A meeting of the General Council of the Irish Loyal
and Patriotic Union was held on Tuesday at their offices in Grafton Street, Dublin, when the Duke of Leinster moved, and Sir Thomas P. Butler seconded, a resolution stating that as the Special Commission had declined to go into the ques- tion of the objects to which their funds had been devoted, they thought it necessary to give their subscribers the most absolute assurance that no part of the funds of the Associa- tions had been applied, directly or indirectly by payment or loan, whether through the late Dr. Maguire, through Mr. Houston, or any other person, towards the purchase or pro- curement of the letters known as the Pigott lettere. They assert that all their account-books are in order and can be produced, and they give the certificate of their auditor, Mr. Kincaid, " that no part of the funds of the Union were dis- bursed directly or indirectly for the purchase of these letters." And so vanishes the legend on the strength of which Mr. Parnell and his colleagues withdrew so melodramatically from defending themselves before the Special Commission.
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