§ MR. REARDENsaid, he rose to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, The nature of the charge under which Mr. John Downy, a merchant tailor of Dawson Street, Dublin, has been arrested and imprisoned for the last two months; whether it be true that detectives called upon him for information respecting a person named "Lennon," and on his asserting his ignorance of anything respecting the said "Lennon," they threatened to arrest him, and subsequently returned and did take him to prison; and, whether it be true that Mr. Downy's wife and eight children are reduced to a state of starvation in consequence?
THE EARL OF MAYOstated, in reply, that John Downy had been arrested simply because he was suspected of having been engaged in treasonable practices, and that the circumstances related by the hon. Member, even if they had occurred, would not in any way have influenced the case. He was informed, however, that a conditional order of discharge in the case referred to had been made out the day before yesterday.