This letter is from Irish Parliamentary Party leader and MP John Dillon (1851-1927) to to Mabel FitzGerald (née Washington McConnell) (1884-1958), wife of politician and intellectual Desmond FitzGerald (1888-1947). Dillon writes that he is unable to do anything for prisoners sentenced to penal servitude but may be able to get the sentence reduced in the future.John Dillon was an Irish Party M.P. in the House of Commons. Dillon issued a speech in the House on 11 May 1916 where he strongly condemned the British handling of the Rising which had been put down “with so much blood and so much savagery”, and called for an immediate end to executions. Dillon would succeed John Redmond (1856-1918) as leader of the Home Rule party in 1918. Mabel Fitzgerald was a former governess in London. She later vigorously canvassed her former acquaintances in London's liberal circles for support for Francis Sheehy Skeffington (1878 -1916) during his hunger strike in 1915. Both Mabel and Desmond would serve in the GPO garrison during Easter Week.