THE "KILMAINHAM TREATY"
"_Shall I say stipulation, King?_"
"_No, Queenie, he prefers 'suggestions desirable to be
entertained!_'"--EXTRACT FROM AN OLD DIARY.
Parnell, in accordance with his "parole," returned to Kilmainham at
the end of the term of leave and immediately formulated the
conditions of the arrangement it was proposed to make with the
Government. The draft of this historic document was as follows:--
"KILMAINHAM, April 25th, 1882.
"We think in the first place that no time should be lost in
endeavouring to obtain a satisfactory settlement of the arrears
question, and that the solution proposed in the Bill standing for
second reading to-morrow--Wednesday--would provide a satisfactory
solution, though the Church Fund would have to be supplemented by a
grant from Imperial resources of probably a million or so.
"Next as regards the permanent amendment of the Land Act, we consider
that the rent-fixing clauses should be amended to as great an extent
as is possible, having in view the necessity of passing an Amending
Bill through the House of Lords; that leaseholders who have taken
leases either before or since the Act of 1870 should be permitted to
apply to have a fair rent fixed, and that the purchase clauses should
be amended as suggested by the Bill, the second reading of which will
be moved by Mr. Redmond to-morrow.
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"If the Government were to announce their intention of proposing a
satisfactory settlement of the arrears difficulty as indicated above,
we on our part would make it known that the No Rent manifesto was
withdrawn, and we should advise the tenants to settle with their
landlords; we should also then be in a better position than we ever
occupied before to make our exertions effective in putting a stop to
the outrages which are unhappily of late so prevalent.
"If the result of the arrears settlement and the further ameliorative
measures suggested above were the material diminution of outrages
before the end of the session, and the prospect of the return of the
country after a time to something like a normal condition, we should
hope that the Government would allow the Coercion Act to lapse, and
govern the country by the same laws as in England."
Willie wrote to Gladstone on April 13th, and two days after Gladstone
replied promising to communicate with Forster. The rest of the
letter was taken up with compliments to Willie, and some
carefully-worded phrases which really meant that Gladstone was
prepared to go to very great lengths indeed to quiet Ireland and to
keep her quiet.
Willie sent to Chamberlain a copy of his letter to Gladstone.
Chamberlain was impressed and guarded. He welcomed negotiations, but
pointed out that if the Government were going to smile on the Irish
Party the Irish Party must smile on the Government. With some amount
of exaggerated fervour he mooted the possibility of an anti-Irish
movement comparable with the anti-Semitic movement abroad. That, he
pointed out, would be bad for everybody, and accordingly he welcomed
the {159} olive branch. In the sequel, of course, Chamberlain took a
very active part in pressing for the release of Parnell. While on
"parole," and after his return from Paris, Parnell entered into
communication with Mr. Justin McCarthy with regard to the proposed
"Treaty," and the following letter was written from Eltham:--
_Saturday, April_ 22, 1882.
MY DEAR MCCARTHY,--I have arrived in England, and will call to
see you to-morrow afternoon some time. I cannot at present give
you the exact hour, but would it be too much to ask you to remain
at home after three o'clock? I trust you will have some news of
result of Cabinet to-day.--Yours very truly, C. S. P.
This letter was followed up by one from Kilmainham.
(_Confidential._)
KILMAINHAM,
_April_ 25, 1882.
MY DEAR MCCARTHY,--I send you a letter embodying our
conversation, and which, if you think it desirable, you might
take the earliest opportunity of showing to Chamberlain.
Do not let it out of your hands, but if he wishes you might give
him a copy of the body of it.--Yours very truly,
CHARLES S. PARNELL.
(Enclosure.)
The enclosure was identical with the draft treaty--apart from a few
verbal alterations of which the chief was the substitution of "an
Amendment Bill" for an "Amending Bill" in the second paragraph.
* * * * * *
_Tuesday, April_ 25, 1882.
