A KING AT BAY
"_Vulneratus non victus._"
In December a vacancy occurred in Kilkenny, and, on December 9th,
my King started for Ireland, and stayed with Dr. Kenny for the
night in Dublin. Of the great meeting in the Rotunda I give Miss
Katharine Tynan's description, because of all the eye-witnesses'
accounts of it that I have kept, none gives the true glimpse of
Parnell as she does.
"It was nearly 8.30 when we heard the bands coming; then the
windows were lit up by the lurid glare of thousands of torches in
the street outside. There was a distant roaring like the sea.
The great gathering within waited silently with expectation.
Then the cheering began, and we craned our necks and looked on
eagerly, and there was the tall, slender, distinguished figure of
the Irish leader making its way across the platform. I don't
think any words could do justice to his reception. The house
rose at him; everywhere around there was a sea of passionate
faces, loving, admiring, almost worshipping that silent, pale
man. The cheering broke out again and again; there was no
quelling it. Mr. Parnell bowed from side to side, sweeping the
assemblage with his eagle glance. The people were fairly mad
with excitement. I don't think anyone outside Ireland can
understand what a charm Mr. Parnell has for the Irish heart; that
wonderful personality of his, his proud {294} bearing, his
handsome, strong face, the distinction of look which marks him
more than anyone I have ever seen. All these are irresistible to
the artistic Irish.
"I said to Dr. Kenny, who was standing by me, 'He is the only
quiet man here.' 'Outwardly,' said the keen medical man,
emphatically. Looking again, one saw the dilated nostrils, the
flashing eye, the passionate face; the leader was simply drinking
in thirstily this immense love, which must have been more
heartening than one can say after that bitter time in the English
capital. Mr. Parnell looked frail enough in body--perhaps the
black frock-coat, buttoned so tightly across his chest, gave him
that look of attenuation; but he also looked full of indomitable
spirit and fire.
"For a time silence was not obtainable. Then Father Walter
Hurley climbed on the table and stood with his arms extended. It
was curious how the attitude silenced a crowd which could hear no
words.
"When Mr. Parnell came to speak, the passion within him found
vent. It was a wonderful speech; not one word of it for
oratorical effect, but every word charged with a pregnant message
to the people who were listening to him, and the millions who
should read him. It was a long speech, lasting nearly an hour;
but listened to with intense interest, punctuated by fierce cries
against men whom this crisis has made odious, now and then marked
in a pause by a deep-drawn moan of delight. It was a great
speech, simple, direct, suave--with no device and no
artificiality. Mr. Parnell said long ago, in a furious moment in
the House of Commons, that he cared nothing for the opinion of
the English people. One remembered it now, noting his passionate
assurances to his own people, who loved him too well to ask him
questions."
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During this meeting the anti-Parnellites took the opportunity to
seize Parnell's paper, _United Ireland_, and the offices. A
witness's account of the incident contained in Mr. Barry
O'Brien's "Life of Charles Stewart Parnell" appealed to me
immensely, because this little affair was of intense interest to
me, and all, or nearly all, I could get out of Parnell himself on
the subject was a soft laugh and, "It was splendid fun. I wish I
could burgle my own premises every day!"
Something like this appears to have happened. The
anti-Parnellite garrison was strongly entrenched in the offices
of the newspaper--doors and windows all barred. The streets were
filled with a crowd of Parnellites crying death and destruction
on the enemy, and pouring in faster from the side streets. Men
threading their way through the mass were distributing sticks and
revolvers.
Parnell had been apprised of the event at the meeting, and a
pony-trap was waiting for him outside the Rotunda. He got into
it with Dr. Kenny, and they dashed off to the scene of action.
