and South-Eastern), which was then in course of
construction. I may mention here that my
brother got £3,000 compensation for the railway
running through his property.
After a year spent in Kingstown we all went
EARLYJDAYS 45
down to Casino again for the winter. Charley
and I got up a shooting-party for woodcock,
which were plentiful in Avondale woods. Our
mother did not care for the country, so took a
house at 14, Upper Temple Street, Dubhn; but
Charley, Fanny, and myself, remained at Casino
for some time longer with our sisters' Italian
governess. We had a very happy time, for we
all loved Avondale, Charley's beautiful home; and
to me still there is no lovelier spot on earth, and
to the end of time my heart will sorrow that it is
no longer the home of the Parnells.
We joined our mother finally at Temple Street,
and continued our studies. Emily, Sophy, and
Fanny, were taught Italian and German by
M. Rossin. The others — Henry, Anna, and Theo-
dosia — were still among the juveniles. I went to
the School of Mining in Stephen's Green, and there
obtained two certificates for mining and geology,
while I also kept up my painting. Just about
this time Sophy married Mr. McDermott, and went
to live in Fitzwilliam Square.
Emily felt greatly not being able to marry
her sweetheart. Captain Dickinson, and became
very depressed. Under his will, our father,
fearing she would not be happy with Captain
Dickinson, made her no bequest, with a view to
rendering the marriage impossible; but she re-
mained true to her lover, and after an engagement
lasting ten years they were married.
46 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Fanny at this time was engaged to Mr. Catter-
son Smith, the celebrated artist, who at that time,
however, had not made his name, so that Charley-
raised strong objections to the match. I think
he afterwards regretted taking this course, as
Fanny never married.
Looking back over our past lives, I can see that
it was here at Temple Street that our fates were
really decided. From this time forward great
changes took place in the life of each of us, and
this may be said to have been the birth of our
careers, especially Charley's.
CHAPTER V
AT WISHAW'S
Back to School .
About four years after our father's death, our
mother became anxious about sending Charley
and myself to a private tutor, in order to prepare
us for the University. When talking one day to
the late Lord Meath, she asked him what would
be a good place to complete her sons' education.
He told her that his own son, Lord Brabazon (the
present Earl of Meath), was then with the Rev.
Mr. Wishaw, at the Rectory, Chipping Norton,
England — a place which he thoroughly recom-
mended. Mother then went over to England and
saw Mr. and Mrs. Wishaw, and decided to send us
both there. At that time I was about nineteen,
and Charley fifteen.
Having said good-bye to mother, we left Kings-
town by the early boat, and got to Chipping
Norton late in the evening. The Rectory — a
pleasant-looking, two-storied country house — was
about half a mile from the station, so we started
to walk there. On reaching Mr. Wishaw's, Charley
(whose highly-strung, nervous temperament was
47
48 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
even then noticeable) exclaimed, on seeing the
graveyard facing the Rectory: " I say, John, I
don't quite like this; I hope I won't get into any
rows here." He had hardly said this when he
slipped while knocking at the door, and nearly
fell through the glass panel, crying out: ** This is
a good beginning !"
Mr. Wishaw, who was a pleasant-featured man,
with hair just turning grey, came up to welcome
us, and introduced us to our future companions.
These were Lord Brabazon, Mr. Pilkington (after-
wards an M.P.), and Mr. Louis Wingfield (cousin
of Lord Powerscourt). When we had all sat down
to supper, Charley and Lord Brabazon began a
lively conversation on cricket, a game in which
they were both deeply interested.
I may mention that it was a peculiarity of my
brother's that then, as in after-life, it was hard
to get him to talk on any subject unless he was
really interested in it. Once I spoke to him about
this, and he replied: " My idea is to mind my own
affairs, and leave other people's alone."
Being the youngest pupils there, we were given
a classroom to ourselves, and were lodged at a
small cottage opposite the Rectory. Mr. Wishaw
himself taught me writing, spelling, and recita-
tion, as, having only been in school at Paris, I
had not made the progress I should have done with
the English language. As I was very fond of
painting, Mr. Wishaw encouraged me to copy his
EARLY DAYS 49
own pictures, he himself being a clever artist, and
he also frequently played chess with me.
Charley having expressed a desire to go to Cam-
bridge, a special master was engaged for him. He
was a clever man, though a little deformed; but
Charley and he never got on. My brother ob-
jected to his mode of teaching, which led to fre-
quent quarrels, culminating one day in a fearful row.
I can see my brother now, his face aflame with
passion, and his mouth twitching nervously, while
he denounced the teacher and his methods. Mr.
Wishaw had to interfere, and told Charley that if
he did not apologize he would be sent home.
The apology was finally forthcoming, but it was a
very reluctant and grudging one, as Charley fully
believed that he was in the right. The result was
that he could never endure this teacher afterwards,
and his studies suffered considerably in consequence.
In spite of this, his days at Chipping Norton
were happy ones, and he thoroughly enjoyed
riding, hunting, and playing cricket. He and a
special friend of his went for many walks together,
and made the acquaintance of several of the
young ladies of the neighbourhood.
A Love Affair.
One bright, pretty girl especially attracted
Charley, and I used continually to meet them to-
gether on the country roads, especially those
4
50 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
lonely spots suited for lovers* walks. When we
met in this way I never joined them, as Charley
was very jealous of any other fellow, especially
of me. While this attraction lasted, his studies
were considerably interrupted; but when she
went away he set to work steadily, determined
to master the subjects before him, and qualify
himself as quickly as possible for Cambridge.
Although he was at this time only sixteen, I think
this little romance instilled into him a feeling of
manhood, and made him eager to take a place in
the world — how great a one neither he nor any of
his friends had any idea of then. Certainly he
had no idea at that time of entering the great
arena of politics.
We returned for the Christmas holidays to
Temple Street, Dublin, where, after a loving
welcome, mother told us how pleased she was to
see such a great improvement in both her boys.
She was eager to hear every detail of our life at
Chipping Norton, and was delighted to have us
with her once more.
As Avondale was at this time let to Mr. Ed-
wardes, the railway engineer, Charley, Fanny,
and myself, went down to Casino, where we
found Emily with her governess, Mdlle. Rossina.
This lady took a great fancy to Charley, but he
made no response, preferring to come out with
me shooting and exploring the lovely country
around Avondale, and having long chats with
EARLY DAYS 51
Mrs. Twopenny, his old nurse, whose genuine
delight at seeing him again thoroughly pleased
and flattered Charley.
After spending a happy fortnight at Casino, we
returned to Temple Street, and spent a few days
with our mother before returning to school. On
our way back, we had got as far as Chester, when
Charley suddenly said, " John, we will each go
by a different way, and I bet I'll be there first."
I replied, " No, you won't, for I'll go by Oxford,
the usual way"; but Charley's last words as we
parted at the station were, " You'll see that I'll
be there before you." However, it turned out
that both our trains arrived at Chipping Norton
Junction (now known as Kingham) at the same
time, and we joined one another on the plat-
form, much to Charley's disgust when he first
caught sight of me, though a moment later we
were laughing heartily together.
After we had settled down to. study again,
Charley took a keen interest in mechanics, and
altogether did fairly well at his lessons.
About this time Mrs. Wishaw died, and Charley
and I went back to Dublin, not returning until
after the funeral.
We often went to play cricket at Churchill, a
village near Chipping Norton, where Charley got
a high reputation as a bat, wicket-keeper, and
catch.
To my great delight, I managed to get per-
52 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
mission from the owner of the river to fish there
when I wanted to; but one day I was bringing
away such a good haul when I met him that he
took the leave away.
Charley was very fond of arguing during his
school-days, and we all said he would have made a
splendid lawyer, for, try as we would, we could
never get the better of him in an argument.
We were both good walkers, but he preferred
walking alone. He was fond of ridiculing my par-
ticular tastes, but I did not mind that, for I knew
it was not due to want of affection, but simply
a manner he had. Being a good dancer, Charley
was invited out a great deal, and was a thorough
favourite with the girls.
At College.
Shortly after our return from Chipping Norton,
Charley went up to Cambridge, but I did not
accompany him. He was at Cambridge from 1865
to 1869, but spent little time there, and left owing
to his getting into serious trouble. I understood
afterwards that an action for assault was success-
fully brought against him in the Cambridge County
Court by a merchant named Hamilton, twenty
gumeas damages being awarded. The evidence in
court was of a conflicting nat ure, and Charley never
told me his version of the affair. His references
to his undergraduate days were very brief and re-
EARLY DAYS 53
served, though he appeared to have got on badly
with the other fellows, and to have had many
quarrels, which often resulted in blows. On one
occasion, he told me afterwards, five students
came to his bedroom for what would now be called
a " rag," and after a desperate struggle he suc-
ceeded in throwing them all out.
In any event, the college authorities decided to
send him down for the remainder of the term, of
which, however, there was only a fortnight left.
Although there was no reason why he should not
have returned at the beginning of the next term,
as he had not been expelled, he steadily refused
to do so, and his education thus concluded with-
out his taking a degree.
There is no doubt that the fact of his never
having been at a real school, and having a con-
tinual change of tutors, coupled with the per-
functory nature of his studies at college, con-
siderably hampered him in after-life. He often
expressed to me his regret that he had not received
a better education, and, even, that he had not
devoted himself with more application to such
opportunities as he had for study. One result
was that he was always afraid of lapsing into an
error of grammar or spelling, and for a consider-
able time wrote out his speeches word for word,
and carefully corrected them before delivery.
His letters, also, throughout his career show fre-
quent signs of erasure and alteration.
CHAPTER VI
NEARING MANHOOD
At the time of Charley's return our mother was
keeping open house in Temple Street, giving
dinners, balls, and small dances, to her many
Dublin friends. Charley was very popular in
society, going to all the dances and parties. He
used to admire and dance with all the pretty girls
at the balls given by Lord Carlisle, then Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland.
In the Militia.
Charley soon decided to join the militia. One
trivial reason that influenced him was that by
doing so he would be able to wear uniform at the
Castle, as he particularly disliked the levee dress,
declaring it looked too much like a footman's
livery. He found that there were vacancies in
the Wicklow Rifles, and also in the Armagh Light
Infantry; but, as he was a Wicklow landed pro-
prietor, he chose the former, while, as my estate
was in Armagh, I joined the Armagh Light In-
fantry. We had some training at the Royal
Barracks in Dublin before joining our respective
54
EARLY DAYS 55
regiments, which were also afterwards called out
for training. Charley told me that he had a very
enjoyable time when training with his regiment,
as he went to no end of dinners, dances, and garden-
parties, and I, too, had very much the same ex-
perience with the Armaghs. While we were in
the militia, Charley and I attended all the levees,
and drawing-rooms, and other entertainments, at
Dublin Castle. The Lord Lieutenant, Lord Car-
lisle, being a friend of our mother's, used to talk
to us a good deal, especially about our cricket
matches.
The American Civil War.
It was during the great Civil War in the United
States that my brother first took an interest in
politics. The horrors of the conflict were so often
discussed by our grandmother and our mother,
themselves Americans, that it would have been
strange indeed if we had not been. influenced by
the tales of death and devastation which came
across the water. Charley eagerly read every
item of information contained in the newspaper,
and discussed the details freely with us. My
mother's sympathies were with the North, while
I advocated the cause of the South, and we had
many a heated, though friendly, discussion in our
family circle. Charley supported his mother,
and we reproduced the war between us, with con-
siderable damage to the furniture, any odd articles
56 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
being held sufficient when argument failed. 1
remember, when sticks and other ordinary weapons
were not at hand, we found jam-pots come in very
useful. As the house was a rented one, our
mother had every often to pay heavy compensa-
tion, owing to the damage done through our keen
interest in politics.
We had a visit about this time from Mr. Harry
King, the son of a wealthy cotton-planter and
railroad director of Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A.
Our sisters knew him already, as he had come over
to their school in Paris to visit his own sister,
and he had met Charley at Cambridge when he
was studying for his degree; so that altogether
he was a very welcome guest at Temple Street,
where he remained until the war was over, and
it was safe for him to return to his Southern home.
A 'Shooting Trip.
It was partridge-shooting season at that time,
so Mr. King, Charley, and myself, went off to
Carlow together, taking with us a tent in the
pony trap, while we sent the rest of our baggage
on by rail. We had the right to shoot over the
entire property, which had been left under our
father's will to our brother Henry. We got our
gamekeeper. Jack Whateley, to pitch our tent on
the land of Mr. Brownrigg, a tenant, and we slept
on canvas stretched on poles stuck into the ground,
EARLY DAYS 57
instead of mattresses. Charley and Mr. King
always went off by themselves, but they brought
home very little game, and whenever I met them
I found them hard at work discussing American
politics, Mr. King, of course, taking the part of
the South, while Charley upheld with all his
vigour the policy of the North. Unfortunately,
these discussions not only interfered with the actual
shooting, but used to be continued throughout the
night, so that just as I would be dropping off to sleep,
tired after a hard day's sport, I would hear their
voices raised in support of their respective parties.
The result was that I frequently shied my boots
at them with all my force, and if my aim was
lucky, the discussion generally ended for the
night.
We had a fortnight of this, and I wondered how
they could keep their interest so much alive in
the politics of what was, after all, a remote country;
so much so that I said once: " Charley, if you ever
take up politics, you will certainly fight to win."
He replied: " I have no such thought, but I hold
that a man should be thorough, and, if he takes
up a cause, should fight to win."
We bathed every morning in the river, and
Charley and Mr. King used to run races in the
sunshine to dry themselves. Perfect weather,
good comradeship, and excellent sport, made the
expedition one of the most enjoyable periods in
our lives. Often in after-days Charley and I
58 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
discussed in other circumstances those jolly times
down in Carlow when we were so free from
care.
The war being over, Mr. King returned to his
home. Charley and I went to see him off at
Kingsbridge, little thinking how our fates were to
be linked with America, and especially with the
South, in the days to come.
A little later Mr. Wishaw, our old tutor, and his
son, came over from England to see us at Temple
Street. They were very much interested in all
things Irish, and the two of us took them down
to Killarney, and showed them over that famous
beauty spot. However, they were only in Ireland
for a few days after our return to Dublin, and went
away longing to have seen more of the country.
Mr. Wishaw — who, as I have said before, shared
my taste for art — took some beautiful sketches of
the scenery in Killarney, which he said would
always remind him of his brief but pleasant visit
to Ireland.
Charley was a great practical mechanic, and
devoted much of his time to engineering pursuits,
so that his life at Avondale was a very busy one,
as he had also many social duties. The Wicklow
county families constantly entertained him, and
no invitation to Avondale was ever refused.
I was returning one night from a big dinner
with Charley, when we discussed whether I should
go to America, as our uncle Stewart had written
EARLY DAYS 59
home saying that, now the war was over, big
fortunes were to be made, and advising me to go
out there. I had just had a legacy left me by a
relative, and my uncle thought I had the chance
of doubling it. Charley thought I ought to con-
sult our uncle. Sir Ralph Howard, but from him
I got no encouragement. He told me that I had
no need to go, as he would leave me well off. This,
however, did not suit me, as I had no fancy for
waiting to step into dead men's shoes, and I
decided to go to America. Charley resolved to
invest some money out there too, and promised
to visit me in my new home. In order to enable
our sister Emily to marry Captain Dickinson,
Charley got me to appoint him agent of my estate,
which I did, with the result that he and Emily
were married soon after.
I remained in America for about a year, and
was very busy cotton - planting and getting
acquainted with my new Southern friends. I had
a very good time, and was received most hospitably
by all the old Southern rebels, who made me
thoroughly welcome to their homes.
When I returned to Ireland, I found Charley
busily engaged with his new sawmills at Avon-
dale, where he was trying to make money out of
the fine timber on the estate.
I spent that autumn at Avondale, with Charley
and Captain Dickinson. We were the only mem-
bers of the family there, and were waited upon
6o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
by Peter Gaffney and his wife Mary, the latter
looking after the house, while Peter attended at
table.
A Blindfold Escapade.
We were sitting one night, after a good dinner,
round one of those roaring pinewood fires that
Charley always so much enjoyed, when the three
of us began to discuss the blindfold walking craze
which was then the rage in Dublin, The news-
papers of the time, which devoted a great deal of
space to the subject, pointed out how difficult it
was for people to find their way even between
the most familiar places and over the shortest
distances. Our conversation resulted in Charley
and Captain Dickinson betting me that I would
not find my way blindfolded from Avondale to
Casino, not a very great distance, it is true, but
one plentifully strewn with obstacles.
I took the bet, and, being blindfolded, set out
from the hall door of Avondale across the lawn,
Charley and Captain Dickinson following to see
that I did not hurt m3^self, but not interfering
with the direction I took. At first I got mixed
up with the big trees on the lawn, but knowing
every inch of the grounds, and having a special
love for the trees, I knew as soon as I got hold of
the holly-tree at the head of the lawn where I
was, and set off in a bee-line across the cricket-
lawn, got to the road ditch, crossed it without
EARLY DAYS 6i
falling in, and found the gate of Casino, which I
climbed, still blindfolded.
Once over the gate I took off the bandage,
expecting to see the two of them and be con-
gratulated on my success, but to my astonishinent
I was alone. I made my way back to Avondale,
and found the pair sitting snugly by the fire,
thoroughly enjoying what they expected to have
been my series of mishaps over the difficult
route.
Charley hunted a great deal at Avondale, and
used to come home covered with mud, from his
many tumbles in the field. He used to tell me
that in hunting, as in everything else, his ambition
was to be first in the field.
The Sawmills.
Charley, although when he came of age he found
himself a pretty well-to-do country gentleman,
showed also considerable business capability, and
directly he had the control of affairs set to work to
benefit his property by every possible means. It
must be remembered that, although his income
from Avondale was a large one, he had out of it to
keep the whole of his family, who had no money
except the small annuities coming to them out of
my property in Armagh. My mother was also
extremely fond of entertaining, and, as she had
been left nothing under father's will, Charley con-
62 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
ceived the idea of making sufficient money out of
his timber to provide her with ample funds for
her wants. Accordingly he erected a small saw-
mill at Avondale, where he had the timber cut by
machinery, thus introducing a new business into
Wicklow, as the only other sawmill in the Valley
of the Seven Churches was that owned by Captain
Bookey, of Derrybawn. Captain Bookey had a
very fine demesne through which the Avonmore
ran to the Meeting of the Waters.
The mills at Avondale, it is curious to note,
were worked by water from the pond which we
made as boys. Captain Bookey and Charley, who
were both young men and great friends, took
much interest in their mills, which at that time
were the only ones in the county. The only time
that I met Captain Bookey was at a cricket match
at Avondale just before he started on a cruise on
the Mediterranean, which ended disastrously, as
the yacht was overturned in a squall, and Captain
Bookey was caught in the sail and drowned before
he could be extricated.
When I came back to Ireland after my next
visit to America, I found Charley still down at
Avondale, busy with his sawmills, his cricket
matches, and his parties. My mother was then
living in Paris, as Temple Street had been given
up, and the family scattered, never again to meet
all under the same roof. Charley often got in-
vitations from Paris to balls at the British Embassy,
EARLY DAYS 63
and thought nothing of making a flying trip to
France to attend one; in fact, I do not think he
ever missed one.
AUGHAVANNAGH.
During this time Charley and Captain Dickinson
spent a good deal of time grouse-shooting at
Aughavannagh. Originally one of the barracks
erected by the Government during the rebellion
of 1798, it commanded a wide view of the lonely
but beautiful country around. In Charley's days
it was used purely as a shooting-lodge, and fell
considerably into disrepair. It has since, how-
ever, been largely rebuilt by Mr. John Redmond,
my brother's successor in the leadership of the
Irish party, who has converted it into a fine resi-
dence.
There used to be a legend, which we often heard
repeated during our visits to Aughavannagh, that
there existed a secret passage from the old barracks
to the mountain, two miles away. Patrick
O'Toole, our old gamekeeper, used to point out
to us a spot near the top of the mountain, which
he said was the opening of the passage, but it was
so surrounded by immense boulders that it was
impossible to reach it. Still, there certainly were
a number of hollows in the mountain which looked
as if they might have been old openings which had
been closed by the falling in of soil. Charley and
his friend, Mr. Corbett, used to spend a great deal
64 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
of time arguing as to the existence of this passage
during their rambles over the mountain when
they were shooting or inspecting the turf.
So ends the happiest period of my brother's
life, before he took up the great fight on behalf of
his country, on which all his hopes and interests
were centred.
BOOK II
STEPS TO THE THRONE
" Sore disgrace it is to see the Arbitress of Thrones
Vassal to a Saxaneen of cold and sapless bones.
Bitter anguish wrings our souls with heavy sighs
and groans :
We wait the Young Deliverer of Kathaleen-ny-
Houlahan."*
J. C. Mangan.
* A symbolical name for Ireland.
CHAPTER I
THE FENIANS
The Fenian Movement.
It is necessary to go back a few years to explain
the Fenian movement, which had a certain in-
fluence on Charley's career, though it was by no
means the main motive for his entering politics,
as has generally been stated.
After the conclusion of the American Civil War,
a number of the Irish soldiers, fired with the spirit
of independence, came over to Ireland (while
others made an abortive raid on Canada) to urge
the people to establish a republic of their own,
free from any British rule. They were desperate
men inured to hardships through their terrible
experiences in America, and thoroughly sanguine
as to the success of their cause.
The chief period of their campaign in Ireland
was from 1865 to 1867. Had they exerted their
full force in the former year, they would probably,
as a few of their surviving leaders tell me, if they
had not achieved success, at least have made a
stubborn and convincing fight, which, if it did
not effect their full purpose of separation, might
67
68 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
at least have brought Home Rule nearer. Still,
it must be remembered that, so far as Charley and
myself were concerned, we were not associated
either with their aims or their methods.
In 1866 many of the old American soldiers acted
as recruiting sergeants for the Irish republic
among the army itself. Disaffection spread
rapidly, and large numbers of the rank and file
declared themselves adherents of the Fenian cause,
and openly joined in the singing of revolutionary
songs at the " free- and- easies " which were then
held throughout Dublin. The leaders, however,
thought it better to wait for American support,
and to spread the movement more widely through
Ireland, before making a decisive blow. The
result was that the English authorities became
alarmed, and promptly drafted the disaffected
portions of the army to England and remote
portions of the Empire.
Finally, in March, 1867, a definite outbreak
took place. The Fenian forces stormed the
Stepaside police barracks, near Enniskerry in the
Dublin mountains. This was closely followed by
what was known as the Battle of Tallaght. A
large but inadequately armed body of Fenians
were marching along the road from Wicklow, when
they were challenged by the chief of a body of
police who were lying in wait for them. A shot
was fired, and the police charged the disorganized
column, quickly routing them. Domiciliary raids
STEPS TO THE THRONE 69
in search of arms, followed by many arrests, were
then made, and the movement appeared to be
subdued, when what are known as the Manchester
Murders occurred, a policeman. Sergeant Brett,
being accidentally shot and killed owing to a
pistol being fired through the lock of a police van
in which some Fenian prisoners were being re-
moved to gaol. Three of the four men arrested
in connection with the affair were executed, and
died strongl}^ protesting their innocence of any
intent to kill, or even to injure, the police officer.
Their death on the scaffold, accompanied as it was
by the levity of the large crowd assembled outside
the prison gate, roused a feeling of unexampled
indignation throughout Ireland, in which my
brother himself joined, holding as he did the
opinion, which he shared with many of the other
more moderate well-wishers of Ireland, that the
killing of the sergeant was purely due to an
accident, and was aided by the officer himself
bending his head towards the lock in order, as
he thought, to escape the bullets.
The Fenians and Ourselves.
Our mother, who was devotedly attached to the
cause of freedom, and our uncle, Charles Stewart,
whose investments were almost entirelyin Southern
securities, felt a great deal of sympathy with the
Fenians, especially when the Government adopted
70 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
drastic measures to stamp out the movement in
Ireland.
Owing to our mother being a prominent Ameri-
can woman, and to her undisguised sympathies
with the Fenian outlaws, a number of tramps and
impostors used to call at our house in Temple
Street for aid, a proceeding to which Charley
strongly objected. In fact, I think he came to
look upon most of the nondescript visitors to the
house as tramps, as I did also to a certain extent.
He finally got so tired of their constant visits
that he used to wait for the so-called Fenians
behind the hall door in Temple Street, and (like
Sam Weller at Ipswich), directly the door was
open, make a rush for them and kick them down
the steps.
My sister Fanny was always the poetess of the
family, as also our arch-rebel; she entered whole-
heartedly into the Fenian movement, and wrote a
series of stirring poems for O' Donovan Rossa's
paper, United Ireland, for which he used to
pay her small sums. I used generally to escort
her to the office, but Charley made fun of her
poetry, and steadfastly refused to accompany her
to the Fenian stronghold. The newspaper was
finally suppressed, and the offices seized by the
police. 0' Donovan Rossa was arrested and tried
for high- treason.
Fanny and I attended every day of the trial,
and as we sat near the prisoner, whose firm and
STEPS TO THE THRONE 71
courageous demeanour we could not help but
admire, we once went so far as to buy a bouquet
with the intention of throwing it into the dock,
but we never mustered up sufficient spirit actually
to throw it. I still remember the cries of in-
dignation mingled with cheers of encouragement
which burst forth in court when the terrible
sentence was passed. I led away Fanny, who
could hardly restrain her tears, and who, I think,
pictured herself as the next occupant of the
dock.
A Police Raid.
In the days of frenzied police action which
followed the rising and Rossa's trial, our mother
not unnaturally became suspected of complicity
with the Fenians, owing to the number of visits
paid by suspicious characters to our house in
Temple Street. As a matter of fact, she had
actually assisted one of those connected with the
Manchester affair to escape to America in female
clothing.
However, one day a body of police suddenly
appeared at our house in Temple Street with a
search warrant, and insisted upon going through
the whole house.
All they could find were the militia uniforms of
Charley and myself, which they mistook for Fenian
regimentals, and insisted upon taking away, in
spite of the protestations of the whole family.
72 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Charley especially disliked the idea of his uniform
being taken for a Fenian one.
Some time after this we wanted to go to the
levee at the Castle, but our uniforms were then
in the possession of the Government. Charley
treated the affair as a j oke, and chaffed our mother
on the dangers she ran owing to her complicity
with the Fenian rising. He felt, however, the
unjustified slight which was imposed on him by
being debarred from the festivities at the Castle
and Viceregal Lodge. He distinctly resented the
idea of being stamped as a Fenian, especially as
he was in the Queen's army, and was proud of
the fact. This preyed somewhat on his mind,
and he finally declared that he would leave the
house if anything more was said about the Fenians.
Charley and I wanted to go to the Castle to pay
our respects to Lord Carlisle, but we were ham-
pered by having no uniform. Still, as the Viceroy
was an old friend of our mother's, we obtained the
return of our uniforms by simply going to the
Castle and asking for them, though we had to
endure a great deal of chaff from the officers, who
asked how it was that we came to be among the
Fenians.
My recollection of Charley's attitude at the time
is, as I have recounted, distinctly against his
entrance into politics being in any sense due to
the influence of the Fenian movement.
CHAPTER II
NEARLY MARRIED
A WicKLOW Romance.
Until 1871, Charley, though not insensible to the
charms of the fair sex, had had nothing in the
nature of a really serious love affair. In Wicklow,
it is true, he spent a good deal of time riding and
hunting and dancing with a young lady belonging
to a neighbouring county family, who was not
only extremely beautiful, but possessed of con-
siderable charm of manner. The talk of the tea-
tables soon magnified the intimacy into an engage-
ment, or at any rate an impending one, but I
think there was little foundation for the statement
beyond the mutual attraction and sincere friend-
ship which existed between the two young people.
Charley often told me how much he enjoyed his
visits to her father's house, and referred to Miss
C as being an extremely nice girl. Further
than that, I am sure, things never went, and, as
so often happened, the two young people gradually
drifted apart as the years passed by. Certainly, his
really serious entanglement in Paris quickly effaced
all memory of this slightl3'-developed romance.
73
74 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
A Serious Love Affair.
It was during the time when Charley used to
make repeated trips to Paris, where most of his
family were then living, that he became involved
in a love affair of a more serious nature, which
had a marked effect on his character and subse-
quent career, and very nearly resulted in his
bringing a wife home to Avondale.
Both he and I were staying with our uncle,
Charles Stewart (son of the Commodore), at his
flat in the Champs Elysees, when we were intro-
duced to a 3^oung American lady. Miss Woods,
who had the entree to the very best society in
Paris. She was fair-haired, extremely beautiful
and vivacious, and Charley fell a complete slave
to her attractions.
I may mention that Charley was at that time
moving in the best society of Paris, and was
strongly urged by his uncle to marry one of the
many heiresses whom he was constantly meeting
Although he was too proud and high-spirited to
consent to a purely mercenary match, he was
genuinely attracted by the beauty and charm of
this lady, and the fact of her being heiress to a
large fortune doubtless suggested to him the
possibility of his restoring his family to the
position it formerly held. But as time went on
there is no doubt that passion quite superseded
any thoughts of mere worldly advantage.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 75
Love at First Sight.
Love in this case occurred actually at first sight,
for the first signs of Charley's infatuation, as it
subsequently proved to be, were shown at an
Anglo-American party given by our uncle, where
they were introduced to one another. Moving
as they did in the same circles, their opportunities
for meeting were many, and a mutual attraction
soon ripened into a sincere affection, culminating
in an engagement.
Charley and Miss Woods were at that time almost
inseparable. They attended most of the principal
social functions, where they were always to be seen
together, as also was the case at the theatres and
other entertainments, while they very often went
for walks in the evenings in the Champs Elysees
or the Bois. Their engagement was everywhere
recognized, and they were the recipients of the
warmest congratulations.
Miss Woods's family suddenly decided to go to
Rome, as is the usual custom among both French
and Americans in October. Her sudden departure
made him very despondent, and he conceived
the idea of following her to Rome. He was
obliged, however, to return first to Ireland on
business.
After a hurried week at Avondale, he spent
two days at Paris with his uncle, and then set off
for Rome.
76 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Miss Woods appeared to be greatly delighted at
his appearance, but her parents were not quite so
cordial. He spent some time in Rome, visiting
the principal places of interest in company with
Miss Woods, with whom he generally walked arm
in arm.
Then there arrived a letter from Charley's uncle,
Mr. Stewart, warning him not to stop too long in
Rome, for fear of catching the Roman fever.
Charley had always a great dread of infection, and
on receipt of the letter made instant preparations
to return to Ireland. Miss Woods wished him to
stop longer, but, seeing he was resolved, made him
promise to come to Paris when they returned
there.
Once back at Avondale, he set hard to work
developing his land; but the aloofness which he
displayed to the many eligible ladies he met in
Wicklow society was greatly noticed, and proved
his single-hearted devotion to Miss Woods.
He returned again to Paris, where he had an
affectionate meeting with his fiancee, and they
again became inseparable companions. In the
spring of 1871 he returned to Avondale, owing to
his presence being required at the sawmills.
While there he set to work thoroughly pre-
paring the house for the reception of his expected
bride.
STEPS TO THE THRONE ^7
A Catastrophe.
He had not long been back to Avondale, when
he received a short and not very informative letter
from Miss Woods, saying that her mother and
herself were returning immediately to their home
at Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A. The letter
never mentioned anything with regard to the
engagement or expressed any grief for the sudden
parting.
Charley was dumbfounded when he received it.
He was, however, too sincerely attached to Miss
Woods to accept such an implied conclusion of
their engagement. He hurried back to Paris, to
find that Miss Woods had already left for America,
and, after discussing American investments with
his uncle, set off armed with several business letters
of introduction, for the dual purpose of trans-
acting some business and at the same time asking
Miss Woods face to face her reasons for deserting
him. But there is little doubt that the first
reason was simply a pretext to justify the second,
although, as matters turned out, he actually did
a considerable amount of business during his visit
to America.
I had at that time returned to my cotton-
growing and fruit-farming in Alabama, whither,
however, news of Charley's engagement had per-
meated to me.
78 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Directly on his arrival in America, Charley set
out for Newport. He was received cordially by
Miss Woods and her relations, and seems to have
come to the conclusion that things were as they
had been before. One day, however, Miss Woods
suddenly announced that she did not intend to
marry him, as he was only an Irish gentleman
without any particular name in public.
Charley, heartbroken, tried his best to make
her reconsider her decision, but, finding she was
determined, gave up the task as hopeless.
Resigned.
I received a telegram from him one day saying
that he was coming down to see me in Alabama.
After he arrived, we had a walk round the planta-
tion, and Charley suddenly exclaimed: " John, I
want you to come home with me; you have been
over here long enough."
At that time, however, I had just entered into
a new enterprise — peach-growing — and was eagerly
expecting the next year's crop, so I felt compelled
to refuse. He seemed very sullen and dejected,
but made no reference to his love affair.
Knowing his usual reticence, I said nothing
about Miss Woods (though, from letters I had
received, I knew pretty well how matters stood),
thinking that sooner or later he would tell me
all, as he usually did.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 79
I was out a great deal at the time, attending to
my plantation, but mj^ manager's wife, Mrs.
Merna, told me that when alone he used to give
himself up to fits of brooding and dejection. They
would often, when they came into the room sud-
denl}^, find him crouching over the fire, his face
covered with his hands, sighing bitterly. When
I came in, he used generally to put on a pretence
of gaiety, and I was so occupied with my affairs
that I did not notice into what low spirits he had
fallen until Mrs. Merna asked me what could be
done to cheer him up.
I then put the question bluntly. I said:
" Come, Charley, tell me what is the matter with
you." He hesitated a moment, and then poured
forth the pitiful tale of his love for Miss Woods,
and how she had suddenly jilted him. He added:
" John, I have a good mind to go back again to
Newport and see her. She might change her
mind. You know, I was and am very fond of
her."
I said: ** Do just as you think best."
However, he seems to have decided that such
a step would have been undignified and useless.
To distract his mind I took him out shooting and
visiting, and also conducted him round some of
the great Alabama cotton factories and grist-mills,
in which he took a lively interest. We then went
over to Birmingham, Alabama, to inspect the vast
coal and iron fields which were then being developed
8o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
there. As he had some money invested in Vir-
ginian coalfields, he went into every detail of the
methods of production with the keenest attention.
By then he appeared to have pretty well got
over the shock occasioned by the abrupt termina-
tion of his engagement, but his attitude towards
women for many years afterwards was a cold and
even suspicious one.
A Visit to Miss Woods.
In 1880, when Charley was at the height of his
fame, my sister Theodosia (Mrs. Paget) and
myself happened to be in Newport on a summer
holiday. We heard that Miss Woods, who had
in the meantime married a rich American, was
living at a villa just outside the town. Theodosia
had met her in Paris during the days of Charley's
courtship, and one day she said to me: ** Come
and let us call on Charley's old sweetheart." I
said, " Well, we will," and we made our way to
the villa.
When we arrived, she was in and welcomed us
in the drawing-room. She was still very pretty,
charmingly dressed, and vivacious in manner.
She talked rapidly, evidently rendered some-
what nervous by the memories which we aroused.
Suddenly she said: "Do tell me how is your great
brother Charles. How famous he has become!"
She stopped and sighed for a moment, and seemed
STEPS TO THE THRONE 8i
almost bursting into tears, then suddenly cried,
as if from the bottom of her heart: " Oh, why did
I not marry him ? How happy we should have
been together !" We talked in general terms
about Charley for a little time, and then we left,
never to see her again.
I always consider it to be a striking coincidence
that Charley's first real love affair was with a Miss
Woods, while the maiden name of Mrs. O'Shea,
to whom he was finally married, was Miss Katha-
rine Wood.
CHAPTER III
CHARLEY IN AMERICA
A Visit to Alabama.
Charley's first visit to America, to which I have
only briefly referred in connection with his love
affair, merits a more detailed description, showing
as it does the development of his character at
what was really the critical part of his life. When
I got the message saying that he was coming over
to see me, I was hard at work on my plantation at
West Point, Alabama. On the day of his arrival
I had gone out partridge-shooting after breakfast,
and had made a very good bag, when I suddenly
felt that I ought to return, although I had not
arranged to do so until the evening. On getting
near the house, I saw a buggy with two gentle-
men in it drive up to my gate. I hurried up, and
found that it was Charley himself and a friend of
mine, Mr. Lanier.
They were both very hungry, and I told Mrs.
Mema, my housekeeper, to hurry up and get some
dinner for them. She killed a cock and cooked it,
but it proved to be a " fine tough bird," as Charley
expressed it. Charley, however, had nothing but
82
STEPS TO THE THRONE 83
praise for our home-made cakes, honey, and
hominy, and over the coffee we had a good chat
until it was time for Mr. Lanier to return to West
Point, from where he had driven Charley over.
