MR. DAWSONsaid, he had given ample notice of the Question he had to ask with regard to the language attributed to the Mayor of Cork, in order that the Government might give a definite and deliberate reply. He had no intention to repeat the nauseating words, which were by this time known to every hon. Member in that House, and which had been published in every newspaper in the Kingdom. He had seen no satisfactory retraction of the phrases in question. ["Order."] He would therefore ask the Attorney General for Ireland what course the Government intend to pursue, and whether, if the present state of the Law does not permit the summary dismissal of an official occupying so responsible a position, some means and measures would be taken to satisfy the just expectations of the nation in regard to the withdrawal of an authority which had apparently been abused by the first magistrate of the City of Cork, and against the honour and dignity of the Crown? He also begged to ask, whether the account given in the newspapers of yesterday and to-day of a popular demonstration in favour of the Mayor of Cork is substantially correct according to the information received by the Government?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. SULLIVAN)Sir, I have no doubt whatever that the deplorable language attributed to the Mayor of 103 Cork, in the Question the hon. Member has asked, was used by him on the occasion referred to. Before the hon. Member put his Question on the Paper the Government had thought it their duty to institute the strictest inquiry into the subject, and the result is as I stated. These words having been used, and other matters having occurred in the police court in Cork, in which the Mayor of Cork sits ex officio as a justice of the peace, I have to state that the Government is of opinion that the office of chief magistrate of Cork City cannot, consistently with the dignity of the Crown, be any longer continued in his hands. And inasmuch as neither the Executive Government of this country, nor the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has any power to remove him from the office of justice of the peace, it his my intention to-morrow to ask leave to introduce a Bill to disable the present Mayor of Cork from holding the office of mayor or justice of the peace, or any office of magistracy in the City of Cork or elsewhere in Ireland. It is right to state further that Her Majesty's Government is of opinion that he cannot consistently with the duo administration of the law retain his office. By the Charter of the City of Cork the mayor of that city is a Commissioner of Oyer and Terminer, and could sit with Her Majesty's Judges of Assize; and that is an additional reason for removing him. I shall, to-morrow, in asking leave to introduce the Bill, state fully how the law stands, and the reasons why the Bill should receive the acceptance of the House. With respect to the latter part of the Question of the hon. Member, as to a popular demonstration in favour of the Mayor, I beg to say that it is most incorrect to attribute that meeting to the inhabitants of the City of Cork. It was a meeting which, having regard to the numbers and the class of persons who attended it, does not require any attention whatever. I shall to-morrow assign full reasons why the course which I have pointed out is necessary, and why no other course is open to us.
SIR HERVEY BRUCEsaid, that after the answer which had been given by the right hon. Gentleman, he would not ask the Question, of which he had given notice, as to whether the Act of Charles II., regulating the election of magistrates in Ireland, had been repealed.