§ MR. D. SULLIVAN (Westmeath, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been called to an extract of a letter from Corporal Christian, of the H Troop of the 3rd Hussars, to his brother, of the 18th instant, in which he states, referring to the charge of the Hussars into the yard at Ennis, on Sunday week:—
We had a fair go in. We got about 200 in a large mill holding a meeting. We had orders to cut anyone down if they attempted to escape. You may guess we were in our glory. We made 75 arrests. Nearly all of them had their heads cut open. One man had his ear cut off, and several had their fingers cut off. There was a 24 reporter had three of his ribs and his arm broken. My mare kicked him unfortunately. As we went through the streets we sang God Save the Queen and Rule Britannia. Some of the people went down on their knees to us, but we showed them no mercy. This is the first time we had a chance to get at them, so that we gave them a good thrashing;and, whether he will cause any inquiry to be held as to the accuracy of these statements?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)My attention has only been called to the alleged extract through this Question. A very cursory perusal of it, taken with the known facts of the case, shows it to be a foolish tissue of absurdities.