Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1889-03-01
parnclI and piUOtt.


The salient points OF it, roughly s<etched,
are as follows. The theory of the London
Times, as the organ and mouth piece of the
British government, has been that Mr.. Par
nell was something much worse than pat
riot at the head of n movement to secure by
legal methods home rule for Ireland, that
he was in fact the leader of gang of assas-
SINS and dynamiters, organized to secure
through terrorism created by murder and
arson, an end impossible of accomplishment
by peaceful means, and maintained upon
money contributed in the United States. In
the course of its assaults upon Mr.. Parnell
1t published number of letters from fcnian
leaders, and among them several bearing
Mr.. Parncll's signature, connecting him di
rectly with the murder of the lord lieuten-
ant of Ireland ten years ago, and if we re
collect Alright with some of the dynamite
business. Mr. Parnell from his seat in Parlia-
ment, denounced these letters rs forgeries and
demanded an investigation. This was ordered
by the House of Commons. and the proceed
ings following have taken the form and pro-
portions of n great State trial, which has cost
the English government more than "A million
dollars, and has aroused extraordinary in
terest OF both sides of the ocean. The thing
most damaging to Mr.. Parnell in the course
of the trial. was his own original declaration
that the signatures of the alleged Parnell
letters We're limitations of his own. with the
exception of one, which bore no resemblance
to his signature followed at later stage of
the investigation by an explanation that
vi, Ia, 4 81,
hlance to his, ne forgot that soon after the
date borne by the letter, he had for reasons
of consequence TO himself. chdugcd his sig
nature. The signature in question, he now
admitted, rescmblcd his former signature;
but not the later one. 'ilow is TIM, -
asked Mr.. Pamell's opponents;' ''can it
be possible that "A man who mas changed his
signature within ten years should forget
his former signaturc-anl would not a
forger make the signatures to a
series Of forged letters pulporting to
be by the same hand resemble
each other? 1t required pretty strong faith
in cir. Parncll's truth and candor to resist
the force of such questions as these Bat
the trial went on. and in the course of it. it
was proved that the Times bought the let
ters for large sum e3000. of one Houston,
who obtained them from man named Rich
ard Pigott, an old and broken down irish
man who i described rs "cling out a
sqlIalid existence 10y begging. swndling, and
blackmailmg, and to have been known rs an
irremedablo scoundrcl and unconscionable
liar to everybody III Dublin" Pigott was
brought to the witness stand, and in the
course Of a prolonged cross examination,
gave away his case and that OF the Times,
ending with a written confession that he
forged the Parncl letters, after which he
disappeared and is supposed to have fed
from England to avoid prosecution for
forgery. There seems to be little to break
this defeat for the Times, except the asser-
ton of its solicitor made in advance of the
| coming collapse of its case, that Pigott had
been offered $4,000 10y Mr.. Labouchcre, edi-
tor of the London T,rfh, to swear that the
letters We're forgerIes. As Pigott appears
to he the kind of man who would do any
| thing or confess anything for money, his
own admission may have little weight; but
| i'll this case it seems TO be confirmed by good
deal of corroborative testimony. In fine it
seems to be pretty plain that the Times, and
the government behind it. have failed to
make out their charge against Mr., Parnell;
that the Thundercr allowed Itself to be
caught in a trap, in a way which leaves nc
defence for its good faith, except at the cost
of its reputation for common sense: and that
the result is likely to react seriously against
the government, and may even cost it its
majority in Parliament.