Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-14
PARNELLISM AND CRIME
Report of the Investigating
Commission.
THE IRISH LEADER ACQUITTED
Failure to Connect Him Directly
With Agrarian Crimes-The
Land League Censured.

'uStlceS hannen, Day ana Smitn, tn
special commission to investigate tn,
charges made by the Times against Par
nellite members of the House of Com
mons, was laid upon the table in tn,
House today by Hon. Henry Matthews
Secretary of State for Home Affairs.
The report occupies 162 pages. Eacl
of the members of the House against
whom charges are made is treated sepa
rately. The judges find that speeches
were made by many Parnellites, in
tended to bring about the separation o
Ireland from England; that these
speeches, in view OF the state of the
country, were calculated to foment
crime, as the speakers must know.
The greatest interest centers in the
final conclusions which follow:
First-We find that the respondents
members of Parliament, were not mem
bers of a conspiracy having for its objec
| to establish the absolute independence o.
| Ireland; but find that some of them, to-
gether with Davitt, established and
joined the Land League with the inten'
ton, by its means, to bring about the
absolute independence of Ireland as a
separate nation.
Second-Responden did enter into
conspiracy by a system of coercion
and intimidation to promote agrarian
agitation against the payment of agri-
cultural rents, for the purpose of i'm
poverishing and expelling from the coun-
try Irish landlords.
Third-The charge that after denounc-
ing certain crimes in public, they after
wards led their supporters to believe such
denunciatioa was not sincere, is not
established. We entirely acquit Mr..
Parnell and other respondents of the
charge of insincerity in their denunCia-
ton of the Phoenix park murders; and
we find that the fac-simile letter, upon
which the charge was chiefly based
against Parnell, is forgery.
Respondents did disseminate news
papers tending to incite sedition and the
commission Of other crimes.
Respondents did not directly incite
any persons to the commission of crime
other than intimidation, but did incite to
intimidation, and the consequence was
that crimes and outrsges were committed
by persons 30 melted.
AS to the allegation that respondents
did nothing to prevent crime, and ex-
pressed no bona .fde disapproval of crime,
some of the respondents, in particular
Michael Davitt. did express bona .fde
disapproval of crime and outrage: but re-
spondents did not denounce the system
of intimidation which led to crime and
outrage, but persisted in this abstention
of denunciation with the knowledge OF
its effect. a
Respondents defended persons charged
with agrarian crimes and supported their
families; but it is not proved that they
subscribed to testimonials for, or were
intimately associated with noted GRIM
inals.
AS to the allegation that respondents
made payments to compensate persons
who had been injured in the ecommission of
crime. we find that they did not make
such payments.
AS to the allegation that respondents
invited the assistance and cooperation of
and accepted subscriptions and money
from known advocates of crime and the
use of dynamite, We find that respond
ents did invite the assistance and coop.
Grafton of, and accept subscriptions of
advocate of crime and dynamite but it
has not been proved that respondents
knew that the Clan-na-Gael controlled
the Land League, or was collecting
money for Parliamentary fund but it
has been proved that respondents invited
and obtained the assistance and cooper
alton of the physical force party in
America, including the Clan-na- Gael,
and in order to obtain that assistance,
abstained from repudiating or condemn
ing the action of that party.
Besides these, there remain three spe-
| cifc charges against Parnell, personally,
namely:
A-That at the time of the Kilmain-
ham negotiations, Parnell knew that
Sheridan aud Boynton had been organiz-
ing outrages, and, therefore, wished to
use them to put down outrages. Not
proved.
B-That Parnell was intimate with
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 i5 no foundation for this
charge and that the Invincibles were not
branch of the Land League.
C-That Parnell by opportune remit
tance enabled F. Byrne to escape from
jail to France. We find that Parnell did
not make any remittance to enable Byrne
to escape from justice.
Regarding the two special charges
against Oavitt, that he was Fenian and
assisted in the formation of the Land
League with money contributed for the
purpose of outrage and crime, and that
he was in close and intimate association
with the party of violence in America.
and was mainly instrumental in bringing
about the alliance of that party and tue
Parnellite and Home Rule party in
America, we find it proved that Davitt
was Fenian and received money from
the skirmishing fund contribute for the
purpose of outrage. This was not, how
ever, for the formation of the Land
League itself, but for the promotion of
the agitation leading up to it. We find
also, that he, in such close and intimate
association with the party of violence in
America, was mainly instrumental in
bringing about the alliance referred to
In the opening of the report the Judges
refer to the unprecedented character of
the inquiry; the history of the actions of
the leaders of the Irish party from 1877
is recited; the relations are traced that
existed between the founders of the Land
League and Fenians and Irish. Amer.
leans.
Referring to boycotting, it declares that
insto ucos adducad hafora tho coro ~, ;..;