The two of us then had a long walk through my
cotton plantation and peach orchards. He seemed
greatly surprised at the large tract of land under
cultivation, and the way in which I controlled
the negroes. Everything in the South was strange
to him, and the negroes and the rough set of
white people with whom he came in contact puzzled
him a great deal at first. He did not seem to like
the negroes, and thought that the life generally
was unfit for me; but I told him that I liked it,
as it gave me a healthy and paying occupation,
though he, of course, had got his own beautiful
Avondale and plenty to do on the estate.
I did my best to make him comfortable, and
gave him a nice room next to my own, with a com-
munication door between, as I knew, of old that
he was subject to nervous attacks and used to
walk in his sleep. He told me that he disliked
the Southern cooking, because it was so greasy,
and he seemed to be glad when I told him that I
also disliked greasy food. Still, he appeared very
soon to accommodate himself to the life.
He spent three weeks with me. We used to do
a lot of partridge-shooting, and visited all the mills
and cotton factories in the neighbourhood, in
which he took a great deal of interest. One day
84 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
he came over with me to see Mr, Terry Collins' s
grist-mill, which was run by water-power. After
examining the turbine wheel for some time, he
asked Mr. Collins to take a certain part of it out
to show him. This could not be done without
stopping the mill, which Mr. Collins refused to do,
much to Charley's disappointment, as he was used
to having his slightest whim obeyed.
For exercise, Charley used to ride my black
mare Fanny (named after my sister) into the
town, which was about seven miles away, in order
to fetch my mail and also his own, in which he
took a great deal of interest, as he was then trans-
acting a lot of business with New York.
An Altercation.
On one of his trips heavy rains had fallen, so
that the mud was several inches deep, rendering
it impossible to distinguish the footpath from the
road. On entering the town, Charley dismounted,
and, leading his horse along the path, made his
way towards the post - office. Presently the
Marshal (Chief of Police) came up to him, and told
him to take the horse off the side-walk. My
brother's proud spirit keenly resented this inter-
ference. He calmly surveyed the man, and said
coldly: " I might do so if you could show me which
is the path and which is the road. Personally
I can see no difference " He then made his way
STEPS TO THE THRONE 85
towards the post-office, but the Marshal followed
and continued the argument, which became more
and more heated. Finally the Marshal said he
would have to fine him, and ordered him to come
to the police-room. Charley replied that he would
do so when he had fetched the mail.
" Whose mail ?" asked the Marshal.
"My brother's — Mr. John Parnell's," said
Charley curtly, whereupon the Marshal, to
Charley's amazement, seized both his hands,
shaking them heartily, and cried: " Go ahead; we
all know Mr. Parnell, and are fond of him. I am
proud to meet you, and would not hurt a hair of
your head."
They both adjourned to Pat Gibbons's, where
I always used to dine and put up my horse, Pat
being an old Irishman and a thorough good fellow.
There he was cordially welcomed, and he and the
Marshal parted the best of friends. Charley, on
his return, said : " They seem queer folk about here,
John, and I might have finished by being shot
if they hadn't happened to have known our name."
The Marshal in after - years, when Charley's
name was famous throughout the world, used
often to relate this little adventure with great
pride.
I introduced Charley to Mr. Matt Hill, uncle of
the celebrated Senator Hill of Georgia, and they
had many lively discussions together over the
war. Charley's sympathies had hitherto been
86 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
entirely for the North, but Mr. Hill, who was a
Southerner, succeeded in modifying his views.
Senator Hill, Charley, and myself, used often
to go out shooting on Colonel Chambers's planta-
tion, taking my old dog " Drink " with us. Poor
** Drink " had met with an accident, and had had
his shoulder put out, so that he was a bit slow for
Charley, who liked speed in sport as in everything
else. On one occasion he lost his temper and
levelled his gun at the dog, saying that he would
shoot him, but I managed to persuade him not
to do so. After that the dog behaved splendidly,
and Charley got quite to like him.
On our return from shooting we got caught in a
sudden cyclone. Such was its force that it quite
took our breath away, and I had to let go the reins
and allow the horse to get on as best he could
himself. After a fierce spell, the stoim ceased as
suddenly as it had begun, and we found ourselves
as dry as we were before, as the rain had driven
against us with such force that it had not time
to settle on our clothes.
How THE Pigs triumphed.
One night we were awakened by the grunting of
a number of pigs under the house, which, as is
usual in the South, was built on piles about five
feet high, leaving an open space which was pro-
tected by lattice-work. Apparently some of the
STEPS TO THE THRONE 87
pigs belonging to Ran, my " boss " nigger, had
escaped, and had broken through the lattice-work
in order to keep themselves warm in the recesses
under the house.
I heard Charley's voice from the adjoining
room crying: " I say, John, I can't sleep with that
infernal noise."
" Well, Charley," I replied, being rather more
used to such occurrences, " why don't you get up
and take my gun and have a shot at them ?"
Charley jumped out of bed, picked up the gun,
and ran out in his nightshirt, firing a shot under
the house in the direction from which the noise
came. The result was that the terrified animals
came rushing out, and upset him, gun and all, in
the mud. When he returned and came into my
room to relate his adventures, I couldn't help
laughing at the disreputable appearance he pre-
sented. The gun was so clogged with mud that
we had to set to work to clean it before going to
bed.
A few days later the negro told me that one of
the pigs was missing, and we were soon able to
locate him owing to a very strong odour permeating
through the floor of the house. When we set to
work to search, we discovered that Charley's shot
had killed one of the pigs, which we had removed
to a decent burial-place.
Charley used often to relate this story with
great gusto in after-days in Avondale.
88 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
There resided on the opposite side of the road
a cotton-planter and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. FeUx
Shank. They were very pleasant people, and the
husband was a highly educated man who took
a great deal of interest in the country and held
an influential position. I took Charley over one
night to see them, and in the course of a very
enjoyable evening the conversation turned on the
Alabama coal and iron fields, which were then
being developed in a small way by a number of
poor but energetic men. Charley became greatly
interested in the subject, especially as he had just
invested a good deal of the profits arising from his
timber at Avondale in the Clover Hill coal-mine
of Virginia.
After discussing the matter on several occasions,
he said: ** John, let's go over and see some of these
new fields, as I am deeply interested in coal-
mining, and the coalfields are on the way to New
Orleans, where I am going down to see my
Parisian friend, Mr. Cliphart."
CHAPTER IV
ADVENTURES IN THE COALFIELDS
A FEW days later Charley and I left West Point
Station on the Alabama and Montgomery Rail-
way, which connected at Montgomery with the
line then known as the North and South Railway.
At Montgomery we changed for Birmingham, the
centre of the coal and iron fields, where we arrived
after a very long and tedious journey.
On the way we passed the Cahawba coalfield,
which was the first to be opened in the district,
as it was on the earliest section of railway.
The quality of coal, however, was not very
good, it being too sulphuric. When we stopped at
Cahawba Station, Charley got out and asked the
people a number of questions about the new coal-
field and its prospects. He was asked his name,
and was glad to find again that it was recognized.
Birmingham was at that time a small, insig-
nificant village built of wooden houses, but, like
every village in America, dignified with the title
of city. It had one small, dirty wooden hotel,
full of adventurers who had come there in the
hope of getting work on the railroad and mines.
The hotel was a miserable place and very crowded,
89
go CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
and we were constantly in dread of having five
or six not too cleanly strangers sleeping in the
same room.
Charley was thoroughly disgusted with this
mode of living, as he had always been accustomed
to the best of everything, and did not relish sitting
down to dinner with a very ruffianly-looking
crowd, though I did not mind them, as I found by
experience that, though poor and rough, they were
honest and upright.
After dinner, which consisted of a number of
small pieces of bacon, hardly a mouthful apiece,
I went to look for my hat, but found it gone, and
a very shabby-looking article left in its place.
Remembering the old days at Avondale, when
Charley used to run off with my new hats and
leave his old ones for me to take, I had no hesita-
tion on this occasion in appropriating his. How-
ever, I went down to the village and bought a
new one. This made Charley and myself very
careful indeed about hanging up our hats when we
went in to meals, and we usually brought them up
to our room.
I remembered that a former West Point neigh-
bour, Mr. Read, had gone to live at Birmingham,
and we went and hunted him up. He was very
glad to see us, and promised to introduce us to
Colonel Powell, the pioneer of Birmingham, a
wealthy and prominent citizen, to whom the
original development of the coalfields was due.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 9I
Charle}^, owing to his proud disposition,was greatly
afraid of being mistaken for the usual Irish
emigrant, the only class of our countrymen who
were to be found in these parts, and before we went
round to Colonel Powell he said to me: "For
God's sake, John, when we see Colonel Powell,
don't tell him we are from Ireland, as they have
never seen a real Irish gentleman, and wouldn't
know one if they did, so that I would not be likely
to get the information I want." However, it was
already known that we had come over from
Ireland, though that did not seem to do us much
harm.
Colonel Powell (whom I met again with his
family in Italy during the following year) was an
educated and travelled man, and, as we soon
learned, quite recognized the difference between
the Irish emigrant and the capitalist seeking in-
vestments. He received us very cordially, and
talked to me for some time about my fruit-growing.
He introduced us to a Mr. Dunne, of Irish extrac-
tion, who had been in America a long time, and
was thoroughly conversant with the conditions
of the coalfields and the people working them,
seeing that he owned the first coal-pit in that part
of the country. Mr. Dunne's home was about
forty miles from Birmingham, close to the cele-
brated Warrior coalfield, and he promised to take
us over his original coal-mine.
We left Birmingham by an early train for the
92 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Warrior coalfield, and on the way over the Great
Warrior River saw the coal cropping out of the
banks of the river as we crossed it by the railway
bridge. We got off on the other side of the river,
having told the conductor to stop the train near
Mr. Dunne's house, as there was no station there.
We had supper at Mr. Dunne's, and after a chat
with the family went to bed. At breakfast
Mr. Dunne described to us the pioneer mine, which
is now one of the biggest in the South.
A Mine worked by Dentists.
But, to Charley's amazement, and at first in-
credulity, Mr. Dunne told us that the mine was
only worked at that time by three Birmingham
dentists, all poor men, whose only capital con-
sisted in pulling out enough teeth from the negroes
to provide for the work in the mine day by day.
At the same time they kept an English engineer
to superintend the works, though all his remunera-
tion, like theirs, was dependent upon the future
profits of the mine.
After breakfast Charley and Mr. Dunne and
myself started on a tour of inspection. Charley
wanted first to see the bridge over the Warrior
River, which he noticed, with his invariable
aptitude for observing detail, was one of a new
design, and he wished to adapt the idea of the
covering of the bridge for a roof which he pur-
STEPS TO THE THRONE 93
posed constructing at his new sawmills at Avon-
dale. He asked us to walk across the bridge
before going to the coal-mines.
To cross it was a most difficult feat, as we had
to walk on loose, rickety planks in the middle of
the track, and if we had slipped we should have
been hurled hundreds of feet below into the deep,
swiftly-flowing Warrior River. As we went across,
Charley caught hold of my hand, and we made
our way carefully and safely to the other side.
After crossing the bridge, Charley went back alone
to the middle of it in order to make a sketch of
the roof. He left Mr. Dunne and myself to watch
at the end of the bridge for approaching trains,
and we agreed to warn him of danger by the waving
of a handkerchief. All of a sudden, when Charley
had nearly finished his sketch, we saw a long
freight-train approaching the bridge — luckily, at
a very slow speed. We had barely time to give
Charley the warning signal, and get him back
to safety, before the train reached the bridge.
If he had been overtaken halfway across, nothing
could have saved him, as there was not even a
handrail for him to cling to while the train was
passing.
After Charley had completed his sketch, we
recrossed the bridge and walked up to the mine,
which was only a small opening in the hill, close
to the railway track, not bigger than an ordinary-
sized room, the seam of coal being pretty level with
94 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the hill. We made the acquaintance of the
English engineer^ Mr. Shaw, and one of the dentist
proprietors of the mine.
Mr. Shaw asked us to spend the night at his
house until the train passed for Birmingham.
After a hearty backwoods supper, we slept until
it was time to go back to the track and meet the
train. We brought a lantern with us, which we
waved to call the attention of the engineer, who
stopped to pick us up.
We got to Birmingham early in the morning,
and after breakfast took a long walk to inspect
the immense mountains of pure iron ore, Charley
observing that the close proximity of the coal and
the iron made the place doubly valuable. We had
a delightful walk through the great forest, with the
pine-trees sighing over our heads, and the delight-
ful perfume of resin pervading everything, a scent
that Charley was always fond of, saying that there
was no life so healthy as that spent among the
pine-trees.
Charley was now most anxious to invest £3,000
in the new coal-mine, as he evidently foresaw the
great future that existed for this virgin country.
Before leaving Birmingham he made arrange-
ments to return there again after he had paid
his promised visit to Mr. Cliphart at New
Orleans.
After seeing everything of interest and looking
fully into the coal and iron business, we left
STEPS TO THE THRONE 95
Birmingham for Montgomery Junction, where
Charley changed for New Orleans, while I went
on to West Point.
After this I remained at home, marketing my
cotton crop and preparing to wind up my
American business before going back to Ireland
with Charley.
CHAPTER V
THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT
A Presentiment.
About two weeks after Charley had left for New
Orleans, I received a telegram from him, telling
me to catch the midday train from West Point to
Birmingham next day, and meet him at Mont-
gomery. I did not notice the date of the telegram,
taking it for granted that it had been sent on the
morning of the day I received it. Somehow, a
presentiment will often come to me very strongly
at times, and it was especially so the day I re-
ceived this wire. I felt that something dreadful
was going to happen, not to me, but to Charley,
if he went to Birmingham by himself. Why I
could not tell, as he had been travelling by himself
for a considerable time; but, still, the feeling of
coming disaster haunted me, until it took full
possession of my mind.
However, I set off next morning by the twelve
o'clock train. I do not know how long it was that
I walked up and down the platform at West Point
before the train left, trying to make up my mind
whether to go or not. I did not want to go, as
96
STEPS TO THE THRONE 97
I was sure that a catastrophe was impending, but
something kept on telHng me: "If I do not go,
Charley will be killed." As I did not know any-
body at Montgomery Junction Station to whom
I could telegraph to tell Charley that I was not
going, I started, greatly against my will.
On arriving at the junction, my train pulled
up on one side of the platform, and exactly at the
same time (reminding me of our experience at
Chipping Norton when boys) the New Orleans train,
in which I expected Charley, drew up at the
opposite side. The sleeping-car of the New
Orleans train had to be transferred to the North
and South train, which went to Birmingham. I
stepped out of my car, and, immediately I did
so, saw Charley come out of the sleeper, face to
face with me.
Directly he caught sight of me he appeared
dumbfounded, and cried: " Hello, John, I did not
expect to see you to-day ! Have you been waiting
for me since yesterday, when I asked you to meet
me ?" It was now my turn to look astonished, and
I showed him the wire I had received. He said:
" You ought to have received that the day before."
The mystery of our meeting impressed us both,
and Charley evidently did not like it at all.
I had come up from West Point with a friend of
mine. Dr. Pierce. I introduced him to Charley,
who decided to leave his sleeper and join us in our
day-car — a most lucky occurrence for him, as it
7
98 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
turned out. Charley and the doctor sat down
next to the door, opposite the stove, while I took
a seat in front of them, so as to join in the con-
versation. They started talking about the great
future of the coalfields, but as we went along
we kept noticing the curious way in which the
engineer overran his train past every station,
having to back into the platform. We concluded
that this section of the line, which had not long
been finished, was new to him.
A Negro's Prophecy.
When we were not very far from Birmingham,
Charley, who had noticed the overrunning of the
train, started to tell Dr. Pierce and myself a
curious incident which had occurred to him when
on his way from seeing his friend, Mr. Cliphart, at
New Orleans. A negro, who was seeing the people
off the boat across the gang-plank, turned to him
and said: " You are getting off, and will be killed.'*
Charley said that he felt like kicking him into
the bay. But, strange to say, after that he felt
very much as I did — that something was going to
happen.
The Accident.
Suddenly, as he was talking in this way, the
train jumped the track, tearing up the rails with
a terrible jar, and, as I afterwards learned, pitched
STEPS TO THE THRONE 99
down a very high bank, and turned upside down
with the wheels on top.
When the train first bumped and rocked as it
left the metals, I remember taking hold of both
sides of the seat to keep my balance, as I did not
know what was going to happen next. The last
thing I remember was seeing the stove topple
over, after which I became unconscious.
Charley afterwards told me that when the train
jumped the track he tried to leap out of the car,
but as he got up the train was turning over, and
his coat got caught in the hat-rack, suspending
him there and breaking his fall, and also, which
was perhaps as well, preventing him from jumping
out. He said that when he realized that the train
was running off the line he was sure that he was
going to be killed, and that the negro's prophecy
was coming true. Even if he had succeeded in
gaining the door and jumping out, the train would
most likely have fallen on him and killed him;
and if he had remained in the sleeping-car nothing
could have saved him, as it caught fire and was
burnt to a cinder. Fortunately, there was no one
in the sleeper except the porter, who, being awake,
succeeded in making his escape.
I was then unconscious, but Charley told me
afterwards that, once the accident occurred, all
was in darkness, the doors were jammed and
broken and the windows smashed. With the
exception of the baggage car, mail cars, and engine,
100 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the train was scattered, wheels up, the tops of the
cars being embedded in the ground. As the door
was jammed, Dr. Pierce, Charley, and the other
passengers, got out through the top of the broken
window. When they had got out, they missed
me, and Charley turned to Dr. Pierce and cried:
** Oh, where is my brother ? He must be still in
the car."
Charley Rescues me.
After all the people who were able to do so had
got out of the car, Charley crawled back in search
of me. He finally found me in the darkness,
lying on the floor as if dead. He cried out to
Dr. Pierce: ** Oh, doctor, I have escaped, but I
fear my poor brother is either badly hurt or
killed !"
They took hold of me and dragged me out
through the window, and then carried me to a
little farmhouse near to the track. I did not
recover consciousness until I found myself in a
room lying on a bed, while a number of people
were stretched on the floor, bleeding and moaning.
All of a sudden I realized that Charley was not
there, and, although badly stunned, I was seized
with a terror that he might be killed, as I slowly
recalled, sitting up dazed in bed, my feelings since
I received the telegram, and also Charley's in-
cident with the negro. I found that my neck
and head hurt frightfully, owing to my having
STEPS TO THE THRONE loi
been dashed against the top of the car; but I
struggled out of bed and staggered forth in search
of Charley and Dr. Pierce. When I got out into
the yard, I found my brother stretched full length
on a grass plot. I hurried to him, fearing that
he was dead; but when I approached he raised
himself on his elbow, and said:'*' I hope you are
not so bad as when we brought you here. I believe
I have received some internal injury."
He recalled the negro's prophecy, and said that
he had had a narrow escape from its being ful-
filled. However, he seemed much more concerned
about my injuries than his own.
As the accident had occurred some distance
from any station, the engine was sent on ahead for
help. It returned with a baggage car containing
some doctors, and we were all placed in it and
brought on to Birmingham, except one unfor-
tunate man, who was found to be already dead.
I remember that Charley during the journey to
Birmingham was looking very pale, and, like
the rest of the injured, lay down on the floor of
the car. Strange to say, I was the only one able
to sit up, although my neck was getting worse
and worse every moment.
On arrival at Birmingham, we were all taken to
the little wooden hotel where Charley and I had
stopped a couple of weeks before.
When we got out of the train, I appeared to be
less hurt than anybody, and the people waiting
102 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
on the platform crowded round me, and asked me
questions as to how the accident had occurred.
When the doctors came to me, I remember show-
ing them my hand, the fingers of which were
broken, and telhng them that my neck hurt me.
After they had examined me, one of the doctors
said: " Never mind about your hand; your head
and neck are seriously injured, and you must go
to bed immediately."
I was quite surprised, as I did not think I was
so badly hurt ; but I went to the same little room
in which Charley and I had slept before, and got
into my bed, which I did not leave again for over
a month. My neck turned out to be indeed very
badly hurt, and the doctors said that if Charley
had received the same injuries it would have
killed him on the spot, as it would nine out of ten
persons.
A Tender Nurse.
I was obliged to have my head supported
b}'^ cardboard bandages for a month to come.
Charley was the only nurse I had, though he also
was suffering from his injuries. He attended to
my wants better and more tenderly than any
woman could have done, and was most anxious
about me, never leaving me even to attend to
his coal investment business. All that he was
anxious about was to get me safely home to
Ireland, though he was still in negotiations
STEPS TO THE THRONE 103
about his £3,000 investment. We had to sleep
together in the same small bed, which was much
too small for both of us, especially under the
circumstances.
We had nobody to wait on us, but at times
friends used to come and see us and keep us
company, for which we were heartily grateful.
Among them were Miss Callaghan, who was a friend
of mine at West Point, and Father Galvin, an
Irish priest related to the Father Galvin of Rath-
drum who in after-days used to assist Charley
during his political fights. Everyone showed us
the utmost kindness, and we made many new
friends, none of whom, however, realized that my
pale-faced nurse, himself suffering though un-
complaining, was a few years later to become
the world-renowned champion of Irish liberty.
Abortive Negotiations.
When I was well on the road to recovery,
Charley used to take trips to the Warrior coalfield,
especially to inspect the suspensory work of the
roof of the bridge, in which he seemed to take
an absorbing interest. I used to be very nervous
about his safety during his absence, picturing
him alone in that dangerous spot, but he returned
safely every evening.
He told me that he had made no arrangements
yet with the owners of the coal-mines, but had
104 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
asked them to draw up a partnership agreement
and bring it round to the hotel.
As soon as I was well enough, Charley appointed
a day for the owners of the coal-mine to meet in
our bedroom at the hotel, and conclude the agree-
ment for him to become a part owner in the mines
on introducing a capital of £3,000. I advised him
to go into it, and also to buy up a large tract of the
Long Leaf pine-lands, close to the coal-mines, under
which I believed that the coal-seam stretched.
The purchase money for the pine-lands was only
one dollar per acre, and of this only ten cents per
acre had to be paid in cash down, the remainder
being payable in instalments extending over
several years. I pointed out that, quite apart
from the coal, the timber on these lands
would have repaid Charley handsomely. In
this, however, as in all other matters, he pre-
ferred to follow his own view uninfluenced by
anyone else.
The owners, when they came to our bedroom
(I was still in bed), brought with them an agree-
ment ready for Charley to sign. After reading it
over carefully, he said it would not do at all, as,
although he was advancing all the capital, he
was not getting complete control. He made it
quite clear that the future of the mine depended
upon the capital provided to work it, and that it
was essential that he should have full manage-
ment.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 105
Anyhow, after a prolonged argument, in which
neither side would give way, the whole scheme
fell through, and the owners left.
The mine afterwards, in other hands, proved a
complete success, as it would have done if Charley
had had his way.
In a couple of days I was able to walk well
enough to get back to my plantation at West
Point. On arriving there, my people were de-
lighted to see us back again, as the rumour had
got about that I had been killed.
We remained there for about two weeks, whilst
I disposed of my cotton crop and gradually re-
turned to health. We commenced to collect the
evidence of witnesses with a view to taking an
action for damages against the North and South
Railway, which, however, the lawyers advised us
was bankrupt. Finally, however, we decided to
abandon the suit, at any rate for a time.
A Quarrel.
One day while we were at West Point, I took
Charley to look at a house which I was building
for a Mr. Joseph Field and his wife, who were
farming part of my land. Mr. Field was at home,
and Charley had a long chat with him about his
experiences in America. Mr. Field, who was an
Ulster Protestant, though his wife was a Catholic,
came back with us to my place, and there made
io6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
some rather impertinent remarks about the house
which I was building not being good enough
for him. Charley lost his temper, and cried:
** It is too good for you !" This led to angry
words, and very nearly to blows, Charley having
actually taken off his coat with the intention
of thrashing Mr. Field, when I separated them.
I may say that I always found Mr. Field a
most respectable man, and got on very well
with him.
The quarrel soon came to an end, as quickly
as it had begun, and before we reached home
perfect friendship had been restored, and we all
had dinner together. Mr. Field ever after used
to speak very highly of Charley, saying what
wonderful piercing dark eyes he had.
We had a couple of days' shooting before
leaving West Point, and, as Charley disliked so
much the greasy Southern food, we took with us
plenty of " Bob Whites," as partridges were called
in that neighbourhood, ready-cooked, to eat on
our journey to New York.
On the way we stopped at the Clover Hill
coal-mines in Virginia. As our mother, our uncle
Stewart, and Charley himself, owned a number of
shares in that mine, he thought it was a good
opportunity to break his journey and inspect it.
The mine was reached by a branch from the main
line, the train running at a high speed on wooden
rails, which caused it to bump and sway as if it
STEPS TO THE THRONE 107
was going to jump the track. This, in view of
our recent accident, made Charley distinctly
nervous, and we went and ate our cold partridges
on the steps of the last car, so that we could jump
off quickty if anything happened. I must say
that the steps proved a very uncomfortable seat,
especially as the train was swaying about so much,
and we were several times nearly thrown off.
However, Charley was still very much haunted by
the negro's prediction.
On arriving at Clover Hill Station we called at
the manager's house, and he came out and showed
us all over the mines.
Charley went down in the cage of one of the
principal shafts, and he told me afterwards that
he had just as narrow an escape as he had had in
the railroad smash, as while he was standing up
in the cage, being slightly bent owing to his height,
his head was very nearly cut off in one place
during the descent by the projecting wall of the
mine. This incident still further increased the
superstitions which had grown upon him during
the last few weeks.
When he came up, he described to me the
geological formation of the mine. I had always
been very interested in the study of geology, and
on hearing his description I said: " That mine is
no good; the coal in it will soon give out on
account of its lying on the granite rock forma-
tion,— a very unusual circumstance." Charley
io8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
in the early days used to make fun of my
geological knowledge, though he afterwards set
to work to study it in earnest himself. In
this case my judgment proved to be correct,
for the mine in after-years turned out to be
worthless.
We left Clover Hill and caught the train on the
through line. In the same sleeper Charley met
Mr. R. A. Lancaster, his and his uncle's Wall
Street banker and broker, whom he knew very
well, and they sat up most of the night talking
finance.
A Threatened Arrest.
On arrival the next morning in New York,
Charley, who had put up at the Jersey City Hotel,
went to see Mr. Robinson, his attorney, as Mr.
Lancaster had informed him in the train that he
had been sued by a Wall Street sharper, who had
heard that he had only just come over from
Ireland, and had persuaded him, before going
South, to contract for some shares in a bogus
company. This man threatened to have him
arrested in order to prevent him leaving for
Ireland, but Charley, on Mr. Lancaster's advice,
remained in Jersey City, where he could not be
molested.
After spending Christmas quietly in Jersey
City, we left for Ireland on the s.s. City of Antwerp,
on New Year's Day, 1872. On the morning of our
STEPS TO THE THRONE 109
departure I had to go over to New York City to
transact some business for him, and only got
to the vessel, after wading through the snow up to
my knees, when the gangway was just about to
be drawn up. I found Charley hanging over the
rail in great excitement as to whether I was going
to miss the boat.
CHAPTER VI
BACK TO EUROPE
There was little of special interest in the voyage,
except one day when we were halfway across.
The steamer stopped suddenly for some unex-
plained reason, though there was no heavy sea or
wind at the time. I was walking about on deck,
and came across Charley leaning over the rail and
looking very uneasy. He asked me in a nervous
manner: "John, what has happened?" I said
I did not know, and in a moment or two the
steamer started again.
On another occasion a heavy sea was running.
I was playing chess below, while Charley was asleep
on the seat beside me. The steamer suddenly
gave an awful lurch, and seemed for a few instants
on the point of turning turtle. Charley was
pitched head first right over two tables, while I
just managed to keep my balance, though the
chess-board and men were scattered over the
saloon. When the steamer righted herself, Charley
got up, thoroughly awakened and considerably
bruised.
no
STEPS TO THE THRONE iii
Back in Ireland.
When we arrived off Queenstown, the weather
was so bad that we could not land, and had to go
on to Liverpool. We then crossed to Dublin and
went straight down to Avondale. Charley ex-
pressed his vivid delight at being back home
again, as he had never really enjoyed being in
America.
Charley and I used to take a good many walking
trips to Aughavannagh, where he became inter-
ested in the production of turf. Soon after we
went to Paris, where our uncle Stewart often kept
Charley up till two o'clock in the morning talking
about American mortgages and bonds. Charley
found the technical terms very confusing, but did
his best to acquire a grip of American finance, as
there was a probability that our uncle, who was
then an old man, would leave him some of his
property on his death.
We then went over to London, where our
guardian, Sir Ralph Howard, sent over to ask us
to come and see him at his hotel. He was a
widower, and growing old and feeble, and par-
ticularly wanted to see me, as he had made me one
of his heirs. We went round to call on him, and
I remember being very nervous, as I wished to
make a good impression on our uncle, and I knew
that, after my rough life in America, my clothes
112 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
would be distinctly behind the London fashions.
I went in to see him alone, and talked to him for
some time about America. When I came out,
Charley went in to see Sir Ralph, and unfortun-
ately mentioned the fact that the railway accident
had taken place in the Alabama coalfield, which
rather prejudiced our uncle against investing his
money there, and disturbing his existing invest-
ments in English mines.
Sir Ralph Howard took a great deal of interest
in Charley's account of American mines and their
great future. Thinking that he was doing me a
good turn, he praised up my investments in land
in Alabama more than they were justified, which
unluckily, as events turned out, acted greatly to
my disadvantage.
After our interview with Sir Ralph we went back
to Avondale, where we saw a good deal of our
sisters, Mrs. Dickinson and Mrs. McDermott,
Captain Dickinson being the agent for my property
in Armagh. I found, however, that Captain
Dickinson had allowed the rents to fall consider-
ably into arrears. He resigned his agency, and
I set to work collecting the arrears myself. I
experienced little trouble in getting in the rent on
the first gale day, though after two years I gave up
acting as my own agent, as I saw that the tenants
could not possibly pay in a bad time, as it was
difficult enough to get in the rents in compara-
tively good times.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 113
It was thought that because I had in some in-
stances to take proceedings against the tenants I
was acting harshly, but I had to provide both for
my sisters' annuities and the Trinity College head
rent, which had also fallen into arrears, getting
nothing for myself. My collecting, although I met
with considerable success in it, certainly opened my
eyes to the real condition of the tenant farmers,
especially as at this time Mr. Butt was advocating
his tenant-right principles.
We were down at Avondale for some con-
siderable time, Charley taking a great interest in
the timber, which by means of his sawmills he
manufactured into various articles in order to
provide for the growing demand which existed
in America for Irish-made articles.
Our Guardian's Death.
Our mother and sisters, having left Paris,
stopped for some time in London, where they
frequently visited Sir Ralph Howard, who was
in very bad health, and our mother finally spent
several weeks with him. He gradually became
worse, and one day at Avondale, as Charley and
myself were walking about the demesne, we got a
telegram from our mother saying that Sir Ralph
Howard was dying, and that we must hurry over
to London if we wished to see him while he was
still living.
8
114 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
As the mail train had just left, we got a car to
drive us at furious speed to Kingstown, where we
arrived at the Carlisle pier just in time to catch the
mail boat. We reached London early the next
morning, and after breakfast with our mother and
our sisters, Emily, Sophy, and Fanny, went over
to Sir Ralph Howard's hotel in Belgrave Square.
We found, to our regret, that he was unconscious,
though he recovered sufficiently to recognize us
and to smile at us, but was not able to speak.
He died a couple of hours after our arrival, and
at the funeral Charley and Lord Claude Hamilton
(afterwards the Duke of Abercorn) and myself
were among the mourners.
When the will was read, it was found that he had
not forgotten our family. He had left me what
appeared to be a very considerable fortune,
derived from his English mining investments,
which brought my income to an almost equal
amount to what Charley received from Avondale.
I might explain here the reason why my father
left Avondale to Charley. Although I was the
eldest son, my great-uncle and guardian. Sir
Ralph Howard, had always told my father that
he intended to leave me a considerable portion of
his property, as under the terms of Colonel Hayes's
will Avondale was always to pass to the second son.
It was for that reason that, under my father's will,
I was only left the comparatively unproductive
estate in Armagh, burdened as it was, moreover, by
STEPS TO THE THRONE 115
annuities to my sisters. The relations between
my father and myself were always perfectly
cordial, but he, naturally, did not wish to leave any
of his sons unprovided for, and so left the Carlow
property to Henry, as I was the prospective heir
of Sir Ralph.
Sir Ralph had, however, probably owing to
Charley's conversation with him, altered his will
by a codicil, leaving me in the end only half the
amount of his original bequest, amounting to
about £4,000 a year, the other half being left to his
cousin. Lord Claude Hamilton, owing to the in-
crease in value of the investments since the
will was made. However, he made me liable for
all the calls on the shares.
After Sir Ralph Howard's death I received many
congratulations on my good-fortune, and went over
to Paris to visit my mother's brother, Mr. Charles
Stewart, who had, however, left for Rome. While
there he caught the Roman fever, against which
he had previously warned Charley, and my mother
was very anxious about his condition. She got
telegrams daily as to his progress, but, seeing that
he became gradually worse, determined to go over
and nurse him herself. However, in spite of her
devoted care, he died shortly afterwards.
Our uncle's will was opened a few days later,
when we found that he had left all his large fortune
in Southern railroad bonds and shares to our
mother.
ii6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
During our stay in Paris we assisted our mother
to arrange her brother's affairs. According to the
Continental custom, all his effects were sealed until
our mother took out administrative papers. But
Charle}^ insisted that his late uncle was an Ameri-
can subject, and finally obtained relief from the
complicated process of the Continental law. It
was at this time that Charley met at the house of
his sister (Mrs. Thompson) an American beauty,
who fell violently in love with him, and to escape
whose advances he hastened his return to Ireland,
while I remained in Paris with my sister Fanny.
A Palmist's Prediction.
One day while in Paris, Fanny, who was always
inclined towards spiritualism, asked me to come
with her to see a lady palmist whom she had pre-
viously consulted. I went with her, and sat down
while the palmist made a thorough examination
of the lines of my hand. Both Fanny and myself
were very much astonished at her reading from
my hand more of Charley's character than my
own, though she did not know my brother or even
our name. She made what afterwards proved to
be a correct forecast of Charley's future career in
politics, and the high position to which he was
ultimately to attain. To our dismay, however, she
added, just when I was about to get up, that some-
thing dreadful was to happen to him if he was not
STEPS TO THE THRONE 117
very careful. She did not say what the nature of
this catastrophe would be.
Soon after this I returned to join Charley at
Avondale, and, as I was now well off, took all the
shooting of Aughavannagh, but did not lease the
barracks themselves. Charley, Captain Dickinson,
and myself, spent a couple of weeks down there
grouse-shooting, and also got up a number of
coursing matches with the neighbours.
In the meantime our mother had wound up her
brother's affairs in Paris, and returned to Ireland
to make arrangements to go to New York to see
after the property in which our uncle was con-
cerned over there.
Lord Carysf ort, Charley, and myself, had a good
deal of shooting together, and on one occasion
Charley and I had a regular quarrel as to who had
shot a particular bird at which we both fired at the
same moment. I remember, when we arrived at
Lord Carysf ort's, the latter said: " Now that you
have come home, you must remain here and take
up your position in the county."
Those days during the latter end of 1873 we
spent quietly in Wicklow, no one realizing the
imperceptible trend of Charley's mind towards
politics. There was no doubt, however, that the
events which were occurring in Ireland occupied
a considerable portion of his thoughts.
The country was at that time chiefly concerned
with the tenant-right system, which then, however,
ii8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
was only legally recognized in Ulster. Isaac Butt,
whose defence of the Fenians arrested during the
panic in 1867 had gained him considerable
notoriety and support from all sections of the Irish
party, had now assumed the leadership in the
House of Commons. His policy, however, was
that of a strictly constitutional campaign in
favour of Irish rights. In theory this was the
ideal course to take, but in practice it was of very
little use. As Charley, with his keen insight into
the main principles of politics, soon realized, once
he had assimilated the atmosphere of the House
of Commons, constitutional methods were simply
beating time so far as Irish interests were con-
cerned. Butt was thoroughly devoted to the
Irish cause, and had an ultimate vision of Home
Rule, but he was bound head to foot by the red
t^pe of constitutionalism. Charley appreciated
his intentions, but, as I shall show afterwards,
put them in more practical form by the use of
original methods.
Now that we are on the threshold of Charley's
political career, I must explain to the best of my
abilit}^ the motives and the influences which caused
him to enter politics.
CHAPTER VII
CHARLEY'S ENTRANCE INTO POLITICS
Crossing the Rubicon.
How did my brother actually come to enter
politics ? That is a question which I have been
often asked, but which I have always found it
impossible to answer in a single sentence, or with
any certainty as to the exact causes which com-
pelled him to adopt a political career.
