ABSTRACT
Parnell was an aristocrat, Davitt was the son of peasants. Irish society is full of wheels within wheels, and Irish politics have always shown a profusion of rings within rings, and so it happened that this great man, one of the principal artisans of a marvellous work of Ireland’s regeneration, was made known to author first by aspersions on his name uttered not by Englishmen but by Irishmen who called themselves more advanced than Davitt himself. He was accused of vanity, self-seeking, show and pretence, and no credit was given to him for any accomplishment. The author saw him first at a public meeting at St. Jame’s Hall, London, a meeting as far as he remember of Labour representatives. Some good speeches were made, but Davitt’s struck him as being one of the best.
