HC Deb 11 March 1861 vol 161 c1716
SIR WILLIAM VERNER

said, he would beg to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, On what grounds the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland considered it necessary to proclaim the County Armagh on the 20th of July last?

MR. CARDWELL

said, it would be in the recollection of the House that in the Months of May, June, and July last, the County of Armagh was in a state of great excitement, which led to disturbances, by which several persons became amenable to the law; and one of those persons had just been tried and convicted at the Assizes. In consequence of such a state of things dangers had resulted from the carrying of arms, and the powers which had been entrusted to the Lord Lieutenant under the Crime and Outrage Act were put in execution. With regard to the employment of additional Police, the County of Armagh had no reason to complain: the Peace Preservation Act was not resorted to for the purpose of imposing the whole charge on the County. The Police having been sent there under the Constabulary Act, the local charges of that force would only be a moiety of the whole.