His actual decision was a sudden and even
dramatic one.
It took place one night early in 1874, when
Charley and I were dining with our sister Emily
and her husband, Captain Dickinson, at their
house at 22, Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin. 7
A Wager.
I remember the occasion vividly, for it followed
on a humorous and somewhat trivial incident
which was, however, illustrative of Charley's
character.
He had come up from Cork that night, and,
finding on his arrival at Kingsbridge that the time
119
120 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
of his engagement for dinner was very close, said
to a jarvey at the station: " I'll give you half a
crown if you get me to 22, Lower Pembroke Street
by seven o'clock, or nothing at all if you are a
minute after that." The man, after a moment's
hesitation, accepted the terms of the wager, but
he arrived at the Dickinsons' house a few minutes
after seven, the time agreed upon, and was
promptly told by Charley that he had lost the bet
and would receive nothing. •
The jarvey, however, being a poor sportsman,
wished to win both wa^/s, and demanded his fare,
with many imprecations. Charley steadily re-
fused to pay him, and left him exercising his lungs
on the pavement. In this, as in after-years when
transacting the more important business of politics,
Charley, while always trying to get the best terms
possible, believed that a bargain, once definitely
struck, was inviolable, even if the other side had
obtained the more favourable terms.
The conversation at the dinner itself was of a
light nature, and was largely concerned with the
discussion of Charley's affair with the jarvey.
Afterwards, however, it drifted into an argument
as to tenant right and Butt's movement in general.
Charley took little active part in the arguments
advanced for either side.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 121
The Die cast.
Suddenly, when we had discussed the situation
from all points of view, Charley cried: " By Jove,
John, it would be a grand opening for me to
enter politics !"
This frank avowal by one who had always been
so reticent as to his real views took our breath
away for a moment. Then we all cried, carried
away by the idea and the firm conviction of
his words: " Yes, it would. It is a splendid
opportunity."
Once his mind was made up, Charley never
wasted time in words. Speechifying, even if abso-
lutely necessary, he always abhorred, and his
resolution once taken, his action followed as
promptly as the thunder after lightning.
Accordingly, we had hardly had time to express
our approval, when, without any other words of
explanation, he went on to say, betraying no ex-
citement: ** John, will you and Dickinson come
down with me to the Freeman's office ?"
I excused myself, and he and Captain Dickinson
set out at once (it was then just midnight) to see
the editor of Freeman's Journal. I stayed behind
with my sister, who insisted on waiting up till
their return. We were both very excited, and
the hours of waiting seemed interminable.
122 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
A Rebuff.
It was after 2 a.m. when they returned. Charley
looked disheartened and annoyed. He had in-
deed met with a serious rebuff at the very outset
of his political career.
At that time he was High Sheriff of Wicklow,
and directly he told the editor of Freeman's
Journal of his intention of standing for Parlia-
ment, the latter said that it would be impossible
for him to do so, as his resignation from the High
Shrievalty would have first to be tendered to, and
be accepted by, the Lord Lieutenant.
Next morning Charley hurried off to present his
resignation to the Lord Lieutenant, who said,
however, that he could not accept it there and
then, as certain formalities had to be complied
with.
This did away with any chance of Charley con-
testing Wicklow at that election, as the other
candidates were already in the field.
The delay, and what he conceived to be a slight
on the part of the Lord Lieutenant, in not immedi-
ately accepting his resignation, and so setting him
free to contest the seat, stung Charley deeply, and
left him with a feeling of resentment against the
English Government, which quickly became a
rooted portion of his character.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 123
Indomitable.
However, he was not to be turned from his point
once he had definitely decided upon a course of
action. When a front movement failed, he was
always ready with a new flank attack. So, when
we were again assembled at dinner the next
evening, I noticed that Charley was in real fighting
form. He said little, and seemed to be turning
things over carefully in his mind ; but there was a
light in his eyes which I knew well from the days
of our boyish quarrels, and I waited patiently until
he should arrive at a solution, as I felt assured
he would sooner or later, of his present difficulty.
Emily, Captain Dickinson, and myself, were dis-
cussing Charley's position, trying to invent means
of extricating him from his dilemma, when Charley
suddenly lifted his head, and, looking straight at
me, said: " John, we must run you."
I was thoroughly taken aback by the idea,
which was quite new to me, and which I by no
means welcomed. I pointed out that he, with his
wealth and his Wicklow connection and influence,
was the only one to have a chance; while I, owing
to my property, was really more of an Armagh man,
and was, besides, somewhat prejudiced in public
opinion, because I had lived in America and
carried on fruit-farming there. He brushed aside
all my arguments, and I finally consented, rather
124 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
against my own judgment, but thinking that by
doing so I might help Charley to enter politics —
a course which I had already strongly urged him
to take.
Immediately I had yielded my somewhat grudg-
ing consent, Charley took pen and ink and began
to draw up my election address, to which I refer
in the succeeding chapter. I was therefore
launched in politics, but, what proved to be more
important, it was Charley who launched me and
who directed my course. For it was in the wake of
my fruitless little Wicklow expedition in 1874 that
he himself became drawn into the sea of politics.
I have said that I did my best to escape from
an unsolicited and unprepared entry into public
life. But from the moment he had said, " John,
we must run you," I knew that his mind was made
up, and that I must either follow the course which
he had set for me, or break with him once for
all. It was the manner of his after Parliamentary
days, but it was already completely developed.
A Shrouded Growth.
How it developed, how Charley came to take
any interest in politics at all, still more how he
came so suddenly to show a complete mastery of
them, is the mystery.
It is one which it is very hard to solve to any
degree of satisfaction, as, in spite of my almost
STEPS TO THE THRONE 125
constant intimacy with Charley during his early
years, I have so little to go upon as regards things
spoken, and as regards things written nothing at all.
Charley kept his own counsel even as a boy.
As a man this trait developed to such an extent
that it was only on very rare occasions that one
caught a glimpse of the real man beneath the
courteous but frigid exterior.
If an3^thing can be said to have been the first
impulse that directed Charley's attention towards
politics, it was the American Civil War. This was
a constant topic of discussion in our family circle,
owing to our being American on our mother's side.
Charley, as I have said, at first warmly espoused
the cause of the North, as being that of anti-
slavery, though during his visit to America his
sympathies gradually veered towards the South,
which he came to regard as the section actually
fighting for freedom.
There is no doubt that the immense sacrifices
made on behalf of liberty, which he often discussed
with Mr. Harry King, Mr. Matt Hill, and other
Americans with whom he came in contact, made
a profound and lasting impression upon his mind.
Charley in Conversation.
But it must be remembered that then, as ever,
he was always a questioner rather than an in-
formant. He wanted to get every scrap of infor-
126 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
mation and every shade of opinion on any subject
in which he took a real interest, but at the same
time he did not Hke disclosing his own views,
especially when they were, so to speak, in the
melting-pot. Once he arrived at a definite opinion,
he used to express it (and then only when he con-
sidered such an expression of opinion to be abso-
lutely unavoidable) as clearly and in as few words
as possible, giving no reasons, however, for his
having arrived at that opinion.
As he gradually grew out of childhood, this
reserve of Charley's became more and more
accentuated. The greater portion of it was un-
doubtedly due to a mixture of nervousness and
pride, resulting in a sort of shy repulsion towards
allowing his inner thoughts and real nature to
appear on the surface, to be at the mercy of the
multitude. There was also, it must be owned, at
times what appeared to be just a trace of affecta-
tion in this Sphinx-like attitude towards the
world in general.
The Wink of the Sphinx.
I remember meeting Charley, when he was in the
height of his glory, one day in Kildare Street. I
had only just returned from one of my trips to
America, and had that morning seen him at
Morrison's Hotel. I was expecting to meet him
at Harcourt Street Station in the evening, and to
STEPS TO THE THRONE 127
go down with him to Avondale. We were going in
opposite directions, and passed on the same pave-
ment, almost touching one another. Charley,
however, showed not the slightest sign of recog-
nition until we were almost side by side; then he
just winked the eye nearest to me.
It was no sign of boisterous jollity or facetious
slyness, such as the dropping of the eyelid generally
betokens. Charley simply wished to show that
he had seen and recognized me, but did not wish
to disturb his demeanour of perfect composure and
aloofness. And how great an asset that aloofness
was perhaps he himself only knew. It was not
only an armour against the English ; it was a robe
that attracted the loyalty, and even the wild en-
thusiasm, of his own countrymen, while at the
same time repelling their intimacy.
So it can easily be understood that Charley's
mind could not be read as a book. It was only
a stray straw that gave an indication — often not
more than a suspicion — of the way the wind was
blowing.
If the American Civil War may be said to have
first aroused Charley's interest in politics, it was
certainly the Fenian outbreak that concentrated
that interest on Irish affairs. With the Fenian
doctrine itself, and especially with the Fenian
methods, he was never really in sympathy, though
he used the great power of that well-organized
body to effect his own ends, or, rather, to further
128 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
that policy which he beUeved to be more beneficial
to his country as a whole.
His loyalty to the Throne was above suspicion,
though he always treated the English as open
enemies, and regarded their politicians with the
utmost suspicion. Our mother, though American
to the core, a burning enthusiast in the cause of
Irish liberty, and possessed of an inveterate hatred
of England — against which country her famous
father, Commodore Stewart, had so often waged
battle with conspicuous success on the high seas —
yet always instilled into her children the principles
of personal loyalty to their Sovereign, which she
held not to be inconsistent with individual liberty.
A Mother's Advice.
Here are some extracts from one of her letters
to me when I was a Member of Parliament, con-
taining an exhortation which she must often have
addressed to Charley as well during his lifetime.
It shows her loyalty towards Queen Victoria, her
dislike (at that time) of the extremists, and her
sympathy with the Irish peasantry:
How the Queen must despise low, mean,
mischief - making extremists ! They get
money by rousing passions and exaggerating
aims. If they succeed, rebellion and anarchy
will run riot in Europe. . . .
The well-off people are making misery in
STEPS TO THE THRONE 129
Ireland. Do not let the poorer be exasper-
ated. Say a word if you can. Have the
poorer protected.
Ireland seems to have more manufactories.
Get them stimulated and protected; young
factories need protection. My father and
your brother thought this.
The Queen is wise and good; find out her
opinions. Her Ministers are not infallible.
In another letter she urges me to attend the
levees and other Court functions.
But if the cause of the Fenians did not enlist
Charley's sympathies, the support which they re-
ceived made him consider the abuses and distress
which existed in his own country, which he saw
more and more in their naked hideousness as he
went about among his tenants on the Avondale
estate.
The Manchester Executions.
It was the Manchester executions in 1867, how-
ever, that made the most marked impression on
him. He vehementlj^ declared that the killing of
Sergeant Brett was no premeditated murder, but
an accident — a declaration that he repeated with
even more force to a startled House of Commons
in 1875, when Sir Michael Hicks-Beach referred
to those who perished on the scaffold as " mur-
derers."
About this time I often used to find him at
9
130 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Avondale crouching over one of his beloved
wood fires, deep in thought and crooning over
to himself snatches of the " Wearing of the
Green/'
Although loyal, as I have said, he bitterly re-
sented the raid made on our house in Temple
Street during the Fenian outbreak, and the re-
moval of our swords and uniforms. Jest though
he did, that and the supercilious way he was
treated by the officers at the Castle, as, if not
actually a Fenian, at any rate a sympathizer with
the Irish cause, certainly fanned his dislike of
England, inherited as it was through his mother,
to a flame of concentrated enmity.
** Had we never met and never parted."
Two influences nearly caused him to settle down
for good in private life. One was his engagement
to Miss Woods, which, had it turned out as he
expected, would have meant his living a contented
and comfortable life at Avondale, on the Con-
tinent, or in America. His jilting undoubtedly
helped to drive his energies into politics, for he
was deeply hurt at the idea of being considered
simply a country gentleman without any special
abilities.
The other was his interest in American mines.
If he had taken more kindly to American life, and
had not been so much upset by the railway acci-
STEPS TO THE THRONE 131
dent, he might have died a wealthy but unremem-
bered American mining magnate.
Commerce, especially in the direction of mining,
always had a special fascination for him, and
might at any time have proved a profitable career
had not the still stronger fascination of politics
predominated.
On his return to Ireland, he found Butt's tenant-
right campaign in full swing, and studied it closely
in the newspapers of all shades of opinions, though
his comments were few and far between.
One day when he was standing in front of the
fire at Avondale, I said to him: *' Why don't you
take up this tenant-right business of Butt's and
enter Parliament ?" I had just then gained con-
siderable insight into the tenant-right system
through acting as my own agent on my Armagh
estate, and had been arguing with Charley as to
the desirability of extending the system through-
out Ireland.
He replied curtly: " I could not, because I would
not join that set." His pride, in other words,
prevented him moving with the Home Rulers of
that time, because they were beneath him in
station. That feeling he had apparently subdued
sufficiently by the time of the dinner-party in
1874 for him, at least, to consent to mix with the
Nationalist party. But to the end of his career
he was never intimate with the members of his
party, however closely he might be brought into
132 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
contact with them in the rtansaction of pohtical
business. He was always a man apart, and in his
isolation lay his strength.
His Character — by his Mother.
With regard to this and other traits of his
character, I do not think I can do better than
quote a letter from our mother, in which she ex-
presses, with her customary directness, her opinion
of Charley and his political associates. After
saying that Charley offended Gladstone owing to
his independence, and after referring to the Irish
leaders as being of little account, she says :
Your brother is the only gentleman in the
whole set — so high-principled, so strictly deli-
cate and correct-minded. I swear by him.
Hear all the Billingsgate of some of the others.
Your brother never called one of them by any
fool-names. He only told facts, and only
called Davitt a political jackdaw.
He is a close follower of Biblical morality.
... I swear by his strong and scrupulous
morality, and even spirituality. What a
good, benevolent, unselfish, self-respecting
man he has been !
That is enough for me. I wonder what
Gladstone sinned in when a young man.
Ever your fond mother,
Delia T. S. Parnell.
CHAPTER VIII
FIRST BLOOD
The Wicklow Election.
I CONSIDER the Wicklow election, as I have indi-
cated in the last chapter, to be Charley's first
entrance into politics, though, as High Sheriff of
Wicklow, he was supposed to occupy a neutral
position.
It was he, however, who, as I have said, drew
up my election address, sitting opposite to me at
Captain Dickinson's dining-table. It was his first
printed political utterance, and, with the exception
of a few slight alterations which I suggested to
him, is entirely the voicing of his own opinions at
that time. As such, I think it deserves quoting
in full. It runs as follows:
To the Electors of the County Wicklow.
Gentlemen,
Believing that the time has arrived for
all true Irishmen to unite in the spontaneous
demand for justice from England that is now
convulsing the country, I have determined to
133
134 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
offer myself for the honour of representing
you in ParUament.
The principles for which my ancestor, Sir
John Parnell, then Chancellor of the Irish
Exchequer, refused the peerage from an
English Government are still mine, and the
cause of Repeal of the Union under its new
name of Home Rule will always find in me a
firm and honest supporter.
My experience of the working of the Ulster
system of Land Tenure in the North convinces
me that there is no other remedy for the un-
fortunate relations existing between landlord
and tenant in other parts of Ireland than the
legalization through the whole of the country
of the Ulster Tenant Right, which is prac-
tically Fixity of Tenure, or some equivalent
or extension of a custom which has so
increased the prosperity of the thriving
North.
A residence for several years in America,
where Religious and Secular Education are
combined, has assured me that the attempt
to deprive the youth of the country of spiritual
instruction must be put down, and I shall give
my support to the Denominational System
in connection both with the University and
Primary branches.
Owing to the great tranquillity of the
Country, I think it would now be a graceful
act to extend the Clemency of the Crown to
the remaining Political Prisoners.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 135
My grandfather and uncle represented this
County for many years, and as you have ex-
perienced their trustworthiness, so I also hope
you will believe in mine.
I am. Gentlemen,
Yours truly,
John Howard Parnell.
We were rather behindhand, as the other candi-
dates had already issued their election addresses
and started canvassing.
A Stump Speech.
However, nothing daunted, Charley set off by
the morning train to Rathdrum to show the people
we were really in earnest. He had been regarded
in many quarters, owing to his position, as a
stanch Conservative, and his appearance as the
supporter of a Nationalist candidate aroused con-
siderable suspicion.
When he arrived it was fair-day, and, after
looking round the market-place and finding the
farmers eyeing him very curiously, he suddenly
mounted a big beer-barrel, in the midst of the
cattle and sheep, and addressed the astonished
crowd.
His speech, I believe, though deHvered with
some of the hesitation due to its being a maiden
one, was a spirited and telling one. Probably,
136 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
however, if it had not been for the strong support
which the Parish Priest of Rathdrum, Father
Galvin (whom I have ah*eady mentioned in con-
nection with our American trip), had exercised
among the clerg}^, he might have met with a hostile
reception. Father Galvin, however, had from the
outset warmly supported my candidature, though
he knew very well that it was Charley who was at
the bottom of the whole affair.
When I arrived by the evening train (as Charley
had wired me to do, even telling me if I was late
to take a special engine) I learned that Father
Galvin had telegraphed to the Arklow priests to
come down to the station to meet me, and I found
to my surprise that, when I stepped out of the
train, the platform was crowded with priests,
most of whom did not know either Charley or
myself.
Headed by the band and escorted by the
priests, I proceeded, accompanied by a large crowd,
to Father Galvin's house. We afterwards had a
round-table conference, where I was enthusiastic-
ally welcomed as the candidate for Wicklow.
Next day Charley set off for Hacketstown and
West Wicklow canvassing for me, but met with a
very mixed reception. When he returned, he
told me that I could not count on much support
from that side of the county, as they appeared on
the whole to be likely to vote for the landlords.
He came to my bedside one night, after I had been
STEPS TO THE THRONE 137
engaged in a hard day's work writing circulars,
and said to me jokingly when I woke up: " John,
what are you kicking up such a row about ?" I
told him that it was not myself, but he, who was
kicking up the row, and said: ** You are right to
do so."
I was duly nominated by Charley, as well as by
a number of other Nationalists, and was carried
round on the shoulders of the people. He told me
after the election that he had even voted for me,
but his vote was not allowed.
I attributed a great deal of the antagonism
shown towards me to the fact that I was the first
to import frozen fruit from America to Ireland,
which was followed by the importation of frozen
meat, which local farmers thought would greatly
injure their trade. To be American, in fact, was
at that time considered a great reproach in Ireland
amongst the agricultural classes.
When Charley, as High Sheriff, announced the
figures of the election, I found myself at the bottom
of the poll ; but, considering all the circumstances,
I, or rather we, had made a good fight.
A Fight for Dublin.
Defeat, as ever, only whetted Charley's ambition
to succeed in the end. He had not long to wait.
In 1874, Colonel Taylor, who was one of the
Members for Dublin County, had to seek re-
138 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
election owing to his having been appointed
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Charley-
had by then become recognized as a promising
member of the Home Rule League, and they de-
cided to put him up to make a good fight for what,
however, the most sanguine considered to be a
hopeless chance.
After my defeat in Wicklow I had been over to
America to see about my mother's affairs. What
was known as the Black Friday Panic suddenly
swept over the stock markets in New York when
we were trying to realize our uncle's property,
and the greater portion of the fine fortune left to
my mother was lost.
On my return to England, I was present at the
Rotunda when Charley delivered his first public
speech as a candidate for Dublin. It had been
carefully thought out and written down on paper
at Mrs. Dickinson's, in the top bedroom which he
occupied there. The memorizing of it occupied
him during a whole sleepless night, and when he
appeared at breakfast he seemed very tired. I
may mention that it was Charley's invariable habit
to think out his plans in detail while in bed at
night.
When he delivered his speech I was standing
close by him. After a few sentences he stopped
suddenly, apparently tr3dng to recall a word
which he had forgotten. He was not nervous,
although the audience was. He seemed to search
STEPS TO THE THRONE 139
his brain deliberately for the missing word, dis-
regarding all attempts on the part of friends to
prompt him. When he had found it, we all realized
that it was the only word to be fitly used in that
connection. These pauses occurred several times
during his speech, and no doubt gave rise to the
impression among certain critics that he would
never succeed as a public speaker. The whole-
hearted applause of the audience, however, showed
that, whatever the manner of his delivery, the
matter of his speech had impressed itself on their
minds.
His defeat did him no harm. As a matter of
fact, by showing his dogged perseverance, it gained
him yet more ground with his party, and he
became a man to be estimated by them and feared
by their opponents.
Elected at Last.
Then came his real chance. John Martin, one
of the Members for Meath, died in March, 1875,
and Charley was adopted as the official Nationalist
candidate. He was opposed by an independent
Home Ruler and a Tory. He was, however, re-
turned at the head of the poll in April, 1876, and
his success was followed by his being carried round
a bonfire in the market square of Trim.
The election was practically the result of an
animated interview which he had with the Bishop,
140 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
after which the support of the clergy was assured.
The Bishop at first was prejudiced against him,
as Charley afterwards told me; but my brother's
arguments were so convincing, and his personal
charm of manner so great, that he succeeded in
winning the Bishop's support, and this made his
election certain.
CHAPTER IX
IN PARLIAMENT
Taking his Seat.
Introduced by Captain Nolan, the Member for
Galway, who was afterwards to prove a devoted
adherent of his, and Mr. Ennis, the senior Member
for Meath, my brother took his seat in the House
of Commons on April 22, 1875. His policy in the
House during the first session was characteristic of
the man. He set himself to work to absorb im-
pressions, to study the characters of his fellow-
members, and to learn the complicated rules of
procedure. He therefore made no attempt to
startle the House with an ambitious maiden speech.
A brief utterance of his, however, delivered four
days after his entrance into the House, was suffi-
cient to concentrate attention upon him, both
among his fellow-members and the American and
Irish sympathizers with the Nationalist cause. In
opposing in Committee a Bill for the preservation
of peace in Ireland, he said that " in the neglect
of the principles of self-government lay the root of
all Irish trouble," adding that " Ireland is not a
geographical fragment, but a nation."
14Z
142 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
During the rest of the session he is recorded by
Hansard to have spoken on fourteen occasions,
but his remarks were brief and business-like, and
attracted no special attention except to establish
an opinion that when he spoke he spoke to the
point.
There were fifty-nine Home Rulers in the House
at the time when Charley entered it. He appears
to have listened carefully to their speeches in
order to arrive at a separate estimate of each man.
As a whole, he soon arrived at the opinion that
the Irish party simply devoted themselves to sup-
porting measures favourable to Irish interests.
It did not take him long to realize that this poHcy
of itself would effect Httle. The Irish party and
its aims were held of little account by both the great
English parties,, and any measures introduced by
them received the scantiest consideration. Their
leader, Mr. Isaac Butt, refused to budge an inch
from constitutional methods of warfare. I know
that at that time both Charley and myself agreed
that Butt was, if not too weak a man, at any rate
too unenterprising to be the leader of what then
appeared to be a forlorn hope.
With his invariable resolve never to be beaten,
Charley set himself to work silently but steadily
to find a way out. For this purpose he looked
round for a new policy, or rather a new plan of
campaign and a fitting exponent of it.
STEPS TO THE THRONE 143
Mr. Biggar.
He found both the pohcy and the man in Joseph
Biggar. While the other members of the Irish
party were content to be suppressed by force of
numbers and by their obedience to the recognized
rules of the political game, Biggar adopted an
entirely independent attitude. He hated the
English parties, despised the rules of the House,
and feared nobody.
As a speaker he was hopeless. His so-called
"speeches" consisted of short, abrupt sentences,
or often parts of sentences, with no connected, and
certainly no original, idea running through them,
and helped out, when words and ideas failed him,
as they did repeatedly, by copious extracts from
Blue Books, White Papers, and other documents,
which earned him the well-deserved hatred of a
long-suffering House. Hatred, however, on the
part of the English members was Biggar's highest
idea of glory. To realize that he had kept his
fellow-members from their social engagements,
and even their beds, was a triumph for him. In
appearance he was a stout, good-humoured-looking
man, with a round, bespectacled face and the
general appearance of a prosperous tradesman.
Force of Example.
Although Biggar was treated with some con-
tempt, even by the members of his own party,
144 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Charley soon realized that he had inaugurated an
entirely new system of political warfare, which in
more capable hands might be turned to good
account.
Charley accordingly set to work as unostenta-
tiously as possible to master the rules of the
House, and to derive from his fellow-members
scraps of information as to the value of questions to
Ministers, interjections, and other means by which
a private member, even in the face of an over-
whelming majority, could assert his own identity.
But he did not attempt to put his principles into
practice until he had thoroughly mastered his
subject. He gradually trained himself by means
of short speeches, formal motions, and questions,
to overcome the diffidence and hesitation which
he originally felt in making a public speech. At
the same time he gradually acquired a sense, for
which he was so much noted in later years, of
attuning himself to the House of Commons, and
becoming by degrees one of those few members
whose every word, on however slight a subject, was
listened to with attention.
It was not until the session of 1876 that he
definitely decided to make the power of the Irish
party felt by clogging the political machine, which
until then, by a sort of tacit consent, had run with
perfect smoothness, throwing out Irish Bills with
automatic regularity. Charley, however, deter-
mined that henceforward not only would it be
STEPS TO THE THRONE 145
hard work for whatever government was in power
to reject an Irish Bill, but that even EngHsh
measures would be checked at every possible
stage. He did not, however, definitely open his
campaign of obstruction until after paying a visit to
America in company with Mr. O'Connor Power, to
deliver an address on the part of the more extreme
Nationalists, to President Grant, on the occasion
of the centenary of American Independence.
Before he went to America he made a short
utterance which, whether designed to that effect
or not, certainly fixed upon him the attention of
the Fenians, and went a long way to assure him
of their future support.
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach (afterwards Lord St.
Aldwyn), who was then Chief Secretary for Ireland,
referred, in a speech on Home Rule, to the Fenian
outbreak at Manchester, describing the three men
who had been executed as the " Manchester
murderers."
Charley interjected " No, no !" which caused
Sir Michael Hicks-Beach to exclairii, amidst the
cheers and groans of the united English parties:
" I regret to hear that there is an hon. member
in this House who will apologize for murder."
My brother rose, I am told, with a deadly white
face and blazing eyes, and said in a low voice, but
in accents which were heard throughout the
House: " I wish to say, as publicly and directly
as I can, that I do not believe, and I never
10
146 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
shall believe, that any murder was committed
at Manchester."
Sir Michael did not reply, but continued his
speech, and the cheers with which Charley was
welcomed by his Irish colleagues showed that he
had scored his first striking victory.
In America.
When he came over to the United States in
October, 1876, to present the Nationalist address
to General Grant, I was in New York at the time,
staying with my mother and my sister Fanny at the
Fifth Avenue Hotel. Charley, after spending an
hour with us, set off with Mr. Power to see General
Grant, who was then in New York. The President
received them cordially, but said that he could not
officially accept the address, which had for its
real purpose the attaining of some recognition, by
America, of Ireland as a separate nation, without
its being presented through the usual diplomatic
channel, the British Ambassador, a course which
they declined to take.
Charley, after his brief interview with the Presi-
dent, seemed to think it hopeless to expect any-
thing more than polite answers and evasions, and
accordingly returned to me, leaving Mr. Power to
continue the negotiations. He seemed, when I saw
him, to be annoyed with the attitude adopted by the
President, and referred to him asa " vulgar old dog."
STEPS TO THE THRONE 147
Charley, Fanny, and myself, then went over to
Philadelphia to see the Exhibition which was
being held there in connection with the centenary
of American Independence. We stopped at an
hotel in Chesnut Street, and spent several
days at the Exhibition and one night at the
theatre, Charley appearing to be distinctly
glad of the relaxation after what must have
been his strenuous though secret efforts in Par-
liament.
Whilst at the Exhibition he spent most of his
time in the Machinery Hall, where he took special
interest in the stone-cutting machinery, which he
purposed using at his Avondale quarries. He also
devoted a great deal of attention to the railroad
bridge models, and also to models of road bridges
in general. He stopped for some time before a
model of a suspension bridge very closely re-
sembling that over the Warrior River, which he had
seen on his last visit to Alabama. Here, again,
what attracted him was not so much the bridge
itself as the design of the roofing, which he wished
to adapt for his sawmills and cattle-sheds at
Avondale. I took him with me to that Fruit Hall,
and explained to him my system of transporting
frozen peaches by rail. This idea, which was my
own invention, consisted of a barrel with a parti-
tion for ice on top, which could be rolled anywhere
without damaging the fruit inside. As my peaches,
when sent by these means, always arrived in first-
148 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
rate condition, the idea attracted considerable
attention in the fruit world.
After the Philadelphia Exhibition, Charley went
down to Virginia to pay another visit to the Clover
Hill coal-mine. He wanted me to go with him,
but our sister, Mrs. Thompson, objected, as she
said that if the two of us went together there was
certain to be a railway accident. He therefore
went alone to the Clover Hill mines, but did not
seem impressed with them as an investment.
Shortly after this he returned to England,
leaving Mr. O'Connor Power behind. Imme-
diately on his arrival at Liverpool he delivered a
stirring speech on the future of Home Rule, and the
prejudice towards Ireland which existed in Eng-
land. He said that he had been greatly impressed
during his American visit by seeing in New York
a review in which six thousand militia took part.
He referred to the benefit which a force on those
lines would be to Ireland under Home Rule.
While it would be used to protect the interests of
Ireland as an independent nation, there would be
no danger of its being used against England or any
other part of the British Empire, as so many of the
opponents of Irish political liberty always alleged
would be the case.
CHAPTER X
OBSTRUCTION
A Start in Earnest.
From 1877 onwards Charley openly pursued his
policy of obstruction, aided by Biggar, Captain
Nolan, and the rapidly growing section of the
Irish party. The official leader, Mr. Butt, was
placed in a very awkward position. He did not
wish to adopt, or even to countenance, the system
of obstruction, but neither did he wish definitely
to set his face against it, and, by attempting to
coerce the more extreme members of his party,
cause a definite split in their ranks. His passive
attitude, however, did much to lose him ultimately
the leadership, and to build up Charley's undoubted
claims to that position.
Charley first devoted his attention to a series of
English Bills, of which the Prisons Bill and the
Marine Mutiny Bill were the principal measures.
He, however, did not adopt the obvious course of
simply opposing these Bills section by section, but
brought forward many amendments which were
distinct impi ovements on the measures in the form
in which they were introduced. It was due in a
149
150 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
very large degree to his amendments that the
practice of flogging in the army and navy was
finally abolished.
When the Government attempted to pass the
clauses of the Mutiny Bill in large batches, Charley
insisted that they should be taken separately, much
to the disgust of the English members, who saw in
them little to discuss. Finally, when the temper
of the House had risen to fever-heat. Butt came in,
and in a speech which expressed his unchangeable
belief in constitutional methods, and at the same
time his weakness as a leader, deplored the system
of obstruction, and disowned any responsibility
for Charley's action. This speech, which was met
with loud applause from the English members on
both sides of the House, did Butt irreparable
damage among his own party, and especially
aroused the indignation of the Irish in America,
who became more determined than ever to support
Charley. A correspondence between Charley and
Butt followed, but only served to widen the breach,
as Charley claimed under the terms of his party
pledge to have full independence of action except
with regard to Irish measures.
On July 2, 1877, Charley kept the House sitting
from 4 p.m. to 7.15 a.m. on the vote for the Army
Reserve. This system of obstruction, of which the
foregoing was only a typical instance, exasperated
the English members to such a degree that they
naturally sought means of retaliation. New rules
STEPS TO THE THRONE 151
were brought in on July 27 by Sir Stafford North-
cote, who proposed that if a member was twice
declared out of order he should be suspended, and
that motions to report progress and to like effect
could only be moved once by each member during
a debate.
These rules, of course, were carried by an
immense majority, although Charley made a
spirited defence of his action.
A Record Sitting.
Hardly had these rules come into force, when a
determined effort was made to nullify them. The
South African Bill was being discussed, and Charley
had repeatedly to be called to order; but his
followers kept on rising with motions to report
progress and every other imaginable device for
delay, until the House was beside itself with irrita-
tion. The sitting was dragged on through the early
hours of the morning, in spite of a denouncement
of the obstructionists' method by Butt, and even
an appeal from the Chancellor of the Exchequer
for some consideration on the part of the
minority. Charley's little army took turns for
rest, and finally the House adjourned at two
o'clock the next afternoon, after a sitting lasting
for twenty-six hours on end, which constituted
a record.
At the meetings held outside the House, and
152 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
particularly in Dublin, my brother's methods were
warmly supported, and he declared his full inten-
tion of continuing them until a proper considera-
tion was given to Irish measures.
It was about this time that Charley entered into
a close though informal alliance with the Fenians.
I happened to be visiting Mr. Patrick Ford, of
the Irish World, at his house in Brooklyn, some
time after the compact between Charley and the
Fenians became recognized by the mass of the
members of the Clan-na-Gael, although not by
the leaders. Mr. Ford, who was sitting by me on
the sofa, said: ** I don't believe in j^our brother's
constitutional policy, but we will give him a
chance."
In 1878 a Home Rule Conference was held in
Dublin, which proved an important turning-point
in Charle^^'s career. He had already been elected
President of the newly-formed Home Rule League,
and on this occasion both Butt and himself
announced their respective policies so clearly that
it was obvious that a hopeless split had occurred.
Butt, moreover, was rapidly breaking down in
health, and evidently felt his position keenly.
Their last public encounter occurred at a meeting
held in Dublin on February 5, 1879; a resolution
in favour of Butt was carried by a small majority,
but three months later he died.
His successor was Mr. William Shaw, a com-
promise between the two parties, though it was
STEPS TO THE THRONE 153
already felt that Charley's leadership was not far
deferred.
In the meantime obstruction had been rampant
in the House, and it is notable that in opposing the
Government Army Bill, which still permitted
flogging to be employed for certain offences,
Charley had among his supporters Mr. Joseph
Chamberlain.
The Land League.
In 1878 Mr. Michael Davitt, who had been
released on ticket- of -leave after serving nearly
half of his sentence of fifteen years' penal servitude
for treason-felony, came over to America to see his
mother at Philadelphia. I met Davitt in New
York before his departure for Ireland, and my
mother gave him some messages to convey across
the water to Charley. From the few conversa-
tions we had, it appeared that Davitt's ideas were
altogether on the same lines as Charley's with
regard to the land question and the policy of
establishing a peasant proprietary, and they also
agreed that nothing could be accomplished in
Parliament without adopting the most aggressive
measures.
On his return to Ireland, Davitt and Charley
co-operated with regard to the land agitation.
At this time the Land League was also spreading
in Ireland, and my sister Fanny became the
154 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
President of the Ladies' Land League in America,
of which body my mother was also an enthusi-
astic supporter. I also attended many meetings
of the League, but was not impressed at that time
with the interest shown by the American Irish in
their own country.
The Clan-na-Gael, which was the Irish branch of
the Fenian movement, were doing their best at
this time to enrol Charley in their branch; but
though he was in close correspondence with them,
and had many meetings with their supporters in
Ireland, he never definitely committed himself to
their pohcy. Still, at that time they quite
recognized that he was the only possible leader of
the Irish party in Parliament, while he on his part
knew that he could not get on without their
support.
Charley at this period was largely engaged in
setting to work the great organization of the Land
League, meetings being held and branches formed
in the towns and villages throughout Ireland.
The agrarian agitation was, in fact, at its height,
and rents were intolerably high and evictions of
daily occurrence. I think, however, that the
landlords themselves were not so much to blame
as their agents. Charley himself was a popular
and considerate landlord, thoroughlj^ under-
standing the condition of his tenants, though
they very often took advantage of his good-
nature and not only did not pay their rents,
STEPS TO THE THRONE 155
but almost denuded his Aughavannagh shooting
of game.
Still, it must be remembered that Ireland was
at this time under the shadow of the great famine
of 1879-80, when the payment of rents was literally
impossible, and actual starvation prevailed to a
horrible degree.
CHAPTER XI
A TRIUMPHAL TOUR
An Appeal to America.
On December 21, 1880, Charley and Mr. Dillon
left Ireland for New York to appeal, on behalf of
the Irish people, for funds to relieve the distress
caused by the great famine of 1879-80, and to
enlist the sympathy of the American people, and
specially of the American Irish, in favour of the
land campaign.
I was in America at the time, and knew pretty
well the circumstances and causes of Irish distress
and the great need for Home Rule. The Irish
question, to a certain extent, had already been
discussed pretty well throughout the United
States ; but it was not fully taken up until Charley
and Mr. Dillon came over and explained matters.
If they had not visited America, the people there
would never have taken more than a passive
interest in the distress existing in Ireland, owing
to their ignorance of its extent and the best way
to remedy it.
