Autograph Letter Signed ('W F Butler') from Sir William Francis Butler, Irish officer in the British Army, to an unnamed correspondent, discussing the 'great mediaeval Sin' that was committed by the English in Ireland.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Sir'. England and Ireland are not named in the letter, but subject of the letter is clear from the context. He has read 'with very great pleasure' the pamphlet which the recipient sent him. 'You are correct in surmising that for the present at least I take no part in the political question of the day - but my views show no change'. He has come to see 'very clearly [...] that a great mediaeval Sin - such as the clearing of the people from the soil - cannot be put right even by the will to right it on the part of those who originally did the wrong'. He does not doubt 'that it will work its own cure in its own way, and carry its own contribution'. Butler was an admirer of Parnell, a supporter of the Gaelic League, and a frequent lecturer in Ireland on Irish affairs. He was called to the Irish privy council in 1909.