by two private tutors—the Rev. Mr. Barton at Kirk Langley, Derbyshire, and the Rev. Mr. Wishaw at Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. His vacations were spent mainly in Dublin in the old red-brick mansion, 14 Upper Temple Street, which had long been the town house of the family. On 1 July 1865 he matriculated, at the age of nineteen, as a pensioner from Magdalene College, Cambridge. While a lad he was distant and reserved, though warmly attached to the few whom he made his friends. One of his teachers writes that he was quick, 'and interesting to teach,' but not a great favourite with his companions.' His career at Cambridge, which lasted for nearly four years, was undistinguished. A diffident youth, giving no promise of a remarkable future, he left the university without a degree at the end of May 1869.
From 1869, when he left Cambridge, until 1872 Parnell remained at Avondale. He stood well in the estimation of his own class, and was regarded as a retiring country gentleman of conservative tendencies. He showed some liking for cricket, and was captain of a Wicklow 'eleven.' He also became an officer in the Wicklow militia. In 1872-3 he travelled in the United States. On returning home he was chosen a member of the synod of the disestablished church, and he was high sheriff of co. Wicklow in 1874.
During the same year he plunged into Irish politics. His attention had first been drawn to them by the fenian movement which had come to a head in 1865-7. That movement he had watched, he tells us, 'with interest and attention.' A sister writes: 'It was the occasion of the execution of the Manchester martyrs [three fenians hanged in Manchester in 1807 for killing a policeman while they were trying to rescue fenian prisoners] that first called forth an expression of aversion for England on my brother's part, and set him thinking and brooding over the wrongs of his country. This indignation was extreme, and from that time there was a marked change in him — he was then twenty-one years of age.' Isaac Butt [q. v.], who defended the fenian prisoners in 1865, and was impressed by their earnestness, had founded in 1870 the Home Rule Association for the restoration of an Irish parliament. At the same time he placed himself at the head of the Amnesty Association, formed for the purpose of obtaining the release of the fenian prisoners. Thus the fenian and home-rule organisations ran, during Butt's regime and in Parnell's youth, side by side.
In March 1874 Parnell introduced himself to Butt at his residence in Henrietta Street, Dublin, and offered him his services. 'I have got a great recruit,' Butt said at the time; 'young Parnell—a historic name—and, unless I am mistaken, the Saxon will find him an ugly customer, though he is a d—d goodlooking fellow.' Colonel Taylor, M.P. for co. Dublin, had just accepted the office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in Disraeli's new ministry, and had therefore vacated his seat. Parnell came forward to oppose his reelection. The young candidate's first speech was a complete failure, and he was hopelessly beaten at the poll. But in April 1875 he was elected for co. Meath in place of John Martin [q. v.], the veteran Young Irelander, who had died on 29 March. On 22 April Parnell took his seat in the house. Four days later he made his first speech, opposing in committee a bill for the preservation of peace in Ireland. He maintained that 'in the neglect of the principles of self-government lay the root of all Irish trouble,' and 'that Ireland was not a geographical fragment, but a nation' (Hansard, ccxxiii. 1643-6). On fourteen other occasions Parnell spoke during the session; but he made no particular impression.
Parnell's sympathy with the fenian movement drew from him his first notable utterance in the House of Commons. On 30 June 1876 Sir Michael Hicks Beach, the chief secretary for Ireland, speaking on the subject of home rule, incidentally described the fenians arrested at Manchester as 'the Manchester murderers.' At the words 'Manchester murderers' there was a cry of 'No, no!' from the Irish benches. Sir Michael expressed 'regret that there is any hon. member in this house who will apologise for murder.' Thereupon Parnell said: 'I wish to say, as publicly and directly as I can, that I do not believe, and I never shall believe, that any murder was committed at Manchester.' So 'spirited and defiant' a 'defence of the Manchester men in the House of Commons'attracted the attention of the fenian organisations. The fenians had lost all confidence in Butt; l'arnell had shocked and defied the house— that in the eyes of the fenians was the true policy. In 1876 Parnell made another advance which commended him to the fenians. He joined the Amnesty Association.
By 1877 Butt had ceased, except in name, to lead. The Irish party lacked unity; there was no recognised scheme of operation, and no directing mind. The Irish member was an object of derision, and Parnell keenly felt the humiliation of the position. In 1877 he resolved to make the Irish party a power in parliament. The English parties in the
