[Frontispiece: CHARLES STEWART PARNELL Taken in the sitting-room at Wonersh Lodge, Eltham by Mrs. Parnell] CHARLES STEWART PARNELL His Love Story and Political Life BY KATHARINE O'SHEA (Mrs. Charles Stewart Parnell) "_No common soul was his; for good or ill There was a mighty power_" HAWKSHAW--_Sonnet IX_ CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1921 First published in Two Volumes 1914 One Volume Edition 1921 DEDICATED TO LOVE Had the whole rich world been in my power, I should have singled out thee, only thee, From the whole world's collected treasury." MOORE _PUBLISHERS' NOTE_ _Of all the love stories in history possibly none had more intense reactions upon politics than that of Charles Stewart Parnell and Katharine O'Shea, which is unfolded with candour so compelling in this record of their life._ _The engrossing interest in Ireland has demanded a new and popular edition of Mrs. Parnell's book. No real comprehension of the Irish question is possible without a thorough knowledge of Parnell's life and his part in the creation of the modern Home Rule movement; and no intimate knowledge of Parnell's character and the springs of his policy during the critical decade of the 'eighties can be had without studying the revelations of his correspondence with his wife._ _In this edition some abridgment has been necessary to bring the book within the compass of a single volume. The less material parts of Mrs. Parnell's narrative of her own girlhood have been curtailed, and the long correspondence of Captain O'Shea has been summarised in a note appended to Chapter xxvii. One or two omissions are indicated in footnotes. The text has been subject to no other interference._ _La Belle Sauvage, September_, 1921. {ix} MRS. PARNELL'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION On October 6th, 1891, nearly twenty-three years ago, Charles Stewart Parnell died in the arms of his wife; nearly twenty-three years ago the whole of the civilized world awoke to laud--or to condemn--the dead chief. It ranked him with the greatest heroes, or with the vilest sinners, of the world, because he had found and kept the haven of her arms with absolute disregard of that world's praise or blame, till death, the only power greater than the love that held him there, tore him from them.