Later in the evening, in answer to complaints made by
Mr. O'Shea, Mr. Forster went further, and produced a private memorandum of a conversation between himself and Mr. O'Shea on the subject of the outrages, in which he had noted that Mr. O'Shea considered the point gained as this,— that " the conspiracy which has been used to get up boy- cotting and outrages, will now be used to put them down." Mr. O'Shea, interrupting, denied entirely his use of the word " conspiracy," and on the following day declared that he had only spoken of the Land-League organisation as being now virtually pledged to put down outrage and intimidation in Ireland. Mr. Forster, on Monday night, did not hold strongly that the word " conspiracy " had been used, but returned to his allegation that it had been used on Tuesday. Further, Mr. Forster declared that Mr. Parnell contemplated sending Mr. Sheridan to Ireland, to assist in putting down outrages ; and this Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Forster described as "a
released suspect, against whom we have for some time had a fresh warrant, and who under disguises has hitherto eluded the police, coming backwards and forwards from Egan to the outrage- mongers in the West." Mr. Parnell repudiated all knowledge of Mr. Sheridan's having been engaged in promoting outrages, and declared that it was only Mr. Sheridan's knowledge of the peasantry of Connaught, gained during the organisation of the Land League, to which he had trusted for the influence he might exert in suppressing outrages. Monday's debate closed with the feeling that Mr. Forster had delivered a very effective thrust at Mr. Parnell, and a sharp side-thrust at the Govern- ment, having hinted that they were not unwilling to use "out- rage-mongers " to put down outrages.
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