The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1891. MR PARNELL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2173, 10 March 1891, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1891. MR PARNELL.

Pooe Ireland! Her cause which seemed bright and promising a few months ago now looks dark and hopeless. He who was looked upon as her deliverer is proving her betrayer, i We could have forgiven Mr Parnell’s sin. To err is human. He was not the first great man who erred in a similar way, and no doubt he will not be the last. But men ought to show some sense of shame, some contrition, sop?e sign of regret, at any rate when found offt,. This Mr Parnell has not done. He has exhibited a most pertinacious deterruiqatiou to “ brazen it out,’ 1 and thus places himself beyond the pale of forgiveness. In this respect he has added crime to crime, and heaped on the top of them the further transgression of betraying a peojple who trusted him implicitly,

md loved him aa few men have been oved before. Mr Parnell knows well, mlesa be baa lost bis reason, that inder bis leadership Home Rule is mpossible. He knows that without fche assistance of Englishmen it cannot be secured, and he knows that the Englishmen who have hitherto fought for it have had enough to do to dispel the prejudice against it, without being handicapped by his own personality. He knows all this as well as any one can tell him, yet for some reason best known to himself he insists on remaining as an element of discord in the front ranks of the movement regardless of consequences. His action ia really incomprehensible. After all he has done and suffered, the abuse, calumny and contumely which he has borne with so much dignity, and the patience and perseverance with which he has worked, it is really difficult to believe that he has not been sincere, yet if he were sincere would he now stand in the way of securing the object which he appears to have had at heart. It ia said that there was a strain of lunacy in his family, and that there is some peculiarity about his eyes which denotes that he is mad. It appears to us that this is the only feasible explanation of his conduct which has yet been given, and if so he ia more deserving of pity than of censure. We are really. afraid this is the case. He has been reported to have said that if the Irish people took up arms against England be himself would lead them No sane man in a responsible position would say this. A time there was when some .of the wisest.and the best of Irishmen not only made use of language like this but actually took up arms and fought and bled. That time is past, however, and no one but a madman would think of resorting to the arbitrament of the sword now. Mr Parnell, by his peaceable agitation, banished all thoughts of physical force out of the minds of the people, and it is greatly to be hoped that he will net end by inciting them to wrong actions at the present time. He haa. ltoo, turned to abuse Ireland’s best friend, the illustrious Grand Old Man of> England. Mr G-ladatone has done more for Home Rule than would otherwise have been done in a century. He also put down crime in Ireland. His one speech had a more pacifying effect on that unfortunate country than all the Coercion Actsibat had hitherto been passed. For thefirsttime Ireland began to confide m English statesmanship, and determined to give up violence and resort to peace able means to securedesired ends. Since then Ireland has been one of the most peaceable countries on the face of the earth, and there can be no doubt but that fact is mainly due to the hope inspired by Mr Gladstone’s Home Rule speech. It is true that Mr Parnell forced him to it, but when he entered into it he left no doubt as to his sincerity, and his one speech made friends for Home Rule throughout the whole world, and brought it at once within the region of practical politics. He threw up office for its sake, and he has ever since remained in the cool shades of opposition on account of it, whereas if he yielded in the slightest degree the Liberal Unionists would have returned to their allegiance to him and reinstated him ia power. No one knows this better than Mr Parnell, yet his gratitude is to throw doubt upon bis sincerity by characterising him as “ the grand old spider catching Irish flies.” But what we want to deal with is the result which must accrue from Mr Parnell’s conduct. A general election is near at hand, and Mr Parnell has still sufficient-influence to do mischief. In Ireland he will set Home Rulers against Home Rulers, and Tories will slip in between them in many places. In England he will do an immense amount of ham to the Liberals. Tories will, as they have done all along, make capital out of the fact that the Liberals are associated with Mr Parnell, and on that ground alone many will vote for the Tories. The result will, we are afraid, be that Tories will win at the coming election, and that they will be restored to power, This will not only postpone Home Rule for an indefinite period, but also many necessary and desirable reforms, A Itogether the outlook is not pleasant, and we grieve to say that we believe we have not overestimated the evil results which must accrue from the Parnell affair. ,