INTERVIEW WITH MS. SHERIDAN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 2, 4 May 1883, Page 25

INTERVIEW WITH MS. SHERIDAN.

(From the Irish World.") KNOWtKG that an interview with Mr. Sheridan at this time would be interesting to our readers we have submitted a number of questions to him calculated to elicit his views and future plans, every one of which was readily and cheerfully answered, and is printed below :— ■

Reporter.— -Do you know this informer Carey who says you were introduced to him at tha Angel Hotel, in Dublin 1 ■ Mr. Sheridan.— l never met the man in my life. His references to an interview with me in the Angel Hotel, Dublin, and his statement about my promising to forward him tome aims from London are sheer fabrications, and convince me that his story has baen concocted in Dublin Castle, and that Carey, in order to save his miserable neck, volunteered to swear to it in the witness-box. Reporter.— Asa matter of fact, have you been in the disguise of a priest in Ireland, as alleged ? Mr. Sheriian.— Yes. I found it necessary to visit Ireland for two reasons, which I will give you, and being aware of the fact that a general order was issued frooa the Castle to the police to arrest me if found in any part of Ireland— at that time the British Government was arresting every Irishman who was thought to be of service to the Land League cause— l assumed the disguise of a priest, and \went to Ireland, first, for the purpose of arranging for the recovery of some property of which I had been robbed during my imprisonment and esile ; and, second, for the purpose of putting down agrarian acts and upholding the " No Rent Manifesto " by the process of social ostracism, that being, ' t my opinion, the most potent, as well as the most moral weapon within the people's reach. I also found it necessary to inquire into some alleged neglects and abuses in conaection with the expenditure of Land League funds, arising out of the fact that the Ladies' League in Dublin, as well as Mr. Egan and myself in Paris, had been deprived of the assistance of our trained organizers who were then locked up in prison as "suspects." Reporter.— How came your name to be mentioned by Mr. Forster in connection with Irish crime after the Kilmainham treaty ? Mr. Sheridan.— Mr. Parnell fully explained that when replying to Mr. Forster in the House of Commons. la substance his reply was, as I can remember, that it was impossible for the people to tamely endure the tyranny which the Government had been practising on them : that the men who could intelligently inflnence their actions were either imprisoned or in exile. Without my knowledge or consent Mr. Parnell mentioned me by name as one of those men who, in hie opinion, could put a stop to acts of violence if allowed to return to Ireland, explaining that my intercourse with and knowledge of the people, particularly in the West of Ireland during the Land Leagne agitation, had given me an influence over them. Reporter.— Why should Mr. Parnell have selected your name from amongst the other leaders not then in prison ? Mr. Sheridan.— Well, I believe that Mr. Parnell thought I possessed some influence in the West of Ireland, to which I belong, and that he was anxious I snould have an opportunity to exert it for the suppression of acts of violence that were being then committed on land-grabbers and other obnoxious characters. Besides, I have no doubt but a kindly consideration toward myself may have influenced Mr. Parnell in some degree, knowing as he did the great financial loss and injury I had sustained by my imprisonment and enforced absence from Ireland. Reporter.— Do you think, if you had been allowed to return to Ireland, that you could have prevented many of these acts of bloodshed?

Mr. Sheridan.— l have no doubt but if myself and other active men then either in prison or exile were allowed to move about as usual amongst the people, society would be spared the horrible exhibitions, or moat of them, that followed. Forster ruled otherwise, and on him, and him alone, rests the responsibility. Maamstrasna, Gurteen, Ballina, the Phoenix Park, and like tragedies throughout Ireland would be unheard of. In fact, Forster has on the floor of the House of Commons admitted his responsibility of tha acts commuted by the officers of the law, and I feel that history will charge him with the responsibility of the crimes committed by the people. He it is that should be on his trial for these massacres, the Phoenix Park included.

Reporter.— ln your opinion have any of the Land League Funds been employed for the promoting of disorder in Ireland as alleged 1 Mr. Sheridan. — Such a presumption can only emanate from ono of two scources, viz. : either a total ignorance of the Land League policy and its leaders or an ill-concealed desire to disparage both. Reporter.— Have you distributed any money in Ireland during your disguised sojourn there ? Mr. Sheridan.— l have. When Mr. Forster charged that I was engaged in fomenting disorder I was occupied in bringing succour to men, women and children whom he had left without a house or a morsel to eat. One case is noteworthy, as it occurred on Christmas Day, which is my only reason for selecting it from others. Finding myself in a poverty-stricken district in Muns+er, I discovered that no fewer than fourteen evicted families were forced to seek shelter on that Christmas Day under a fence in Valentia, an island on the west coast of Kerry, jfrhere the tender babe and aged grandsire had to look for the maniV^Bstations of thoss " tidings of great joy," which Christian men are wont to astociate with that holy season. The telegraph wires flashed a word of cheer to the reverend pastor of the district, and the next post took him some relief for the victims of Forster's law. You will pleaße to note this as a sample of the outrages committed by the man in •" disguise of a priest."

Reporter. — Have you witnessed any eviction scenes in Ireland ? Mr. Sheridan. — Yes. many. During my connection with the land League I have visited the scenes of some of these evictions, and gathered carloads of woven and children from under the fences in the depth of Winter. On one occasion I have seen the fever-stricken patient carried on a pallet from his poor cabin and placed on a dang

heap which was covered at the time with a foot of snow. While the Sheriff was going through the legal form of taking possession, the poor man expired with the snowflakes falling on his face. Reporter. — That certainly was a hard case. Are such instances of frequent occurrence ? Mr. Sheridan.— You bad better bear Dr. Nulty, Bishop of Meath, on that, whose description of an eviction I hare been just reading. He speaks of their character and the frequency of their occurrence from his own personal observation. ... Beporter. — Do you propose leaving New York to avoid being extradited as has been threatened by the English Government ? Mr. Sheridan. — I had intended going west previous to my read* ing of the informer Carey's references to meat the Dublin trials ; but I have now decided on remaining in New York. If any emissary of the British Government wants to know where t am, he will find me at my desk in the Irish World office any day of the week. tteporter.— Do you not think that the consequences might be serious if you were placed in the dock in Dublin ? Mr. Sheridan. — British courts of law in Ireland are organized simply to convict. Victims are wanted. I know that if the British Government got me inf) it 1 clutches I would certainly be hanged, even though I disproved, as I could easily disprove, every charge which the informer Carey has sworn against me. My innocence or guilt would not affect the issue. Reporter. — With such fears on your mind would it not be better to move to some country having no extradition treaty with England 1 Mr. Sheridan. — If there were no other consideration than my individual safety I might be induced to think so, but I feel that my trial here, should it come to that, will result in giving the American people an opportunity of judging of tbe class of evidence on which irreproachable men are almo it daily hanged in Ireland. Such an expose, I imagine, would be productive of results for Ireland. Therefore I remain.

Reporter. — Do you entertain any hopes for the prisoners in Ireland?

Mr. Sheridan.— No ; Dr. Nulty's life is no safer than James Mullett's if the English Government only deemed it politic to hang him. If Carey, Eavanagh, and Farrell found it necessary to save their necks to swear that Dr. Nulty killed Cavendish and Burke, they would do it. The Government has only to name its victims and the informers will swear according to order. Repc-ter. — Supposing those men should be hanged, what do you think will be the result ?

Mr. Sheridan. — That is a matter only to be guessed at. There is one thing, however, of which I have no doubt, and that is that Ireland was never go determined on the achievements of her independence and never so straight on the track to obtain it as she is at this hour.