On the contrary, they held their end to be so high and holy that it more or less sanctified even assassination when planned as a means to that end.

Why should the Italian Revolutionists of 1848 be judged by one standard and the Irish Revolutionists of 1888 by another?
If Mr.Parnell and his Parliamentary associates were to declare in unequivocal terms their absolute loyalty to the British Crown, and their determination to maintain in all circumstances the political connection between Great Britain and Ireland, they might or might not retain their hold upon Mr.Davitt and upon their constituents in Ireland, but they would certainly put themselves beyond the pale of support by the great Irish American organisations.

Nor do I believe they could retain the confidence of those organisations if it were supposed that they really regarded the most extreme and violent of the Irish Revolutionists, the "Invincibles" and the "dynamiters" as "criminals," in the sense in which the "Invincibles" and the "dynamiters" are so regarded by the rest of the civilised world.

Can it, for example, be doubted that any English or Scottish public man who co-operates with Mr.Parnell and his Parliamentary associates would instantly hand over to the police any "Invincible" or "dynamiter" who might come within his reach?
And can it for a moment be believed that Mr.Parnell, or any one of his Parliamentary associates, would do this?
There are thousands of Irish citizens in the United States who felt all the horror and indignation expressed by Mr.Parnell at the murders in the Phoenix Park, but I should be very much surprised to learn that any one of them all ever did, or ever would do, anything likely to bring any one of the authors of these murders to the bar of justice.

Mr.Parnell and his Parliamentary associates are held and bound by the essential conditions of their political existence to treat with complaisance the most extreme and violent men of their party.