No. 187.
Mr. Welsh
to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
London, August 27, 1878.
(Received September 7.)
No. 134.]
Sir: Referring to your confidential instruction,
No. 116, of the 24th ultimo, I have the honor to acquaint you that, although
I was not directed by that dispatch to make a fresh application to Her
Majesty’s [Page 286] Government for the
pardon of Condon, it nevertheless seemed to me desirable to leave no proper
effort untried to accomplish that object before engaging in the somewhat
delicate attempt to investigate the circumstances which attended his
conviction.
I accordingly called upon Lord Salisbury at the foreign office on the 8th
instant and presented the subject to him in a manner which seemed to make a
favorable impression. I afterward embodied the substance of my conversation
in a note to him, a copy of which I have the honor to inclose. I am happy to
inform you that on the 21st instant I received a reply from his lordship, a
copy of which I also inclose, by which it will be seen that Her Majesty’s
Government will recommend to Her Majesty to remit the remainder of the
sentence which was passed upon Condon, and, as a necessary consequence, the
remainder of that also which was passed upon Melody, under such conditions
as the Queen may be pleased to prescribe, one of which would be that they
shall not, during the remaining term of their sentence or such shorter
period as Her Majesty may be pleased to name, reside within the Queen’s
dominions.
Although the forms may not be completed before a fortnight, because of the
absence of the cabinet from their offices and the necessity of sending the
several papers required after them to distant points for their signatures, I
am assured that the pardon is otherwise perfect, and that, about the time
named, Condon and Melody will be discharged from custody provided they
accept of the conditions imposed by the Queen.
Should Condon not be provided with means to go to the United States I shall
furnish them to him.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 134.]
Mr. Welsh to Lord
Salisbury.
Legation of the United States,
London, August 8,
1878.
My Dear Lord Salisbury: On my visit to you this
morning, I made an appeal in behalf of my government for the pardon of
Condon, when you kindly said you would bring the matter before the
cabinet on Saturday. Permit me now to repeat what I then told you, that
it was but a little while since I had made a similar application in a
more formal way, and it had been refused. Since then, however, the
action of your government has brought to it so much honor that I thought
it a moment when the exercise of mercy might possibly be peculiarly
agreeable, particularly in answer to the prayer of a friendly government
which had shown so deep an interest in the case as to prefer the prayer
already three times, and would, no doubt,
continue to do so, but always most respectfully, until it should be
granted. The belief in the United States is that Condon, an ardent
Irishman, who had served most honorably in our war, was the victim of
circumstances in his wrong-doing, and that, having been eleven years in
prison, he has learned wisdom, and may well be restored to his family in
the United States.
Whenever the prayer has been presented to your government it has been
ordered to be presented by Congress, and it has been accompanied by the
respectful request of the President, through my predecessor or
myself.
It has been made with all the authority as to its source, and earnestness
as to its substance, that could be given to it. Has not the dignity of
your laws been fully satisfied? If any punishment will reform, certainly
eleven years must have done it. Therefore may
you not, under such circumstances, exercise mercy, and, in doing so,
relieve yourselves of the care of the prisoner, and the country of his
presence, and thus act justly to yourselves, mercifully to the prisoner,
and most courteously to the people whom I represent, in common with
whom, in this case, I feel a very deep interest?
I trust that Her Majesty’s Government will be able to take a favorable
view of this matter, and enable me to send Condon back to his
family.
I believe it would be recognized by the President and Congress as a most
friendly action.
I am, &c.,
[Page 287]
[Inclosure 2 in No. 134.]
Lord Salisbury to
Mr. Welsh.
Foreign
Office, August 16,
1878.
Dear Mr. Welsh: I have to acknowledge the
letter which you addressed to me under date the 8th instant. You had
previously made to me at this office a verbal request of a similar
import. These communications were duly laid before the cabinet and have
been carefully considered by them. They had at the same time before them
the fact that Condon and Melody (the other man who was convicted for the
same offense) could not, according to the tenor of the regulation in
force respecting them, be released from prison before the year 1882, and
that Condon is suffering seriously in health.
Her Majesty’s Government have been strongly moved to look upon your
application in the most favorable light, as well by the knowledge which
you have conveyed to them that it is one to which the President and
Congress of the United States attach great importance, as by a review of
the considerations mentioned in your letter and of those to which I have
adverted above.
Her Majesty’s Government are glad to be able to think that, under all
these circumstances, the time has arrived when the clemency of the Crown
may be exercised, and when they will be justified in acceding to your
request.
They will therefore recommend to Her Majesty to remit the remainder of
the sentence which was passed upon Condon, and, as a necessary
consequence, the remainder of that also which was passed upon Melody,
under such conditions as Her Majesty may be pleased to prescribe, one of
which would be that they shall not, during the remaining term of their
sentence, or such shorter period as Her Majesty may be pleased to name,
reside within Her Majesty’s dominions.
I beg to remain, &c.,
John Welsh, Esq.,
&c., &c., &c.
