SIR HERVEY BRUCEsaid, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for 1668 Ireland, Whether, considering the long immunity from crime in the City and County of Londonderry, and considering that the Proclamation touching the City was issued before the Government could give any reply in this House as to the cause of it, he is prepared to remove the Proclamation, more especially as the proceedings at the Coroner's Inquest do not appear to implicate the inhabitants of the City in the deaths of those unfortunate men who lost their lives just previous to the Proclamation?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUEsaid, in reply, that he could not agree with the hon. Baronet that the Government were not fully acquainted with the cause that induced them to proclaim Londonderry, that cause being, mainly, the fact of the possession of a large quantity of arms by an angry and excited population. It would be quite premature for the Government now, after the lapse of only a few weeks, to say that they were prepared to withdraw the Proclamation.