“TIMES"-PARNELL COMMISSION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 447, 19 February 1890, Page 5

“TIMES"-PARNELL COMMISSION.

THE REPORT SUBMITTED. THE LETTER A FORGERY. IRISH MEMBERS BLAMED. London, February 13. The Parnell Commission reports that Davitt, Harris, Dillon, O’Brien, W. Redmond, O’Connor, Condon, and O’Kelly, conspired to bring about the absolute separation of Ireland. The/«c simile letter is declared to be a forgery. The defendants, since denouncing the Phoenix Park murders, were proved to have incited to intimidation, and invited the assistance of Ford in America.

Parnell is acquitted of having aided Byrne to escape to Paris, and the judges find it is not true that be was intimate with the leading Invincibles. Davitt is shown to have been closely associated with the party of violence in America. The report of the Parnell Commission has been laid on the table of the House of Commons. London, February 14. The Parnell Commission further find that the defendants conspired by means of coercion and agrarian agitation to expel landlords from Ireland. They, circulated the “Irish World” and other papers inciting people to sedition and crime. It was not proved that they paid for the commission of crimes, and some, especially Davitt, expressed bona fide disapproval of crime. Defendants generally had not denounced intimidation, and knowing the effect, they persisted in not doing so. It was proved they subscribed towards, or were intimately associated with notorious criminals, or paid to procure their escape from justice, and that they sent compensation to persons injured in the commission of crime. It was not proved the defendants were aware that the C!an-na-Gael controlled the American League, or collected money for the Parliamentary fund.

It was proved that in order to obtain the assistance of the physical force party in America, including the Clan-na-Gael, which was actively engaged in dynamite operations in England, defendants abstained from condemning the action of that party. It was not proved that at the date of the Kilmainham negotiations, Parnell knew Sheridan and Boyton were organising outrage. It was proved that Davitt arranged the alliance between the Parnellites, American Home Rulers, and the patty of violence in America, and that the skirmishing fund was used to promote the agitation which resulted in the formation of the League. The Invincibles were not a branch of the League. Boycotting was cruel and illegal. It was proved that 44 Irish members, including Parnell, Dillon, Deasy, Davitt, the Redmonds, and other leading members who supported boycotting, were guilty of criminal conspiracy against the landlords. The League neither organised nor paid Invincibles. None of the defendants had either direct or indirect knowledge of the Phoenix Park conspiracy. Pigott was utterly unworthy of credit, and all his letters were forgeries. The League did not assist in the de- ' tection of crime.

No details were given of the way in which £ 100,000 of the League s funds were expended, and there was no valid excuse for non-production of the books. The rise of agrarian crime coincided with the beginning of activity in the League. The Commission did not receive the assistance that was expected from Mr Parnell or the League. The report, which was unanimous, fills 165 pages.