The first meeting was held in the New York
Stock Exchange, where they were, as a special
156
STEPS TO THE THRONE 157
compliment on the part of the committee of the
Exchange, allowed to deliver an address to the
members. The brokers, as I was told afterwards
by one of them — Mr. Petty, an intimate friend
of our family — were prepared to give Charley and
Mr. Dillon either a hostile or a hospitable reception,
according to their opinion of the speeches de-
livered. On the whole, the impression among
them before the arrival of Charley and Mr. Dillon
was that they were a couple of adventurers para-
ding the Irish cause for their own profit. They
had never before seen, or probably heard of, such
a thing as an Irish landlord taking up the cause
of the Irish peasantry. However, they decided
to allow Charley and Mr. Dillon a fair hearing,
although, if they considered their speeches objec-
tionable, they intended to pelt them out of the
Exchange — so, at least, I was told by a number of
brokers whom I met.
On the appearance of the two speakers, the
assembled brokers were so greatly surprised at
their quiet manner, and earnest and candid way
of talking, that, instead of a hostile reception,
they accorded them a most enthusiastic one, and
after the speeches were over the two orators
found themselves the heroes of the occasion.
The whole of New York after this went mad
over the Irish cause, and the ambassadors of
Home Rule were cordially received by all grades
of society. Among the principal functions was
158 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
a grand reception given to them at the Fifth
Avenue Hotel, where our mother welcomed her
darling son with natural pleasure in the hour of
his triumph. Large numbers of Irish and native
Americans were present at the reception, and
overwhelmed my brother with congratulations
and promises of support. From New York they
travelled night and day for about two months,
visiting all the great cities, and covering a distance
by rail of over i,6oo miles. I was in the South
at the time, but our mother when we met gave
me a vivid description of all that had happened.
Charley had written to me saying that he intended
coming down to Atlanta, Georgia, where we were
preparing a great reception for them. Such were
the numbers of invitations, however, which he
received from all parts of America and Canada
that he had to write and cancel the engagement,
though he said he wished very much to see me
during his stay in America. His hurried return,
owing to the dissolution of Parliament, prevented
him, however, from doing so.
After leaving New York he went to Brooklyn,
where he made a great speech. During the
course of it he said :
We have come here to try and help our
poor people, who are actually starving. They
want to get the land of Ireland to prevent
these yearly occurrences, and I will help
them, so that they will not come here again
STEPS TO THE THRONE 159
asking for help. If the Irish farmers, especi-
ally the small ones, who are so badly hit
in these bad times, owned their own lands,
there would not be famines. Therefore we
ask 3'ou to support the constitutional methods
which our party has inaugurated. We do
not ask you to send armed expeditions over
to Ireland, but we ask you to help us in pre-
venting the people who have taken our
advice, and who are exhibiting an attitude
of devotion which has never been surpassed,
from being starved to death.
That was a typical exposition of his policy as
delivered from platform after platform during his
tour. Here are a few other striking sentences
from other speeches: '* I feel confident that we
shall kill the Irish landlord system; and when
we have given Ireland to the people of Ireland, we
shall have laid the foundation upon which to build
up our Irish nation." " I am bound to admit
that it is the duty of every Irishman to shed the
last drop of his blood in order to obtain his rights,
if there were a probable chance of success. Yet
at the same time we all recognize the great re-
sponsibility of hurling our unarmed people on the
points of British bayonets."
His progress through the Western cities met with
unfailing enthusiasm. Not only the American
Irish came in their thousands to cheer him, but
also the Americans, and, strange to say, the
i6o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
English. While Charley was on his lightning
tour, I was present at the great meeting at Atlanta,
Georgia, at which Mr. P. J. Moran, the editor of
the Atlanta Constitution, was chairman. The
house was packed with Irish, Americans, and
English; but throughout the speeches there was
not a word of dissent uttered by the large and
mixed audience. I made my first speech there
on behalf of my brother's cause.
After the United States, Charley visited Canada
with Mr. Healy (who had come over from Ireland
to join him during his tour). The Bishop of
Toronto, hearing of Charley's approaching visit,
wrote a letter imploring him not to come, as he
was afraid of violent measures being adopted by
the Orangemen of Canada. Charley, however,
relying upon the fact that he was a Protestant,
and that the main object of his visit was to collect
money on behalf of his starving fellow-country-
men, anticipated no trouble from the Orangemen,
and decided to disregard the Bishop's warning, in
which, as matters turned out, he was quite
justified.
Our mother and Fanny, who were in New York,
advised him at first not to go ; but when they found
that his mind was firmly made up, they wished very
much to accompany him. This, however, Charley
refused to hear of, as he did not think that they
could stand the long and hurried railway journey.
Directly he arrived in Canada, his first act was to
STEPS TO THE THRONE i6i
send his mother a reassuring telegram, knowing
that she would be intensely anxious during his
absence.
They had big meetings in Toronto and Montreal,
where immense enthusiasm was shown by every-
one, Charley telling me afterwards that the
Orangemen not only listened to him, but often
applauded.
His Canadian tour was suddenly cut short
owing to the unexpected dissolution of Parlia-
ment. He had to hurry back to New York to
catch the boat to Ireland, having during his short
visit collected over $200,000 (£40,000). An ex-
ample of the spirit in which donations were made
was told to me afterwards by Charley. After he
had made a vigorous speech at one of the large
American cities, describing the awful results of
the famine, and urging Home Rule as the only
possible remedy, a man came up to him and
handed him notes for %^o, saying: "That's five
dollars for bread, and twenty-five for lead."
Finesse and the Fenians.
Although Charley's tour proved to be such a
huge success, he might almost have been said to
have landed in a hostile country. Although he
had to a great extent gained the confidence of
the rank and file of the Fenians, both in Ireland
and America, neither he nor his policy was looked
II
i62 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
upon with any great favour by the executive of
the Clan-na-Gael, the American Fenian organiza-
tion. From the moment he landed he was in
negotiation with the leaders. His position was
a very difficult one, as, then as ever, he did not
wish to subscribe to the full programme of the
Clan-na-Gael, which would have considerably
hampered his freedom, and prevented his being,
as he practically was even then, the absolute
leader of the Irish Nationalist party. Constitu-
tional methods, embellished of course by obstruc-
tion, were, in his opinion, the best and quickest
method of securing justice for Ireland. He did
not den}^ that, if that course failed, it might be
necessary tohave to resort to armed force. But he
never came to a point where he actually considered
violence to be inevitable. The Fenian idea of
putting violence before constitutional warfare
never met with his approval. He disliked and
even despised it, as being certain to alienate
public sympathy, and at the same time as being
extremely unlikely to effect its own object. Still,
if he disliked Fenianism, and declined to commit
himself to its principles, he was bound at that stage
of his career to keep on good terms with the Clan-
na-Gael as a body, on account of its large member-
ship and perfect organization.
The leaders of the Clan-na-Gael were, like the
Irish Fenians, greatly impressed by Charley's cold
manner, and the way in which, though he was
STEPS TO THE THRONE 163
ready to meet and discuss matters with them, he
never openly courted their support.
That was pretty well the attitude which the
Clan-na-Gael adopted when once they had seen
Charley at close quarters. A few of the more
extreme among the extremists, however, refused
to have anything to do with one tarred with the
brush of constitutionalism — a fact to which he
owed his hostile reception at Enniscorthy on his
return home.
Before leaving America, Charley organized a
branch of the Land League. In spite of his
hurried return, the American Land League, as
this body was known, was pushed forward with
the greatest speed, monster meetings being held
throughout the States to collect funds and spread
the principles of the organization. Our mother,
Fanny, Miss Ford (a sister of Patrick Ford), and
myself, attended all the principal meetings in and
around New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and
Jersey City. Fanny was very busy in those days
organizing the Ladies' Land League, of which she
was President. Friction often occurred, but Fanny
was popular and kept a cool head, and so managed
to preserve very good order at her meetings, which
I often attended. One day, greatly to her dis-
gust, an incident occurred at Providence, Rhode
Island. She was in a house where there were a
number of people, including some priests, who did
not know her, but who started a lively discussion
i64 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
as to Fanny and Charley Parnell. From the tone
they adopted, they belonged to the extreme
section of Mr. Patrick Ford's party, and were
therefore bitter opponents of our mere consti-
tutional methods. The result was that Fanny
heard some very nasty remarks made about both
our brother and herself, and went away very angry
and annoyed at this want of appreciation of their
efforts for the Irish cause. Such instances were,
I am glad to say, very uncommon.
Of the success of Charley's visit to America and
of its lasting influence on his career there can be no
doubt, and it was, I know, terribly galling to him
to have to cut it short so abruptly. But he fully
realized the importance of the General Election
which was just about to take place.
CHAPTER XII
LEADER AT LAST
A Prophet in his Own Country.
Directly he arrived back in Ireland, Charley
found himself at once in the thick of things. As
I have said, in spite of the Clan-na-Gael as a body
being the reverse of hostile towards him, a certain
section of the executive was firmly opposed to his
constitutional policy. When he stepped off the
boat at Queenstown, a reputation of extremists
handed him an address stating that they con-
sidered it to be hopeless to obtain redress for the
ills of Ireland by means of Parliamentary repre-
sentation, and adding that the Nationalists of the
country had determined to take no part in the
forthcoming or any future elections.. This, how-
ever, was not quite so terrible as the wording
would imply, and simply expressed the views of
a small body of Irish Fenians.
At Enniscorthy, however, he came for the first
time face to face with an actively hostile audience.
His speech was interrupted to such a degree that
he had to abandon it, although he stood calm and
unconcerned for a considerable time endeavouring
to obtain a hearing.
165
i66 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
That this was not the general feeling towards
him in Ireland was evidenced by the fact that he
was nominated (and subsequently elected) by no
fewer than three constituencies— Meath, Cork
City, and Mayo. Between these three, far apart
though they were, he dashed backwards and for-
wards incessantly, delivering a series of stirring
speeches wherever he went. When the polls
were declared, he decided to choose Cork City out
of the three seats which were at his disposal.
With the election of the new Parliament came
also the election of a chairman of the Irish
Nationalist party. Charley was urged by a num-
ber of friends not to allow himself to be nominated
for the position. Although an adept at biding
his time, he refused to do so in this instance,
because, with his invariable knowledge of the
critical moment and the way to use it, he knew
that the time had come for him to assume the
reins of power.
The vote when taken was a close one, as many
of the party preferred the moderation of Shaw,
the successor of Butt. The result was as follows:
Parnell
23 votes.
Shaw
.. 18 „
Majority
.. 5 „
The names of Charley's supporters and op-
ponents on the occasion of this fateful election are
STEPS TO THE THRONE 167
worth recording, in view of subsequent events.
They are —
For. — Barry, Biggar, Byrne, Corbet, Dr.
Cummins, Daly, Dawson, Flanigan, Gill,
Lalor, J. Leahy, Leamy, McCarthy, McConn,
Mahon, Marum, Arthur O'Connor, T. P.
O'Connor, O'Gorman, O'Kelly, O'Shea, W. H.
O'Sullivan, Sexton, T. D. Sullivan.
Against. — Blake, Brooks, Callan, Colthurst,
Errington, Foley, Foy, Gabbett, Gray,
P. Martin, McFarlane, McKenna, Meldon,
Sir P. O'Brien, R. Power, Smithwick, Smyth,
Synan.
The new Parliament was entirely in the hands
of the Liberals, Mr. Gladstone's supporters num-
bering no less than 349, as against 243 Tories and
60 Home Rulers.
This was the position when Charley, after brief
but crowded five years in politics, became the
leader of his party, the terror of both English
parties, and a household word throughout the two
continents. Even now, when he had obtained
the leadership, his path was by no means smooth
before him. He was leader, it is true, but of a
split party ; he had the support of the bulk of the
Fenians, but the active opposition of a large
number of their leaders. Little had been achieved,
and much was urgently needed in the way of legis-
lative reform for his countrymen, who were being
decimated by famine and evicted from their homes
i68 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
in thousands. England appeared as unsympa-
thetic towards Irish demands as ever, and Home
Rule in any shape or form as far off as it had been
at any time since the last Parliament sat in
College Green. Those were the obstacles with
which he had to contend when he became chief.
It is a remarkable fact that, in spite of all these
and many other hindrances, he succeeded in
achieving as much as he did for his beloved
countrymen.
BOOK III
IN POWER
" Say, who is the chief spurring forth to the fray,
The wave of whose spear holds yon armed array ?
And he who stands scorning the thousands that sweep,
An army of wolves, over shepherdless sheep ?"
Vision of King Brian.
CHAPTER I
MY BROTHER'S PERSONALITY
The Man of the Moment.
I THINK it would be fitting to give some idea, so
far as I can convey it in cold print, of my brother's
appearance and outward manner during the period
of his supremacy. I am judging, not only from
my own personal recollection, but from that of
many intimate friends who were connected with
Charley at this stage of his career.
His appearance was always a striking one. Tall
and thin (except during a period from about 1885
to 1890, when he became rather stout), he always
held himself erect, though without stiffness, until
the strain of his serious illness and the final party
split prematurely aged him. His hair was a
darkish brown, with tinges of tan or auburn. He
wore it rather long behind, curling slightly up-
wards from the back of his neck. On his entrance
into Parliament in 1875 he was clean-shaven, with
the exception of side- whiskers, but by 1880 he had
grown a beard of considerable length, and a long,
somewhat drooping moustache.
His complexion was pale, but with a healthy
171
172 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
pallor. His white face contrasted vividly with
his hair, and accentuated the brilliancy of his dark
grey eyes, with their steady and at the same time
far-away look. This, with his long features and
firm lips curving slightly downwards, gave him
a somewhat melancholy appearance, though this
was not really borne out by his character, which
was lively at times, and at all events philosophical.
It was his appearance and his habitually reserved
manner that caused many to believe that he had
no sense of humour, and never made a joke.
This, however, was by no means the case. He
was always specially fond of quizzing me with a
kind of dry but always good-natured humour, and
was fond of making, among his intimate friends,
short, pointed jokes about men and events. This
was the case even in his later days, when he was
under the full oppression of a fight against hopeless
odds.
I remember The O'Donoghue of the Glens, who
was an inseparable companion of his during the
dark days of 1890 and 1891, telling me several
incidents to that effect. On one occasion he was
travelling from Tipperary to Athlone in the course
of his final campaign of successive defeats. One
of his fellow-members, Mr. Hayden, was sitting
opposite to him, and, as was not an unusual custom,
had put his railway ticket in the band of his hat.
Charlie looked at him fixedly for sometime, with
a twinkle in his eye, and suddenly burst forth with
IN POWER 173
the remark: " Wh}^ on earth, Hayden, do you put
your ticket in your hat Uke that ? Everyone must
be thinking that you have just picked up the hat
as a bargain at an auction." Poor Hay den very
shamefacedly transferred the offending ticket to
his pocket, amidst the laughter of his companions.
It was when they were being given an enthusi-
astic send-off from Athlone Station that, The
O'Donoghue tells me, another little incident
occurred which proved that, even when in bad
health and wearied to death with illness, travelling,
and the strain of continual speeches, he could still
appreciate the humorous side of life. Amongst
those on the crowded platform who were wildly
waving handkerchiefs, flags, and sticks, was one
young peasant woman who, having neither hand-
kerchief, flag nor stick to wave, and being entirely
carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment,
was to be seen wildly swinging about her unfor-
tunate baby in the air. Charley noticed the
incident at once, and watched this human sema-
phore display for a few moments with a twinkle in
his eye, which was as near as he generally came to
laughing. Then it proved too much for him, and
he laughed outright, and, turning to his companions
in the carriage, directed their attention to this
quaint expression of loyalty.
174 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
The Warmth beneath the Ice.
I have spoken of his habitual coldness of manner,
and the mysterious way in which, in spite of it, or
even because of it, he used to draw all towards him,
as moths to a candle. He certainly rarely unbent
in expression, and the tone of his voice very rarely
varied. But his eyes were full of expression, and
the manner in which he accompanied an abrupt
and unalterable decision with a sudden winning
smile, which seemed to light up his whole face like
a ray of sunshine, never failed to render acceptable,
and even welcome, the curtness of the actual words
he used. His was indeed a mesmerism of manner,
and neither I, who so frequently experienced it and
came under its sway, nor any of those who were
accustomed to see him daily, can actually describe
it in so many words.
During this, the summit of his career, he took
extreme care with regard to his dress and personal
appearance. He did not often wear black, except
when compelled to do so at ceremonial functions,
but generally preferred tweeds of a dark shade,
brown being perhaps his favourite colour. To-
wards green, although it was his national colour,
he always had the strongest aversion, as I shall
explain in a chapter devoted to his many curious
superstitions (see Appendix A). He wore rather
low turned-down collars, not unlike those for
IN POWER 175
which Mr. Gladstone was famous, but without the
long pointed ends. For tie he generally wore a
cravat (blue being, I think, its usual colour), with
a simple pearl or diamond pin in the centre.
In walking he held himself extremely erect, and
took long, though not hurried, strides. Although
I am not an exceptionally slow walker myself, I
generally found it pretty hard to keep up with him
when we were out together, and the more intent
he happened to be upon his secret thoughts, the
faster he seemed to go. To his habit of thinking
deeply when walking was due the fact that he paid
little attention to people or things on his way,
guiding himself, it would seem, chiefly by instinct ;
yet, though he would appear to be entirely ab-
sorbed in his own thoughts, he would be by no
means oblivious of what was being said to him,
though he appeared to take no notice whatever of
it. Yet he often startled one by uttering a sudden
abrupt question relating to something that had
been said to him some time before, which showed
that he must have grasped every detail of the con-
versation.
When speaking in public he stood up rather
stiffly, with his arms folded loosely in front of him,
though very occasionally I have seen him with
them clasped behind his back. This was an
attitude which he had contracted in very early
days. He spoke in a rather low voice, but slowly
and very distinctly, making every word tell. He
176 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
rarely emphasized any point, however important,
by raising his voice or by gesticulating in any way
with his arms. As a matter of fact, he always had
a horror, even in private life, of speaking loudly.
I remember an instance of this one time when we
were together in Avondale. We were walking
down the road to the sawmills, when I noticed that
some of his men working on a field near-by were
taking things very easily, even for Irish labourers.
I said to him: '* Why don't you call out to those
fellows, Charley, and get them to hurry up ?
They look like being all day over that field, if they
go on like that." He replied, with a shrug of his
shoulders: " I know that; but if I wanted to make
them hear I should have to shout, and I dislike
shouting." We walked on in silence, but I
believe, with his invariably retentive memory, he
had something to say to them when he met them
next at close quarters.
Another noticeable feature of his was what
might be almost called his shyness. He had an
especial dislike for the company of strangers, and,
in spite of his experience, always felt nervous in
the presence of crowds, frequently clenching his
hands when speaking, until the blood came. He
was once being entertained at a large public
dinner, and a huge crowd had assembled outside
the windows, the blinds of which were not drawn,
in order to give the people a chance of seeing their
beloved leader. He became gradually more and
IN POWER 17;
more uneasy under the concentrated stare of the
crowd, and began to fidget in his seat and frown.
Finally he called out to The O'Donoghue, who
was sitting some distance off, out of sight of the
crowd: " For goodness' sake, O'Donoghue, change
places with me; I can't stand those fellows staring
at me an}^ longer."
On another occasion he and I were travelling
together by train, when a number of enthusiasts
followed us into the carriage. He straightened
himself from his usual half-reclining position
in the corner of the carriage, which he adopted
when travelling, and said to me pettishly:
" Can't you get those people out of the carriage,
John? they're annoying me." I had to set about
the very uncomfortable task of going up to each
person and asking him whether he would mind
leaving the carriage, as my brother wished to be
alone.
Although he frequently told me that he felt
nervous, often to a painful degree, when speaking
in public, he certainly never showed any trace of
it. I do not think that he felt anything like the
same nervousness in delivering a speech in the
House of Commons that he did in addressing a
meeting of his own people. He came to the
House with what he had to say cut and dried,
for the English to take or leave as they pleased,
and I think he thoroughly enjoyed the consterna-
tion which his speeches, which always had some-
13
178 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
what the nature of an ultimatum, produced among
that dignified and custom-observing gathering.
In speaking to an Irish audience, however, I
think he always had a deep desire for sympathy,
though he disliked any noisy demonstrations of
support. But he was always quite able to stand
up to a hostile, and even threatening, crowd?
without turning a hair.
Charley's Diet.
Charley was never a heavy eater, and his state
of health, which was delicate from boyhood, obliged
him to be very careful as to what he took to eat.
We all got into a terribly disorganized habit as
to meals during our days together at Avondale,
after our father had died and our mother had gone
to America. The only meal during the day at
which all the family and visitors were certain of
meeting was dinner, which we generally had about
eight o'clock in the evening. Charley never had
breakfast in the ordinary English sense, but made
a sort of combined breakfast and lunch when he
came down, which was usually about noon, as he
was in the habit of stopping up well into the small
hours of the morning. He always had some por-
ridge and cream to start with, and a mutton chop
formed the chief portion of the meal. He had
toast, usually made of oatmeal bread, and very
often barberry jelly, which he had been recom-
IN POWER 179
mended, for his throat, Hke his chest, was always a
weak spot with him. He was also very fond of
tomatoes, which at that time were considered
rather a luxury.
He made a good, if not heavy, breakfast, and
then went right on until dinner without another
sit-down meal. Afternoon tea he thoroughly
despised, although I was always particularly fond
of it myself; and if he felt in need of anything
during the day, he contented himself with getting
a glass of buttermilk from the nearest cottage or
farm where he happened to be.
At dinner we very rarely had soup, but a leg of
mutton with red currant jelly generally appeared,
owing to its being Charley's favourite dish. He
did not like salmon, but was particularly fond of
trout, which were very plentiful round Avondale.
Very often, when I returned just before dinner from
a day's fishing, he would rap at the window as I
passed, and cry out: " Hallo, John, have you
brought me any nice trout to-day ?" In the
same way, he very often got a special fancy for
some of his favourite barberries, which he liked
eating raw as well as in jelly. There was a plenti-
ful supply of these along the road to the river quite
close to the house, and he used often to say to me
suddenly: " Now, John, you might take a basket
and go and pick some barberries for me." He was
very fond of potatoes cooked in their jackets, and
also liked cabbage, seakale, peas, French beans, and
i8o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
turnips. He hardly took sweets, except rhubarb,
of which he was specially fond, being in that respect
the exact opposite to myself, and avoided pastry
like poison, as he found it did not agree with his
digestion. His cheese was, as a rule, Gruyere.
He never took nuts, and practically the only form
of dessert which he touched was grapes. I always
lamented the fact that he did not like apples, be-
cause he not only did not eat them himself, but
had all the apple-trees in the orchard cut down.
At dinner he invariably had claret ; at breakfast,
tea; and during the evening he occasionally took a
cup of cocoa, but was not fond of coffee. He ate
his meals rather quickly, and disliked talking at
them, preferring apparently, as when walking or
in bed, to pursue the train of his own thoughts.
While anything in the nature of a fixed time-
table for meals was absolutely unknown in Avon-
dale, his visitors were always free to have what-
ever they liked whenever they chose, and the
result was that the dining-room saw one long
succession of meals like the Mad Hatter's tea-
party in " Alice in Wonderland." As was the case
with hours, he never sought to impose the nature
of his meals upon his guests, or even upon his
brothers and sisters. The rule at Avondale was
that you could have exactly what you liked,
exactly when you liked. These habits he con-
tinued right through his political life, with the
exception that, if anj'thing, his meals became
IN POWER i8i
more irregular as years went on. In his later days
Sir Henry Thompson gradually increased the
strictness of his diet, for, as I have stated, his
throat and chest were always weak, and his
health at the best of times was delicate.
In the early days I hardly ever remember him
smoking. Later in his political days he developed
a taste for cigars, though I think he never took to
the pipe or cigarette. He was fond of using the
smoking-room of the House of Commons, either
to think out his schemes or to hold conferences
with members of his party, but he by no means
always smoked when he was there.
As for his amusement, outdoor sports, such as
cricket, hunting, and shooting, were always his
favourites when he had time to indulge in them.
Chess, as I have said earlier, he knew, but did not
play it exceptionally well. He was a keen billiard-
player, but, as far as I can recollect, took little or
no interest in cards.
As a letter-writer he confined himself to the
briefest and most business-like epistles. The tele-
graph was his usual means of communication, and
certainly the surest way of getting a reply from
him, as he was rather apt to ignore the letters he
received. I know that even I, when I wished to
arrange to meet him, had to do so by telegram, as,
if I sent on a letter in advance, he rarely took much
notice of it, and I had to go and rout him out
wherever he was stopping, when his invariable
i82 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
remark was: " Whyever didn't you send me a
telegram ?"
His desire for haste showed itself even more
when he was travelling. If he took a car he
generally urged the driver to the utmost speed, and
if he missed a train, or found that he would have
to wait any appreciable time, he generally char-
tered a special, on several occasions travelling on
the footplate of the engine. Delay in any form
was, in fact, abhorrent to one of his highly-strung
nervous temperament.
That is as far I as can remember of my brother's
outward appearance, manner, and habits, during
the time of his greatness. The details which I
have given may seem trivial, taken singly, but, on
the other hand, they may be of service as giving
some sort of picture of the man himself.
CHAPTER II
THE RIGHT TO LIVE
Land Law.
Charley, when he became leader, found himself
in charge of a divided party, as Mr. Shaw and the
moderate section of the Home Rulers who sup-
ported him sat on the other side of the House.
The Government, however, instead of attempting
to widen this breach in the ranks of their inveterate
opponents, actually drove them together into one
solid phalanx by refusing any concession whatever
to Irish demands.
The whole energies of the Irish party were de-
voted to obtaining some sort of solution of the
land question, which, owing to the terrors of the
famine and the merciless evictions, had become
desperately acute. Charley's remedy, or at any
rate palliative of this state of things, was voiced
in a Bill brought in by Mr. O'Connor Power to
award compensation in any case of disturbance.
The English Government, as has not infrequently
been their course in Irish affairs, wished to do
neither one thing nor the other. They did not
repudiate the idea of compensation for disturb-
183
i84 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
ance, but did not wish to give their sanction
to a measure introduced by the Irish party them-
selves.
A Bill to effect this purpose was accordingly
brought in by Mr. Forster, who had become Chief
Secretary under the new Ministry. He was sup-
ported by the entire Irish party, but the Bill,
after passing through the Commons by a somewhat
slender majority, was ignominiously thrown out
by the Lords.
The Agrarian War.
This led to the period of boycotting and agrarian
outrage which forms one of the blackest pages
in the history of Ireland. Whether the responsi-
bility for these deplorable occurrences should rest
entirely with the Land League — and therefore,
of course, with my brother, as its founder and
supreme director — or whether the apathy, and
even opposition, of the English Parliament, especi-
ally the House of Lords, did not to a large extent
justify this outbreak of violence on the part of
men driven to desperation through hunger and
misery, lies with a posterity more remote and im-
partial than our present one to decide.
My brother, I know, always set his face strongly
against outrage of any kind. As a last extremity,
he might have consented to lead an army in the
field; but the idea of cowardly attacks on indi-
IN POWER 185
viduals, and above all the maiming of animals,
repelled him to the last degree. But his hand was
forced in this instance by his lieutenants and by
the Fenians, without whose help at this time he
was powerless.
I consider that the real blame should rest on the
landlords, who callousty insisted on getting their
rents, which they refused to reduce from those
existing in times of prosperity, and mercilessly
evicted the many poor wretches who were unable
to pay, and who were converted against their
wills from peaceable tenant farmers into des-
peradoes.
Charley had thrown himself heart and soul into
the organization of the Land League, which had
spread in a very short time throughout the
country, and had come very near to controlling
the law and its administration. To the Land
League the starving people of Ireland naturally
looked for assistance when the Bill, upon whose
passing their very lives depended, was thrown
out by a House whose members included many
of their own absentee landlords. The people
looked to the Land League, and the Land League
looked to Charley, for a policy that would serve
the purpose. As ever, he was ready with a new
form of warfare. This, though not involving
bloodshed necessarily, undoubtedly led to it in
some instances. It was, however, really intended
as a compromise between the futility of constitu-
i86 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
tional agitation and the desperate, and to him,
abhorrent, agrarian outrages, the latter, how-
ever, proving impossible to suppress.
Boycotting.
Boycotting, as this new system soon came to
be known, owing to its first victim being Captain
Boycott, the agent of Lord Erne, was outlined by
my brother in the course of a famous speech
delivered at Ennis on September 19, 1881. He
had asked his audience what they proposed to
do to a tenant who bid for a farm from which his
neighbour had been evicted. A chorus of voices
cried, " Shoot him !" but Charley continued in
his even, impassive voice to describe the method
of using this terrible weapon which he had forged
on behalf of his poor and starving fellow-country-
men. I give his words in full, for as a definition
of "boycotting " they will endure to all eternity.
They are as follows :
When a man takes a farm from which
another has been evicted, you must show him
on the roadside when you meet him, you
must show him in the streets and the town,
you must show him at the shop counter, you
must show him in the fair and in the market-
place, and even in the house of worship, by
leaving him severely alone, by putting him
into a moral Coventry, by isolating him from
IN POWER 187
his kind as if he was a leper of old — you
must show him your detestation of the crime
he has committed; and you may depend
upon it that there will be no man so full of
avarice, so lost to shame, as to dare the public
opinion of all right-thinking men, and to
transgress your unwritten code of laws.
This terrible anathema had immediate effect,
and its success resulted in the still more rapid
growth of the Land League, which Davitt set
himself to work to spread in America, while my
brother was extending it throughout Ireland.
The boycott was intended by my brother, as I
have said, as a means of passive resistance; but
it did not long stop at that. The people were
not satisfied with isolating their fellow-country-
men. ** It is not enough to send them to Cov-
entry; we must send them to hell !" was a saying
that passed like wildfire through the ranks of the
evicted tenants. Murders became of everyday
occurrence, cattle were shockingly maimed, the
farmer who replaced an evicted tenant was lucky
if he escaped with his life. A shot through a
window or door or from behind the hedge was the
manifestation of the power of Captain Moonlight,
as the organization of those who believed in
violence was nicknamed.
i88 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
A Desperate Remedy.
The Government soon became alarmed, even to
the extent of panic, at the reign of terror which
then prevailed in Ireland, especially the western
counties. A long discussion took place between
the English Cabinet and the Executive at Dublin
Castle as to the best means of suppressing the dis-
turbance. The obvious course was to suspend
the Habeas Corpus Act, an expedient that had
been adopted in previous crises. Before taking
this course, however, Mr. Forster conceived the
not very brilliant idea of suppressing the Land
League by prosecuting its principal officers for
conspiracy. Accordingly, a bunch of warrants
were issued against my brother, Messrs. Biggar,
Dillon, Sullivan, 0' Sullivan, and Sexton (his
fellow-members of Parliament), the treasurer
(Patrick Egan), and the secretary (Thomas Bren-
nan), besides a number of other persons con-
nected with the League. Charle}^ was not much
upset at this indiscreet move on the part of the
Government, which he knew must in the end
tell against them. " I regret," he declared at a
meeting held shortly afterwards, ** that Mr.
Forster has chosen to waste his time, the money
of the Government, and our own money, in these
prosecutions."
The trial concluded on January 25, 1881, after
IN POWER 189
a hearing lasting for twenty days. The jury dis-
agreed, but an indiscreet member of that body let
the public behind the scenes by announcing in
court, " We are ten to two, my lord," showing
the overwhelming majority of Parnellites even in
a carefully-selected jury. The Judge, seeing how
things stood, immediately ordered the jury to be
discharged.
The Government then decided to suspend the
Habeas Corpus Act, and on January 24 Mr.
Forster's famous Coercion Bill was introduced,
being given precedence of all other business. The
Government adopted a policy of suppression,
and the Irish party one of obstruction.
On February 2 the Speaker, after the sitting
had lasted for forty-one hours (it was then 9 a.m.),
declared that in the interests of the House he
must call upon the members to decide at once
upon the first reading. This was done, the Bill
being read the first time by a majority of 164
to 19. The House then gave itself a brief rest
until noon.
On its reassembling, Charley, who had not
been in the House when the Speaker made his
startling announcement, rose and challenged the
Speaker's action on a question of privilege. After
a considerable bandying of words between Charley
and the Speaker, the latter agreed that it was
necessary for him to consult the precedents.
So acute did the obstruction on the part of the
190 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Irish members then become, that the rules of pro-
cedure were rendered yet more strict on the
motion of Mr. Gladstone. Then there was an
outburst of disorder. Mr. Dillon was suspended,
and finally removed by the Sergeant- at- Arms; and
Charley, for moving that Mr. Gladstone "be no
longer heard," was named by the Speaker, and
suspended on the motion of Mr. Gladstone.
Member after member then rose from the Irish
benches and followed their leader into a state of
suspension, while messages were sent to those
who were not in the House to come and offer
themselves as a similar sacrifice.
Tardy Justice.
The indignation aroused by the prosecution of
the Land League, the suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act, and the passing of the Coercion Bill —
all unwise acts on the part of the Government —
resulted in the Land Bill which was brought in
by Mr. Gladstone not receiving the support from
the Irish party which it would otherwise have
done. The Bill all the same was a good Bill,
and granted freely the majority of the demands
for the rights of tenants, which had been con-
sistently ignored for so long.
But the question was, How were the Irish going
to act ? — in other words, How was my brother
going to act ? He decided to oppose the Bill on
IN POWER 191
the ground that the Irish party were not respon-
sible for it, and had not had time to consider it.
Declaring bluntly that he would resign if the
majority of his party decided to support the
Bill, he succeeded in carrying all before him. At
the subsequent divisions Charley and his followers
walked out of the House without voting.
For insisting that a day should be devoted to
the discussion of the Irish administration, and dis-
regarding the Speaker's warnings, Charley was
named and suspended.
An important Land League Convention was
held in Dublin on September 14, where Mr. Glad-
stone's Land Act, which had by then come into
force, was discussed. Charley then outlined his
scheme as to the use to which the Act should be
put, and said he was not in favour of too many
cases being brought into Court. At another con-
vention held at Maryborough a few days later,
he specially introduced a resolution that applica-
tions for the fixing of rent should not be made
without the previous consent of the branch of
the Land League to which the tenant belonged.
In other words, though the Government had
now granted a great measure of the demands
which Charley had made on behalf of the tenants,
he had no intention of agreeing to the official
dissolution of the Land League, which was the
means by which these demands had been wrung
from an unwilling Government, until he was
192 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
certain that they would be carried into force.
Moreover, he wished to have the repressive
measures adopted by ** Buckshot " Forster — as
the Chief Secretary had come to be called, on
account of his methods of intimidation — repealed
while he still had the power to force the hand of
the English Government.
CHAPTER III
IN PRISON
Charley's Arrest.
Mr. Forster had not been long in realizing that
the State trial of the leaders of the Land League
was a mistake from the beginning. He felt that
no jury in Ireland would ever convict them of con-
spiracy or any other offence. He therefore de-
termined to avail himself of the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act, and dispense with the need
of judge, jury, or trial, by arresting Charley as a
suspect under the Coercion Act. He hoped, by
removing one who was the body and soul of the
movement, to be able to crush the Land League
in detail.
But, like most Chief Secretaries, he acted too
late. Had he arrested Charley just when he was
starting to organize the Land League, he might
indeed have nipped the movement in the bud; but
to tear away its beloved leader just when the
organization had attained its full power was an
act of criminal folly. Forster, however, had con-
verted Mr. Gladstone to his own idea of arresting
Charley, as being the mainspring of all the trouble
193 13
194 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
in Ireland, and Mr. Gladstone gave a plainly-
worded warning in a speech delivered at Leeds on
October 7, that Charley had gone as far as he
would be allowed to do. Two days later Charley
replied by a vigorous speech delivered at Wexford,
in which he rather ridiculed than denounced Mr.
Gladstone's attitude towards the Irish as a nation,
and himself as their leader.
After this both he and his friends regarded his
arrest as certain. They were justified in this view,
for on October 12, at the conclusion of a meeting
of the Cabinet, Forster wired to the Commander-
in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland a prearranged
word which authorized the arrest of my brother.
Charley was stopping at that time at Morrison's
Hotel, and had arranged to go down to Naas early
the next morning to address a meeting. When
the boots came up to call him, he said there were
two men downstairs whom he believed to be police
officers waiting to arrest him. The man offered
to try to get him safely away over the roofs, but
Charley refused, knowing that his arrest was cer-
tain, and not wishing to suffer the ignominy of
being caught while trying to escape. When he
was nearly dressed. Superintendent Mallon knocked
at the door, and handed him a warrant for his
arrest. Charley was driven away quickly in a cab,
which was afterwards joined by an escort of
mounted police, and arrived at Kilmainham Prison
without anybody being any the wiser.
IN POWER 195
He was treated at Kilmainham as a political
prisoner, being given a well-furnished room and
allowed to smoke and get his meals in from outside.