MY OWN QUEENIE,--I enclose you a letter. What do you think I had
best say to it?[1]
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I told my friend in Jermyn Street what steps to take, so that the
matter referred to in enclosed will probably go on all right without,
or with, the further participation of the writer. I thought of
writing him that I had received his note too late to reply for
Wednesday, but that in any case my letter from Paris ought to be
sufficient indication of confidence.
I missed nine train on Sunday and came on by twelve, sleeping at
Crewe and getting on board mail boat before mail train arrived.
Everything went off very nicely and quietly, and I have not caught
any cold this time. O. K. had aired my bed very carefully, etc., and
they were all very glad to see me again, with the exception of the
authorities.
I have been thinking all day of how desolate and lonely my Queenie
must be in her great sorrow. I wish so much that I might have stayed
to comfort her, but I have indeed every hope and confidence that our
separation will not now last very long. It is too terrible to think
that on this the saddest day[2] of all others--and, let us hope, the
saddest that we both shall ever see again--my Wifie should have
nobody with her.
Good-bye, my own darling, YOUR LOVING KING.
Mr. Parnell wrote as follows to Captain O'Shea:--
KILMAINHAM,
_April_ 28.
I was very sorry that you had left Albert Mansions before I
reached London from Eltham, as I had wished to tell you that
after our conversation I had made up my mind that it would be
proper for me to put Mr. McCarthy in possession of the views
which I had previously communicated to you. I desire to impress
upon you the absolute necessity of a settlement of the arrears
question which will leave no recurring sore connected with it
behind, and which will enable us to show the smaller tenantry
that they have been treated with justice and some generosity.
The proposal you have described to me as suggested in some
quarters, of making a loan, over however many years the payment
might be spread, should be absolutely rejected, {161} for reasons
which I have already fully explained to you. If the arrears
question be settled upon the lines indicated by us, I have every
confidence--a confidence shared by my colleagues--that the
exertions which we should be able to make strenuously and
unremittingly would be effective in stopping outrages and
intimidation of all kinds.
As regards permanent legislation of an ameliorative character, I
may say that the views which you always shared with me as to the
admission of leaseholders to the fair rent clauses of the Act are
more confirmed than ever. So long as the flower of the Irish
peasantry are kept outside the Act there cannot be any permanent
settlement of the land question, which we all so much desire.
I should also strongly hope that some compromise might be arrived
at this season with regard to the amendment of the tenure
clauses. It is unnecessary for me to dwell upon the enormous
advantages to be derived from the full extension of the purchase
clauses, which now seem practically to have been adopted by all
parties.
The accomplishment of the programme I have sketched would, in my
judgment, be regarded by the country as a practical settlement of
the land question, and would, I feel sure, enable us to
co-operate cordially for the future with the Liberal Party in
forwarding Liberal principles; so that the Government, at the end
of the session, would, from the state of the country, feel
themselves thoroughly justified in dispensing with further
coercive measures.--Yours very truly,
C. S. PARNELL.
_Saturday, April_ 30, 1882.
MY OWN QUEENIE,--He[3] came over to see me, so I thought it best
to give him a letter, as he would have been dreadfully mortified
if he had had nothing to show.
Everything is going very well, and I hope will continue straight.
Received two letters from my own lovie yesterday. Do, my own,
keep up as much as you can.
YOUR OWN KING.
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I had reason to know, from various sources of information kept open
by me on Parnell's behalf during his imprisonment, that the
Government would liberate him with considerable relief if given any
surety of conciliatory policy on his part. Parnell at liberty was a
disturbing force, and the culminating embarrassment of English
government in Ireland, but Parnell in prison had become merely a
concentrated embarrassment in that there was now no governmental
possibility of dealing with the reactionary spirit he had let loose
in Ireland--a spirit that was at least better controllable as a
weapon in Parnell's hand than as the scattered and absolutely
irresponsible fulminations, unreasoning and motiveless, of lawless
desperadoes.
With Parnell as her chief the Ireland he had roused might indeed be a
scourge of whips to the British Government, but without him this
Ireland was undoubtedly a scourge of scorpions.
