THE PARNELL LETTER. THE SENSATION OF LONDON. MR. PARNELL'S DENIAL. (REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 205, 28 May 1887, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE PARNELL LETTER. THE SENSATION OF LONDON. MR. PARNELL'S DENIAL. (REUTERS TELEGRAM.)

Adelaide, this clay. The following news is just to hand per s.s. Austral: —

London, April 22. By far the most startling event of the week has been the publication by the " Times" of a fac simile of a letter purporting to have been written by Mr Parnell to Mr Patrick Egan, excusing his public condemnation of the Phcenix Park murderers. The letter is dated 15th May, 1882, and runs thus :— "Dear sir, I am not surprised at your friends augur; but he or you should have known that to denounco the murders was the only course left open to us. To do that promptly was plainly the best policy. But you can tell him and all others concerned that, though I regret the accident, of Lord Cavendish's death I cannot refuse to admit that Mr Bourke got no more than his deserts. You are at liberty to show him this and others you can trust, bub let not my address be known. He can write to to the House of Commons. — Yours very truly, Charles S, Parnell." The body of the letter is written in a small round hand, but " yours very truly" and the signature were in Parnell's own hand. The publication of the letter caused tremendous excitement throughout the United Kingdom. In Parliament Mr Balfour alluded to the absence of comment by Mr Gladsone on the charges against Mr Parnell, and challenged the latter to disprove that he was the author of the letter published by the " Times/ Mr Parnell complained that he was not allowed to intervene before Mr Balfour, to contradict the villianous and barefaced forgery by which the ' Times ' had attempted to blacken his character. It was obviously perpetrated, he asserted, for the purpose of influencing the division. "When the letter was brought under his notice he saw at once it was an unblushing forgery, and except as regards two letters the signature in no way resembled him. He denied that he had ever heard of the letter, having directed it to be written, or seen it, and indignantly disclaimed all knowledge of the Invincibles conspiracy. Replying to Lord Hartington, he repudiated altogether the charge of connection with secret societies, and asserted that all his political proceedings had been above board.