Michael Davitt to John O'Leary, 11th March 1888. IE TCD MS 9377/1051

IE TCD MS 9377/1051: Letter from Michael Davitt, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin, Ireland to John O'Leary dated 11th March 1888 referencing the allocation of subscription funds: "The £100 about which you inquire stood "thusly": £80 of it represented the net proceeds of my last lecture in N. York. (Feb. '87) and £30 came to me from Ford of the Irish World - money that had been subscribed to a fund started for the late John "Amnesty" Nolan, just before he died. At the time I spoke to you about the sum, I had not any of the above moneys. I expected that the proceeds of my N. York meeting would have reached at least £200. However I ultimately got the 80 and the £30 referred to. I had intended to hand over £100 to the Committee of the Y. Ireland Society towards a Mahony McManus monument, but you told me at the time that the Committee was split into two, and that I had better not recognise either just then. I then thought I could not do better than erect a memorial to poor Nolan, who had worked with me in the old movement and did his best in the amnesty movement to shorten my imprisonment. I therefore ordered a monument, which now stands in Glasnevin, at a cost of £83. This walked off with my share of the money in question. The remaining £30, I returned to Ford, owing to a statement circulated in N.Y., that this sum had formed part of the cash of the memorial to Nolan. This is the history of the £100. I agree with you that it looks as if Balfour was beating the League leaders. The "harrowing" details about the "tortures" of Tullamore as dished up in the Freeman and U. Ireland seems to have convinced a great many aspiring martyrs, that the "sufferings" described were real, and there is, therefore, a falling off in the number of candidates for [?]. This situation, in this respect, is beginning to look rather humiliating..."