He also scored for
a second or two. He went on to remark that he had been under the
influence of the massacre at Mitchelstown; but scarcely had these words
proceeded from his lips than a look of dismay passed over the faces of
his Irish colleagues. Close beside him were several men who, like
himself, had stood on the platform of the historic square when the
police descended upon the meeting, and which ended in the death of
three innocent men. They at once perceived that Mr. Dillon, by some
break of memory, had made a mistake in his dates. The incriminating
speech had been delivered in December, 1886, and the Mitchelstown
massacre took place in September, 1887. If the Irish members had not
perceived this blunder immediately they would soon have been brought to
a sense of coming disaster by the movements on the opposite side.
[Sidenote: Chamberlain on the spring.]
Mr. T.W. Russell is always at the service of Mr. Chamberlain at such a
moment. A platform speaker by training and by years of professional
work, accustomed to make most of his case against Home Rule depend on
the characters, the words, the acts of the Irish members, he has, of
course, at his fingers' ends, all the useful extracts of the last
thirteen years.
Pages:
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348