He was able also to write and receive letters,
subject to their being inspected by the police
authorities, and his fellow-suspects in the prison
were allowed to dine with him. He was also
allowed to receive visitors, and a great many of
his friends availed themselves of this opportunity.
Another concession was his being allowed a few
days' absence on parole, in order to go over to
Paris to his sister Theodosia (Mrs. Thompson),
whose son was at the point of death.
The " No Rent " Manifesto.
Owing to the freedom which he was allowed,
Charley was as free to rule from Kilmainham as
Napoleon was from Elba. In his sitting-room at
the prison he openly held conferences with his
lieutenants, and carried on the business of the
League which it had been designed io crush by
his arrest. Of course, the first idea, once the
news was known, was retaliation. That was
not so much due to any vindictiveness on the
part of Charley himself, as to the unanimous
resolve of the officials of the League, who were
backed up by a tremendous wave of feeling
throughout Ireland, where the agrarian outrages,
instead of being checked, as Mr. Gladstone
196 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
expected, now burst forth to a perfectly appalling
extent.
I believe that the idea of the " No Rent " mani-
festo, which was the League's crushing reply to
Forster's arrest of Charley, originated with Patrick
Ford of the Irish World, who had latterly con-
siderably modified his views and become a firm
adherent of Charley's. Egan, who had taken the
funds of the League into safety in Paris directly
the Coercion Bill was introduced, warmly co-
operated with Ford, and finally a manifesto was
drawn up by William O'Brien, and taken to
Charley at Kilmainham. There, in the State
prison, surrounded by armed guards, the chiefs
of the proscribed League conferred long and
earnestly as to how best to defeat the objects of
the Government. Charley finally signed the docu-
ment, owing to the pressure brought to bear on
him from America, but he had little real belief in
its efhcsLcy. He was thoroughly justified in taking
this view, for the manifesto was condemned by
the priests, and, as was the case with regard to
himself after the " Split," what they banned as
a body was foredoomed to failure. The peasantry,
as a matter of fact, never really took the mani-
festo seriously, alluring as the title was in their
impoverished condition.
IN POWER T97
" The Kilmainham Treaty."
If Mr, Gladstone, acting on Mr. Forster's repre-
sentations, expected that Charley's arrest would
result in an immediate falling off in the number of
agrarian outrages, he was doomed to grievous
disappointment; for, instead of decreasing, they
increased to an unparalleled extent. This was
not due, as has been alleged in some quarters, to
a desire on the part of Charley to avenge himself
at all costs, but, on the contrary, to the check
which he had exercised over excesses of this nature
being removed by his imprisonment. The only
way in which he could keep a tight hand on the
more desperate section of his party was by con-
tinually paying personal visits to the districts
where evictions were most prevalent, and, while
advising them to resist English tyranny by all
constitutional methods, discountenancing murder,
maiming, and similar crimes. This, however, he
could no longer do when confined at Kilmainham,
and many of his colleagues were by no means
averse to a campaign of outrage so long as it
terrorized the landlords, and through them
England.
What is known as the " Kilmainham Treaty "
was an informal contract entered into between
Charley, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Chamberlain.
No written agreement was ever made, but to all
198 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
intents and purposes it was a treaty between the
English Government and the Irish party, the con-
ditions of which were faithfully carried out by
both sides.
The purport of the whole understanding, as it
may perhaps be accurately described, was that
Charley should be released, the Coercion Act re-
pealed, and the Habeas Corpus Act brought into
force again, while Charley on his part should use
his entire influence to pacify Ireland.
The chief difficulty was for Mr. Gladstone to
persuade Lord Cowper, the Viceroy, to sign the
order for release. He finally consented, and
Charley walked out again a free man in May, 1882.
Although Charley was well treated at Kilmain-
ham, his health certainly suffered by his imprison-
ment, and, from what he told me when I met him
in 1884, his already delicate constitution never
recovered from the effects of his imprisonment,
which led to a severe illness in 1883, and un-
doubtedly sowed the seeds of his final breakdown
in health (see Appendix A) .
CHAPTER IV
THE PHCENIX PARK MURDERS
Return to Parliament.
Charley's release, being a direct admission of the
failure of the policy of coercion adopted by the
Irish executive, resulted in the immediate resigna-
tion of Lord Cowper and Mr. Forster from the Lord
Lieutenancy and Chief Secretaryship respectively.
Forster was in the middle of a speech defending
his action in Ireland when Charley entered the
House, being welcomed with a wild burst of cheer-
ing from the Irish benches. In a speech which
attracted much attention, Charley denied that any
definite compact had been entered into between
himself and the Government, but said that a settle-
ment of the arrears question would have much to
do towards ending the reign of outrage in Ireland,
which he so much deplored. It was proposed to
enable those tenants who were unable to pay their
rents, owing to the famine, to avoid eviction by
the Government advancing a sum out of the funds
derived from the disestablishment of the Church
of Ireland. This proposal, after much discussion,
afterwards bore fruit, as will be seen.
199
200 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
But the cup of victory was to be dashed from
Charley's Hps, owing to a circumstance over which
he had no control. Just as later, when he had
emerged triumphant from the Pigott trial he was
to meet with the crushing blow of the O'Shea case,
so now the Phoenix Park murders to a great extent
nullified the Kilmainham Treaty.
Lord Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish
had taken the places of Lord Cowper and Mr.
Forster. The state entry of the Lord Lieutenant
into Dublin took place on May 6. When the
pageant had concluded, Lord Frederick Cavendish
told Lord Spencer that he would prefer to walk
to the Chief Secretary's Lodge instead of accept-
ing the Lord Lieutenant's offer of a seat in his
carriage. As he entered the park he was joined
by Mr. Burke, the Under-Secretary, and they
walked together towards the Chief Secretary's
Lodge. Just opposite the Viceregal Lodge a
small group of men who were standing by suddenly
fell on them and stabbed them both to death.
Lord Spencer, from within the Viceregal Lodge,
heard repeated shrieks of agony, and ran to the
window. A man came rushing along at full speed,
crying: " Mr. Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish
are killed !" The Viceroy attempted to rush out,
but was stopped by the members of his household,
who were anxious for his safety.
Numerous arrests followed, and six men were
tried and hanged for the crime, chiefly on the evi-
IN POWER 201
dence of a man named Carey, who turned informer,
and was afterwards murdered on the high seas.
There is Uttle doubt that this terrible murder
was the work of a small body of desperate men
belonging to a society called the " Invincibles,"
which had come into being with the avowed pur-
pose of removing political opponents by assassina-
tion. They had no connection whatever with an^^
of the recognized Irish political bodies. Still, of
course, that fact was not appreciated in England.
The indignation with which this outrage was
received was intense, both in England and Ireland.
To speak plainly, it was generally believed in
England that Charley was the direct instigator of
the crime. The people clamoured savagely for
his blood, and great crowds assembled in front of
the Westminster Palace Hotel, where he was
staying. In spite of this, he insisted upon moving
freely about in the streets, although his life was
really in more danger than had been those of
Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke. Cer-
tainly, hardly anyone in England at that time
would have thought it other than meritorious to
have killed him, and no jury would have dreamt
of convicting his murderer. Owing to his dis-
regard of danger, the days succeeding the an-
nouncement of the Phoenix Park crime were
amongst the most anxious which Scotland Yard
ever experienced, as in the state of public feeling
it was impossible to have any idea from what
202 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
quarter the blow might be struck. It was there-
fore useless to watch any particular body or group
of persons, political or otherwise, and the whole
energies of the Yard had to be devoted to shadow-
ing Charley himself, over whose safety a veritable
army of the most experienced detectives in the
kingdom watched by day and night.
In Ireland the news was received with horror,
disappointment, and disgust. It was felt that it
was a cowardly murder, and one which deeply
dishonoured the Irish sense of hospitality, as this
was Lord Frederick Cavendish's first visit to
Ireland, where he had never taken any part in
political affairs. Moreover, it was a useless and
irresponsible crime, which recoiled, not so much
upon the actual perpetrators, as upon the whole
Irish party. Had it only been Mr. Burke the
thing would have been bad enough, but it was
felt that there was no possible excuse for the un-
provoked murder of an innocent stranger, which
could only bring into disrepute an entire nation
which had taken no act or part in it.
Charley's Feelings.
The blow was a terrible one for Charley. He
was completely unnerved. His first idea was to
retire at once from public life, though from this
course he was dissuaded, not only by his friends,
but even by his great opponent, Mr. Gladstone,
IN POWER 203
who assured him of his complete beUef in his
innocence of the slightest complicity in the matter.
But it is certain that for once Charley com-
pletely lost his usual cool head, and allowed his
nervous temperament, which as a rule he kept
strictly under control, to dominate him completely
for the time being. I know myself that for years
after this horrible event preyed on his generous
and sensitive nature, and I realized so well how
even a slight reference by him, to a matter which
was completely past, showed that he must have
thought very long and deeply about it.
On the very day when the news was received in
England, Charley issued a manifesto, which was
also signed bj^ Dillon and Davitt, addressed to
the Irish people, in which, after expressing the
horror with which they received the news of the
crime, the Irish leaders said: ** We feel that no
act has ever been perpetrated in our countrj^,
during the exciting struggle for social and political
rights of the past fifty years, that has so stained
the name of hospitable Ireland as this cowardly
and unprovoked assassination of a friendly
stranger." That exactly expresses Charley's
views on the matter, as I know from his
subsequent conversations with me. I think for
once that his faith in the righteousness of the cause
for which he had fought so consistently was
shaken for the first time by the dread that any-
thing in his policy, directed though it had always
204 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
been for the bettering of the conditions of his
poorer fellow-countrymen, should have given even
the faintest encouragement, to minds disordered
as were those of the " Invincibles/' to the com-
mission of such a dastardly crime. His intense
pride, his sensitiveness, and his genuine love of
Ireland, caused him to suffer horribly, and the
wound was never healed.
He entered the House of Commons on May 8,
almost a broken man. Though a victor, the
spoils of war had been more than torn from him,
and his personal honour was assailed in a way which
only allowed him to refute the accusations by his
own personal word, in which he knew the English
would put no belief. His speech in the House was
brief, and marked with obvious emotion. In the
course of it he expressed the fear that owing to
this deplorable event all his efforts towards peace
would be thrown away, and the Government would
find no other course open to them than to resort
to coercion once more. This was indeed the case,
for Sir William Harcourt's Crimes Bill was imme-
diately rushed through, in spite of wild scenes of
obstruction on the part of the Irish party, in the
course of which eighteen members were suspended.
Charley and his party finally ceased to take an^-
further part in the discussion of the Bill, protesting
against the suspension of their fellow-members at
a time when a measure affecting vitally the rights
and liberties of Ireland was before the House.
CHAPTER V
THE ARREARS ACT
A Concession.
In spite of the Coercion Act, Charley scored one
signal victory, for an Arrears Bill was passed, to
a great extent, on the lines for which he had been
agitating. The Bill, which applied to tenancies
under £30, provided that, subject to the tenant
satisfying the Court that he was unable to pay
the whole of the arrears, and paying the rent due
in 1881, he should only be liable for the rent during
one of the two years 1879 ^^^ 1880, the State
paying the remaining portion. Charley, having
obtained to a certain degree the land reforms
which were the subject of his campaign, was now
able to slacken the land agitation, which he had
almost regarded as a measure of necessity, and had
secretly disliked, owing to its leading to outrage.
After the Phoenix Park murders he was determined,
both on their account and on account of the in-
formal promise he had made in connection, with
what was known as the Kilmainham Treaty, to
end the reign of terror in Ireland. The Land
League had to a great degree effected this purpose,
and, being proscribed by the Government, its or-
205
2o6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
ganization was scattered; and the Ladies' Land
League, which he had regarded at the outset as
being of some possible use, but had soon come to
look upon as an uncontrollable and even mis-
chievous agency, which tended to upset his own
policy, he had deliberately starved to death by
refusing to advance any more funds.
It was clear that at this time Charley wanted
to devote himself to what, after all, was his great
ambition — the obtaining of Home Rule for Ireland
by constitutional methods. An exceptional out-
burst of murders — some of them for the slightest
causes — were making the year 1882 memorable,
even in the bloodstained annals of agrarian out-
rage. Charley was sick to death of these ignoble
crimes, which lowered the status of his country
without in any way advancing the prospects of
its independence.
The trial of the " Invincibles " who were sup-
posed to have been connected with the Phoenix
Park murders, which took place in February, 1883,
again concentrated English public opinion on the
horrors of the crime itself and on the general
lawlessness existing in Ireland. This was followed,
in the House of Commons, by a violent attack made
upon Charley by Mr. Forster, who used these
words, which summarize the general feeling against
my brother at the time : " It has been often enough
stated and shown by statistics that murder followed
the meetings and action of the Land League ....
IN POWER 207
It is not that he himself directly planned or per-
petrated outrages or murders, but that he either
connived at them, or, when warned, did not use
his influence to prevent them." Charley listened
unmoved to this damning accusation, and, in-
stead of replying to it, immediately moved the
adjournment of the debate until the next day
(February 23, 1882).
A Defiance.
On the eventful day the House was crowded, in
expectation of a detailed and elaborate defence, on
the part of Charley, of his action with regard to
the Land League. If the House expected any-
thing in the nature of an apology, or even an expla-
nation, they were doomed to disappointment, for
from beginning to end his speech was a proud and
contemptuous defiance.
After saying that it was impossible for anyone
to stem the torrent of prejudice that had arisen,
he entered into a series of bitter gibes at the Irish
Executive. He asked why Mr. Forster was not
sent back to help Lord Spencer in the congenial
work of the gallows in Ireland. " We invite you,"
he said with scathing sarcasm, " to man your
ranks, and to send your ablest and best men to
push forward the task of misgoverning and op-
pressing Ireland." Of the future he was sanguine,
and he ended his speech with a calm prophecy of
2o8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
success. He said: ** Although the horizon may be
clouded, I believe our people will survive the
present oppression, as they have survived many
and worse misfortunes; and although our progress
may be slow, it will be sure."
But the whole speech was summarized in one
famous sentence: " By the judgment of the Irish
people only do I, and will I, stand or fall."
This was not at all the kind of speech which the
House had expected, and they received it with
feelings of mixed amazement and disgust.
About this time the Fenians began to become
anxious concerning Charley's attitude and the
moderate policy which he was now adopting.
They invited him to attend a convention which
was being held at Philadelphia on April 25. He
declined the invitation to attend personally, but
sent a cablegram in which he suggested that their
platform should be so framed as to enable the
Irish national party to continue to accept help
from America, while at the same time avoiding
offering a pretext to the British Government for
entirely suppressing the national movement in
Ireland. After this convention the existing
American Land League was replaced by the
National League of America, which was intended
to co-operate with the newly-formed National
League of Ireland. The Fenians thus regained
somewhat of their hold on Irish policy, as Charley
found it impossible to break openly with them.
IN POWER 209
The Tribute.
My brother, as I explain elsewhere (Appendix C),
had for many complicated reasons been getting
gradually into low water so far as regarded
finance. It came as a shock to the Irish people
to hear that a mortgage on Avondale had been
foreclosed, and that he had filed a petition for
sale. This resulted in a desire, which was spon-
taneous on the part of all classes throughout
Ireland, to aid their beloved leader, who had
risked so much on their behalf. Accordingly, a
gigantic collection was set on foot, and by De-
cember II, 1882, when it closed, it had reached
the sum of £37,011 17s. His reception of this
amount, large as it was, was characteristic. He
was handed the cheque on December 11, just before
a grand banquet was given in his honour. He put
it in his pocket as if it were a matter of course,
and neither then nor in the course of his subse-
quent speech made the slightest reference to it.
The Dynamite Outrages.
During 1883 and 1884 the extremists, not satis-
fied with agrarian outrages, started to carry the war
right into the enemy's country, by a series of
attempts to blow up public buildings in London.
The explosive used was dynamite, a factory for
14
210 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the making of which was discovered by the poUce
in Birmingham. It was found that the Govern-
ment offices, the principal railway-stations, Scot-
land Yard, and even the Houses of Parliament
themselves, were marked out for destruction, and
in several cases attempts, more or less abortive,
were made to carry these plans into effect.
Some suggestions of complicity were made
against my brother even in this connection, but I
know that his attitude towards the dynamitards
was not in the slightest degree s^^mpathetic. He
regarded them as fools and madmen, who were
only upsetting his own plans. He felt a very keen
resentment against the Irish World, whose violent
articles, written by the American Fenians, had
undoubtedly inspired the outrages.
CHAPTER VI
A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN
Inactive, but not Idle.
For two years previous to the General Election of
1885, Charley did not do anything very startling,
and his quiet attitude led to a little grumbling
among the more unruly members of his party. He
made speeches in various parts of the country, but
they simply urged a strictly constitutional policy.
He was, however, as it turned out, not so much
resting as preparing to spring. For one thing, he
was gradually educating the Irish people to the
absolute necessity of self-government, and pre-
paring the English Government to resign them-
selves to the fact that sooner or later they must
pass a Home Rule Bill.
Moreover, he was in bad health for a good part
of this time, and had many family and financial
troubles. The sudden death of his sister Fanny
also affected him deeply, as it did also our sister
Anna, who on hearing the sad news fell into a
fit which very nearly proved fatal. Prior to the
General Election, however, he made a tour of
Ireland, delivering a number of forcible speeches.
211
212 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
At Arklow he stated definitely what, in his view,
the demand of Ireland should be. ** We cannot,"
he said, " ask for less than the restitution of
Grattan's Parliament, with its important privi-
leges and wide, far-reaching constitution. But,"
he said significantly, " no man has a right to fix
the boundary of the march of a nation."
It is noticeable that, during the visit of the Prince
and Princess of Wales to Ireland in 1885, Charley,
while recommending that the royal visitors should
not be given an official reception on behalf of the
Irish people, pleaded that they should be treated
with courtesy, and that there should be no hostile
demonstrations .
Mr. Gladstone had announced his intention to
renew the Crimes Act, though in a modified form,
and this Charley was determined to prevent. He
did so by throwing his full force on the side of the
Tories when an amendment was moved to the
Budget Bill on June 8. The result was that the
Government were defeated by twelve votes, the
announcement being greeted by triumphant cries
of " No coercion !" from the Irish benches. The
Tories formed a temporary Ministry, but, being
placed entirely at the mercy of the Irish party, a
dissolution was soon necessary.
Charley seized the opportunity of the English
being entangled in their own affairs to have a
really beneficial Land Bill passed through the
House, whereby advances could be made by the
IN POWER 213
State to enable tenants to purchase their holdings
from the landlords. The repayment of the pur-
chase money was spread over a period of forty-
nine years, and a sum of £5,000,000 was set aside
for the purpose out of the surplus fund of the
Irish Disestablished Church.
Home Rule was now Charley's one idea, as he
explained in a speech at Dublin during the General
Election campaign, in which he said: " It is not
now a question of self-government for Ireland;
it is only a question as to how much of the
self-government they will be able to cheat us
out of. . . . I hope that it may not be for us in
the new Pailiament to devote our attention to
subsidiary measures, and that it may be
possible for us to have a programme and a
platform with only one plank, and that one
plank national independence."
The result of the election was a Liberal majority
of eighty-six over the Conservatives, which was
exactly equalled by the number of Nationalists
returned. Charley therefore was the entire master
of the situation. If he joined Mr. Gladstone, the
combined Liberal and Nationalist parties had an
overwhelming majority over the Tories; if he
opposed Mr. Gladstone, and threw his eighty-six
votes into the Tory scale, the Government majorit}^
was nullified.
214 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
The Home Rule Bill.
Towards 1886 it became rumoured more and
more seriously that Mr. Gladstone was considering
the form which a Home Rule Bill should take.
There is no doubt that the Liberal Premier had for
some time past been coming nearer and nearer to
the belief that it was time that legislative inde-
pendence should be granted to Ireland.
Directly Mr. Gladstone returned to office he
set to work on the Home Rule Bill. On the ques-
tion of the powers to be granted to the Irish
Parliament, Mr. Gladstone soon found himself in
complete disagreement with Mr. Chamberlain,
who was the President of the Local Government
Board. In spite of each making small concessions
to one another's views, they had to come to the
conclusion that at the bottom their principles
were diametrically opposed. The inevitable result
occurred on March 26, 1886, when Mr. Chamber-
lain resigned his position in the Cabinet.
The details of Mr. Gladstone's measure were re-
vealed to a tensely expectant House on April 8,
1886, when he formally moved the first reading of
the Home Rule Bill.
Under his scheme there was to be both an Irish
Executive and Irish Parliament, though the latter
was not to make any laws dealing with certain
subjects, such as the restraint of educational
freedom, the endowment of religion, and the
IN POWER 215
Customs or Excise. The Imperial Parliament alone
should have power to decide as to peace or war,
and to control the army, navy, and other forces,
regulate relations with the colonies and foreign
countries, supervise trade, the Post -Office and
coinage, and have the disposal of titles and honours
and other dignities. All the Irish police were
finally to come under the control of the Irish
Parliament, the Dublin Metropolitan Police after
two years, and the Constabulary after a period to
be fixed. Ireland was not to be represented in
the Imperial Parliament.
After the Home Rule Bill had been read the
first time, Mr. Gladstone brought in a Bill that
had for its intention the establishment of a peasant
proprietary in Ireland. This was a rather far-
reaching measure, enabling the land to be obtained
by the State at twenty years' purchase, and then
sold to the tenants on a system of instalments
spread over forty- nine years. It certainly was
not welcomed by either the landlords or the
tenants. Mr. Gladstone himself realized this so
much that he practically shelved this Land Bill,
which died a natural death when the Government
went out in July.
The second reading of the Home Rule Bill was
moved by Mr. Gladstone on May lo, and the
debate on it lasted for a month. Mr. Bright, after
earnest consideration, finally declared himself
against the Bill.
2i6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
. Charley waited until the final night of the debate
to express his opinion. He warned the House
that their rejection of the Bill (which, with his
customary foresight, he expected) would mean an
outburst of indignation in Ireland, with which
not even the many stringent measures already in
force would be sufficient to cope.
The second reading was, however, rejected by
343 to 313 votes, and Mr. Gladstone and his party
went to the country, strange to say, in complete
alliance with the Irish Nationalists. The result
of the election showed a tremendous swing of the
pendulum, the Unionists coming in with 394 votes
against the 276 of the combined Liberal and Irish
parties. England was certainly not prepared at
that time to grant Home Rule, especially with
two such influential members of the Liberal party
as Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Bright opposed to it.
The " Plan of Campaign."
Towards the end of 1886 considerable trouble
occurred in the South of Ireland, the Tories' boast,
that in spite of the rejection of the Home Rule
Bill peace would prevail in Ireland, proving at
best the pious hope. In order to prevent evic-
tions, Mr. William O'Brien concocted a scheme
whereby, when landlords refused to make reason-
able reductions in rent, the tenants should be
enabled to hold out by money provided partly by
IN POWER 217
the League in Dublin, and partly by local sym-
pathizers. He proposed that in every district a
managing committee should be established, with
whom the rent was to be banked, being used, if
the landlords proved obstinate, as a weapon
against them. That is a very rough sketch of this
famous scheme, to which O'Brien soon gained the
adherence of Dillon.
Charley was ill at the time, otherwise things
might not have gone so far as they did. He re-
fused to discuss the Plan of Campaign, with which
he was not at all in agreement, as he believed at
that time in a peaceful agitation with regard to
the land question, whereas what was proposed
would bring back the agrarian troubles, with all
their consequences of outrage and murder. How-
ever, before it had been properly discussed, and
certainly before the scheme had been approved by
the chief of the Irish party, details of it were
published in the newspapers. Charley found him-
self unwillingly committed to the scheme, which
had immediately produced the outburst of violence
which he feared it would, and which led to the
passing of the Crimes Act. This measure, which
was of a permanent nature, suspended the right
of trial by jury in a number of cases of agrarian
disorder, substituting instead trial by magistrates.
Power was given to the Lord Lieutenant to pro-
claim disturbed districts and dangerous associa-
tions. Of course, the only result was, as before,
2i8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
scenes of violence on the part of both the authori-
ties and the tenants^ which lasted for about two
years.
The Crimes Act practically drove the National-
ists into the arms of the Liberals. It was curious
that, when Mr. Gladstone's portrait became nearly
as popular in the West of Ireland as Charley's, the
latter said, in reply to a question as to what he
thought of Mr. Gladstone: "I think of Mr. Glad-
stone and the English people what I have always
thought of them. They will do what we can make
them do." He seemed rather amused at the
enthusiastic friendship which many of his followers
displayed towards the Liberal party, and said on
one occasion: "I do not object to an English
alliance which we can control; I object to an
English alliance which the English control." To
such a pitch did this friendship between old
enemies extend that on one occasion Charley drove
with Lord (then Mr.) Morle}/ to a great meeting
at St. James's Hall, London, where he actually
succeeded in rousing his English audience to a
state of wild enthusiasm.
His health by this had become very bad indeed,
and he himself was only too sensible of it. He
surprised the members of the Eighty Club, in a
speech delivered before them in 1888, by an ad-
mission, of a startlingly frank nature for him, not
only of his state of health, but also of the fact that
to it was due the adoption of the Plan of Cam-
IN POWER 219
paign, against his better judgment. In his speech
he said:
I was ill, dangerously ill. It was an illness
from which I have not entirely recovered up
to this day. I was so ill that I could not put
pen to paper, or even read a newspaper. I
knew nothing about the movement until
weeks after it had started, and even then I
was so feeble that for several months, abso-
lutely up to the meeting of Parliament, I was
positively unable to take part in any public
matter, and was scarcely able to do so for
months after. If I had been in a position to
advise about it, I candidly admit to you that
I should have advised against it.
Mr. Gladstone, in a speech delivered a month
afterwards, exonerated to some extent the Plan
of Campaign, using the following words, which
are noteworthy in view of these and more modern
occurrences :
Do not suppose that I think the Plan of
Campaign is a good thing in itself, or that I
speak of it as such. I lament everything in
the nature of machinery for governing a
country outside the regular law of the country.
But there are circumstances in which that
machinery, though it may be an evil in itself
— and it is an evil, because it lets loose many
bad passions, and gives to bad men the power
220 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
of playing themselves off as good men, and in
a multitude of ways relaxes the ties and bonds
that unite society — I say there are many
circumstances in which it is an infinitely
smaller evil to use this machinery than to
leave the people to perish.
In another speech, delivered at Bingley Hall,
Birmingham, in 1888, Mr. Gladstone, in eloquent
and even in passionate words, appealed to his
audience on behalf of Home Rule. He said :
Our opponents teach you to rely on the use
of this deserted and enfeebled and super-
annuated weapon of coercion. We teach you
to rely upon Irish affection and goodwill.
We teach you not to speculate on the forma-
tion of that sentiment. We show you that it
is formed already, it is in full force, it is ready
to burst forth from every Irish heart and from
every Irish voice. We only beseech you, by
resolute persistence in that policy you have
adopted, to foster, to cherish, to consolidate,
that sentiment, and so to act that in space
it shall spread from the north of Ireland to
the south, and from the west of Ireland to
the east; and in time it shall extend and
endure from this present date until the last
years and the last of the centuries that may
still be reserved in the counsels of Providence
to work out the destinies of mankind.
CHAPTER VII
THE PIGOTT LETTERS
The " Times " Campaign.
My brother's policy had always been more or
less condemned, and even referred to as the
cause of the agrarian outrages, by the English
Times.
But a shock passed through the whole of the
English-speaking races when, in the course of the
first of a series of articles appearing under the title
" Parnellism and Crime," the Times printed the
following letter:
Dear Sir,
I am not surprised at your friend's
anger, but he and you should know that to
denounce the murders was the only course
open to us. To do that promptly was plainly
our best policy. But you can tell him and all
others concerned that, though I regret the
accident of Lord F. Cavendish's death, I
cannot refuse to admit that Burke got no
more than his deserts. You are at liberty
221
222 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
to show him this, and others whom you can
trust also, but let not my address be known.
He can write to the House of Commons.
Yours very truly,
Charles S. Parnell.
The letter was given in facsimile, and the article
stated that, though the body of the manuscript
was not in Charley's handwriting, the signature
and the words ** Yours very truly " were obviously
his. " If any member of Parliament," said the
writer of the article, ** doubts the fact, he can
easily satisfy himself in the matter by comparing
the handwriting with that of Mr. Parnell in the book
containing the signatures of members when they
first take their seats in the House of Commons."
I came over to England from America when the
Commission was sitting, and then carefully ex-
amined the original letter. I had no hesitation
in saying that the signature was not that of my
brother, while the style in which the letter was
written was not at all like that which he used in
either writing or speaking.
The news spread like wildfire, and I am afraid
was generally believed in. On the evening of the
publication of the letter Charley went into the
House of Commons without having the slightest
idea of what had happened, as he had not read
the Times, and had not been informed by anybody
of the serious allegation that had been made
IN POWER 223
against him. Before he entered the Chamber he
met Mr. Harrington, who told him what had hap-
pened, and they went into the library and care-
fully examined the facsimile letter in the Times.
Charley seemed perfectly unconcerned, and simply
pointed to the S in his supposed signature, and
observed in a casual tone of voice: " I did not
make an S like that since 1878."
Charley's Explanation.
On that same evening Charley rose from his
place in the House, amid an intense hush, and
made a statement with regard to the Times letter
which incidentally gives some interesting sidelights
on his character and shows his own methods of
writing.
After referring to the letter as a ** precious con-
coction," he said that he supposed at first that
the blank sheet containing his signature, such as
many members are frequentl}^ asked for, had fallen
into improper hands and been misused ; but when
he actually saw the facsimile he at once recognized
that it was an " audacious and unblushing fabrica-
tion," there being only two letters in the whole
signature which bore any resemblance to his own
method of writing his name. He continued :
Its whole character is entirely different. I
unfortunately write a very cramped hand,
224 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
my letters huddle into each other, and I write
with great difficulty and slowness. It is, in
fact, a labour and a toil for me to write any-
thing at all. But the signature in question
is wiitten by a ready penman, who has
evidently covered as many leagues of letter
paper in his life as I have yards. . . . The
letter does not purport to be in my hand-
writing. We are not informed who has
written it. It is not even alleged that it was
written b}'^ an5/one who was ever associated
with me. The name of the anonymous letter-
writer is not mentioned. I do not know who
he can be. The writing is strange to me. I
think I should insult myself if I said — I think,
however, that I perhaps ought to say it, in
order that my denial may be full and complete
— that I certainly never heard of the letter.
I never directed such a letter to be written.
I never saw such a letter before I saw it in
the Times. The subject-matter of the letter
is preposterous on the surface. The phrase-
ology of it is absurd — as absurd as any phrase-
ology that could be attributed to me could
possibly be. In every part of it it bears
absolute and irrefutable evidence of want of
genuineness and want of authenticity.
The matter was not openly referred to again for
some time, but the articles under the heading
" Parnellism and Crime " still continued to appear
in the Times. Then, owing to certain references
IN POWER 225
made to him in the course of the articles, Mr.
F. H. O'Donnell, a former M.P., brought an action
for libel against the Times. During the hearing
of the action further allegations were made against
my brother and his party.
The Commission.
Charley now found himself obliged to do some-
thing to clear his character. Accordingly, he
asked the Government to appoint a Select Com-
mittee to inquire as to the authorship of the letter.
The Government would not agree to this, but
instead appointed a Special Commission on
August 13, 1888, to investigate the accuracy of the
charges made by the Times throughout the articles
complained of — a reference about as wide as could
possibly be conceived. The Special Commission
consisted of Mr, Justice Hannen, Mr. Justice Day,
and Mr. Justice Smith, with the Attorney-General
leading for the Times, and Sir Charles Russell
leading for Charley.
The preliminary proceedings were very lengthy,
and dealt with all manner of irrelevant subjects,
witnesses being called from all parts of Ireland.
Finally, however, Pigott, who was said to have
sold the letters to the Times, was put into the box.
His cross-examination by Sir Charles Russell was
one of the most searching and merciless on record.
Pigott was given a number of words to write, and
15
226 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
it was found that those misspelt in the letters were
also misspelt by him. This was a very important
point, because it was known that my brother was
accurate to a degree about his spelling.
On the day following his cross-examination,
Pigott was found to be absent, and news of his
death was received latei, under circumstances
which are descnbed farther on in my book.
I was in court with Charley during the Pigott
trial, and noticed that he watched the proceed-
ings with extreme nervousness. He was in very
bad health at this time, and the publication of
these forgeries, with the calumnies to which they
gave rise, and the strain of the long trial, visibly
affected him, weighed down as he already was
with the presentiment of impending calamity.
One evening, after the case had concluded for
the day, I went round with Charley to Sir Charles
Russell's office, where an angry scene occurred.
Sir Charles refused to follow Charley's advice on a
certain point connected with the conduct of the
case, and heated words weie exchanged. Charley
and I went round to the Charing Cross Hotel for
dinner, and I remember his remarking in a tone of
utter weariness and depression: "Everyone is
against me — even my own counsel and the Irish
people. They are all right so long as they have
their hands in your pocket. But I know that I
shall have a fairer trial in England than in Ireland,
where both Judge and jurors are bought."
IN POWER 227
Charley, who was looking very ill, then entered
the box, and calmly denied the accusations against
him, though with the disappearance of Pigott
the purpose of the proceedings was really at an
end. The Commission, however, still continued
for some weeks, and there was a further lapse
before the report was issued.
In their finding, the Commission held that the
NationaUst M.P/s had not collectively engaged in
any conspiracy to obtain the independence of
Ireland, but that certain Nationalists inside and
outside Parliament were anxious for separation,
and that some of them wished to use the Land
League as an indirect means towards separation.
The report of the Commission, the text of which
was very lengthy, really produced nothing of any
value. What everyone wanted to know was
whether the letter signed "Charles S. Parnell"
was actually in my brother's handwriting. That
was decided once and for all by Pigott' s evidence
in the witness-box, and his subsequent flight and
confession, followed by his suicide.
An Ovation.
Charley's next appearance in the House was the
sign for a demonstration almost unique in history.
When he walked to his place, the whole of the
Liberal party, including the Front Bench, rose to
their feet and cheered, while a large number of
228 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the Tories followed their example. The wildest
enthusiasm, of course, prevailed on the Irish
benches.
Charley's attitude was characteristic. As he
sat down, apparently unconcerned, though his
pale face and the twitching of his hands betrayed
his deep emotion, he remarked to the member next
him: ** Why do you fellows stand up ? It almost
frightened me."
This was the height of Charley's glory. Few,
however, realized — perhaps not even himself — that
the clouds which had for some time been gathering
over his head, were so soon to burst.
BOOK IV
A LOSING FIGHT
" Wail ye, wail ye for the Mighty One ! Wail ye, wail ye for
the dead !
Quench the hearth and hold the breath — ^with ashes strew
the head."
Davis
CHAPTER I
THE DIVORCE, AND AFTER
I FEEL bound briefly to refer to this unfortunate
affair, as it proved to be the turning-point of
Charley's career. Charley had known Captain
O'Shea for many years. He had, as I have stated,
acted as an intermediary between my brother,
Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Chamberlain, with the
result that the understanding known as the
Kilmainham Treaty was arrived at. The first
meeting between Charley and Mrs. O'Shea was at
a dinner-party in London, when she referred to
him by the name under which he is still known in
the West of Ireland — " The Uncrowned King."
An intimate friendship had sprung up between
Charley and the O' Sheas, who were then living near
to one another at Eltham in Kent. In 1881
Captain O'Shea found a portmanteau belonging
to Charley in his house. He immediately chal-
lenged him to a duel in France, but the matter,
through the intercession of Mrs. O'Shea, was
smoothed over.
At the General Election of 1886, Mr. T. P.
O'Connor having been elected for both Galway
231
232 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
and the Scotland Division of Liverpool, chose to
sit for the latter constituency. Charley insisted
upon putting up Captain O'Shea for the vacant
seat, in spite of strong opposition, even among
his own adherents, including Mr. Biggar. The
crowd at Galway, which Charley addressed, was a
sullen and even a hostile one ; but Charley managed
to bring it round to his views, or at any rate to
arouse sufficient loyalty to himself to get Captain
O'Shea returned at the head of the poll. The
incident, however, roused many of Charley's most
devoted supporters to very plain language as to his
using his political influence on behalf of a man
with the name of whose wife rumour associated
him.
I always suspected Captain O'Shea of being a
false friend of Charley's, and simply waiting his
time to strike a fatal blow. As I said to a gentle-
man who knew both parties: " Don't you think,
if there was anything in it, that Captain O'Shea
would have found it out and taken some action
long before the divorce suit ?"
It was just when Charley's career never seemed
more promising that Captain O'Shea filed his
petition for divorce, on December 28, 1889.
