Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-20
THE CHARGES NOT PROVEN
Report of the Parnell-TimeS Commits
sion TO Parliament.
The Charges Against Mr.. Parnell
We're Not Proven.
Finds Fault With the Action of His
Followers.

LONDON, Feb. 13.-The report of
Judges Hammer, Day and Smith. the
special commission appointed to investi-
gate the charges made by the Times
against the Parnellite members of the
house of commons, was laid on the table in
the house to-day by Mr.. Matthews, secre-
tary of state for home affairs.
The greatest interest centres In the final
conclusions which follow:
First-We find that the respondents,
members of parliament, were not members
of "a conspiracy having for its obiectto es-
tabllsh the absolute independence of Ire
land; but find that some of them, together
with Davitt, established and Joined the
land league, with the intention, by its
means, to bring about the absolute indie
pendence of Ireland as a separate nation.
Second spondents did enter into
conspiracy by a system of coercion and in
timIdation to promote agrarian agitation
against the payment of agricultural rents.
for the purpose of impoveriShing and ex-
polling from the country the Irish land
lords
Third-The charge that after denouncing
certain crimes in public they afterward led
their supporters to believe that such de-
nunciaton was not sincere, is not eStab-
lished. We entirely acquit Parnell and
the other respondents of the charge of insin-
certify In their denunciatiOn of the Phoenix
Park murders; and we find this fac simile
letter upon which this charge is chiefly
based against Parnell is a forgery. Re
spondents did not disseminate newspapers
tending to incite sedItion and commission
OF other crimes. Respondents did not di-
rectly lncite any persons to the commits
sion of crime other than intimidation
but did incite to intimidation
and the consequence was crimes and out
RACES were committed by persons so in
cited Michael Davitt did express disap-
prevail of crime and outrage; but the
respondents did not denounce the sys- .
tenn of intimidation which led to crime
and outrage.
As to the allegation that the respond
ents invited the assistance and co-opera-
ton of, and accepted subscriptions of
money from known advocates of crime
and the use of dynamite, we find that the
respondents did invite the assistance and
cooperation of, and accepted subscrip-
tions of money from Patrick Ford,
known as an advocate of crime
and dynamite But it did not prove that
the respondents knew that the Clan-na-
Gael controlled the land league or was
collecting money for the parliamentary
fund There were three specific charges
against Parnell personally, namely:
l. That at the time of the Kilmain-
ham negotiations Parnell knew Sheridan
and Boynton had been organizing out
RACES and therefore wished to use them to
put down outrages. Not proved
2. That Parnell was intimate with the
leading invincibles, that he probably
learned from them what they were about
when he was released on parole in April,
1882, and that he recognized the Phoenix
Park murders as their handiwork We
find there Is no foundation for this charge
and that the inyincibles were not a branch
of the land league.
3-That Parnell, by an opportune
remittance, enabled F. Byrne to escape
from justice, to France. We find that
Parnell did not make any remittance to
enable Byrne to escape from justice Re-
garding the two special charges against
Davitt, that he was a Fenian and assisted
In the formation of the land league, with
money contri buted for the purpose of out
rage and crime; that he was
in close and intimate association with
mainly instrumental in bringing about an
alliance with that party and the Parnellite
and Home Rule party in America We
find it proved that Davitt was Fenian
and received money from the skirmishing
fund, contributed for the purpose Of
outrage This was not, however,
for the formation of the land league itself,
but for the promotion of agitation lead
ing to it. We find, also, that he was in
such close and intimate association with
the'party of violence in America, and was
the man who was mainly instrumental in
bringing about the alliance referred to.