In accordance with a requisition signed by a majority of his followers, he called a meeting of the party to consider the situation. The sittings began for practical work in committee-room No. 15 at the House of Commons on 1 Dec. Parnell took the chair, and adroitly ruled all motions for his deposition out of order. He diverted the discussion to a consideration of Mr. Gladstone's views on home rule, and his argumentative skill led some of the party to seek fuller assurances from the liberal chief on what they regarded as vital issues. Parnell declared that he would retire if these assurances proved satisfactory. But the liberal leaders declined to enter into the negotiation. On 6 Dec., after five days' hot debate, a majority of 45 members, failing to induce Parnell to put to the vote the question of his deposition, withdrew, and, holding another meeting, declared his leadership at an end. Twenty-six members remained faithful to him. Thenceforth Irish nationalists were long divided into two parties—the Parnellites and the anti-Parnellites.
Parnell's position in Ireland was fatally shaken by these events, and, although he fought until his death with superhuman energy, to reassert his power, the task proved beyond his strength. His health had long been failing, and it could not endure new strains. The ranks of his enemies at once received formidable reinforcements. On 4 Dec. he was formally repudiated by the catholic archbishops and bishops. On 10 Dec. he was in Dublin, and took forcible possession of the offices of ‘United Ireland.’ He was the chief proprietor of the newspaper, but its directors were anti-Parnellites. The nationalists of Dublin and the national league stood by him. He addressed next day a large meeting at the Rotunda, and appealed for aid in his battle with ‘English dictation.’ At Mallow he was menaced with personal violence, but Cork received him with open arms. Thence he proceeded to Kilkenny (13 Dec.)
A vacancy in the parliamentary representation had just occurred, and Parnell deemed the coming electoral contest a good battle-ground on which to engage his hostile countrymen. He nominated Mr. Vincent Scully, a gentleman of independent means, as his candidate. The anti-Parnellites put forward Sir John Pope-Hennessy [q. v.] Parnell flung himself into the fight with dauntless energy, despite rapidly declining physical powers. He vehemently denounced Mr. Gladstone, his own disaffected followers, and, with less heat, the catholic hierarchy. But the result was a decisive defeat for Parnell. His candidate only received 1,356 votes against 2,527 for Hennessy. Parnell was not dismayed. He attributed the anti-Parnellite's victory to the priests, but felt confident that his personal efforts would yet counteract their influence. He was gratified to find, in the course of the contest, that the fenians—the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood—whose devotion to the cause of Irish nationality had won his lifelong admiration, were still true to him.
At the end of January 1891 he agreed to meet Messrs. Dillon and O'Brien, who had returned from America, at Boulogne, in order to discuss the possibility of reuniting the Irish party. Parnell again promised to retire if the liberal leaders would give a precise and satisfactory undertaking respecting the details of their contemplated Home Rule Bill. The negotiations dragged on till the middle of February, but nothing came of them, and the warfare was resumed. On Sunday, 22 Feb., Parnell addressed a meeting at Roscommon, passionately defending his position, and thenceforth he devoted nearly every Sunday to repeating the familiar arguments to large audiences in all parts of Ireland. He ridiculed the moderation of the anti-Parnellites' aspirations, and at Cork he declared for the complete independence of Ireland. But, although he was usually received with enthusiasm, his cause made no real advance. In March he appealed in vain to the National League of America for funds wherewith to reconstitute the National League of Ireland, which the majority of his old party had abandoned. At North Sligo during the same month he entered into a second electoral contest, but his candidate was defeated by a majority of 768. His intervention in a third electoral contest at Carlow in July met with a more decided rebuff, his candidate being defeated by a majority of 2,216. At Belfast on 22 May he devoted a speech to an attack on the catholic hierarchy, and both Archbishops Walsh and Croke replied to his criticisms. He further offended the priests, whom he had never in his earlier years made direct endeavours to conciliate, by marrying Mrs. O'Shea before the registrar at Steyning, near Brighton, on 25 June 1891. The bishop of Raphoe denounced the step as ‘the climax of brazened horrors.’ On 23 July he spoke with vigour and confidence at a convention of his supporters in Dublin. But at the same date a very effective blow was levelled at him by Mr. E. Dwyer Gray, the principal proprietor of the ‘Freeman's Journal,’ who, accepting the ecclesiastical view of Parnell's marriage, announced his defection from the Parnellite cause. Parnell's friends at once laid the foundation of a new journal, the ‘Independent,’ to champion his interests.
