Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Redmond have both given their accounts
this week of the Boulogne negotiations, and while there is the most positively contradictory testimony from the two as to the temporary or final character of Mr. ParnelPs retirement from the chairmanship of the Parliamentary party, —Mr. Redmond of course asserting that it was declared to be temporary, and Mr. O'Brien that there was not a hint of its temporary character,—there is a very tolerable agreement on points which show that Mr. Parnell was to be in some sense acknowledged as the leader still. He was to remain the head of the National League ; and if the Anti-Parnellites could come to terms with him, some of them were to attend a formal meeting of the National League to do honour to him in that capacity. Also something in the way of honorific acknow- ledgment of his services was to be obtained from Mr. Glad- stone and the Irish Bishops, if possible, in order to render the acknowledgment of his position as bead of the National League more conspicuous and representative. This much is admitted on Mr. O'Brien's side, as well as on Mr. Redmond's ; also it seems clear that only Mr. O'Brien, whose attitude to Mr. Parnell had always been much more loyal than that of any other of the Anti-Parnellites, was to succeed him in the chairmanship of the Parliamentary party. The Parnellites would not hear of Mr. Dillon, and the Anti-Parnellites do not seem to have vetoed Mr. O'Brien's name.
Previous page