When served with the divorce papers, Charley, as
usual, showed no emotion, but negligently threw
them on one side. I do not think, however, that
he entirely realized how critical his condition was.
The trial commenced on Saturday, November 15.
A LOSING FIGHT 233
To my knowledge, it was Charley's original inten-
tion to defend the proceedings, but some of his
friends persuaded him not to do so. I do not pro-
pose to revive any of the evidence given in the
course of the case. It is sufficient to say that a
decree nisi was pronounced, which in due course
was made absolute. As far as our family was
concerned, we were unanimous in regarding the
institution of proceedings at this time as being
due to a political plot, having for its object the
ruin of Charley. Personally I was of opinion that
O'Shea himself was directly responsible, and was
not acting simply on his own accord. Our mother's
views, given in her usual direct language, seem
worth quoting. She said in her letter to me: " It
was a Government plot to ruin him and get rid of
him out of Irish political life." Not alone from
her, but from many people in a position to know,
I gathered that, unable to beat Charley in fair
fight, his political enemies had chosen this means
of attacking him from behind.
Directly the divorce decree was declared abso-
lute— I think in June, 1891 — Charley married Mrs.
O'Shea. I was not in England at the time, but
friends who were present at the ceremony say
that Charley's appearance was a very painful one.
He looked thoroughly miserable and worn-out,
and a physical wreck. After the marriage they
went to live at 9, Walsingham Terrace, West
Brighton.
234 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
A Visit to Mrs. Parnell.
It was after my brother's death that the
settHng up of his legal affairs necessitated my
having an interview with his widow, whom I
had not met up till now. I therefore went
across from Avondale to Brighton, where I
spent a few days helping Mrs. Parnell to arrange
matters.
When I arrived at the house, I was shown into
Charley's sitting-room. It looked dreary enough,
with many of his familiar possessions meeting the
eye on every side; and it seemed to me still more
sad when two of his favourite setters came in, and
rushing up to the arm-chair where I was sitting —
his own arm-chair — overwhelmed me with caresses.
In a few moments Mrs. C. S. Parnell herself came
in and welcomed me with a very sad smile. She
insisted that I should remain in the arm-chair,
saying how very much I resembled Charley, who
was always talking about me and my fruit-growing
in America.
She seemed just such a woman as would attract
Charley — a brilliant conversationalist, keen on
society, and giving the impression that alto-
gether, with her talent and fascination and her
undoubted regard for him, she might have, under
other circumstances, exercised a great influence
in Irish pohtics. The two of us, with Mr. Hawks-
A LOSING FIGHT 235
ley, her solicitor, and Mr. Campbell, who had come
over with me from Ireland, discussed the arrange-
ment of Charley's affairs during this and several
subsequent visits.
I remained in Brighton for about a week, going
out walking every day with Charley's dogs, who
became very fond of me. In the evenings Mrs.
Parnell, the Misses O'Shea, and Mr. Harrison, a
great friend of Charley's, used to visit me in my
parlour. I frequently played chess with my sister-
in-law, who was quite a good player, and who said
that she often tried to get Charley to have a game
of chess with her in order to distract his mind, but
after playing for a little time he usually complained
of a headache.
On the whole, considering the unfortunate occa-
sion of my visit, I spent a pleasant time during
my week at Brighton. I noticed that on every
occasion when I called on her, Mrs. Parnell made
me sit in Charley's arm-chair. When I was
leaving and saying good-bye to her at the door,
she asked me to come and see her again before I
went back to Ireland. I wrote to her just before
going, saying that I proposed coming down to see
her, but she wired me not to come, as she was ill.
That was the only time that I saw Mrs. Parnell,
and I have had no direct communication with her
since, though she wrote on one occasion to her
solicitor to say that she would be glad to see me,
but not any other members of my family, owing
236 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
to the bitterness which prevailed between them.
I often wished for an opportunity of seeing her,
but it never came.
The Party's Attitude.
The decree nisi was pronounced on November 17,
1890.
The question was, What was going to be the
attitude of Charley's party towards himself under
these altered circumstances ?
On November 18, the day following the an-
nouncement of the judgment, a crowded meeting
of the National League was held in Dublin, with
Mr. John Redmond in the chair. The attitude of
all the speakers was one of unswerving loyalty
towards their leader. The divorce proceedings
were regarded simply as a side-issue which did not
in any way interfere with Charley's political posi-
tion or future. A unanimous resolution embody-
ing these views was passed by the meeting, and on
the following day an inspired statement was issued
by the Freeman's Journal, stating that Charley
had no intention of resigning his position. Indi-
vidual members of the Irish party expressed in
newspaper interviews their intention of loyally
supporting their leader, and even Mr. Labouchere
supported him in Truth.
A mass meeting of Irish NationaUsts and
Liberals held on November 20 at the Leinster
A LOSING FIGHT 237
Hall, Dublin, still more emphatically voiced the
support of the Irish people. A few sentences from
the speeches of the principal members of the party
give some idea of the spirit that then prevailed :
I say it would be foolish and absurd in the
highest degree were we at a moment like this,
because of a temporary outcry over a case
that in London would be forgotten to-morrow
if there were a repetition of the Whitechapel
murders ... to surrender the great Chief who
has led us so far forward {Mr. Healy).
I ask you, Suppose a man has gone morally
wrong in some case, through whatever tempta-
tion we know not, is that the least reason to
excuse him from doing his duty to the
people whom he is leading to victory ? (Mr.
McCarthy) .
Were the soldiers of the Nile and the sol-
diers of Waterloo to stand still in the moment
of combative battle to inquire whether their
commander had observed one of the ten
commandments ? (The McDermoU).
The resolution passed unanimously at this meet-
ing was couched in the following terms :
That this meeting, interpreting the senti-
ment of the Irish people that no side-issue
shall be permitted to obstruct the progress
of the great cause ofjHome Rule forjireland, de-
clares that in all political matters^Mr. Parnell
238 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
possesses the confidence of the Irish nation,
and that this meeting rejoices at the deter-
mination of the Irish ParUamentary party to
stand by their leader.
That a similar feeling existed in America was
shown by the following cablegram, sent by four
of the five delegates* who had just been sent to
the United States to collect funds for the Irish
cause:
We stand firmly by the leadership of the
man who has brought the Irish people through
unparalleled difficulties and dangers, from
servitude and despair, to the very threshold
of emancipation, with a genius, courage, and
success, unequalled in our history. We do
so, not only on the ground of gratitude for
those imperishable services in the past, but
in the profound conviction that Parnell's
statesmanship and matchless qualities as a
leader are essential to the safety of our
cause.
The above assurances would seem to be as
definite pledges of support as could possibly be
given by a party to its leader. The facts of the
divorce case were public property. They had
* The four delegates who signed this cablegram were
Messrs. T. P. O'Connor, William O'Brien, John Dillon, and
T. Harrington, while Mr. T. D. Sullivan was the one who
refused to sign it.
A LOSING FIGHT 239
long been the subject of rumour, but had now
been confirmed by sworn evidence in court, and
by the granting of the decree by the Judge. In
spite of this, the Irish party had declared that they
would stand by their leader whatever had hap-
pened.
The matter therefore might have been con-
sidered at an end. It would, of course, have left
a slur upon Charley's character. But such a slur
would only have been of a passing nature.
It might have been thought that the Irish
party, and they alone, were the fitting tribunal,
so far as poUtics were concerned, to sit in judg-
ment upon their leader. They had, as a matter
of fact, as we have seen, actually done so, and
returned a unanimous verdict of " Not guilty."
How far they were justified in reversing their de-
cision, on the ground that, when they had first
decided to support Charley, they had forgotten to
take into consideration the effect that the divorce
would have in other quarters, is a question which
nobody seems to have answered very satisfactorily.
The best defence of those who ruined my brother,
by breaking away from his leadership and creating
a split in the party, is the plea of policy. So
far as that policy was a personal one, there may
have been some slight, if shortsighted, reason for
their going back on their word in this manner. As
a matter of national policy, it was amply dis-
credited by future events.
240 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
The considerations which the Irish party in
their first flush of enthusiasm completely ignored
were, first, the attitude of the Liberal party, and
above all of Mr. Gladstone; and, secondly, the
attitude of the Irish priests. I think I am right
in saying that at this time the Irish party neg-
lected to consider, or at any rate minimized, these
two very important considerations. Charley on
his part fully appreciated their value, but put his
whole faith in the loyalty of his party.
How mistaken both were events will show.
CHAPTER II
THE GOD FROM THE MACHINE
Danger.
At first it would seem that Charley's position was
unaffected. But this, as I have said, was due to
leaving two important considerations out of the
question. Moreover, the Irish mind is much
quicker at arriving at decisions than the English
one, which is slower but more stable.
Signs of opposition to Charley in England on
the ground of the divorce case became gradually
more and more evident. The newspapers and
other periodicals of both parties, and especially
the religious and labour organs, started the cry
which became more general every day: " Parnell
must go."
But their agitation would have died a natural
death had it not received official support. The
first sign that the Liberal party were going to turn
on Charley was shown at the meeting at Sheffield,
on November 21, of the National Liberal Federa-
tion. The speeches actually delivered in public
were non-committal. But in private Mr. Morley
241 16
242 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
and Sir William Harcourt, both of whom were
present at the conference, learned that the English
Nonconformists were determined, as usual, to
show no mercy towards moral delinquency, how-
ever high the character borne by the delin-
quent. The Nonconformist party have always
had a strong influence in English politics, and,
of course, the Liberals would in any event be
unable to stand without their support. Indeed,
the Irish Nationalists might very well have seen
that the Nonconformists would be certain to
judge Charley on the moral issue alone, and that
their judgment was certain to be implacably un-
favourable. Mr. Gladstone, besides being in-
fluenced by them from party motives, was also
one who could not dissociate private morality from
public usefulness. His decision was therefore
soon made up.
Mr. Gladstone's Letter.
On November 24, 1891, he wrote that letter to
Mr. Morley which proved to be the turning-point
of Charley's whole career. In it the Liberal
leader unhesitatingly threw his whole weight into
the scale against his ally. I shall content myself
with quoting a single sentence from the long letter,
which expresses Mr. Gladstone's attitude in a
nutshell. After referring to the fact that, in view
of the opening of the session on the following day,
A LOSING FIGHT 243
he had felt himself compelled to arrive at a deci-
sion at once, he refers to that decision in the follow-
ing words:
It was that, notwithstanding the splendid
services rendered by Mr. Parnell to his
country, his continuance at the present
moment in the leadership would be produc-
tive of consequences disastrous in the highest
degree to the cause of Ireland.
It was not so much the letter itself which did the
harm, but the fact that it was communicated to
the Press before the Irish party and Charley him-
self had had an opportunity of considering. The
means by which it was hurried into publication on
the very day on which Parliament had assembled
appears to have been that it was given by Mr.
Gladstone to Mr. John Morley, who passed it on
to the Chief Whip, Mr. Arnold Morley, who dictated
it in his own room to a repiesentative of the Press
Association. It was published in that evening's
papers, and many of the Irish members actually
in the House did not know of its existence until
they saw it in print.
Earlier in the day the Irish party had met as
usual to elect their chairman for the session.
Amidst many enthusiastic expressions of undying
support, Charley was unanimously re-elected to
that position.
Then the rumour spread, becoming more and
244 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
more certain, that Gladstone had thrown Charley
overboard, and that by a communication pub-
lished behind his back.
It was felt that the election which had just been
held to decide the leadership must, under the cir-
cumstances, be a void one, and a fresh meeting was
therefore fixed for the next day (November 26) .
But in that short space of time the undying
loyalty of a section of Charley's supporters had
already begun to melt away, once he was publicly
disowned by Mr. Gladstone and the Liberal party.
Charley's attitude when he took the chair at this
meeting showed not the slightest sign of concern.
He arrived a little after time, and directly he
entered Mr. Barry rose with a suggestion that it
might be advisable for him to retire, at any rate
for a period, from the leadership of the party.
His voice was not the only one that showed that
the Irish party were no longer united in support
of their leader, though there were many members
who expressed their adherence to Charley and
urged him to fight to the last. The meeting, at
which Charley did not utter a word, was finally
adjourned until the following Monday, December i.
It is important to note that it was at this meet-
ing that the question was first raised as to how
the position of the evicted tenants who were being
supported under the Plan of Campaign would be
affected by the continuance of Charley's leader-
ship. The fear expressed then and afterwards
A LOSING FIGHT 245
was that the aUenation of EngHsh Liberal and most
hkely of American Nationahst sympathies would
make it impossible to continue to provide the funds
to enable them to resist the landlords. This ques-
tion of how far his continuance in the chieftain-
ship would result in the starvation of those whose
interests he had ever at heart, and for whom he
had devoted his whole life, was undoubtedly the
one that weighed most heavily with Charley.
CHAPTER III
CHARLEY'S BETRAYAL
A Party Conclave.
Charley now decided that it was time for him to
place his views definitely before his party. He
accordingly invited a number of his more intimate
friends to meet him at Dr. Fitzgerald's rooms,
near Victoria Station. Among those who arrived
were Messrs. John and William Redmond, J. J.
O' Kelly, Leamy, and Colonel Nolan.
Charley at once announced, pointing to a pile
of manuscript on the table before him, that he
had written a letter to the Press which he intended
reading to them. He wished, however, to have
Mr. Justin McCarthy present also, and he was
sent for. Directly McCarthy arrived, Charley
began to read, in low but distinct tones, his famous
manifesto (see Appendix F).
When Charley had finished reading the mani-
festo, Mr. McCarthy said that he was opposed to
it, and that, as there was no likelihood of Charley
altering his opinion, he would leave. The others,
however, welcomed Charley's utterance, and re-
iterated their promises of support.
246
A LOSING FIGHT 247
The split in the Irish party then definitely began
with the signature by the American delegates
(except Mr. Harrington) and Messrs. Dillon,
William O'Brien, and T. P. O'Connor, repudiating
Charley's leadership, and ranging themselves on
the side of the Liberals under Mr. Gladstone.
A series of important conferences, which soon
came to take more of the nature of battles, were
now held in Committee Room 15, the headquarters
of the Nationalist organization in the House of
Commons. The Anti-Parnellites opened fire point-
blank by moving: ** That Mr. Parnell's tenure of
the chairmanship of this party is hereby termi-
nated." Charley, however, ruled this resolution
out of order, as he pointed out that a motion was
already before the party in the following terms:
** That a full meeting of the party be held on
Friday to give Mr. Parnell an opportunity to
reconsider his position." Colonel Nolan, a keen
supporter of Charley's, then moved: *' That the
party should meet in Dublin and settle the ques-
tion there"; but this resolution was defeated by
44 votes to 29. During the course of this meeting,
at which no definite result was arrived at, Mr. John
Redmond remarked: " When we are asked to sell
our leader to preserve the English alliance, it
seems to me that we are bound to inquire what we
are getting for the price we are paying." Charley
had ready his comment on this, and it was an
apt one. " Don't sell me for nothing," he said.
248 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
" If you get my value, you may change me to-
morrow."
At the next conference, Mr. Clancy, an Anti-
Parnellite, moved: " That the Whips of the party
be instructed to obtain from Mr. Gladstone, Mr.
John Morley, and Sir William Harcourt, definite
information on the vital questions of the con-
stabulary and the land." Four delegates were
according^ appointed to wait on Mr. Gladstone
and obtain his views on these matters.
Mr. Gladstone, however, refused to be drawn
from the track by any red herring of Home Rule.
" The question we have now to decide," he said,
** is the leadership of the Irish party."
The discussions in Room 15, after becoming
more and more embittered, resulted in the with-
drawal of Mr. McCarthy at the head of a section
consisting of forty-four members, while Charley
continued to command a faithful following of
twenty-six.
The Kilkenny Election.
Finding that there was a vacancy in North
Kilkenny, Charley determined to open his cam-
paign against Mr. Gladstone and the members
who had seceded from his own party by making
certain that the candidate returned would support
him. Sir John Pope Hennessy was the official
Nationalist candidate, but he had fallen under
A LOSING FIGHT 249
the influence of the Anti-ParnelUtes, and Charley
determined to oppose him by Mr. Vincent Scully,
in whom he felt he could rely implicitly.
Charley was at this time in very bad health
indeed, and the strain of his position was already
beginning to tell badly upon him. He had lost a
great deal of the invariable smartness of dress and
appearance for which he was formerly noted.
His stoutness, which had become so marked about
1885, had now deserted him, and for the first time
in his life his former erect carriage was replaced
by a slight stoop. His hair was already beginning
to show traces of grey in parts, as The O'Donoghue,
who was very much with him during these later
years, once told me; his eyes had a wild, defiant
look in them which was entirely new. He did not,
however, allow his bodily health to interfere with
his usual promptitude of action. Finding that
United Ireland, his own newspaper, had come
under the control of his enemies, he dismissed the
editor and appointed Mr. Leamy in his place. He
next attended a meeting at the Rotunda, one of
the greatest which he ever addressed, where his
reception was perhaps the most enthusiastic
which he had received during his whole career.
Then, hearing that the offices of his newspaper had
been occupied by the seceders, who had driven
out his own staff, he stormed the premises at the
head of a large crowd, and put his men once more
back in charge.
250 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
In spite of all attempts to keep the platform
clear, there was a gigantic crowd at Kingsbridge
Station to see Charley off to Cork, whither he was
bound to rally his own constituents. He then
went on to Kilkenny, where his terrible alteration
in health was soon the subject of alarmed discus-
sion among his supporters. He was able, how-
ever, both there and at Cork, to deliver a series
of vigorous telling speeches, and to get his organiza-
tion into full swing.
The Power of the Church.
Although he fought with incredible energy to the
very end of the contest, Charley realized, long
before the figures were announced, that he would
lose Kilkenny. The reason was that the priests
as a body were against him, and he then, as ever
before, appreciated the power of the Catholic
Church in Ireland, especially when now, for the
first time, he came into open conflict with it. Of
course, it was one thing for politicians to continue
to regard him as Chief of his party, and to regard
moral considerations as being entirely outside
their scope of judgment. If the entire Irish party
had done so, no one could have been very much
surprised. Indeed, they would have been com-
mended generally, both for their loyalty towards
one who had led them so successfully in the past,
and for their patriotism in still choosing the same
A LOSING FIGHT 251
means to secure their country's independence.
But with the Church it was a different matter.
They were bound to uphold private morality by
the articles of their creed, and they were also
forced to do so by the strong pubHc opinion exist-
ing among their flock, the Irish peasantry always
having been one of the most strictly moral peoples
of the world. But, as Charley had already
observed, the influence of the priests was tre-
mendous. Without them he could do nothing,
in spite of his great name, the great services he
had rendered to his country, and the great love
the people bore him. With them, as had been the
case in the past, he could do everything. Their
attitude, however, was one of resolute opposition.
It had to be so, and there was no possibility of its
changing. Still Charley, his pride prevailing over
his intellect, chose to continue the hopeless struggle.
Prolonged conferences then took place at Bou-
logne between Charley and Mr. O'Brien and Mr.
Dillon as to the chairmanship of the party. The
seceders had elected Mr. McCarthy to that posi-
tion, but Charley proposed, if satisfactory assur-
ances should be obtained from Mr. Gladstone with
regard to Home Rule, that he himself should
resign the chairmanship of the party in favour of
Mr. O'Brien or Mr. Dillon. The negotiations,
however, proved abortive, and Mr. Dillon and
Mr. O'Brien were arrested, on warrants that had
been enforced some time, when they returned to
252 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
England, and, on being released from prison about
five months later, declared themselves openly to
belong to the Anti-Parnellite party.
He still, however, attempted to regain his foot-
ing among the Irish electorate, but without success.
At North Sligo and Carlow his candidates were
beaten, but he still continued the fight. His last
public speech was at Creggs, on September 27,
1891. He looked terribly ill then, and after the
meeting went to Dublin, where he stopped for
three days at the house of his friend Dr. Kenny.
He then went to London, and on to his house at
Brighton, where he was compelled to take to his
bed. On October 5 he wrote to Sir Henry
Thompson, but his death occurred on October 6.
How the Irish nation mourned their dead
leader, how I myself received the sad news in
America, will be told in the following chapter.
But I think the most poignant expression of grief
in connection with my poor brother's death was
that which was contained in a letter which I
received from our mother about three weeks later.
I give some passages of it as a fitting close to this
chapter:
I have been so weak I could not write to
you. The cruel blow prostrated me almost
irrevocably — left me all but dead.
Anger kept me up enough to see two or
three reporters to tell what I thought — alas !
with but too much truth. I would have died
A LOSING FIGHT 253
rather than not denounce poor, poor Charles'
murderers and called down vengeance on
them. Gladstone will suffer for his knavish,
brutal wickedness to his dying day. The
Roman Catholic organization has become an
abomination to man and to God.
Knowing how ill he had been for years,
instead of healing his wound, his griefs, they
had no mercy on him — they vowed his death.
God will render to them full measure for
their murderous, fiendish thoughts and ac-
tions. The widow — the mother — is heard in
heaven. Your brother's blood cries aloud
for vengeance.
CHAPTER IV
AFTER THE DEATH
The Funeral.
The body was brought to Dublin on Sunday,
October ii, and, after a public lying-in-state in
the City Hall during the morning, was borne to
its last resting-place in Glasnevin Cemetery, ac-
companied by a gigantic concourse of people
drawn from the remotest parts of Ireland.
Since then October 6 has always been a day in
Dublin set apart for the commemoration of the
lost Chief, whose emblem, the ivy leaf, is worn by
countless thousands. I give the text of the card
issued at the first anniversary of my brother's
death, the words being by an intimate friend and
supporter of his:
IN MEMORY OF THE CHIEF.
Gathered from Aughavannagh's rugged side,
Where we together oft in friendship came.
Where Lugnacuilla rears its crest of pride,
And Glenmalure enshrines a Nation's fame.
Emblem of soHtude, from his own hills,
I lay this wreath where lies our glorious Chief,
To symbohze the solitude that fiUs
The Nation's lonely heart, that aches with
endless grief.
W. J. CORBETT.
Spring Farm,
October 6, 1892.
254
A LOSING FIGHT 255
How I LEARNED THE NeWS.
I was in Atlanta, Georgia, when I heard the news
of my brother's death, which I refused to beheve.
I went to the Western Union Telegraph office and
asked them if they had heard anything of the sad
news, but on their telHng me that nothing what-
ever had come over the cable concerning it I felt
considerably relieved, and thought that the whole
thing must be simply a baseless rumour. How-
ever, to make quite certain, I went round to see
my friend Mr. Patrick Moran, the editor of the
Atlanta Constitution, who said he had not heard of
it, but asked me to call round at twelve o'clock
that night, when he would know for certain about
it. After walking about restlessly during the
whole of the day until midnight, I returned to the
newspaper office, where Mr. Moran told me that he
had received confirmation of the sad news.
I went back to my hotel deeply shocked and
grieved, for Charley, besides being my brother,
had been my best friend from boyhood. I felt
sad for our family, especially for our poor mother,
whose favourite son he was; while I was bitterly
angry with his political foes, and above all with
his treacherous colleagues, for having ruined and
practically killed him.
I went home and spent a few days thinking
over my future plans, and then decided to return
to Ireland. I took with me my mother, whom I
256 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
found perfectly broken down with grief in New
York. We set sail for Europe in December, 1891.
The weather was so bad when we arrived off
Queenstown that we were unable to land, having
to go on to Liverpool, whence we got another
steamer back to Dublin. I left my mother at
Mr. McDermott's, my brother-in-law and our
family solicitor, while I hastened to Avondale to
arrange for the winding up of the estate. Every-
where I found desolation and mourning for my
late brother. It gave me a shock when I found
in what a bad condition Charley's finances were,
and how his sister Emily, who had been dependent
on him, was almost starving. When I got there,
Charley's workmen all gathered round me in a
body, imploring me, with tears and outstretched
hands, to do something for them.
A Desperate Hope.
The sight of these men without work or food
made me take a sudden resolve, which may have
seemed foolish at the time, but which experience
justified. I had no money with me, my funds
being all invested in my American fruit farms, but
I determined to make Avondale pay, though
Charley had never done so.
The foreman of the sawmills was a man named
Pat Bennet, extremely capable at his work, and a
most genial and pleasant fellow to talk to. After
A LOSING FIGHT 257
talking to him for some time/and asking him what
work it was possible for him to get on with, he
suddenly said: "Well, Mr. John, if you will let
me cut down an elm-tree, I'll go into town now
and try to get some orders for sawn timber." I was
rather sceptical about Pat's getting sufficient orders
in Rathdrum to pay the men at the sawmill, let
alone the other men on the place, but I said : " WeU,
try and get some orders, and good luck to you."
When Pat returned from Rathdrum he brought
with him orders for pieces of elm timber for
making coffins — a good omen, though it did not
strike me at once as being so; and I felt certain
that in my place Charley, with his superstitions,
would have rejected the order. When the next
Saturday came round, Pat came to me, and, to
my astonishment, said: " Well, Mr. John, I have
paid the sawmill men, and here is ten shillings
left over for your honour." This, though amusing,
was a good beginning, and afterwards the money
began to flow in.
Out of that small beginning grew quite a thriving
business, in which I might still be engaged, both
pleasurably and profitably, if Charley's debts had
not forced me to sell Avondale.
Still, I always felt a sadness at being alone down
there, where Charley and I had spent so many
happy hours together, and where I so often
thought of him, even when the country was at
its loveliest, with a pang of bitterness and regret.
17
CHAPTER V
A VISION
Charley's Bedside Visit.
I AM going, at the risk of being laughed at, to
recount an experience which befell me several
years after my brother's death, when I am con-
vinced I was visited by his spirit.
Throughout his lifetime, when we happened to
be together, Charley, if he wished to talk to
me particularly, always walked into my bedroom
about two o'clock in the morning and woke me up.
Some of the more striking instances of these early
visits, all of which occurred almost exactly at the
same hour — 2 a.m. — are the following :
In 1874, when he persuaded me to stand for
County Wicklow in the place of himself, he came
into my bedroom under circumstances I have
already described, and woke me up exactly at
that hour.
When he began to take an interest in the Whin-
stone quarry at Arklow, he woke me up, once again
at 2 a.m., and tried to persuade me to drive out
with him and inspect the site, as Lord Carysfort's
men might prevent him doing so in the daytime.
258
A LOSING FIGHT 259
However, as I had got a bad cold, and had just
returned from the warm cHmate of Georgia, I
excused myself and stopped in bed.
Another time he came to my bedroom, once
more exactly at 2 a.m., and woke me up, saying:
" John, I want to walk over the mountain to
Aughavannagh to look at the turf on Blackrock."
On this occasion I went with him, having a very
enjoyable walk of about nine miles over the
hills.
The same thing occurred frequently during his
political career, whenever he experienced difficulty
in arriving at an important political decision.
In 1897 I was stopping at Avondale, having
come from the House of Commons, of which I had
been a member, of the Nationalist party under
Mr. John Redmond.
I was lying in bed in the same room to which
Charley had come to see me on previous occasions.
I was half asleep and half awake. I saw my brother
Charley sitting at my bedside with the collar of his
great-coat turned up round his neck, as he gener-
ally wore it when he came to see me at that time.
I noticed by my watch that it was then two
o'clock. For some reason I did not feel strange
to see him there and to hear his voice: he was
talking about politics, a subject which he very
rarely discussed. I remember asking him what
were the prospects of Unit}^ He replied that
the parties would unite under John Redmond.
26o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Then he got quite angry, and cried out that
Harrington was standing in the way.
The vision then vanished.
I did not understand why he said that Har-
rington was standing in the way, because I con-
sidered that Mr. Harrington was for Unity, with
myself. Doubtless there was some explanation
of this, but I never learned it. Naturally, I did
not sleep again that night, and for days after I lay
wide awake, waiting for my brother to return.
But the vision never came back.
If, however, Charley's spirit has never since
returned to me, as I am certain it did that night,
his image is often visibly present in my dreams,
and his memory is never absent.
APPENDICES
" In her deepest hour of sorrow, in her hour of darkest shame.
Thy country still will treasure the glory of thy name.
In her greatest hour of triumph, when her history shall bear
To the future all her glory, thine shall be foremost there."
Vision of King Brian.
AN EXPLANATION.
In case the reader should, as is often the way, lay this
book aside, fearing that anything in the nature of an
appendix must of necessity contain matter too hope-
lessly dry for insertion in the body of the book, I hasten
to assure him that such is not the case in the present
work.
That is to say that, far from considering the following
pages as being so heavy that they would have been
skipped if I had introduced them in order of date, they
have been kept separate because I feared that they might
prove too interesting in themselves, and so destroy the
continuity of the story of my brother's life.
261
APPENDIX A
CHARLEY'S SUPERSTITIONS
Luck and Ill-Luck.
I DID not notice any particular instances of superstition
in Charley during his childhood and boyhood. But in
later life a tendency to ascribe an omen for good or ill to
the most trivial occurrence, and to see the finger of Fate
in the most commonplace objects, became very noticeable.
I think it was after the railway accident in America that
Charley first began to develop this curious trait in his
character.
One of his most remarkable superstitions was his
aversion to the colour green, although it was the national
colour of Ireland. Accordingly, he never wore a coat or
tie that had the slightest tinge of green in its material,
and, as I mention elsewhere, steadily refused to wear
the fine green travelling-rug which was presented to him.*
He carried to strange limits this dislike to the colour green
in an^^ shape or form. Once he wrote home to one of
his sisters — I believe Mrs. Dickinson — who had told him
that she had just had his room at Avondale repapered,
saying: " I hope you have not had my room done in
green, as, if so, I shall never use it."
Another time a lady whom he knew well called to see
him at the House of Commons. He came along the
corridor to the Lobby, where she was waiting, and had
already stretched out his hand in welcome, when he
* See Appendix B.
263
264 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
suddenly put it behind his back, and said, with a mixture
of horror and disgust: " Excuse my asking, but what is
the colour of the dress you are wearing ?" The lady,
who did not know Charley's idiosyncrasy in that direc-
tion, replied, quite innocently: " Why, Mr. Parnell, are
you colour-blind ? Of course it's green." Charley re-
plied: " In that case I am afraid that I must ask you to
excuse my shaking hands with you." He made a few curt
remarks with an obviously uneasy manner, and then,
pleading an excuse, hurried away, leaving the lady very
much puzzled, and somewhat offended at his strange
manner, the reason for which was afterwards explained
to her.
The Unlucky Number.
The number 13, of course, was always an unlucky one,
in his opinion. He steadily refused, even at the risk of
anno^dng or offending his host, to sit down thirteen at
table. On one occasion he had put up at a country hotel
during election time, and had gone up to his room to
prepare himself for dinner. The friend who was travelling
with him, and who occupied a room next to Charley's, was
surprised a moment or so later to hear a knock on his
door, and to fmd, when he opened it, Charley standing
in the passage with his bag, looking very much upset.
The friend asked what was the matter, and he replied by
pointing to the number on his door, which was 13, and
remarking: " What a room to give me ! I suppose the
landlord is a Tory, and has done this on purpose." The
friend insisted on exchanging rooms, although Charley
declared that if No. 13 was slept in they would lose the
election. The election, however, was won, but two little
incidents which occurred confirmed Charley in his opinion
as to the ill-luck attached to the number 13. His friend,
on trying to open the window in the ill-fated room, let it
fall heavily on his hand, and, being unable to extricate it.
APPENDICES 265
had to cry out for help. Charley rushed in and lifted
the window, advising his friend very strongly to take
warning by this preliminary mishap, and leave the room
at once. The friend declined, and at lunch what served
as another manifestation occurred. The friend, in trying
to open a bottle of soda-water with his bad hand, let the
cork jump out and hit him full in the eye. This Charley
considered quite decided the fate of the elections, and he
could hardly be persuaded to believe that the figures were
correct when the result was announced.
Funerals always caused him intense dread, and he
never could be persuaded to attend one, even when the
deceased happened to be one of his most intimate friends.
He caused on one occasion a thrill through Ireland by a
remark with regard to a funeral, the real meaning of which
was, I think, generally misinterpreted. It was during
the desperate fight for Kilkenny in 1890, when his own
candidate was opposed by Mr. Pope Hennessy. Charley
was in the midst of addressing a meeting, when a space
was made in the ranks of the crowd to allow a funeral
cortege to pass. Stopping short in his speech, Charley
pointed his finger at the hearse, and made the extra-
ordinary remark, which was taken in very bad part, even
by his own supporters, in many parts of Ireland: " There
goes the corpse of Pope Hennessy." I think what he
really meant was that the fact of the funeral passing
while he was delivering his speech was a bad omen for
his opponents, towards whom, or towards the actual
corpse itself, he intended no disrespect.
A somewhat similar superstition was shown during his
illness in 1882, when he and Mr. Healy were working at
the draft constitution of the National League in October,
1882. My brother was then in bad health, and was lying
in bed while Mr. Healy was writing at a table by the
light of four candles. Mr. Healy relates that after writing
for several hours one of the candles went out, Almost
266 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
immediately Charley leaned out of bed and blew out one
of the remaining candles, crying as he did so: " Don't you
know that there is nothing more unlucky than to have
three candles burning ? You would have found that your
constitution would not have proved very successful."
The superstition as to the three candles is, however, a
very general one in Europe, and in Ireland it is generally
associated with the three candles which are burned at
wakes.
Ill-Omened October.
With regard to October, he always regarded that as an
unlucky month, and began to show signs of uneasiness
when it approached, often remarking : " Something is sure
to happen in October."
His superstition, to a certain extent, was borne out by
facts, many of the important crises of his life, both of a
favourable and unfavourable nature, occurring in October.
For instance, his election as President of the Land League
took place in October, 1879. In October, 1880, the
Government instituted the State prosecutions which
were due to the agrarian outrages. In October, 1881,
he was arrested, and the date was doubly ominous, for
it was the 13th of October. In October, 1886, after the
rejection of the Home Rule Bill, he became critically ill,
and for a time lay at the point of death. It was at the
same time that the Plan of Campaign was published
without his consent, considerably obstructing his policy.
Finally, it was in October, 1891, that he died at Brighton.
Charley always had a great dread of the bad results
that would follow the falling of an object (such as a
picture or ornament) without any obvious cause. He
was seriously upset on one occasion by a statue falling
close beside him in a country chapel where he happened
to be standing listening to the priest. Spiritualism and
palmistry, however, he always regarded with great con-
APPENDICES 267
tempt, and laughed at Fanny and myself for going round
to have our fortunes told. On the other hand, I do not
share his superstition as to the figure 13. For one thing,
my marriage, which has been a most happy one, took
place on the 13th of the month, in spite of the advice
of friends to choose a more propitious date, and I remem-
ber winning an important chess tournament when seated
at table No. 13. I distinctly remember, however, our
mother keenly inspecting the street-cars in New York
to make quite certain that she was not getting on a
No. 13.
Although these superstitions may seem trivial, and
even ridiculous, they certainly had a great influence on
Charley's actions, and sometimes even decided him at a
critical turning-point in his affairs.
APPENDIX B
CHARLEY'S INFLUENCE IN AMERICA
The Emigrants.
At the time of Charley's visit to America in 1880, he found
a large number of newly-emigrated Irish who had been
driven from their own country during the famine years.
They were mostly to be found in the Northern States.
The Land League did not arouse immediate enthusiasm
in America, as the people over there said: " If the Irish
complain, why don't they come over here where there is
plenty of land for them ?" Another section of the native-
born Americans believed that, no matter what was done
for the relief of the famine sufferers, things would be as
bad again in a few years' time. Charley's tour, however,
did a great deal to rouse the Americans from their apathy.
Branches of the Land League were opened all over the
country. As I have already mentioned, Mr. Patrick
Moran, the night editor of the Atlanta Constitution, asked
me to assist him in the opening of a branch at Atlanta.
I spoke at the inaugural meeting, which was very suc-
cessful. A few days later the President of the Irish
Society wrote to me asking me to come down to Savannah,
Georgia, to organize the Land League there. Mr. Doyle,
one of the most prominent Irishmen in the city, presided
at the open-air meeting, and I was called upon to speak,
but deferred doing so until the massed meeting held in
the opera-house, which proved to be a large and enthu-
siastic one. Next day I went to see the Irish Rifle Team
268
APPENDICES 269
doing some excellent practice on their grounds near
Savannah.
Then I went to New York, and attended a great many
meetings there, including several at which Mr. T. P.
O'Connor and Mr. Healy were present. It was at one
of these that my mother delivered her first public speech*
which was very much to the point, and was very well
received. Besides attending meetings and speaking at
them, I was also present at several Irish language gather-
ings. My mother and Miss Ford showed great energy in
organizing branches of the Ladies' League, travelling
incessantly up and down the country.
By then Charley's name and fame had spread through-
out the States, and at the hotels and on the railroads my
mother and myself were constantly asked whether we
were related to the great Irish agitator.
