THE O'DONOGHUEsaid, he rose to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, If he was that evening in a position to answer the Question which he (The O'Donoghue) had put to him the day before in reference to a search which was said to have been made for arms in the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Armagh?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. Lawson)said, he had that very morning received information on the 848 subject from Ireland. The facts of the case were that the police had obtained information that a smith, whose forge was near the Roman Catholic cathedral, was engaged in the manufacture of pikes. From the field at the back of the forge it appeared that there was an underground passage leading into the crypt of the cathedral, and the police searched for arms in that passage as well as on the premises belonging to the smith. He was further informed that one of their number, having asked the steward of the works for permission to do so, entered the crypt for the purpose of getting into the passage at the end farthest from the forge, and made there a search for arms—if, indeed, it could be so called. He might add, that what the police had done they did on their own responsibility, without having received any instructions from the Government, and that the resident magistrate, as soon as he had ascertained what had taken place, waited on the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and explained what had occurred, thinking it likely that the circumstances might be misrepresented. The matter in his opinion, therefore, did not require to be further investigated.