No. 172.
Mr. Evarts to Mr. Welsh.

No. 51.]

Sir: Under date of June 1, 1877, the attention of your predecessor, Mr. Pierrepont, was called to the case of Edward O’M. Condon, imprisoned under sentence of a British court for an offense committed in connection with the Fenian movement in Great Britain, and he was instructed to do what he properly could toward effecting the prisoner’s release.

At the urgent solicitation of a sister of Condon, the President has suggested that renewed application maybe made by this Department with a view to secure his discharge.

You are consequently instructed to recall the attention of Her Majesty’s Government to the case, and to state that, in view of the long period of confinement to which the prisoner has been subjected, that a large class of persons in this country desire his discharge, and that his liberation would be very unlikely to occasion any repetition of the seditious acts for which he was imprisoned.

It would be gratifying to the Government of the United States if Her Majesty’s Government should deem it not unadvisable to extend to Condon the clemency desired.

I am, &c.,

WM. M. EVARTS.