In that character it has been towards Ireland always ignorant and nearly always unfair.

I am treating it simply as an assembly of men, and I say of it, it is a body where sooner or later every man finds his proper level, where mediocrity and insincerity will never permanently succeed, and where ability and honesty of purpose will never permanently fail." That was no mean tribute, coming from one who held himself aloof from all the personal advantages belonging to the society whose rules he did not recognize.

The opinion to which the Irish members of Parnell's following were amenable was not made at Westminster; it did not exist there--except, and that in its most rigid form, amongst themselves.
It is worth while to recall for English readers--and perhaps not for them only--what membership of Parnell's party involved.

In the first place, there was a self-denying ordinance by which the man elected to it bound himself to accept no post of any kind under Government.

All the chances which election to Parliament opens to most men--and especially to men of the legal profession--were at once set aside.