The Life Of Charles Stewart Parnell - Ii

2] 'LOYAL AND PATEIOTIC UNION' 207
and, of course, made a stir in Unionist circles. But Mr. Houston wanted something more than pamphlets. He wanted documentary evidence 'connecting the Parnellite movement with the crime prevalent in the country'.1 In December 1885 he asked Pigott to find this evidence. ' It is impossible/ said Pigott. ' Try,' urged Houston; ' I will pay you a guinea a day, and your hotel and travelling expenses during the search.2 This magnificent offer opened a new vista to the astonished vision of the disgraced and destitute journalist. He suddenly found himself in touch not with the blackguards of the League, but with the gentlemen of the ' Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union.'
' A guinea a day and hotel and travelling expenses.' Here was an offer which would have stimulated the energy even of a man not pinched by poverty. Pigott said he would try, but that he would have to travel a good deal. He did try, he did travel. He went to London, to Paris, to Lausanne, to New York, in search of Fenians, who, he said, hated Parnell, and would gladly strike a blow at the Irish leader if they could.
It is right to say that the' Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union' did not—officially, at all events—supply Pigott with the funds for his benevolent mission. The money was got by the secretary of the organisation from certain distinguished Unionists—to wit, Sir Rowland Blennerhassett (member of the committee of the I. L. P. U.), Mr. Hogg, and—tell it not in G-ath 1 — Lord Eichard G-rosvenor.
1 Special Commission, Q. 51,722.
2 See Houston's cross-examination by Sir Charles Eussell, Special Commission, Q. 50,241. 'Mr. Pigott,' said Mr. Houston, 'did not consent right off; I had some difficulty in persuading him to undertake the work.' Ibid., Q. 50,243. of