So Parnell came out of Kilmainham on the treaty arranged at Eltham,
and as Willie was to be the official bearer of the olive branch to
the Government, he went over to see Parnell on his return to
Kilmainham and to get from him a letter for his own satisfaction, as
he said Parnell was "so shifty" he could not be trusted to carry out
any agreement that was not in writing, and the letter was to set
forth the various modifications of his policy of obstruction that he
would undertake to observe on his (immediate) liberation and
assurance of future concessions to Ireland. This letter had in
substance been written at Eltham, but Parnell had stipulated for a
few days to consider the matter further and would not give Willie his
final decision then. On the other side he had to consider that any
treaty with the Government would place him in {163} a very awkward
position with the Land League and would certainly affect the
financial aid to the Irish cause so generously contributed by
America. It was also certain, he knew, that the Government would be
obliged, in either case, to liberate him with the other Irish
political prisoners at no distant period, and this without his
placing himself under any obligation at all to the Government. This
would please the extreme party of his followers far better, even
though it would keep open the way to further outrage and crime in
Ireland.
I had never before ventured to influence Parnell in any way
politically; but now I greatly dreaded for him this latter policy of
the extremists and the perpetual strain of watchfulness and control
it engendered--with the Coercion Laws such a policy must, in the long
run, inevitably produce, unless, indeed, England was prepared to
yield to force; an unthinkable proposition.
So now I threw the whole strength of my influence on the side of the
treaty of conciliation and urged upon him the greater good for
Ireland likely to accrue in the making by him of immediate peace. I
was very anxious that he should "reign" by constitutional means, and
had every hope of establishing such amicable communications between
him and the Government as would lead to that end. But he had this
great force now to reckon with--the force of centuries of cruelty,
wrong, and oppression that had bred an irresponsibility and callous
disregard of suffering, nay, rather a vindictive madness and lust of
destruction in Ireland. In his seeking for a weapon to use for the
betterment of England's government of Ireland Parnell had discovered
this underlying force of hate, and, using the influence of his
personality, he strove to direct it into the service of the Ireland
that he loved. But he afterwards {164} stood appalled at the
intensity of the passion of hate that he had loosed, and no one but
he--and I with him--knew the awful strength of that force of
destruction that was only held in subservience by the sheer dominance
of his will. He replied to my pleadings: "Yes, I hold them now with
my back to the wall, but if I turn to the Government I turn my back
to them--and then----?"
But my great fear for him won his decision for peace, and he wrote
and signed the "letter" that Willie wanted to take to the Government.
The Prime Minister had been prepared for its coming, and made known
that such a treaty of peace would be acceptable. Willie took this
letter to Forster, who knew of no understanding with the Prime
Minister, and was absolutely against any such negotiations. He
scoffed at the letter, at its terms, and at Willie for bringing it,
but the latter pointed out that the matter was one for the Prime
Minister's consideration alone, and Mr. Forster was bound to submit
it to him without delay. He of course did so, but with confidence as
to its rejection and, on its immediate acceptance and the liberation
of Parnell, resigned his office as Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Lord Cowper resigned with him. This was on the 2nd of May. On the
26th of April discussion on Mr. Redmond's Land Bill was started in
the House of Commons. This Bill, which had been drafted by Parnell
in Kilmainham, proposed to amend the Land Act of 1881 in four main
particulars: (1) Arrears of excessive rent; (2) admission of
leaseholders to the benefit of the Land Court; (3) amendment of
tenure clauses; (4) extension of purchase clauses by the advance from
the State of the whole of the purchase money. Mr. Gladstone
applauded the Irish Party and opposed the Bill. He practically {165}
admitted that recent decisions of the Irish judges were nullifying
the effect of the tenure clauses, but he did not want yet to reopen
the question. He recognized, however, the necessity of dealing with
"Arrears."
When, on May 2nd, he announced to the House the resignation of Lord
Cowper and Mr. Forster and the decision of the Cabinet to release the
three Irish M.P.'s who had been in Kilmainham since October, he
definitely promised an Arrears Bill, and stated that there was no
present intention to renew the Coercion Act. So, with this public
promise of Mr. Gladstone, and with the tacit understanding that
Parnell would "slow down the agitation" Parnell came out of gaol.
