ct reforms in the
administration of Ireland as an integral part of the British Empire, but
to sever absolutely the political connection between Ireland and the
British Empire. Loyal British subjects necessarily consider this object
a "criminal" object, just as loyal Austrian subjects considered the
object of the Italian Revolutionists of 1848 to be a "criminal" object.
But the Italian Revolutionists of 1848 did not accept this view of their
object. On the contrary, they held their end to be so high and holy that
it more or less sanctified even assassination when planned as a means to
that end. Why should the Italian Revolutionists of 1848 be judged by one
standard and the Irish Revolutionists of 1888 by another?

If Mr. Parnell and his Parliamentary associates were to declare in
unequivocal terms their absolute loyalty to the British Crown, and their
determination to maintain in all circumstances the political connection
between Great Britain and Ireland, they might or might not retain their
hold upon Mr. Davitt and upon their constituents in Ireland, but they
would certainly put themselves beyond the pale of support by the great
Irish American organisations. Nor do I believe they could retain the
confidence of those organisations if it were supposed that they really
regarded the most extreme and violent of the Irish Revolutionists, the
"Invincibles" and the "dynamiters" as "criminals," in the sense in which
the "Invincibles" and the "dynamiters" are so regarded by the rest of
the civilised world. Can it, for example, be doubted that any English or
Scottish public man who co-operates with Mr. Parnell and his
Parliamentary associates would instantly hand over to the police any
"Invincible" or "dynamiter" who might come within his reach? And can it
for a moment be believed that Mr. Parnell, or any one of his
Parliamentary associates, would do this? There are thousands of Irish
citizens in the United States who felt all the horror and indignation
expressed by Mr. Parnell at the murders in the Phoenix Park, but I
should be very much surprised to learn that any one of them all ever
did, or ever would do, anything likely to bring any one of the authors
of these murders to the bar of justice. Mr. Parnell and his
Parliamentary associates are held and bound by the essential conditions
of their political existence to treat with complaisance the most extreme
and violent men of their party. Nor is this true of them alone.

There i