§ SIR GEORGE JENKINSONsaid, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether his attention has been directed to the nature of the proceedings at a banquet held at Cork on the 17th instant, in honour of the released Fenian Convicts, and presided over by the Mayor of that city, and to the language used at that meeting by John Warren, just released from a fifteen years' sentence, and whether these proceedings have been referred to the Law Officers of the Crown, or if other proceedings are contemplated; whether the Government have received any information as to words used at a meeting at Ballinasloe by another released Fenian Convict, Augustine Costello, released from a twelve years' sentence, and who said, at the meeting referred to "That he would, as long as 1998 he had breath, conspire and plot against the English Government;" and, whether these and the other released Fenian Convicts have been released unconditionally, or whether they receive their pardon subject to any condition as to their future behaviour? He wished also to ascertain from the right hon. Gentleman whether the number of Fenians enumerated in the Return on the subject have been released; if not, how many of them have; and, whether it is proposed that any of the Convicts in Australia shall be brought home at the public expense?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUESir, I have to state, in answer to the hon. Gentleman, that it is true that language of a seditious nature has been used at Cork and Ballinasloe by the two discharged Fenian convicts mentioned in his Question, and they are the only two, so far as I am informed, who have so grossly and disgracefully abused the clemency of the Crown. These proceedings have, of course, attracted the attention of the Government, who referred them to the Law Officers of the Crown, under whose consideration they are at the present moment. I may, however, add that, while I would venture to caution the hon. Baronet against attributing exaggerated importance, as it is quite possible to do, to the mischievous eloquence of those persons, I wish to say that the Government are by no means indifferent to these proceedings, and that we are quite determined such things shall not be permitted to continue. I have to state further that, after very careful consideration of that particular point, the Fenian convicts did not receive free pardons, as was done in the case of the Chartists in this country, but were discharged without conditions, our deliberate opinion being that we were not discharging any person on whom it would be worth while to make the attempt to impose those conditions. In reply to the last Question of the hon. Baronet, I have to say that the number of convicts mentioned in the Return which has been laid before Parliament will be discharged, and as to the conveyance back to this country of any of these convicts who happen to be in Australia, I may observe that I answered a similar Question on a former occasion, when I stated that the Government had no present intention of adopting that course, while they held themselves free to con- 1999 sider any particular case on its individual merits. I wish to take this opportunity of stating that I have observed in a leading journal this morning an assumption that two of the Fenian convicts—namely, O'Donovan Rossa and Luby—had been discharged, and were included in the list of those to whom the clemency of the Crown had been extended. That is a mistake. They are not included in that list.