§ MR. BLANE (Armagh, S.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If Mr. Francis Connolly, of 29, Foley Street, Portland Place, on coming out of Hyde Park on Sunday, 13th instant, was violently assaulted by Police Constable "35 D," and forcibly thrust from the pavement; whether the constable followed him to the opposite corner of Cumberland Place, endeavouring to trip him up, and struck him a violent blow with his closed fist; whether, in consequence of Mr. Connolly's resistance to this treatment, the constable arrested him, and had him brought be- 722 fore Mr. De Rutzen, at Marylebone Police Court, and sentenced to 14 days' hard labour; and, whether the evidence of the policeman was unsustained by other testimony, and the defence was supported by the evidence of Messrs. J. G. Pope, G. Kurman, A. Bryant, and P. Fitzpatrick; and, if so, whether the Government will cause an inquiry to be made into Mr. Francis Connolly's imprisonment?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.), in reply, said, that he had obtained the magistrates' Report and a copy of the evidence. The magistrate was satisfied beyond doubt that the prisoner was guilty of assaulting the policeman. The prisoner had given notice of appeal; but he had not appealed. The evidence of the police-constable was corroborated by throe others; and, in the opinion of the magistrate, there was not the slightest reason to suppose that the police committed perjury. There was no ground for advising an inquiry or an interference with the sentence.