§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTESir, I wish to ask the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for War, Whether it will be in his power, or the power of the Government, to give me any facilities for bringing forward the Motion of which I have given Notice for a Select Committee to inquire into the circumstances of the release of certain Members of this House from Kilmainham Gaol?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONMr. Speaker, before stating to the House the course which the Government propose to take in this matter, I beg to ask leave to make one observation. In the course of the observations which the right hon. Gentleman made on Thursday night on the Motion for the adjournment of the debate, he said he considered that I had rather unfairly commented on the action of the Opposition in regard to the matter of the release of the hon. Member for the City of Cork and of the other Irish Members who had been imprisoned. He did not specify—it was not consistent with Order at the time—the particular observation of mine to which he referred, and, therefore, it is impossible for me to offer to the House any explanation in detail. But I wish to say that it was very far from my intention to comment unfairly on the action of the Opposition in this matter; and not only so, but I had no intention whatever at that time to utter even any comments, either of an unfair or of an unnecessarily Party character. I fully expected that the right hon. Gentleman would have immediately followed me in the debate; and I certainly would not willingly have committed myself to any statement or imputation which could have been so described. 851 Having made that explanation, I have to state, in reply to the Question which has just been put to me by the right hon. Gentleman, that, in the opinion of the Government, this transaction, having now been under discussion in this House for nearly a week, on the Motion of the hon. and learned Member for Chatham (Mr. Gorst)—a Motion which was adopted and supported by the Opposition—the Government are not now prepared to assent to the appointment of a Select Committee, because it would, in their opinion, have the effect of reviving and keeping open the controversy for an indefinite period, which we consider would be extremely embarrassing to the Government of Ireland, and prejudicial to the interests of order in Ireland. Admitting, as we do, the obligation under ordinary circumstances of affording to the Opposition the earliest opportunity of bringing forward any Motion involving either censure or want of confidence in the Government, we cannot admit an indefinite obligation—an obligation to find time for such Motions indefinitely repeated. We have understood the Motion of the hon. and learned Member for Chatham as virtually, though perhaps rather indistinctly, aimed at the conduct of the Government in regard to these transactions. It has been so treated in the speech of the hon. and learned Member himself; it has been so treated in the speech of the right hon. and learned Gentleman the junior Member for the University of Dublin (Mr. Gibson), and other speakers on the Opposition Benches, and, to a certain extent, in the speech of the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition himself. Having been so treated, it was met by us in that sense; we believe it was so understood by the House, and the House has pronounced its judgment upon it. It would be impossible, under any circumstances, looking to the protracted nature of the debate which has already taken place, and which is not yet concluded, on the Address; looking also to the urgent necessity of making progress in Supply, and also to other Business of great importance which has not yet even been commenced, for the Government to have afforded an early day for this discussion. But I do not at all desire to limit myself to a consideration of this kind. I wish to state distinctly, that while there may be occa- 852 sions and opportunities of which it may be possible for the right hon. Gentleman to avail himself for bringing forward this Motion, the Government are not prepared to offer any part of the time over which they have control for the renewal of a controversy which, in their opinion, has been already fully debated, and upon which the judgment of the House has been pronounced.
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEI am quite aware, Sir, that it is not in my power to address the House on this occasion; but with their indulgence I would make one remark on what has fallen from the noble Marquess. I wish to remind him that the original suggestion—that the proper way to deal with this question, if it is to be dealt with at all, was by a Select Committee—was the suggestion that came from the Prime Minister. Circumstances at the time at which that suggestion was made rendered it perfectly impossible for my hon. Friend the Member for East Gloucestershire (Mr. J. E. Yorke) to bring such a Motion forward without the assistance of the Government. That assistance was declined. On the very first occasion of the discussion in this House of Irish affairs, the noble Marquess renewed, as I understood his language, in a very distinct manner the challenge of the Primo Minister, which challenge I at once accepted. I am rather surprised that these challenges are made with the understanding that they are not to be taken up. I can only say, having received an answer which has rather surprised me, I must take a short time to consider what course I shall take.