"It is an act," averred Mr. Gladstone, "done without any negotiation,
promise, or engagement whatever."
Two days later Forster denounced the action of the Cabinet. He
believed that the unconditioned release of the Irish leaders would
tend to the encouragement of crime. As he went on to justify the
arrests Parnell entered the House and took his seat. The Irish
cheered wildly. Then Forster continued: "The real reason why these
gentlemen were arrested ... was because they were trying to carry out
their will--'their unwritten law' ... by working the ruin and the
injury of the Queen's subjects by intimidation of one kind or
another. If Mr. Parnell had not been placed in Kilmainham he would
very quickly have become in reality what he was called by many of his
friends--the King of Ireland." He did not say Parnell and his
friends had directly incited, what they had done was far more
dangerous. They had established a system of intimidation.... They
should have been released after a public promise had been given, or
when Ireland was quiet, or fresh powers had been granted {166} to the
Government. "A surrender is bad, a compromise or arrangement is
worse.... If all England cannot govern the Member for Cork then let
us acknowledge he is the greatest power in Ireland to-day."
Mr. Gladstone, in reply, said he had no right to humiliate Parnell by
demanding a penitential confession of guilt, and once more he
disclaimed that the release was the result of a bargain. Parnell,
following him, asserted--what was the truth--that no mention of his
release was made by him in any written or oral communication with his
friends.
The same night, May 4th, was announced the appointment of Lord
Spencer as Lord-Lieutenant and Lord Frederick Cavendish as Chief
Secretary. The post had first been offered to Sir Charles Dilke, but
he had refused the offer. It is stated that in certain quarters the
name of Mr. Chamberlain had been mentioned, and that he had signified
his willingness to accept the offer if it were made. Apparently it
was not made. We cannot avoid speculating what would have happened
had he gone to Ireland. He had taken a leading part in the release
of Parnell; would that have saved him--since the Phoenix Park
murderers did not intend to kill Lord Frederick? And if Mr.
Chamberlain had been killed in May, 1882, what other course might
British politics have taken? Would Tariff Reform ever have been a
Tory election cry? Would there have been no Boer War? Would the
Tories not have enjoyed that long term of office which for years kept
the question of Home Rule in abeyance? It were foolish to say yes or
no to any of these questions, but at least we may say that the fact
Mr. Chamberlain was not asked to become Irish Secretary in 1882 is
one of the most momentous in British politics.
{167}
While in Kilmainham Parnell had found it absolutely impossible to
control in any way the incitements to crime and the wild expenditure
of the Ladies' Land League. His sister, Anna Parnell, was at the
head of this marvellous organization which she spread in well-ordered
ramifications throughout the country. Her generalship was
magnificent and complete, and there appeared to be no detail of this
revolutionary army with which she was not completely familiar and
completely determined to control. Parnell wrote to her again and
again from prison, pointing out the crass folly of the criminality
for which the Ladies' League, now, solely existed. He even urged the
Governmental representations made to him for the suppression of this
league of anarchy, and the hopeless financial position it was
creating--the estimated weekly expenditure of these ladies running
into thousands of pounds; money contributed chiefly by America for
the fighting policy of the Irish Party--but to no purpose.
The fanatic spirit in these ladies was extreme; in Anna Parnell it
was abnormal, and Parnell saw no way of saving her, or the country,
from her folly but by fulfilling his threat of vetoing the payment of
another penny to the Ladies' Land League. This he then did, and thus
automatically broke up this wild army of mercenaries. Anna Parnell
never forgave her brother for this act, and to the last day of his
life refused to hold any communication with him again. Parnell had
much family affection, and many times made overtures of peace to his
sister, of whom he was really fond, and for whose strength of mind
and will he had much respect. On two occasions he met her
accidentally and tried to speak to her, but she resolutely turned
from him and refused any reply to the letters he wrote her.
[1] From Captain O'Shea _re_ "Kilmainham Treaty."
[2] The day of our little daughter's funeral.
[3] Captain O'Shea.
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