§ MR. PIMasked Mr. Solicitor General for Ireland (in the absence of the Chief Secretary), Whether he could give the House any information respecting the riots which occurred yesterday in Dublin, in consequence of the dispersal of a meeting intended to be held in Phœnix Park for the release of the Fenian prisoners still in confinement? He further asked whether the meeting was illegal, and, if not, by what authority it was dispersed? Also, how it happened that such a meeting was forcibly dispersed by the police in Ireland when meetings intended to influence the action of that House were allowed to be held in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square?
§ MR. CALLANwished to know, Whether there was any difference between the meeting held in Phœnix Park and the meetings which had been held in London? Whether the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland had the right of suppressing the meeting by force, and whether they had issued any Proclamation on the subject?
§ MR. M'CARTHY DOWNINGasked, Whether it is true, as reported in the papers, that the police, by the authority 1005 of Mr. Hornsby, Secretary to the Board of Public Works in Ireland, had prevented the meeting being held in Phœnix Park; whether it is not the fact that, up to that deplorable occurrence, the Royal Princes had met with a respectful and even cordial reception in Dublin; and what steps the Irish Executive mean to take in the matter?
§ SIR JOHN GRAYinquired, Whether any sworn informations had been laid before the authorities in Dublin stating that a breach of the peace was apprehended; whether the proclamation prohibiting the meeting was issued by Mr. Hornsby, Secretary to the Board of Works; whether there was any Act of Parliament conferring on the Board the power of putting down such meetings, and calling on the police to enforce such Proclamation; and by what authority the police were authorized to disperse a meeting convened for a legal purpose?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. DOWSE)said, that as that unfortunate occurrence only happened yesterday between 4 and 5 o'clock, the House would easily understand that he could not now give very much information in regard to it. On receiving his first intimation of it that morning, from the morning papers, he at once caused a telegram to be sent to Ireland to obtain such information as it was in the power of the authorities to furnish on the matter. After that, he received notice of the hon. Member for Dublin's Question; but when he came down to the House that afternoon all the knowledge that he possessed of those unhappy disturbances was derived from the public journals. Since then a telegram from Ireland had reached him, from which it appeared that the reports in the public journals were very much exaggerated. It appeared from the telegram that when the Superintendent proceeded up the steps of the monument to remonstrate he was thrust back, and would have seriously suffered but for the intervention of some gentleman who was near. The gentleman who was about to address the meeting intimated that he should persist in so doing, whereupon the Superintendent ordered the police constables to clear the place. Some stones were then thrown by the mob and some of the constables were assaulted, that thereupon a riot ensued. That was all the information 1006 he possessed at the present moment, and under these circumstances it would be unreasonable to ask him to go into any detail respecting the riot. The question of law in such a case must depend very much upon the facts, and he was not now in possession of those facts. Mr. Hornsby, who was said to have signed the notice forbidding the meeting, was not, he believed, a Commissioner of Police or a magistrate of the city or county of Dublin, but was the Secretary of the Irish Board of Works; and the notice, as he understood, went to the extent of stating that the meeting would not be allowed to be held in the Park. He believed that Phœnix Park in Dublin was under the management and superintendence of the Irish Board of Public Works, and that the Board acted as private parties would do on their own property in forbidding the holding of the meeting there. Whether there had been any sworn information or what connection the Irish Government had with the matter he could not tell. If the Questions which had just been put to him were postponed till Thursday, he hoped he should then be able to answer them. In answer, however, to the hon. Member for Cork (Mr. Downing), he might now say that the Royal Princes had met not only with a respectful, but with a most cordial welcome in Dublin, and it was a very deplorable circumstance that anything should have occurred to disturb the harmony that prevailed in that city.