Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1888-07-07 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

CHAS. S. PARNELL." That letter had been subjected to the most careful criticism, and it would be for the jury, after hearing the evidence, to say whether it was signed by Mr. Parnell. The Times would not state from whom they obtained'that letter, whether a confederate or not, and it was not right that any request should be made to them to do so. In February, 1882, Sheridan was in Ireland disguised as a priest, and Egan wrote to him : "Your presence in the west is urgently needed,thething must bedone promptly." Having referred to other letters the learned counsel referred to the circumstances of the Plnenix Park murders, and said that shortly afterwards a warrant was issued against Egan, Byrne, and Brennan, officials of the Land League, but they had all kept out of the reach of justice. Some of the Land League leaders, however, had since 1883 been in cominunication with these men, and he thought he should satisfy the jury that since the time when their moral guilt was established, The leaders of the Constitutional party had been receiving money from them. He did not refer to Mr. ODon nell in thiJ connection, and Mr. O'Donnell was not referred to in the alleged libels. Another point which he should prove was that on the 10th of May, after the Pine= Park murders, Egan telegraphed to Ford in America, and to London, that he would reit') if any part of the Land League funds were devoted to the offering of a reward for the diecovery of the murderers. Mr. Parnell had denounced the perpetrators of the Phcanix Park murders and thereby he might have caused a revulsion of feeling against him. In consequence of that, the letter,which had been denounced as an impudent forgery, came to be written. He thought, however, he should satisfy the jury that this letter was in the handwriting of Campbell. It was written on May 15th, nine days after the murder, and was to the effect that Mr. l'arnell was not surprised at the anger shown by the friend of the person to whom it was written, but explaining that the best policy of the Irish party was to denounce the murderers. The letter also stated that although Mr. Parnell regretted the accident to Lord F. Cavendish, he could not but admit that Mr. Burke got no more than his deserts, and the letter concluded with a request that the address of the writer should not 'oe made known. On the 18th of June, 1882, two letters were written by Mr. Parnell to other correspondents, who had reinonstratod with hinisbn his conduct. In the first Mr. Parnell said : "I could not appear in Parliament unless I condemned these things. Our position would be untenable except for the course we took." In the second letter he said: I will be always anxious for the approval of our friends, but why impugn my motives? I cannot consent to the conditions they impose, but I accept all the responsibility of what has been done." A letter was next read, dated the Bth of February,lBB3, from Frank Byrne, alter he fled from this country, to Quin, in which he said he enclosed a cheque for £35 17s. 7d., the amount of cash in his hands belonging to the executive of the League. The defendants were prepared to show that Byrne received a cheque for £lOO from Mr. Parnell, which enabled him to leave this country. The learned counsel then referred at some length to the meetings of the League which followed, and to the escape of some of its leaders to America, and also to the raising of a Martyrs' Fund for the relief of the families of the men executed for the Phenix Park murders. The learned counsel justified the Times in publicly commenting on the incidents of the Irish agitations, and proposed to go through the various articles complained of and then to submit capies to the jury. Mr. Ruegg said the Times had libelled the whole Irish party, of which the plaintiff was a member.  The Lord Chief Justice: You never did the Times a greater service than this. (Laughter.) The Attorney-General then continued his comments on the articles.