MISTAKEN PATRONAGE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 295, 7 May 1889, Page 2

MISTAKEN PATRONAGE.

The student of contemporary history has at all times a good supply of material to engross his attention, and the history of our own time will no doubt be of profound interest to future generations. It is with a sense of disgust that we learn of the cordial reception in England of that French political adventurer and intriguer—Boulanger—of whom so much has lately been heard, and we cannot help contrasting this servility to a foreign toadstool with the indignities and insults that have been heaped upon those whose whole life work has been in the interests of their fellows. Let us take one of the most prominent features now marking the British political horizon, that is Mr Parnell, and note how differently he has been treated in comparison with the racoptfcn accorded this foreign adventurer, It is enough to bring a blush of uliame lo anyone who te proud

to call himself a Britisher. Here we have the spectacle of a leading manlet his principles be right or wrong, his intentions are what concern us—hounded down by the leading journal of the age, accused of being in league with murderers, and made a jibe of by the whole Conservative power of England, aided by other political opponents. Although it has been proved that he is innocent of the foul charges made against him; no reparation is offered, except an offer on the part of the Times to pay into court an insignificant sum, the offer being a great insult added to the injury already inflicted. Parnell may be altogether mistaken in his ideas —and there are wise men who do not think so—but he is at least entitled to fair play. And then to take the other side ; the very different treatment given to a fugitive from French justice, a dishonored military officer, a reckless agi- | tator without defined principles, one. whose agitation is only used to promote his own laudation, and not the welfare of the people. On his arrival in London, he was, we are informed, " paid all the honors of royalty,” and later on he was invited to dine with some leading Englishmen. No wonder the Irish people are mortified when they contrast the bearing towards their own leaders with that in the case of a French political outcast; one who was too cowardly to face the danger he courted when he thought it was not near, and then tried to disguise the ignominy of his flight by wrapping himself in a martyr’s cloak to deceive his less enlightened countrymen. When the patriots Garibaldi and Kossuth sought the hospitality of England, they were not denied it, and eventually the world learned to honor them for their noble aims; but Boulanger is cast in a verv different mould, and though English justice would not unreasonably allow him to be molested, it is a disgrace to England that he should be regarded with more than a fraction of that respect which is, or more correctly should be, granted to the honest toiler. A man with the most mistaken principles is less dangerous than one who tries to rise without principles to guide him, other than that of self. Surely when such things can be we are still in the midst of evil days,