Chamberlain's
statements. This was especially the case in reference to the famous
speech in which Mr. Parnell is spoken of as passing "through rapine to
dismemberment." Mr. Chamberlain wished to insist that the language had
been applied to all the Irish leaders: Mr. Gladstone insisted that they
were applied to Mr. Parnell alone. This controversy between the Prime
Minister and Mr. Chamberlain gave a little life to a speech that
hitherto had been falling desperately flat, and as such the interruption
was a tactical mistake.
[Sidenote: De mortuis.]
But it brought with curious unexpectedness a scene not without pathos
and significance. In the midst of the thrust and ripost of Mr. Gladstone
and Mr. Chamberlain, a strange and yet familiar voice was heard to shout
out, "They put all the blame on Parnell because he is dead." It was a
startling--even an embarrassing interruption. The memory of Parnell is
still dear to the vast majority of the old comrades who were compelled
to separate themselves from him in the Great Irish Disruption. At the
time when Mr. Gladstone made the speech quoted, Mr. Parnell was the
loved leader of the whole Irish people and a united Irish party; and the
speech was made at a moment particularly solemn and glorious in the
strange life and career of Parnell.
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