arnell now began an action
against the _Times_, which was quickly compromised by a payment of
L5,000.

The "uncrowned king" of Ireland had now reached the summit of his
power--the height of the wave was marked by the presentation of the
freedom of Edinburgh, July 30, 1889, and the banquet given him on his
forty-fourth birthday. But his fall in public esteem was quickly to
follow. A few months later his frequent mysterious absences from his
parliamentary duties were explained by his appearance, or rather his
non-appearance, as co-respondent in a divorce case brought by Captain
O'Shea against his wife. After formal evidence was given by the
petitioner, the usual decree was granted with costs against Parnell
(November 17, 1890).

The Gladstonian party in England now demanded his retirement from the
leadership of the cause, and Mr. Gladstone informed the Irish members
that they must make their choice between Parnell and himself. They met
and reappointed him their chairman, expecting, as the majority explained
later, that after this recognition of his past services he would
voluntarily retire, at least for a time. But they had not calculated
upon the characteristic obstinacy of his nature, and quickly found that
their leader had no mind to efface himself. After some days of
profitless and heated wrangling, the majority ended the discussion by
leaving the room and electing Justin McCarthy as their chairman.
Parnell, with the shattered remnants of his party, now carried the
warfare into Ireland, where his condemnation by the Irish bishops and
the emphatic defeat of his nominees for North Kilkenny and North Sligo
showed that a large number of his fellow-countrymen shared the judgment
of his conduct pronounced by Mr. Gladstone and the party in England. The
career of the man who had forced the issue of Irish Home Rule upon the
English people, and made it the great question of the day, was drawing
rapidly to its close. He died October 6, 1891.

WILLIAM McKINLEY

By ROSSITER JOHNSON

(1843-1901)

[Illustration: William McKinley. From a copyrighted photograph by
Courtney, Canton, O.]

With all the opportunities that our great Republic offers to native
ability and energy for attaining the highest civic prizes without
extraneous assistance or arbitrary distinction, we have produced no more
perfect example of a happy result than the career of William McKinley.
European critics who are unwilling to see anything good in