PARNELLISM AND CRIME

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 26

PARNELLISM AND CRIME

DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT. LONDON, April 22. In the House of Commons, Mr T. P. O'Connor's motion to reduce the vote of £9OO in respect of Sir Robert Anderson's pension was negatived by 164 votes to 94,- after the closure had been applied, as the only' method of ending the disorder. Mr O'Connor, in moving the proposal, uttered a fiery denunciation of Scotland Yard and the Conservative Government for assisting The Times to make a case against the Parnellites. Mr Churchill declared that Sir R. Anderson's articles did not contain secret service revelations, and therefore he did not think the case justified depriving Sir R. Anderson of his pension. Mr Balfour justified the Government's action in 1887 and 1888 in connection with Mr Parnell. Referring to Sir R. Anderson he said it was important that the ■ lips of civil servants should be sealed after their retirement. Mr Asquith denounced The Times for sending its representatives-, accompanied by an ex-detective, into the cells of men who were serving life sentences, ' with the object of inducing them to give evidence. Doubtless Sir R. Anderson supplied Lecaron with the documents which came into his possession as a servant of the State. Though the Blackwood article was a grave indiscretion, the case was not one for the withdrawal of the pension. A desultory debate which lasted some hours followed. Mr J. H. Campbell, ex-Attorney-generaJ for Ireland, incidentally let fall the words, "Apart from the question of the privity of Mr Pa?nel! to the two terrible murders in Phoenix Park." The Nationalists then became frenzied, and shouted "Shame," and "Withdraw." Mr J. Redmond declared that the commissioners had expressly acquitted Mr Parnell. of complicity. Mr Campbell replied that he was willing to accept that if the Nationalists agreed to the other findings of the commission. Despite Mr Emmott's repeated interventions from the chair, the Nationalists refused to allow Mr Campbell to continue, and mocking laughter greeted Mr Emmott's plea that it was his duty to cany out the rules of order. Mr W. Redmond : You are here to carry out rules of decency. Various shouts, including that of " Send for the Speaker." were repeated again and again, but Mr Campbell, unperturbed, stood at his table waiting for the uproar to subside. Mr Haldane and other members appealed to the Nationalists, but the uproar became more deafening. Finally the Chairman accepted Mr Churchill's suggestion to apply the closure to the debate, and this was carried by 232 votes to 111, amid the waving of hats and hands, and 'frantic cheers for Mr Parnell. April 24. Commenting on tie application of the closure to the debate on.Mr O'Connor's motion re Sir R. Anderson's pension, the Spectator says it was used not because the House considered the subject had been sufficiently but because the Nationalists were determined to deprive those members who had said things they disliked of the right of free speech. The articles on "Paxnellism and Crime" charged Charles Stewart Parnell and many of his parliamentary colleagues with conniving at the commission of crime and outrage in the days of the Irish Land League. The most serious and most damaging thing published by The Times under this heading was the facsimile of a letter alleged to have been written to Parnell to an associate in extenuation of the Phoenix Park murders. It was dated May 15, 1882, and included the words, " You can tell b.frn and all others concerned that, though I regret the accident of Lord F. Cavendish's death. I cannot refuse to admit that Brake got no more than his deserts. You .are at liberty to show him this, and others whom you can trust, but let not'my'address be known." Mr Parnell, speaking with suppressed passion, in the House of Commons, declared that the letter was a bare-faced forgery. . Mr Gladstone and his colleagues announced their belief in ParnelPs innocence, and later the Government offered to pay the expenses of a libel action against The Times, but this was declined on the ground that the Irish members'had no faith in either the Government or in English juries. Mr F. H. O'Donnell, M.P., mtd The Times for libel, claiming £50,000. A

verdict "was given for the -newspaper. A royal commission was appointed in August, 18S8, consisting of Sir James Hannaj* (president), Mr Justice Day, and Mr A. L. Smith, to inquire into the charges against Irish members. Sir G. Russell (afterwards Lord Russell of Killowen), Mr Asquith, and others ere retained for the accused members. Mr ParnelPs alleged letters were examined, and Mr Madbonald, of The Times, Mr Houston, from whom the letters were obtained, and Mr Richard Pigott, an Irish journalist, who had soldi them to Mr Houston, were examined. Piggott told lies in the witness box, and 1 , being unable to bear further cross-examina-tion, fled to Paris, where he confessed to having forged some of the letters. He then; went to Madrid, where ne committed suicide. The Times then expressed regret for the publication of the letters. The commission acquitted Mr Parnell and others of the charge of insincerity in their denunciations of the Phoenix Park murders, and affirmed the letter published in The Times to be. a forgery. The commissioners also found against some of the respondent members of Parliament with regard to certain/ matters, declaring inter alia that they " didf invite and obtain the assistance and cooperation of the physical force party in America, including the dan-na-Gael, and did not repudiate the action of that party." Subsequently Mr Parnell took an action against The Times, claiming £IOO,OOO damages. A verdict of £SOOO was given by consent.