At the sight of their Chief the crowd went wild; cheers for
Parnell and curses for his enemies filled the air. At full
gallop the pony-trap dashed through the mass of people (which
gave way as if by magic), and was brought up before the offices
with a jerk that sent the horse sprawling on the ground. Parnell
jumped out of the trap, sprang up the steps, and knocked loudly
at the door of the offices. There was a dramatic moment of
silence--the crowd hushed and expectant. Then Parnell quietly
gave some orders to those nearest him. In a brief space they
were off and back again with pickaxe and crowbar. Parnell wished
to vault the area railings and attack the area door, but he was
held back. So several of his followers dropped into the area,
while Parnell {296} himself attacked the front door with the
crowbar. The door yielded, and he and many others rushed into
the house. A second party came from the area, and the united
force dashed upstairs. The rest was a Homeric struggle between
garrison and besiegers, fought from staircase to staircase and
story to story. At length the garrison was downed to the last
man. A window of the second story was removed, and Parnell came
out to his people. He had lost his hat, his hair was tumbled,
his face was quite white, his eyes were filled with the wild joy
of the battle. His face and clothes were powdered with dust and
plaster. For a moment again the crowd was silent; then it burst
into a roar.
Parnell made a short speech, came down, got into the trap, and
drove to the railway station.
On the 11th, when he nominated Mr. Vincent Scully, he stayed at
Kilkenny. That day he wrote to me that he was feeling ill, and
his telegram of "good night" was weary in tone. But the next day
he wrote that he was feeling far better, and his letter was very
hopeful of success. He insisted on returning to me every
Saturday, if it was in any way possible, during these months of
fighting, and going back to Ireland on the next evening, Sunday.
I begged him to spare himself the fatigue of this constant
journeying, but he could not rest away; so, in despair, I gave up
the fight against my own desire to have him at home for even
these few hours. This election lasted ten days. Polling took
place on December 22, and that morning he telegraphed to me not
to expect victory, so I knew he was sure of defeat long before
the poll was declared. He returned to Dublin that night, and
addressed a meeting outside the National Club.
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It was during one of these last meetings that someone in the
crowd threw lime in the Chief's face. It has been said that the
thing was a hoax, and that the substance thrown was flour. It
was not flour, but lime, and had not Parnell shut his eyes in
time he would undoubtedly have been blinded. As it was his eyes
were not injured, and but for a tiny scar on the outer edge of
his right eye he was not hurt. I well remember the awful hours I
passed pacing up and down my room at Brighton waiting, waiting
for news after seeing the morning paper. He had telegraphed to
me directly after the cowardly assault was made, but he could not
send it himself as he could not leave his friends. The man to
whom he gave the telegram for dispatch boasted to his fellows
that he had a message from Parnell, and in the crowd and scuffle
it was taken from him; so it was not until midday, when my own
telegram of inquiry reached him, that Parnell knew that I had not
received his; and by the time his reassuring message arrived I
was nearly out of my mind. The newspapers had made the very most
of the affair, and I thought my husband was blinded.
At the end of December Mr. William O'Brien returned from America,
but, as a warrant was out for his arrest, he could not enter
Ireland. Much against his own wish Parnell went over to Boulogne
to see him, as the Party were so anxious that he should go. He
did not think that it would do any good, and, feeling ill, he
hated undertaking the extra fatigue. He felt, too, that he would
have to fight "all along the line" in Ireland, and continued the
war without cessation, although he went over to Boulogne several
times to hear what Mr. O'Brien had to say. He was, however, on
good terms with O'Brien, and suggested him as leader of the Party
in the {298} event of his own resignation. The suggestion did
not prove acceptable to the Party.[1]
Throughout this time he occasionally attended the sittings of the
House, and, on returning home one sad evening, he did not speak
much after his first greeting. I felt that something had
troubled him unusually, but forbore to worry him, knowing that he
would tell me presently. After a while he turned to me, and all
he said was, "O'Kelly has gone too."
