HC Deb 16 June 1884 vol 289 cc410-1
MR. SEXTON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the attention of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland has been given to a letter which appeared in The Dublin Evening Mail of Wednesday last, signed "Robert Staples, Durrow, Queen's County," declaring that— Lord Spencer hag failed at Newry to cement the Kilmainham Treaty with the blood of other victims like poor Giffen; and asking— Is he to be allowed to multiply opportunities of doing so, and to destroy the peace and prosperity of Ulster," and "are the loyalists of Dublin and the South not to back up those of the North, and tell the traitors who would use the Queen's troops to stave and stab her loyal subjects, and who are about to deprive them of all civil rights in Ireland by their Franchise Bill, what they think of these men and their measures; and, whether "Robert Staples" is the person of that name who holds the position of a Deputy Lieutenant for Queen's County; and, if so, whether he will be superseded from further acting in the commission of the peace?

MR. TREVELYAN

I have received the letter referred to, the writer of which is described as a Magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of the Queen's County. The letter appears to be a personal and political attack on Lord Spencer, and in both aspects I think it should be treated with contempt. I can quite understand that the letter might be looked upon in another light.

MR. HEALY

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman why the Irish Government did not treat Lord Rossmore's conduct with similar contempt?