HC Deb 06 March 1862 vol 165 cc1063-4
MR. BERNAL OSBORNE

Sir, I rise to make a short personal explanation with regard to a statement which I made on Tuesday evening last concerning the hon. Member for Peterborough. I stated on that occasion that he had given a tower, which he had built on some leasehold premises of his, to the Orangemen of Liverpool. I wish to correct that statement. The hon. Gentleman has called my attention to the subject, and has informed me that he did not build that tower, and that I had misrepresented him in saying he gave it to the Orangemen of Liverpool. It seems that he has only lent this tower for occasional and convivial picnics. That is the first impression I wish to remove from the minds of hon. Members. The next point is with regard to the leasehold premises; and there, Sir, I have altogether fallen into an error. The property is not, he assures me, leasehold; and I am requested to state, on the part of the hon. Gentleman, that he holds in fee simple the said tower. There is also another point with regard to a certain quotation which I thought I had heard him make in the Rotunda at Dublin. I am not positive on this point, and the hon. Gentleman denies that he quoted the precise lines which he read to the House the other evening. Well, there was great confusion, and I thought I caught the lines about Columbia, and I certainly thought I heard that "Erin smiled" or "had a tear in her eye," or something of that sort. The hon. Gentleman says he did not make that quotation. I therefore withdraw the assertion, and hope the hon. Gentleman will never make any quotation of the sort again.

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