A Negro Parnell.
Some time later I was asked by the postmaster at
West Point, where I lived, if I would come with him to a
negro meeting. Although it was not the custom for whites
to attend the meetings of coloured persons, we went round,
and became very interested in the speeches. I remember
one negro concluding his speech by saying, " I wish we
poor black folk had a black Parnell," a remark which they
all cheered. This was some considerable time after my
brother's visit in 1880, but it showed, as I found every-
where, how his memory was an endvuing one among all
those interested in the cause of freedom. One night, when
I was lodging in Atlanta, I was coming away at a rather
late hour from the chess club, and had to walk through
one of the dangerous parts of the city where there had
recently been several murders and robberies. I was just
passing out of the shadows of a railway bridge, when I
heard rapid footsteps behind me. Thinking it was a
270 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
robber, I turned round sharply, but found it was a negro
who knew me, and wished to speak to me. He cried out
directly he got within speaking distance: " Boss, how is
that terrible brother of yours ? He is a great man. I
saw him at your place when I was a little coon. I wish
we had one like him here in the States."
Even when I was crossing to Ireland as late as 1889,
I found the conversation at meals almost always drifting
round to my brother. On one occasion, when several
people opposite me were discussing Charley's career, a
gentleman who knew me by sight leant over and whis-
pered to them, and I just overheard the remark: " Be
careful what you are saying ; that man sitting there is the
great man's brother."
Charley, in fact, during the height of his career became
a sort of national hero in America, and his influence on
the Irish population over there was felt throughout his
life. His character especially appealed to the American
idea, and the fact that he was essentially a fighter, and
above all a successful one, also gained him their admiration.
I was spending a good deal of time during these days in
America, where I was attending to my own fruit-farming
business in Atlanta, Georgia, though, of course, I was in
constant communication with my brother, and followed
his career in the newspapers. My experiences were many
and varied, and the following is a typical instance, and
will give some idea of the conditions of life in the wildest
parts of America at that time, and how even among the
most desperate and lawless characters the name of my
brother served me as a passport.
A Trip to the Mountains.
A number of my friends persuaded me to go with them
for a trip to the mountains of North Georgia, which were
then a very inaccessible portion of the State, inhabited
APPENDICES 271
by a lawless body of men who lived principally by trading
in corn and honey, and — what was far more profitable —
illicit whisky. However, no revenue officer dared to ven-
ture into these mountain fastnesses and seize the stills
without running a very great danger of being shot.
With the exception of the captain of the expedition and
myself, our party consisted of hardy young men, only
too glad for an adventure with the spice of danger. We
brought with us, not only our guns, but plenty of fishing
rods and tackle, as the place for which we were bound
was the only part of Georgia where the real speckled trout
could be obtained. I do not consider, however, that they
were at all like our own trout, which I used so often to
catch round Avondale and Aughavannagh. They had
yellow flesh, and would not take the fly as bait, but only
a form of chrysalis that is found under the rocks.
We went by train from Atlanta to a place called
Marietta, from which we took an ox-waggon to carry our
things to the mountains, following ourselves in a wagon-
ette. We had to go for about thirty miles through a wild,
uninhabited country, and had to cross several rivers at
considerable risk. Before we left civilization completely,
on account of the rough " Moonshiners " living in the
mountains, who were very chary of allowing strangers to
enter their country, we had to get a letter from a local
storekeeper to one of the more friendly .mountaineers.
The storekeeper, who knew I was a brother of the " Irish
King," which was the name by which they knew Charley
in those wild parts, readily consented ; and as he did a big
trade with the mountaineers from his village, which was
the nearest point on the railway to them, his influence
stood us in very good stead.
WTien we arrived, we found that the man to whom we
had been recommended lived close to the place where we
intended camping out, and it was arranged that he should
come with us to the camping-ground to introduce us to
272 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
the " Moonshiners." At the time when we got to his
house it was dark, and the family had all gone to bed, and
we had to shout ourselves hoarse before we could get
anyone to hear. Then the head of the family came out
to the gate, dressed simply in his shirt, which, however,
was quite sufficient garb for that hot weather and those
uncritical regions. We presented our letter and asked
him if we could put up for the night, as it was so late-
He said that we could, and provided us with a really nice
hot supper, which we were very glad of, as we were
terribly hungry, and gave us some of the finest honey that
I have ever tasted. I don't know, however, whether the
young ladies of the family, who had to get up out of their
beds to prepare our supper, quite welcomed our arrival.
Primitive Sleeping Conditions.
After supper we were allotted our beds. The head of
the family said that he had only one room, so that the
captain and I, being, as he said, the steady ones of the
party, would have to sleep in the same room as himself
and the rest of the family, while the young fellows would
have to sleep together in the garret. The captain and I
were given one bed, while the father and mother slept in
another, and, to our astonishment, the two young ladies
slipped into their own bed, where they looked very inno-
cent and comfortable. We were very tired, and dropped
straight off to sleep, and the next morning when we woke
the two young ladies had already been up for some time
preparing breakfast. After a good wash in sparkling
mountain water, we sat down to a delicious breakfast of
hominy, rice, fried chicken, hot biscuits, and honey.
No one need be afraid of starving in those mountains, as
there are plenty of both chickens and bees, the latter
making honey all the year round.
After breakfast we said good-bye to the ladies of the
APPENDICES 273
family, and set off on foot with our ox-team to the
camping-ground with our host, who was to introduce us
to the mountaineers. After about two hours' walk we
arrived at the camping-ground, which was in a beautiful
valley close beside a stream which was full of speckled
trout.
" The Moonshiners."
Once we got there, we were surrounded by a very rough
crowd, all armed with guns and revolvers, whose first
business was to find out whether we were revenue officers.
Our guide soon satisfied them that we were only travelling
for pleasure, and told them that I was a brother of the
" Irish King " of whom they had heard so much. This
resulted in my being subjected to a good deal of close
scrutiny, though of a very friendly, and even deferential,
nature.
We fixed up our tent, and slung up hammocks between
different trees, though I preferred to sleep on a good
Irish rug which had been presented to Charley, but which
he would never use because its colour happened to be
green. The mountaineers gathered round us all night,
and seemed very sociable, jolly fellows, in spite of their
rough appearance. After buying some mountain whisky
from them and wishing them all good-night, we went to
sleep, though not very easily. We had -asked some of
the mountaineers to come round in the morning and show
us good places in which to shoot and fish, which they
readily promised to do. The breakfast next morning
for the lot of us had to be cooked by the single negro we
had brought with us. In order to make a good blaze, he
lighted some twigs under a big log, and was surprised a
little later to see a large snake glide out from underneath
the log. However, he promptly knocked it on the head
and killed it.
Getting a mountaineer as a guide, I took my rod and
18
274 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
went fishing while the others went in search of game.
We all had good sport, and soon made some very good
friends among the illicit distillers. One day an old man
who had been right through the war in the South came
up to me, and said that he would take me up the moun-
tains and show me how to catch the trout, as he knew their
best places, and wished to hear from my lips all I could
tell him about the " Irish King." While I was fishing, I
gave him a full account of Charley's fight for the poor
starving peasants of Ireland against the landlords and the
English Government, and explained how Charley wished
to enable the people to get the land for themselves and
obtain Home Rule. He asked me several questions, and,
in order to explain Charley's policy, I said: " What he
has been trying to do is to provide land for all, just like
you and your people have in these mountains." He
seemed greatly impressed, but could not understand how
there could be a country where there was not land for all
who wished to make a living out of it.
Lost in the Wilderness.
I set to work fishing in the river, and caught some fine
trout ; but when I had finished, and turned round to look
for my guide, I found that he had disappeared. I waded
across the river, and then started to make my way back
to the tent, as it was beginning to grow dark. I did not
know my way well, but thought I was in the right direction.
After walking for some considerable way, I got tangled
up in the huge laurel swamps which were the favourite
feeding-ground of the bees. The swamp where I found
myself was not a very pleasant place to be in alone, as
there were no end of large snakes coiled up on the
branches of the laurel-tree, threatening to drop down on
my head as I passed, crawling under the bushes; and as
I also smelt the odour of bears, I thought it best to beat
APPENDICES 275
a hasty retreat. I crossed the river, and eventually found
my way back to the tent, where I found the old man whom
I had missed anxiously waiting for my return.
That night the " Moonshiners " had quite a party,
gathering around our camp-fire, singing, dancing, and
telling stories of their adventures with the revenue
officers.
Next day we went up the mountain river with about a
dozen " Moonshiners " to catch the trout by means of
nets. The method we adopted was to walk along the
river-bank, stirring the mud with our feet, so that the
trout, who could not see where they were going, ran
right into the nets.
Our captain had brought up some whisky for the
" Moonshiners," with rather disastrous results for them;
for, hearing a little later some desperate yells, I found
them all floundering about up to their necks in a deep
pool. One man ran out of the pool with a whisky bottle
in his hand, which he tried to persuade me to take. I
attempted to get rid of him, but, as he insisted on clinging
to me, I said I was going to cross the river. He told me
that the best way to get across was by means of a tree
that was hanging over the river. It looked a very risky
job even for a perfectly sober man, and he was hardly
able to keep on his feet. However, he pressed me so much
that I agreed to go across. Once he got to the tree he
seemed to recover his balance perfectly, and led me over
to the other side in grand style ; but once he got on land
again he collapsed hopelessly, whisky bottle and all. I
stopped with him for an hour, but as he was still in a
hopeless condition, and the rain was beginning to come
on, I left him to sleep off his orgy. That night we did
not have a chance of sleeping a wink, as the " Moon-
shiners " gathered round our camp-fire, and kept dancing
and singing all night long. The next morning we packed
up our things and bade farewell to the " Moonshiners,"
276 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
who were very sorry to part from us. On our way back
we called at the storekeeper's house, and were once more
warmly welcomed. I gave him my fishing-rod as a
parting gift, and he was delighted, saying that he would
cherish it greatly, in memory of the '•' Irish King's "
brother, and would hand it down to his heirs to be kept
by them in the family.
We got safely back to Atlanta after our interesting
little trip to the mountains, and I returned to my fruit-
farming.
APPENDIX C
AVONDALE INDUSTRIES
A Trip Home.
Towards the end of autumn, 1885, I was in New York
with our mother, and she suggested that we should take
a trip to Ireland and see Charley. When I arrived in
Dublin, the city looked very desolate, and the lack of
sunshine made me long to be back in my Southern climate
again. We found on our arrival that all our family had
left the city, except our solicitor, Mr. McDermott, from
whom I discovered that Charley was at Morrisson's
hotel, and Emily down at Avondale.
When I went round to Morrisson's, about noon the
next day, Charley was still in bed, and I had to send the
porter up to him to wake him. When he came down half
an hour later, he seemed delighted to see me, and said that
I had hardly changed since our last meeting. On my
part, however, I found that he had grown very stout.
We chatted about family matters for some time, and then
went in to breakfast, where we were joined by Mr. T. P.
O'Connor. We all had chops, tea, and toast, according
to our usual Avondale menu. Charley asked me if I
would go in to Parliament, but I said I would not, because
I was not a good speaker. He said: " We have plenty
of speakers, and we don't want them." I said, however,
that I was too busy with my fruit in America. We then
went into the smoking-room, where we met Mr. J. O' Kelly,
with whom Charley began talking about the stone-works
277
278 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
at Avondale. I went away then, after arranging to meet
Charley by the six o'clock train at Harcourt Street that
evening.
On our way down to Avondale he pointed out to me
the Wicklow Chemical Manure Works, because they got
their phosphates from Georgia and South Carolina. When
we arrived at Rathdrum, Charley's coachman, Jack
Gaffney, and his horse, Home Rule, were waiting for him.
Emily met us at the door of Avondale, and welcomed me
very warmly. I was glad after dinner to find myself
comfortably installed once more in the cosy library of
Avondale in front of a blazing wood fire. Charley got
out his engineering books and his compass and rule, and
began measuring some of the plans of his buildings. I
found that since my visit to Alabama in 1871 he had
already completed the sawmills which he was then
projecting, and was now engaged on his new cattle-shed.
Immediately after breakfast next morning he said to
me: " John, come and take a walk with me; I am going
down to the new sawmill under Kingston, which you have
never seen." First of all we went doM-n towards the
river, where he had some young cattle grazing. He met
Henry Gaffney, his herd, and had a long consultation
with him about his cattle. After that we walked down
along the road past the new tea-house which he had built
as a residence for Mr. Michael Merna, his mill -manager.
When we got near the sawmill we inspected the mine-
shaft, where four or five men were trying to find the vein
of sulphur and copper which was lost by the Conoree
Copper Company some years before ; but, on account of
finding part of the copper vein when the railway company
were making the bridge over the Avon River, Charley
decided to sink a shaft opposite it, though up to that
time neither the Conoree Copper Company on their side
of the river, nor Charley on his side, had found it. It was
supposed that the vein had run with the river, and had
APPENDICES 279
been washed away, as there was a fault in the railway
cutting close to the spot.
Charley and I often inspected that fault to see which
way it ran, but never could come to any definite decision
as to its direction.
The Sawmill.
We then went on to the new sawmill, a very line wood
and iron structure, the roof of which was modelled on the
Warrior River bridge which we had inspected in 1871.
Charley evidently took a great deal of interest in this
mill, as he worked in it himself along with the men,
and, I was told, planed harder than anyone there. He
constructed the waterway and race-lock and dam in the
river, by which the mill was run with the turbine wheel
which he had bought in America. After spending a
couple of hours with great interest at the sawmill, we
went back to Avondale, where we had lunch together.
We went to see the cattle-shed which he was building,
and which was finished so far as the walls were concerned.
We then went on to his original small sawmill, where he
was making beech paving sets for the Corporation of
Dublin.
He had a lot of workmen engaged on various tasks in
different portions of the estate. Fully twenty-five were
occupied in the sawmills and timber business, and there
were a lot of farm hands, stable men and boys, not count-
ing the household. After dinner Charley again busied
himself with the plans of his new cattle-shed, and at about
ten o'clock Emily, her niece Delia, and myself, went to
bed, leaving Charley to sit up until goodness knows what
hour. Charley went off to Dublin for a couple of days,
leaving me to fish for trout, which I did with considerable
success. The day after Charley returned from Dublin,
he said to me: " John, come along with me to see some of
the quarries which I am working to try and get sets
28o CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
made for street paving in Dublin." The first quarry we
went to was on the other side of the Avonbeg River, and
Mr. Feeney, the owner of the mill near-by, brought out
some planks, which he placed upon the rocks to enable
us to get across the river. There were at least twenty
men working at the quarry, hauling out stones with a
great windlass. He said he was going to have the stones
carted all away from the quarry to Rathdrum, the nearest
railway-station. However, I heard, on my return from
America next year, that the stone had not proved suit-
able for set-making, being too brittle. While standing at
the quarry, Charley noticed that the men were cutting
too much stone under the bank where the windlass was
standing. He had hardly called them to get out of
danger when down came the windlass, and would have
killed a couple of men if he had not uttered his warning in
time. On the way home to Avondale we went through
the wood at the Meeting of the Waters. We stopped at
another quarry in Mount Avon Wood, but this was not
working at the time.
Charley during these years was looking for a suitable
stone-quarry to make sets for the Dublin Corporation, as
he had a contract with them at the time, thus disturbing
the set-making monopoly which Wales had hitherto held
of the Irish trade. He knew that if he could find a
suitable stone, such as whinstone, a volcanic or basaltic
stone, he could start a large business in making sets, and
thus create a new Irish industry at the expense of England.
He often told me that Ireland had hundreds of industries
lying idle for the want of working, and he was particularly
anxious to have them opened up. He also believed that
Ireland was full of mineral wealth hidden beneath her soil.
APPENDICES 281
Home Rule.
One day, while we were standing round the library
fire, I asked him whether we should have Home Rule
soon. He immediately said, with emphasis: " We will
have Home Rule next year, and will have Dublin Castle
for our Parliament House." I told him that, in my
opinion, we were not near Home Rule yet, as the people
were not educated up to it ; but Dublin Castle would be
better than the old Bank, as there would be more room.
He said: " You will see that we will be there next
year." I may mention that he always had a great am-
bition to have the new Irish Parliament, which he firmly
believed he would live to see, installed in Dublin Castle.
Soon after this Charley left Avondale for Brighton, as
he said he could not stand the east wind. I remained
there, however, for some time, shooting and fishing, and
finally went back to America in October.
My Visit in 1886.
I returned to Avondale in the following year (1886), and
on arrival went shooting with Charley, Mr. Campbell,
his Secretary, and Mr. Corbett, his great sporting chum.
I found Charley looking better than I had expected, as
he had been ill in the meantime, though he was still very
stout.
When Charley returned to Avondale, there was a very
touching greeting between his mother and himself, after
so many years of separation. To his amused amazement,
she kept on patting him on the head like a small boy (our
mother was a very tall woman), while she informed him
that she intended finishing the work on the terrace at
Avondale which she had left off in our father's time.
" That would be a very good thing to do," he said.
" I have no time, but you can gladly have all the help
282 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
you want from the men on the place, and get them to do
all you tell them."
Accordingly, she set to work with great glee, ordering
the men to carry out her instructions, and before I left
she had constructed several nice terraces round the house,
and had removed a lot of bushes which were hiding the
view from the lower windows.
One morning Charley woke me up early and asked me
to come with him to Aughavannagh to look at some turf
on his estate there. After having breakfast at the game-
keeper's house, we walked all over Blackrock Hill, care-
fully examining the different qualities of turf. The turf
on Blackrock was considered to be the best in the whole
country, and Charley wished to get a market for it.
A few days later we paid another visit to the sawmill,
where the men were hard at work cutting beech sets for
the Dublin Corporation. The demand, however, was
more for stone than wooden sets, and, unfortunately, the
stone which he was getting out of his quarries was not
suitable, although those whom he consulted advised him
to continue quarrying it, with the result that he lost many
thousand pounds. We also had a look at a flag quarry,
which, however, was not paying, and was dropped.
One day, after Charley had despaired of getting any
stone from Avondale which was really suitable for set-
making, an engineer, Mr. Patrick McDonald, came to see
him, and told him he knew where there was a splendid
whinstone quarry, or, rather, a hill of whinstone, which
would do splendidly for set-making. Charley, when he
heard where it was, said: " Oh, it is on Lord Carysfort's
land, and he won't let me have it, because he disapproves
of my politics." Mr. McDonald thought that Lord
Carysfort would not mind the hill being worked, so long
as he got the royalties from the stone that was quarried.
However, Charley thought it was not worth while asking
him. Still, he paid a secret visit to the hill in company
APPENDICES 283
with Mr. McDonald, and brought back samples of the
stone, which seemed to be admirably adapted to the
purpose for which he required it. Finally, through
the agency of Mr. McDonald, a twelve years' lease was
granted by Lord Carysfort. When, however, Lord
Carysfort found out to whom he had actually leased the
quarry, he said: " Oh, Parnell could have easily come to
me, instead of going behind my back. I would willingly
have given it to him if only to provide work for the people."
As soon as Charley had had McDonald's lease trans-
ferred to himself, he set to work excavating the stone.
Finding that the local men were not sufficiently expe-
rienced, he imported several stone-cutters from Wales,
who had been brought up to the work from their boy-
hood. These were housed on the mountain-side in a
number of little huts.
In November my fruit business necessitated my return-
ing to America, and I said good-bye to my mother,
Emily, Delia, and Charley, and returned to New York.
Back again.
I returned to Ireland again in 1887, filled with a longing
for the fresh mountain air of Aughavannagh. I found
Charley very busy working his new quarry at Arklow.
He experienced considerable difficulty, however, as set-
making by itself did not pay. The trouble was that an
immense amount of refuse accumulated, which was very
much in the way and very costly to remove, and he and
his friends devoted a great deal of time to considering
what could be done with it. He finally sent an expert
to \A^ales to find out there what was done with the refuse
stone. He adopted the Welsh system of crushing the
waste stone into macadam by machinery, sorting it into
different grades by means of large iron sieves, even the
dust being utilized for making cement. The installation
284 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
of the machinery cost Charley several thousand pounds,
and necessitated the employment of many additional
workmen, but began to pay almost immediately it was
adopted.
One great improvement that he had effected since
my last visit was the building of an inclined railway
line from the mountains to the coast, enabling him to
transport his stone by sea, instead of by land, at a con-
siderable reduction of expense. Directly the Welsh
quarries discovered that Charley had started to under-
mine their monopoly, they started to cut their prices,
but the Dublin Corporation, acting in a very fine patriotic
spirit, offered Charley more for his sets than the Welsh
quarry owners were asking them, in order to provide
work for Irish labourers.
A Great Scheme.
Charley took me to examine the old lead-mines which
were worked a generation ago. He was trying to find
out if any of the veins in these disused mines ran across
to the mountains on his own estate. Naturally, he heard
many curious stories when he came to make inquiries.
One of his tenants told him that his father, whilst driving
his cattle across the mountain, found that one of them,
while cropping the short grass, had scraped bare a vein
of lead. The man, however, had forgotten the exact
place where this was believed to have occurred, and
Charley and I spent much time in fruitless searches for it.
Charley during this time described to me in detail his
great scheme for the development of the minerals and
coalfields of Wicklow and Kilkenny. He said: " When
I am able, I will get the Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford
Railway, in conjunction with the Great Southern Rail-
way, to build a line from the Meeting of the Waters, right
through Glenmalure, to the Kilkenny coalfields, tapping
APPENDICES 285
the lead and iron mines on their way." His great idea
was to connect the iron at Avoca and Rathdriim with the
coal in Kilkenny. His scheme no doubt originated from
the observations which he made of the coal and iron fields
in Alabama dming our visit there in 1871.
We also went to look at a shaft which he had sunk in a
field belonging to his tenant, Mr. Nicholas Devereux.
He was looking here for gold, as there was a quaitz vein
which, on analysis in his laboratory at Brighton, he had
found to contain gold to some extent. In the same field
he had found a bed of yellow ochre, which we examined,
but he said it would not pay unless he could find the
copper which almost always run in company with it. He
was then and afterwards engaged at intervals in searching
for this copper vein, which he had reason to believe was
in existence close by.
These brief references I have made to Charley's indus-
trial activities will show that, quite apart from politics,
he took a very keen interest in mineralogy, as also in the
different works carried on on his estate. How engrossing
this hobby of his was, few of those who only knew him as
a politician ever guessed. He took a great pride in his
industries, which formed really quite a separate part of
his life ; but his shyness prevented his talking about them
to any but very intimate friends, especially as, on the
whole, they did not prove a financial success. StiU,
their influence upon his character must be taken into
consideration when forming a general estimate of the
man as he really was beneath his mask of ice.
APPENDIX D
WHERE THE TRIBUTE WENT TO
Financial Difficulties.
I HAVE been often asked what Charley did with the sum of
nearly £40,000 subscribed for him by the Irish nation.
People have also wished to know how it was that, having
been left by his father the fine estate of Avondale, free and
unencumbered, he came to be in such straits that he had
to mortgage it, and how it was that on his death, in spite
of the £40,000 tribute, he was so heavily in debt. They
are not easy questions to answer, but I shall endeavour to
do my best.
Charley's financial embarrassment had reached a head
in 188 1, after returning from America. He was very
anxious then to find money to send to his mother in New
York, as, owing to the loss of the property her brother
had left her, in the Black Friday panic, she was practically
destitute. He wrote to me saying that, if I would mort-
gage my National Bank shares, he would back bills for
£3,000, which I agreed to do. This shows that he had
actually no money left, not even to help his own family.
Once he became leader, his expenses, of course, in-
creased enormously. A great number of the members
of the Irish party had no money of their own, and he had
not only to finance them in their election campaigns, but
in many cases actually to keep them. So, by December 11,
1883, he was in desperate need of money. Still, he formed
the resolution not to allow a penny of the £40,000 to go out
286
APPENDICES 287
of the country. I remember him telling me this, and also
giving me some idea to what purposes he intended to
devote the tribute money. There was a mortgage on
Avondale of £5,000, which he paid off, though he after-
wards remortgaged the property for £6,000. A mortgage
of £10,000 in favour of our aunt, Mrs. Wigram, he left out-
standing, and I had finally to pay it off. On his quarries
he also sank a great deal, and an attempt to develop the
gold resources of the Wicklow Hills, which, although a
certain amount of gold was found, never paid, cost him
fully £500. At the start the Arklow quarry cost him
£10,000, and before it began to pay he had to spend
another £5,000 on machinery. In addition he bought
up the head-rent of the Kingston demesne, near Avon-
dale, for £3,000, and spent fully £1,500 in doing up Mount
Avon House. He also paid off a number of debts which
he had contracted in Wicklow and elsewhere. It must
be remembered, of course, that the wages he was paying
to his men at Avondale, who were engaged in various
occupations, amounted to quite £50 a week. Then,
during the famine years very few of the tenants on the
Avondale estate paid their rents, and even after the
famine was over they kept up this custom largely, finding
that he was an easy-going landlord and could not bear
the idea of eviction.
You do not wonder, under these circumstances, at his
occasionally showing the attitude described in the follow-
ing anecdote, which I believe to be perfectly true. He
had addressed a crowded meeting one day in his own
county of Wicklow, and was driving away to another
meeting some distance off, when a friend who was with
him in the car noticed one of the men, who had been
cheering Charley's speech most enthusiastically at the
meeting, following the car with doglike devotion mile
after mile. The man kept on following, cheering and
waving his hat as he went, but Charley sat upright and
288 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
expressionless in the car. His friend, taking pity on so
much unrequited loyalty, said to Charley: " You might
just say a word of encouragement to that poor fellow;
he has followed you for seven miles, and hasn't got so
much as a smile from you." " Let him run a little longer,"
said Charley, " seeing that I have let his rent run for
seven years."
In addition to his quarries, the erection of his new
sawmills and cattle-sheds cost him at least £3,000, and
the iron-mine near Rathdrum cost him several hundred
pounds. His travelling expenses were very heavy, and
he had, of course, to live a good deal in London, which cost
him a considerable amount.
Before his death he mortgaged Avondale to the
National Bank for a further sum of £6,000.
His debts, which I had to pay after his death, com-
pelling me to sell Avondale, amounted to over £50,000,
a figure which I have just verified.
The sum total which he spent between 1881 and 1891
amounted to about £90,000.
I was unable to help my brother at all, as the fortune
left to me by Sir Ralph Howard came to an end very
shortly, owing to the company going bankrupt. Moreover,
Charley's bills, which he had persuaded me to draw in
order to provide money for our mother, fell due, and I
had to sell what little capital I had, while my promising
fruit business was crippled for want of money.
The foregoing will give some idea of the many expenses
which Charley had to meet, and will show that even such
a sum as £40,000 could be easily swallowed up by his
liabilities and current expenses.
I remember him in 1887 complaining of the financial
difficulties in which he again found himself involved, and
saying to me: " Well, John, politics is the only thing I
ever got any money from, and I am looking for another
subscription now." I think he was quite serious when
APPENDICES 289
he said it, but, of course, a fresh tribute was not forth-
coming.
To illustrate how largely his private money went in
financing his party, I distinctly recall a remark he made
to me once when driving from Rathdrum to Avondale.
We passed on the road a couple of M.P's., both prominent
members of his party, making their way on foot to Avon-
dale. To my surprise, Charley drove right past them,
with a curt nod but no slackening of speed. I asked him
why he had not stopped and offered them a lift, as there
was plenty of room in the car. He replied grimly: " Let
them walk, it'll do them good; they are only coming up
to put their hands in my pockets and get some more
money." This showed that, lavish as he was towards
his party, he was only too aware that advantage was very
often taken of his generosity.
19
APPENDIX E
A FRIEND'S APPRECIATION
Just when this book was going to press, I received a
letter from Mr. Joseph McCarroU of Wicklow, one of
Charley's oldest friends and supporters. It contains
many vivid touches, such as only an eyewitness of the
critical portions of my brother's life could have given,
and I make no apology for giving it in full :
Dear Mr. Parnell,
I rejoice to learn you are writing the life of
your illustrious brother, the late Charles Stewart
Parnell. No other writer but yourself could deal so
fully and faithfully with his early days, his boyhood
and glorious manhood. You understood his every
fibre, and his ardent love for Avondale, the historic
home of the Parnells. You knew that under his cold
self-restraint there beat a heart passionately throb-
bing with love for home and country. That love
doubtless was inflamed by the flag of the Irish
Volunteer waving in the halls of Avondale. It must
have brought to his mind glories of '82, when " Dun-
gannon spoke, and the thunders of her cannon woke
the echoes of Liberty." Who can say how much
this old flag influenced a silent resolve in Parnell
that he himself might one day do similar work for
Ireland ? The example of his father, too, in espousing
the popular side in local contests, must have had
much to do in strengthening his innate love for free-
dom and justice. The late Father Maloney, P.P.,
290
APPENDICES 291
of Barndarrig, then the Catholic curate in Rathdrum ,
used to revel in describing the scenes and successes
won by Mr. H. Parnell for local rights and popular
control.
It is remarkable how unerring is the national
instinct in the choice of a leader. After the founding
of Butt's Home Rule, its founders turned to Avondale,
and a deputation, headed by Mr. A. J. Kettle, was
sent to enlist Charles Stewart Parnell in the new
movement. Mr. Parnell received the deputation
graciously, and after a long interchange of views he
assented to join the Home Rule organization. His
first appearance as a public speaker in the Rotunda
was hailed with great delight, the audience cheering
wildly as he walked up the floor to the platform.
He was introduced to the audience by the late A. M.
Sullivan. His speech was slow but thoughtful. After
the meeting Mr. Sullivan declared that the silent and
reserved young man would prove worthy of " Parnell
the Incorruptible," whom neither the peerages of
Castlereagh nor the gold of Pitt could seduce into
voting for the Union. So great was the confidence
inspired by Parnell that he was solicited to contest
for County Dublin, and to this he consented, which
cost him £15,000. Of course he was defeated, the
country only just awakening to the new spirit.
Many a time I have listened with rapture to Mr.
Kettle's account of the selection and the uphill
fight that the Home Rulers made. The sacrifices
Mr. Parnell made in contesting County Dublin were
not forgotten, and it is to the credit of County Wicklow
that the first resolution for a Parnell testimonial was
carried with acclamation by a large meeting in
Greenare. I drafted the resolution, and wrote to
the Chief asking his permission formally to inaugurate
the testimonial. He replied thanking me, but de-
clined permission, sajdng he could get on very well.
Subsequently the Avoca Land League (T. A. iByrne,
President) had the honour of opening the Parnell
292 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
testimonial, the late W. J. Corbett being one of the
tirst subscribers.
In Parnell's struggle to wipe out Whiggery and give
representation to the nation, of course he met with
the fiercest opposition from the old ascendancy, the
Whigs and mongrels. The Enniscorthy fight was
one of the earliest and the worst. Parnell received
some rough handling. In the end he triumphed.
Indignant at the treatment he received in Ennis-
corthy, Wicklow called a great meeting to sustain
Parnell, and to show him he had the nation at his
back. The Market Square was packed and the
enthusiasm unbounded. The scene was an inde-
scribable one, and the Chief never forgot it. The
addresses breathed the spirit of the hills, and he was
accompanied to the railway-station by a large crowd
and a torchlight procession. Standing up at his
departure, all his old faith full in him, he declared
that nothing would turn him from his course till
Ireland was free; for he recognized that Wicklow,
despite the oppression of centuries, was as true to
Ireland as when she routed Lord de Grey in Glen-
malure.
I was present with Parnell at the great meeting at
Wexford. It looked like a rising of the nation.
His speech replying to Gladstone's famous utterance
at Leeds, touching the " resources of civilization,"
was scathing. It cost him his liberty, and as a
" suspect " he soon found himself in Kilmainham.
It was thought that his imprisonment would drive
the Land League into open rebellion; but, though
Parnell was in prison, his spirit and counsel were
free outside, and even more potent. I had the honour
of visiting him in Kilmainham. He looked pale,
but never complained, though his soul chafed under
the confinement. With two spies standing by, no
political question could be touched. He made many
inquiries about the Wicklow harbour, in which he
took a warm interest; and no wonder, as it was his
APPENDICES 293
influence in the county and in London that enabled
the Wicklow Town and Harbour Commissioners to
obtain the loan from the Treasury that built the fine
Wicklow breakwater and steamboat pier. It was
singular that, with his life swallowed up in political
convulsions, he yet always manifested a keen interest
in industrial questions. The large sums he spent in
exploring for lead in Avondale and the Bally Capple
copper and iron ore mines illustrate this. Had he
been spared, these latter mines of Bally Capple
would now be giving employment and diffusing
wealth over a large area. There is no question what-
ever of the ore being there, and in abundance. With
motor lorries the difficulties of transit to the port of
Wicklow would vanish. The Parnell quarries re-
main, a standing proof of his fostering of industrial
development. There was a huge rock that Lord
Carysfort, though a man of unhmited capital, never
thought of developing. It remained to Parnell to
make it the centre of industries giving much em-
ployment to Arklow and the neighbourhood.
Nothing so much delighted him as to see his country-
men actively employed in remunerative work in
their own land, happy and contented.
I have made this letter far too long, but the
subject — the memory of the greatest Irishman of our
own or of any age — must plead my excuse.
Wishing your book great success, dear Mr. Parnell,
Very faithfully yours,
Joseph McCarroll.
APPENDIX F
THE MANIFESTO OF 1890
Although as a rule I have abstained from making
quotations of any length in this book, and have specially
avoided the inclusion of lengthy documents in extenso,
yet I feel I must make an exception in the case of this
manifesto, seeing that it is one of the very few cases in
which Charley has committed to writing his innermost
thoughts, and that those deal with the Home Rule
question in detail. Although long, I do not think it will
be found in the slightest degree wearisome, and being, as
it is, the supreme declaration of my brother's policy, I do
not like to run the risk of spoiling it by resorting to con-
densation, which would mean the exercising of my own
judgment as to the parts which I considered to be im-
portant or the reverse. It would therefore, in my opinion,
be fairer to give this very interesting document in full,
and allow my readers to exercise their own judgment
with regard to it. The following is its form as it appeared
in the Times of November 29, 1890 :
Mr. ParneU issued at a late hour last night the
following manifesto to the Irish people :
To THE People of Ireland.
The integrity and independence of a section of
the Irish Parliamentary party having been sapped
and destroyed by the wirepullers of the Enghsh
Liberal party, it has become necessary for me as
294
APPENDICES 295
the leader of the Irish nation to take counsel with
you, and, having given you the knowledge which
was in my possession, to ask your judgment upon
the matter which now solely devolves upon you to
decide.
The letter from Mr. Gladstone to Mr. Morley,
written for the purpose of influencing the decision of
the Irish party in the choice of their leader, and
claiming for the Liberal party and their leaders the
right of veto upon that choice, is the immediate cause
of this address to you, to remind you and your
Parliamentary representatives that Ireland considers
the independence of her party as her only safeguard
within the Constitution, and above and beyond all
other considerations whatever. The threat in that
letter, repeated so insolently on many English plat-
forms and in numerous British newspapers, that
unless Ireland concedes this right of veto to England
she will indefinitely postpone her chances of obtain-
ing Home Rule, compels me, while not for one
moment admitting the slightest probability of such
loss, to put before you information which until now,
so far as my colleagues are concerned, has been solely
in my possession, and which will enable you to under-
stand the measure of the loss with which you are
threatened unless you consent to throw me to the
English wolves now howling for my destruction.
In November of last year, in response to a re-
peated and long-standing request,' I visited Mr.
Gladstone at Hawarden, and received the details of
the intended proposal of himself and his colleagues
of the late Liberal Cabinet with regard to Home
Rule, in the event of the next General Election favour-
ing the Liberal party.
It is unnecessary for me to do more at present
than to direct your attention to certain points of
these details, which will be generally recognized as
embracing elements vital for your information and
the formation of your judgment. These vital points
296 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
of difficulty may be suitably arranged and considered
under the following heads :
1. The retention of the Irish members in the
Imperial Parliament.
2. The settlement of the land or agrarian difficulty
in Ireland.
3. The control of the Irish Constabulary.
4. The appointment of the Judiciary (including
Judges of the Supreme Court, County Court
Judges, and resident magistrates).
Upon the subject of the retention of the Irish
members in the Imperial Parliament, Mr. Gladstone
told me that the opinion, and the unanimous opinion,
of his colleagues and himself, recently arrived at
after most mature consideration of alternative pro-
posals, was that, in order to conciliate English public
opinion, it would be necessary to reduce the Irish
representation from 103 to 32.
Upon the settlement of the land, it was held
that this was one of the questions which must be
regarded as questions reserved from the control of
the Irish Legislature, but at the same time Mr.
