HC Deb 01 May 1882 vol 268 cc1838-40
MR. BELLINGHAM

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, If his attention has been drawn to the account of a meeting recently held at Ipswich, at which the secretary of a Liberal Association is reported to have used the following language:— I feel a sort of satisfaction in hearing the Irish people have taken to shooting landlords. If anybody ought to be shot in Ireland it is the landlords; and, whether, since such opinions were expressed in the presence of the leading Liberals of the town, including the president and ex-president of the Liberal Association and three members of the council, without rebuke, and are of a character calculated to incite to a breach of the peace and encourage murder, some steps cannot be taken by the Government to prevent a repetition of similar language at public meetings at Ipswich or elsewhere?

MR. GLADSTONE

The hon. Gentleman has put a Question to me, with respect to which I must say I hope I am not to be made a tribunal of appeal as to language, of which I may approve or disapprove, that may be used by any independent person in the country. A censorship of speech is a function which cannot be conveniently added to the duties I am called upon to discharge. I shall only, by way of information, inform the hon. Gentleman one thing. Of course, I am bound to say that if the words which the hon. Gentleman has cited were used as they stand without any qualifying connection to alter sense—[Laughter, cries of "Oh, oh!" from Mr. WARTON and other Members of the Opposition, and "Order!"]—I must beg the hon. Member for Bridport—[Mr. WARTON: I am not alone; and cries of "Order!"]—to permit me freedom of speech. [Mr. WARTON: With pleasure, Sir.] If the words cited by the hon. Member were used without any context which would essentially define and alter their apparent construction, they are words upon which too severe a censure could not be passed. I am, however, assured by a gentleman who is acquainted with Ipswich that they were not so used; that they were not understood by anyone who heard them in the sense that the hon. Member has not unnaturally attached to them; and, finally, that the hon. Member has not correctly described this gentleman, because, as I understand, he is not secretary of the Liberal Association, as has been stated in the Question.

MR. BELLINGHAM

stated that, in consequence of the answer of the Prime Minister, he should, on Tuesday or Thursday, put this Question to the Home Secretary.

MR. GLADSTONE

I ought to have stated that if the Question of the hon. Member is, whether it is the opinion of the Government that a prosecution ought to be instituted, far be it from me to say that it is not a Question which he is not entirely entitled to put; but I did not conceive that that was his meaning.