O'FARRELL'S CRIME

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 442, 31 December 1868, Page 2

O'FARRELL'S CRIME

In the Legislative Assembly, in Sydney, on the 16fch inst, the following motion was proposed by Mr M'Leay and carried : —" That there be laid upon the table of this House copies of all letters, reports, confessions, affidavits, declarations or documents of any kind in the possession of the Government having reference to the attempted assassination of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, or to any circumstances arising out of or in connection with that event." Mr M'Leay referred to Mr Parkes's statement at Kaima and Jamberoo, asserting the existence of proofs and conspiracy ; and to his previous speech, in which he stated, after O'Farrell's execution, that the Government were possessed of information revealing the wide spread existence of a "new crime." After stating the existence of these alleged evidences was entirely unknown to the Inspector-General of Police, the Under Secretary, or any other of the Government officials, the hon. gentleman expressed his belief that the story was an imposture. Mr Parkes warmly resented the insinuation, and stated that the documents had been set up in type at the Government printing office before he left office, with a view to their publication in the Government Gazette, but that his colleagues disapproved of their publication, and treated them as private documents obtained by him personally, and not received on behalf of the Government.

It also transpired that Mr Parkes had sealed up the papers in an envelope, and left them in his office, but that they had afterwards been handed to him by one of his former colleagues. At a late hour last evening Mr Parkes produced the conspiracy papers already printed, and copies were handed to several hon. members. They contained notes of conversatious held by Mr Parkes personally with O'Farrell when in goal; also, a diary of O'Farrell's, containing references to a conspiracy. Both the written statements in t diary and the verbal statementshe recorded in Mr Parkes's notes are to the eifect that the intended assassination of the Prince was to be a retaliation for the Manchester executions. They also agreed with the story first promulgated, to the effect that there were ten competitors, among whom lots were cast, and that the lot fell on O'Farrell. The convict's statement also went to show that the Fenian organisation in New Zealand was such that if his Eoyal Highness had proceeded there his life would have been again in danger, and even more so than in Sydney. The papers also contain a report from the Inspector-Q-eneral of Police,expressing his belief at the time in the existence of an organisation and conspiracy. It has, however, been contended throughout the debate, and admitted that the exertions of the police failed to discover the supposed conspirators, or to trace the alleged organisation, and it is contended that the latest confession of O'Farrell, in which he contradicted the foregoing assertions, is the one most to be relied upon.