I did not answer in words, for my heart bled for him in this the
only personal sorrow he had suffered in the disloyalty of his
Party. Anger, scorn, and contempt, yes! but this was the first
and only blow to his affections. For the first time since that
miserable and most cowardly exhibition of treachery in Committee
Room 15 there was a little break in his voice. They had been
friends for so long, and had worked with each other in American
and Irish politics so intimately. He had loved him, and now
O'Kelly had "gone too."
When Mr. Gladstone gave the word, and the insecure virtue of the
country obeyed it, because it is a very shocking thing to be
found out, the anti-Parnellites were {299} extremely ingenious in
inventing new forms of scurrility in connexion with my supposed
name. From one end of chivalrous Ireland to the other--urged on
more especially by a certain emotional Irish member of
Parliament--the name of "Kitty" O'Shea was sung and screamed,
wrapped about with all the filth that foul minds, vivid
imaginations, and black hatred of the aloof, proud Chief could
evolve, the Chief whom they could not hurt save through the woman
he loved!
They hurt him now a little, it is true, but not very greatly. My
husband said to me after the Kilkenny election, "It would really
have hurt, my Queen, if those devils had got hold of your real
name, my Queenie, or even the 'Katie' or 'Dick' that your
relations and Willie called you." And then I was glad, so very
glad that the gallant company of mud-slingers had with one accord
leapt to the conclusion that those who love me called me "Kitty"
because my name was Katharine. For me it was a little thing to
bear for the man who loved me as never woman has been loved
before, and the only thing that I could not have borne would have
been the thought that one of those who hated him had pierced the
armour of his pride and touched his heart.
* * * * * *
On 22nd April, 1891, Mr. Frederick Kerley wrote from 10, Broad
Court, Bow Street, W.C., to Mr. Thomson, to say that he had
succeeded that day in serving Mr. Parnell with a copy of the
Judge's Order, which Mr. Thomson had handed to him on the evening
of the 20th instant. He saw Mr. Parnell at 7.5 p.m. pass through
the barrier on to the Brighton platform at Victoria Station. He
walked by his side and, addressing him, {300} said, "Mr. Parnell,
I believe?" Parnell replied, "Yes." He said he was desired to
hand him that paper, at the same time handing him the copy, when
the following conversation ensued:
Parnell: "What is it?"
Kerley: "It is a Judge's Order."
P.: "Oh, it is the costs."
K.: "Yes, it is. That is a copy, this is the original, and the
signature of Mr. Justice Butt," and Kerley showed the original to
him.
P.: "Oh, very well."
K.: "This is Mr. Wontner's card, who is the solicitor in the
matter."
Mr. Parnell took the card and said, "Thank you."
It had all been clone very quietly. No one saw what was done,
and Parnell was not subjected to the slightest annoyance, and he
did not appear to be the least annoyed. Kerley did not enclose
the original, as he was afraid to trust it through the post, but
would hand it to Mr. Thomson personally.
WONTNERS, 19 LUDGATE HILL., E.C.
_Wired_ 10 _a.m.,_ 23 _April,_ '91.
Copy Order costs P. served personally last evening. Letter
follows.
[1] The conversations with O'Brien and Dillon in France and the
correspondence which followed were concerned with the attitude of the
Irish Party towards the details of the Home Rule Bill to be
introduced when the Liberals came into power. Mr. Justin McCarthy
had been elected leader of the party, but Parnell insisted on his
traditional right to a predominant voice in its decisions. At the
beginning of 1891 there were anxious discussions about Gladstone's
intentions as to the number of Irish Members to be retained at
Westminster and as to the basis of a public declaration of Liberal
policy. The proposals made to him were not satisfactory either to
Parnell's political judgment or to his _amour propre_. They came to
nothing, however, and both O'Brien and Dillon were arrested on their
return to Ireland and put "out of the way for a bit," as Parnell
said. He complained of the "depressing effect" these two colleagues
had upon him; it was "so hard to keep them to the difficulties of the
moment while they were so eagerly passing on the troubles of
to-morrow."
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