Gladstone intimated that, while he would renew his
attempt to settle the matter by Imperial legislation
on the lines of the Land Purchase Bill of 1886, he
would not undertake to put any pressure upon his
own side or insist upon their adopting his views —
in other and shorter words, that the Irish Legislature
was not to be given the power of solving the agrarian
difficulty, and that the Imperial Parliament would
not.
With regard to the control of the Irish Constabu-
lary, it was stated by Mr. Gladstone that, having
regard to the necessity for conciliating English public
opinion, he and his colleagues felt that it would be
necessary to leave this force and the appointment
of its officers under the control of the Imperial
authority for an indefinite period, while the funds
APPENDICES 297 '
for its maintenance, payment, and equipment, would
be compulsorily provided out of Irish resources.
The period of ten or twelve years was suggested as
the limit of time during which the appointment of
Judges, resident magistrates, etc., should be retained
in the hands of the Imperial authority.
I have now given a short account of what I
gathered of Mr. Gladstone's views and those of his
colleagues during two hours' conversation at Hawar-
den — a conversation which I am bound to admit
was mainly monopohzed by Mr. Gladstone — and pass
to my own expressions of opinion upon these com-
munications, which represent my views then as now.
And, first, with regard to the retention of the
Irish members, the position I have always adopted,
and then represented, is that, with the concession
of full powers to the Irish Legislature equivalent to
those enjoyed by a State of the American Union,
the number and possession of the members so re-
tained would become a question of Imperial concern,
and not of pressing or immediate importance for the
interests of Ireland. But that, with the important
and all-engrossing subjects of agrarian reform, con-
stabulary control, and judiciary appointments, left
either under Imperial control or totally unprovided
for, it would be the height of madness for any Irish
leader to imitate Grattan's example, and consent to
disband the army which had cleared the wa^^ to
victory.
I further undertook to use every legitimate in-
fluence to reconcile Irish public opinion to a gradual
coming into force of the new privileges, and to the
postponements necessary for English opinion with
regard to constabulary control and judicial appoint-
ments, but strongly dissented from the proposed
reduction of members during the interval of proba-
tion. I pointed to the absence of any suitable
prospect of land settlement by either Parliament
as constituting an overwhelming drag upon the
298 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
prospects of permanent peace and prosperity in
Ireland.
At the conclusion of the interview I was informed
that Mr. Gladstone and all his colleagues were en-
tirely agreed that, pending the General Election,
silence should be absolutely preserved with regard
to any points of difference on the question of the
retention of the Irish members.
I have dwelt with some length upon these subjects,
but not, I think, disproportionately to their im-
portance. Let me say in addition that, even when
full powers are conceded to Ireland over her own
domestic affairs, the integrity, number, and inde-
pendence, of the Irish party will be a matter of no
importance ; but until this ideal is reached it is 3^our
duty and mine to hold fast every safeguard.
I need not say that the questions — the vital and
important questions — of the retention of the Irish
members on the one hand, and the indefinite delay
of full powers to the Irish Legislature on the other,
gave me great concern. The absence of any pro-
vision for the settlement of the agrarian question,
of any policy on the part of the Liberal leaders, fills
me with concern and apprehension. On the intro-
duction of the Land Purchase Bill by the Govern-
ment at the commencement of last session, Mt. Morley
communicated with me as to the course to be adopted.
Having regard to the avowed absence of any policy
on the part of the Liberal leaders and party with
regard to the matter of the land, I strongly advised
Mr. Morley against any direct challenge of the
principle of State-aided land pmxhase, and, finding
that the fears and alarms of the English taxpayer
to State aid by the hypothecation of grants for local
purposes in Ireland as a counter-guarantee had been
assuaged, that a hopeless struggle should not be
maintained, and that we should direct our sole
efforts on the second reading of the Bill to the asser-
tion of the principle of local control. In this I am
APPENDICES 299
bound to say Mr. Morley entirely agreed with me,
but he was at the same time much hampered — and
expressed his sense of his position — in that direction
by the extreme section of his party, led by Mr.
Labouchere. And in a subsequent interview he im-
pressed me with the necessity of meeting the second
reading of the Bill with a direct negative, and asked
me to imdertake the motion. I agreed to this, but
only on the condition that I was not to attack the
principle of the measure, but to confine myself to a
criticism of its details. I think this was false strategy,
but it was a strategy adopted out of regard to English
prejudices and Radical peculiarities. I did the best
that was possible under the circumstances, and the
several days' debate on the second reading contrasts
favourably with Mr. Labouchere' s recent and abor-
tive attempt to interpose a direct negative to the first
reading of a similar Bill yesterday.
Time went on. The Government allowed their
attention to be distracted from the question of land
pm-chase by the Bill for compensating English
publicans, and the agrarian difficulty in Ireland was
again relegated to the future of another session.
Just before the commencement of this session I was
again favoured with another interview with Mr.
Morley. I impressed upon him the policy of the
oblique method of procedure in reference to land
purchase, and the necessity and importance of pro-
viding for the question of local control, and of a
limitation in the application of the funds. He
agreed with me, and I offered to move, on the first
reading of the BiU, an amendment in favour of this
local control, advising that, if this were rejected, it
might be left to the Radicals on the second reading
to oppose the principle of the measure. This ap-
peared to be a proper course, and I left Mr. Morley
under the impression that this would fall to my duty.
But in addition he made me a remarkable pro-
posal, referring to the probable approaching victory
300 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
of the Liberal party at the polls. He suggested some
considerations as to the future of the Irish party.
He asked me whether I would be willing to assume
the office of Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, or to allow another member of my party
to take the position. He also put before me the
desirability of filling one of the law offices of the
Crown in Ireland by a legal member of my party.
I told him, amazed as I was at the proposal, that I
could not agree to forfeit in any way the indepen-
dence of the party or any of its members ; that the
Irish people had trusted me in this movement because
they believed that the declaration I had made to
them at Cork in 1880 was a true one and represented
my convictions, and that I would on no account depart
from it. I considered that, after the declarations
we had repeatedly made, the proposal of Mr. Morley,
that we should allow ourselves to be absorbed into
English politics, was one based upon an entire mis-
conception of our position with regard to the Irish
constituencies and of the pledges which we had given.
In conclusion, he directed my attention to the
Plan of Campaign estates. He said that it would be
impossible for the Liberal party when they attained
power to do anything for these evicted tenants by
direct action ; that it would be also impossible for the
Irish Parliament, under the powers conferred, to do
anything for them ; and, flinging up his hands with a
gesture of despair, he exclaimed: " Having been to
Tipper ary, I do not know what to propose in regard
to the matter." I told him that this question was
a limited one, and that I did not see that he need
allow himself to be hampered by its future con-
sideration ; that, being limited, funds would be avail-
able from America and elsewhere for the support of
those tenants as long as might be necessary; that,
of course, I understood it was a difficulty, but that
it was a limited one, and should not be allowed to
interfere with the general interests of the country.
APPENDICES 301
I allude to this matter only because within the
last few days a strong argument in many minds for
my expulsion has been that, unless the Liberals
come into power at the next General Election, the
Plan of Campaign tenants will suffer. As I have
shown, the Liberals propose to do nothing for the
Plan of Campaign tenants by direct action when they
do come into power; but I am entitled to ask that
the existence of these tenants, whom I have sup-
ported in every way in the past, and whom I shall
continue to support in the future, shall not constitute
a reason for my expulsion from Irish politics. I
have repeatedly pledged myself to stand by these
evicted tenants and that they shall not be allowed
to suffer, and I believe that the Irish people through-
out the world will support me in this policy.
Sixteen years ago I conceived the idea of an Irish
Parliamentary party independent of all English
parties. Ten years ago I was elected the leader of
an independent Irish Parliamentary party. During
these ten years that party has remained independent,
and because of its independence it has forced upon
the English people the necessity of granting Home
Rule to Ireland. I believe that party will obtain
Home Rule only provided it remains independent of
any English party.
I do not believe that any action of the Irish
people in supporting me will endanger the Home
Rule cause or postpone the establishment of an Irish
Parliament; but even if the danger with which we
are threatened by the Liberal party of to-day were
to be realized, I believe that the Irish people through-
out the world would agree with me that postpone-
ment would be preferable to a compromise of our
national rights by the acceptance of a measure which
would not realize the aspirations of our race.
I have the honour to remain,
Your faithful servant,
Charles Stewart Parnell.
APPENDIX G
AvoNDALE is not, as is commonly believed, an old pos-
session of the Parnell family. The ancestral estate is that
of Colure in Armagh. The house at Avondale was built
by Colonel Hayes, its original proprietor, in 1777, this
date being inscribed inside the hall door. Colonel Hayes
was a Colonel in the Irish Volunteers during the Irish
Rebellion, and the flags of his regiment used to hang up
in the hall at Avondale, until, on the death of my brother
Charley, they were taken down and placed on his coffin.
Colonel Hayes planted a great deal of timber on the
estate, and it was through a common interest in forestry
that he formed a friendship with Sir John Parnell, the
last member of the old Irish House of Commons. This
friendship lasted until his death, and was so warm that
by his will Colonel Hayes provided that Avondale should
pass to his widow if she desired to live there; but in the
case of her not wishing to do so, it was to become the
property of his friend, Sir John Parnell, and his heirs.
Mrs. Hayes refused to live at Avondale, and so the estate
passed to the Parnell family. The will of Colonel Hayes
contained a curious provision that the estate of Avondale
should always pass to a younger member of the family
(it being considered, no doubt, that the older members
would be sufficiently provided for out of the Parnell
ancestral estates in the counties of Armagh and Queens) ;
and it also stipulated that the owners of Avondale should
take the name of Hayes, or Parnell-Hayes. My grand-
father was known as William Parnell-Hayes, but the
302
APPENDICES 303
name Hayes has for some reason been dropped by the
subsequent heirs of the property. I came across this will
of Colonel Hayes's in my father's desk, by accident, after
Charley's death, and it explained to me why my father
should have left Avondale to Charley. The latter, I
think, never knew about it, because he often expressed
regret that the property should have been left to him,
as he felt that it ought to have come to me, as the eldest
son.
My father only owned the Avondale estate through
the generosity of his sister Catherine, the late Mrs.
Wigram, to whom my grandfather had left it. My father
and Lord Powerscourt were rivals for the hand of Miss
Delia Stewart, the American beauty, daughter of Com-
modore Charles Stewart, and, to enable him to win her,
his sister gave him Avondale, in return for a mortgage
of £10,000, which was to bring her in an income of £500 a
year. My father left Avondale to Charley and an income
of £4,000 a year; whilst I was left the old Parnell estate
in Co. Armagh, with only a small income, because my
uncle, Sir Ralph Howard, had given my father to under-
stand that I should be his heir, which would have made
me as well provided for as Charley.
INDEX
Abercorn, Duke of, 114
Alabama, C. S. Parnell in, 77-79,
82-108, 147
coal-fields of, 8, 91-94, 103,
112, 285
America, Parnell as a hero in, 8,
268-270
American Civil War, the, 43, 55-
58, 67, 85, 125, 127
influence in Ireland, 68
on Parnell, 196
National League, 208, 238, 269
sympathy with the Irish, 150,
154, 156-164, 238, 245, 268
War of Independence, the, 8
centenary of, 145, 147
Arklow, Parnell at, 136, 212, 258,
283, 287
Armagh Light Infantry, the, 54,
55. 71
Army Reserve, the, 150
Arrears Act, the, 205
Athlone, Parnell at, 172, 173
Atlanta Constitution, The, 160,
255. 268
Atlanta, Georgia, 158, 160, 255,
268-270, 276
Aughavannagh, Parnell family at,
9, 32, 63, III, 117, 155, 254, 259,
282. 283
Aughrim, 32
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., 56
Avoca, 285
Land League, the, 291
Avonbeg River, 280
Avondale, 234, 259
description of, 14-17, 33
inherited by C. S. Parnell, 3,
9. 14. 39. 58, 114
mortgages on, 209, 256, 286,
288
Parnell at, 130, 176, 178, 257,
263, 278, 281, 287, 290
quarries at, 147, 293
sawmills at, 59-62, 76, 88, 93,
113, 147, 256, 257, 278-280,
293
Avonmore, the river, 3, 4, 14
Ballyarthur cricket team, 31
Bally Capple mines, the, 293
Barndarrig, 291
Barry, Mr., 167
advises Parnell's retirement,
244
Bennet, Pat, 256, 257
Biggar, Joseph, arrest of, 188
his campaign of obstruction,
143. 149
opposes Parnell, 232
supports Parnell, 167
Birmingham, Alabama, 79, S9-97,
lOI
Birmingham, England, dynamite
factory in, 210
Gladstone in, 220
Black Friday panic, the, 138, 286
Blackrock, 259, 282
Blake, Mr., 167
Blindfold, walking, 60
Bookey, Captain, 62
Bordentown, 13
Bossi, his work at Avondale, 16
Boston, U.S.A., 44
Boswell, James, 6
Boulogne, Parnell in, 251
Bourrienne, 6
Boycott, system of, 184-187
Brabazon, Lord, 47, 48
Brennan, Thomas, secretau'y of
the Land League, 188
Brett. Sergeant, 69, 129
Bright, John, opposes the Home
Rule Bill, 215, 216
Brighton, Parnell in, 233-235, 252,
266, 285
Brooke, Charles, 24
Brooklyn, Land League meetings
in, 163
Parnell at, 152, 158
Brooks, Mr., 167
Brownrigg, Mr., 56
Budget Bill, 1885, 212
Bullock Harbour, 42
Burke, Mr., murder of, 200-206, 221
Butt, Isaac, his leadership, 149-
152, 166
305 20
3o6 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Butt, Isaac, his tenant-right cam-
paign,ii3,ii8,i20,i3i, 142,291
Byrne, T. A., 167, 291
Cahawba, Parnell at, 89
Callaghan, Miss, 103
Callan, Mr., 167
Cambridge, Parnell at, 49, 52
Campbell, Mr., 235, 281
Canada, Fenian raid on, 67
Candles, superstition as to, 266
Carlisle, Earl of, as Lord-Lieu-
tenant, 54, 55, 72, 122
Carlow, 252
property, inherited by Henry
Parnell in, 39, 115
Carlyle, Thomas, 6
Carysfort, Lord, 10, 117
his estate at Arklow, 258, 282,
283, 293
Casino, the, 15, 34, 36, 44, 51
Castle Howard, 24
Castlereagh, Lord, 291
Catholic Association, the, 8
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, mur-
der of, 200-206, 221
Chamberlain, Joseph, his share in
the Kilmainham Treaty,
197, 231
opposes the Home Rule Bill,
214-216
supports Parnell, 153
Chambers, Colonel, 86
Chester, 51
Chipping Norton, Parnell at, 47-
52, 97
Churchill, 51
Clancy, Mr., opposes Parnell, 248
Clan-na-Gael, the Parnells' rela-
tions with, 152, 154, 162, 165
Clarinda Park, 43
Clarke, Wilham, tutor, 35
Cliphart, Mr., 94, 98
Clover Hill mines, 88, 106-108, 148
Coalfields, Parnell's interest in,
80, 88-95, 98, 104-108, 112, 130,
131
Coercion Bill, the, 189-193, 196,
198, 204, 205, 220
Collins, Terry, 84
Collure, inherited by J. H. Par-
nell, 39, 61, 112, 123, 131, 302
Colthurst, Mr., 167
Congleton, Henry Parnell, Lord,
his career, 7, 8
Thomas Parnell, Mayor of, 7
Conoree Copper Company, the, 278
Corbett, W. J., on Parnell, 254
supports Parnell, 63, 167,
281, 292
Cork, Daniel Horgan, Mayor of,
ix-xi
Parnell M.P. for, 119, 166
250, 300
pride in Parnell in, x, xi
Cowper, Lord, Viceroy of Ireland,
198-200
Creggs, Parnell at, 252
Cricket, Parnell's love of, 22, 29
31, 38, 48, 51, 181
Crimes Act, the, 204, 217
Cummins, Dr., 167
Dalkey, Parnell family at, 40
Daly, 167
Davitt, Michael, 132
in America, 153, 187
supports Parnell, 153, 203
Dawson, 167
Dawson,LadyCarolineElizabeth,8
Day, Mr. Justice, 225
Derrybawn, 62
Devereux, Nicholas, 285
Dickinson, Captain, acts as agent,
59, 60, 112
in Dublin, 117, 119, 121-123,
133
marries Emily Parnell, 11,
12, 37. 45. 59
Dickinson, Emily, in Dublin, 119-
123, 138
at Avondale, 256, 263, 277,
278, 283
Dillon, John, arrest of, 188, 251
joins the Liberals, 247
supports Parnell, 203, 238,
251
supports the Plan of Cam-
paign, 217
suspension of, 190
visits America, 156
Doyle, Mr., 268
Drink, dog, 86
Dublin Castle, 281
Parnell at, 188
County, contested by Parnell,
137-139. 291
and South-Eastern Railway,
the, 44
Dublin, Parnell family in, 32, 38,
39, 45. 50. 54. 62, 119, 126,
130
Parnell in, 213, 249, 252, 279
Parnell's funeral in, 254
INDEX
307
Dunne, Mr., 91
Dynamite outrages, the, 209
Edward VII., King, as Prince,
visits Ireland, 212
Edwards, Mr., engineer, 44, 50
Egan, Patrick, treasurer of the
Land League, 188, 196
Eighty Club, the, 218
Elba, 195
Eltham, 231
England, Parnell's hatred oi, 128,
130, 177. 218
Ennis, Parnell at, 186
Enniscorthy, Painell at, 163, 165,
293
Enniskerry, 68
Erne, Lord, 186
Errington, Mr., 167
Feeney, Mr., 280
Fenian Movement, the, its history,
67-72
its influence on C. S. Parnell,
72, 118, 127, 129, 145
Parnell's relations with, 152,
154, 161-163, 167, 185, 208
Field, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph, 105
FitzGerald, Dr., 246
Flanigan, Mr., 167
Flogging, abolition of, 150, 153
Foley, Mr., 167
Ford, Miss, 163, 269
Ford, Patrick, editor of the Irish
World, 152, 163, 164, 196
Forster, Mr., as Chief Secretary
for Ireland, 184-200
his attack on Parnell, 206,
207
Foy, Mr., 167
Frederick the Great of Prussia, 6
Freeman's Journal, 121, 236
Frozen fruit and meat, importa-
tion of, 137, 147
Funerals, Parnell's dread of, 44,
265
Gabbett, Mr., 167
GafEney, Jack and Henry, 278
Gafiney, Peter and Mary, 60
Galbraith. Rev. Henry, 34
Galvin, Father, supports Parnell,
103, 136
Galway, representation of, 141,
231, 232
Gibbons, Pat, 85
Gill. Mr., 167
Gladstone, William Ewart, as
Premier, his Irish policy,
167, 190, 193-198, 212, 213,
219, 231, 247, 248, 251, 292
his collars, 175
his Home Rule Bill, 214-216,
220
his Land Act, 190
Parnell on, 218
Parnell's relations with, 132,
190, 193, 202, 240-244, 253.
295
Glenmalure, 254, 284, 292
Glens, The O'Donoghue of the, 172
Government Army Bill, the, 153
Grant, President, 145, 146
Grattan, Henry, his Parliament,
7, 212, 297
Gray, Mr., 167
Green, Parnell's aversion to. 174,
263, 264, 273
Greenare, 291
Grey, Lord. 8
Grey, Lord de, 292
Habeas Corpus Act, suspension of
the, 188-193, 198
Hacketstown, 136
Hamilton, Lord Claude, 114, 115
Hamilton, merchant, 52
Hannen, Mr. Justice, 225
Hansard, consulted, 142
Harcourt, Sir William, his Crimes
Bill, 204
his Irish policy, 242, 248
Harrington, T., supports Parnell,
223, 238, 247, 260
Harrison, Mr., 235
Hawarden, Parnell at, 295-298
Hawksley, Mr., solicitor, 234
Hayden, Mr., M.P., 172, 173
Hayes, Colonel Samuel, bequeaths
Avondale to the Parnells, 14,
16, 302
Hayes family, the, at Avondale, 3
Healy, Timothy, assists Parnell,
265
in America, 160, 269
on Parnell, 237
Hennessy, Sir John Pope, con-
tests Kilkenny, 248, 265
Hicks-Beach, Sir Michael, as Chief
Secretary for Ireland, 129, 145
Hill, Matt, 85, 125
Hill. Senator, 85
Home Rule Bill, Gladstone's, 214-
216, 220, 266
3o8 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Home Rule Conference, 1878, 152
League, the, 152
Paxnell's efEorts for, 138,
141, 148, 152-168, 183,
206, 274
Paxnell's prophecy con-
cerning, 281
struggle for, 68, 118, 131
138, 141, 274
Horgan, Daniel, Mayor of Cork,
his tribute to Parnell, vii.-xi.
Howard, Sir Ralph, guardian, 39,
59, III, 113-115, 288, 303
Hunting, Parnell's love of, 61, 181
Invincibles, the, 201-206
Ipswich, 70
Ireland, American sympathy with,
150, 154, 156-164, 238, 245,
268
disestabUshment of the
Church of, 199, 213
famine in, 155-161, 167, 183,
199
Home Rule for, 68, 118, 131,
134. 141
outrages in, 184, 197, 199, 209
Irish Insurrection Act, the, 8
ParUament, the, 7, 134, 212,
281, 291, 297, 302
party in ParUament, Parnell
as leader of, vii., 131,
162, 166, 167, 183, 189,
213, 216, 239-252, 294-
301
tactics of the, 142-146,
149-153, 190, 227
under Redmond, 259
priests, their attitude to Par-
nell, 240, 250
Irish World, The, 152, 196, 210
James I., 7
Jersey City, 108, 163
Johnson, Mr., guardian, 40
Kavanagh, gardener, 33
Kenny, Dr., 252
Kettle, A. J., 291
Kilkenny, coalfields of, 284, 285
Kilkenny election, the, 248, 250,
265
Killarney, 58
Kilmainham Prison, Parnell in,
194-198, 292
Treaty, the, 197, 205
King, Harry, in Ireland, 56-58, 125
Kingham, 51
Kingsbridge, 58, 119, 250
Kingston, near Avondale, 37, 278,
287
Kingstown, Parnell family at, 41-
44. "4
Kirk Langley. Peirnell at school
at, 29
Labouchere, ?Ienry, 299
supports Parnell, 236
Ladies' Land League, the activi-
ties of, 13, 153, 163, 206, 269
Lalor, Mr., 167
Lancaster, R.A., loS
Land Act, Gladstone's, 190, 212,
215
League, the, activities of,
153, 163, 185, 191. 195,
266, 291
its responsibility for out-
rages, 184, 206, 227
suppression of, 188, 193,
205
Lanier, Mr., 82
Leahy, J., 167
Leamy, Mr., supports Parnell, 167,
246, 249
Leeds, 194, 292
Liverpool, Pcu-nell in, iii, 148,
256
T.P. O'Connor, M.P. for, 232
Lonby, Miss, 11
Long Leaf pine lands, 104
Mahon, Mr., 167
Mallon, Superintendent, 194
Maloney, Father, 290
Manchester murders, the, 6g, 71,
129, 145
Mangan, J. C, quotation from, 65
Marderon, M., 29
Marietta, 271
Marsh, Sir Frederick, 38
Martin, John, M.P., 139
Martin, P., 167
Marum, Mr., 167
Maryborough, 191
Matier, Mrs., 11
Mayo, Parnell elected M.P. for,
166
McCarroU, Joseph, his tribute to
Parnell, 290-293
McCarthy, Justin, opposes Par-
nell, 246, 248, 251
supports Parnell, 167, 237
McConn, Mr., 167
INDEX
309
McDermott, Alfred, solicitor, 11,
40, 256, 277
McDermott, Sophy, 11, 13, 40,
45. 112
McDermott, The, supports Par-
nell, 237
McDonald, Patrick, 282
McFarlane, Mr., 167
McKenna, Mr., 167
Meath, Parnell returned for, 139-
141, 166
Earl of, 47
Meeting of the Waters, the, 3, 14,
30, 36, 280, 284
Melbourne, Lord, 8
Meldon, Mr., 167
Merna, Michael, 5, 278
Merna, Mrs., 79, 82
Mexico, Pamell's father in, 9
Militia, Parnell as a member of
the, 54, 71, 72, 148
Mineralogy, Parnell's interest in,
25S, 278-2S5, 293
Montgomery, U.S.A., 89, 95-97
Montreal, Parnell in, 161
Moonlighting, 187, 270
Moore, Thomas, 14
Moran, P. J., 160, 255, 268
Morley, Arnold, publishes Glad-
stone's letter, 243
Morley, Viscount, 248
Gladstone's letter to, 241-
243. 295
his Irish policy, 218, 298
Mount Avon, 36, 40, 280, 287
Mount Jerome, 39, 44
Mutiny Bill, the Marine, 149, 150
Naas, 194
Napoleon I., 6, 195
National League, the, activities
of, 208, 236, 265
Liberal Federation, the, 241
New Orleans, Parnell at, 94-98
Newport, Rhode Island, 77-80
New York, 256, 269, 277, 282, 286
Davitt in, 153
Land League meetings in, 163,
Parnell in, 108, 117, 146, 148,
156-161
Nolan, Colonel, M.P., supports
Parnell, 141, 149, 246, 247
Nonconformist opposition to Par-
nell, 242
"No Rent" Mxnifesto, the, 196
North and South Railway, acci-
dent on the, 98-101, 105
Northcote, Sir Stafford, 151
North Georgia, 270
North Sligo, 252
O'Brien, Sir P., 167
O'Brien, William, arrest of, 251
his " No Rent " Manifesto, 196
hisplan of compaign, 216, 219,
266
joins the Liberals, 247, 251
supports Parnell, 238
Obstruction, Parnell's campaign
of, 143, 149-153. 162, 189
O'Connor, Arthur, 167
O'Connor, T. P., in America, 238,
269
in Dublin, 277
joins the Liberals, 247
M.P., for Liverpool, 231
supports Parnell, 167
O'Connor Don, The, 43
October, regarded as ill-omened,
266
O'Donnell, F. H., his action
against the Times, 225
O'Donoghue, The, his reminis-
cences of Parnell, 172, 173, 177,
249
O'Gorman, Mr., 167
O'Kelly, J. J., supports Parnell,
167, 246, 277
Orangemen, Canadian, 160, 161
O'Shea, Captain, divorces his wife,
200, 231-236
returned for Galway, 232
supports Parnell, 167, 231
O'Shea, Misses, 235
O'Shea, Mrs., her marriage with
Parnell, 11, 81, 231, 234
O'Sullivan, W. H., 167, 188
O'Toole, Patrick, 63
Oxford, 51
Paget, Theodosia, 11, 13, 14
in Newport, 80
Paris, C. S. Parnell in, 62, 73-81,
III. 195
Parnell family in, 38, 62, 74,
113. 115
Parliament, Parnell as a member
of, 141. 149-153. 162, 177, 183
Parnell family, the, at Avondale,
3. 9-17
Parnell, Anna, 13, 45, 211
Parnell, Charles Stewart, appears
after death, 258-260
as a conversationalist, 48, 125
310 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Parnell, Charles Stewart, as an
engineer, 58, 62, 79, 92,
147, 279
as leader of the Irish party,
vii., 131, 162, 166, 183, 189,
213, 216, 239-252, 294-301
as a member of Parliament,
141, 199, 211, 227,
as a militia-man, 54, 72
as a mineralogist, 42, 79, 88,
107, 258, 278-285, 293
as the " Uncrowned King "
of Ireland, viii, 231
at Aughavannagh, 63, iii,
117
at Avondale, 60
cartoon of, 5
contests Dubhn, 138, 291
decides to enter pohtics, 118-
122, 130
deserted by his party, 236-
252
his aloofness from his partv,
131
his childhood, 11, 15, 18-46
his death and funeral, 252-
256
his early love-affairs, 24, 49,
73-81, 116, 130
his education, 27-29, 34, 41,
45. 47-53
his financial affairs, 80, 88,
94, 103, 108, 209, 286-289
his horror of the Phoenix Park
murders and all outrages,
200-208, 210, 217
his ill-health, 181-198, 217-
219, 226, 252, 281
his imprisonment, 193-198,
292
his interest in coalfields, 88-
95. 103, 106, 130, 148
his love of his own way, 25, 26
his love of sport, 31, 48, 55,
56, 61, 117, 120, 181
his loyalty to the Throne,
128, 212
his manifesto, 294-301
his many superstitions, 174,
263-267, 273
his nervous attacks, 32, 83,
177
his patriotism, x, 5, 21
his personal appearance and
characteristics, 171-182, 281
his pohcy of obstruction, 144,
149-153, 162, 189
Parnell, Charles Stewart, his rela-
tions with the Fenians, 70-
72, 118, 127, 129, 145, 152,
154, 161-163, 167, 185, 208
his relations with Gladstone,
132, 190, 193, 202, 218, 240-
244. 253, 295
his resentment against Eng-
land, 122, 130, 177
his reserve, viii, 29, 126, 174
his sawmills at Avondale, 62.
See Avondale
his sense of humour, 1 72
his struggle for Home Rule,
X, 142, 148, 213, 281
in Paris, 62, 195
in a railway accident, 96-103
influence of the American
Civil War on, 55, 67, 85,
125-127
inherits Avondale, 39, 59, 114,
277, 302
marries Rirs. O 'Shea, 231-233
M.P. for Cork, ix, xi, 166
M.P. for Meath, 139, 166
organizes the Lamd League,
154, 163, 185, 191
prosecution of, 188
repudiates Pigott's forgeries,
221-227
suggests boycotting, 186
supports his brother's can-
didature, 123, 124, 133-
137. 258
tributes to, vii-xi, 290-293
visits America, 77-11 1, 146,
156-164, 268
Parnell, Delia, 11,21. 5ee Thomson
Parnell, Emily, childhood of, 11,
12, 22, 30. 31, 35, 37, 43, 45.
See Dickinson
Parnell, Fanny, as President of
the Ladies' Land League,
153, 154, 163
childhood of, 11, 20, 34, 45, 46
death of, 210
in America, 146, 147, 154,
160, 163
in Paris, 116
patriotism of, 13, 20, 70
superstition of, 116, 267
Parnell, Hayes, 10-12
Parnell, Henry Tudor, 11, 45
inherits Carlow property, 39.
115
Parnell, Sir Henry. See Lord
Congleton
INDEX
311
Parnell, Sir John, career of, 7, 14,
134. 302
Parnell, John Howard, acquaint-
ance with Mrs. C. S. Par-
nell, 234-236
American experiences of, 59,
77-109, 146, 255, 268-276
as a member of Parliament,
128, 259
at Avondale, 59, 62, 256, 278-
285
attends Land League meet-
ings, 154, 160, 163. 268,
269
contests Wicklow, 123, 124,
133-137
C. S. Parnell's bedside visits
to, 258-260
education of, 29, 34, 38, 45-
52
entertains C. S. Parnell in
Alabama, 77-95, 105-109
heir of Sir Ralph Howard, 59,
114
in the Armagh Light Infantry,
54. 71. 72
inherits Collure, 39, 59, 61,
112, 123, 131, 303
in Paris, 29, 38, u6
interest in the American Civil
War, 55
inventor of method of export-
ing frozen fruit, 137, 147
railway accident to, 96-105
recollections of childhood, 18-
53
Parnell, Mr. H., father of C. S.
Parnell, 291
death of, 38
marriage of, 9
Parnell, Mrs., mother of C. S.
Parnell, her devotion to
the cause of freedom, 69-72
her financial affairs, 61, 106,
115-117, 138
her loyalty and her hatred of
England, 128
in America, 160, 163, 277
in Dublin, 32, 45, 50, 54, 62,
70-72
in Paris, 38, 62, 113, 115
on her son, 132, 233, 252, 255,
281
supports the Land League,
154, 158, 163, 269
Parnell, Mrs. C. S., at Brighton,
233-236
Parnell, Sophy, 34, 45. See
McDermott
Parnell, Theodosia, 45. See Paget
Parnell, Thomas, 7
Parnell, William, grandfather of
C. S. Parnell, 8
Petty, Mr., 157
Philadelphia, Davittin, 153
Land League meetings in,
163, 208
Parnell in, 147
Phoenix Park murders, the, 200-
206
Pierce, Dr., in a railway accident,
97-101
Pigott forgeries, the, 200, 221-
227
Pilkington, Mr., M.P., 48
Pitt, William, proposes the union
of Ireland, 7, 291
Plan of Campaign, O'Briens,
216, 217, 219, 244, 266, 300,
301
Portarlington, Earl of, 8
Powell, Colonel, 90, 91
Power, O'Connor, in America with
Parnell, 145-148
supports Parnell in Parlia-
ment, 183
Power, R., 167
Powerscourt, Lord, 10, 48, 303
Prisons Bill, the, 149
Providence, Rhode Island, 163
Quan-Smith, Mr., 43
Queenstown, in, 165, 256
Ran, boss, 87
Rathdrum, 34, 35, 103, 135, 256,
278, 280, 285, 288
Read, Mr., 90
Redmond, John,- as leader of the
Irish Party, 259
at Aughavannagh, 63
in Dublin, 236
supports Parnell, 246, 247
Redmond, William, 246
Ricketts, Captain, 11, 12
Robinson, Mr., attorney, 108
Roderon, M., 38
Rome, Parnell in, 75, 76, 115
Rossa, O'Donovan, editor of
United Ireland, 70, 71
Rossin, M., 45
Rossina, MdUe., 50
Russell, Sir Charles, defends Par-
nell, 225, 226
312 CHARLES STEWART PARNELL
Savannah, 268
Scotland Yard, 201, 210
Scully, Vincent, 249
Sexton, Mr., 167, 188
Shank, Mr. and Mrs Felix, 88
Shaw, William, leader of the Irish
Party, 94, 152, 166, 183
Sheffield, 241
She Stoops to Conquer, 37
Shooting, Parnell's love of, 181
Smith, Catterson, artist, 46
Smith, Mr. Justice, 225
Smithwick, Mr., 167
Smyth, Mr., 167
South African Bill, the, 151
South Carolina, 278
Spencer, Lord, Lord-Lieutenant
of Ireland, 13, 200, 207
St. Aldwyn, Lord, 145
Stepaside police barracks, 68
Stewart, Charles, uncle of C. S.
Parnell, 38, 58, 69, 106,
138
in Paris, 74-75, iii, 115
Stewart, Commodore Charles, and
Mrs.. 8-10, 38, 43, 55, 128.
303
Stewart, Delia, marries Mr. Par-
nell, 8-10, 303
Sullivan, A. M., 291
Sullivan, T. D., in America, 238
joins the Liberals, 247
supports Parnell, 167. 188
Synan, Mr., 167
Tallaght, Battle of, 68
Taylor, Colonel, M.P. for DubHn,
137
Tenant Right System, the, 113,
117, 120, 131
Thirteen, Parnell's dislike of the
number, 264, 267
Thompson, Mr., Mrs., and Henry,
II, 12, 38, 116, 148, 195
Thompson, Sir Henry, 181, 252
Times, the, on Parnellism and
Crime, 221-225
Parnell's manifesto in, 294-
301
Tipperary, 173, 300
Toronto, Parnell in, 160, 161
Trim, Parnell in, 139
Trinity College head rent, 113
Truth. 236
Twopenny, Mrs., nurse, ig, 22, 26,
30, 32, 34. 51
Ulster Tenant Right, the, 134
Uncrowned King, the, viii, 231
United Ireland, 70, 249
Valley of the Seven Churches, the,
62
Victoria, Queen, Parnell's loyalty
to, 128, 129
Virginia, Parnell's interest in the
mines of, 80, 88, 106, 148
Walsh, Martin, 40
Warrior Coalfield, the, 91-94, 103,
147, 279
Welsh quarries, the, 283, 284
West, Charles, agent, 36, 40
West Point, Alabama, 269
C. S. Parnell visits his brother
at, 77-79, 82-89, 95, 105
Wexford, Parnell at, 194, 292
Wey bridge, 14
Whateley, game-keeper, 56
Whinstone Quarry at Arklow, the,
258, 282, 293
Whitechapel murders, the, 237
Wicklow, coalfields of, 284, 287
Chemical Manure Works, 278
contested by J. H. Parnell,
124, 125, 133-137, 258
Harbour, 293
Parnell, High Sheriff of, 122,
133, 135, 137
Parnell in, 68, 73, 117, 136
287, 290, 292
Rifles, the, 54, 71
Wicklow, Lord and Lady, at
Avondale, 3, 10
Wigram, Mrs., 287, 303
Wingfield, Louis, 48
Winslow, Dr. Forbes, 28
Wishaw, Rev. Mr., tutor, 47-50,
58
Wood, Katharine. See Mrs.
O'Shea
Woods, Miss, Parnell's engage-
ment to, 74-81, 130
Wylde. Lady, quotation from, i
Yeovil, Parnell at, 27
Zouche, Miss, 32, 34, 40
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