§ MR. WHALLEYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Tichborne prosecution, Whether he has taken any steps with a view to detect and punish the author of the letters which, in the course of the pending trial, have been recognized by the Court as forgeries; and, whether it is the fact that witnesses have been brought to London to identify the defendant as not being Roger Tichborne, and that on such witnesses declining to give evidence to that effect, they have been sent away and their expenses paid? The hon. Gentleman added that so far as the question contained a statement of fact, that statement was made upon the very best information that the case admitted of, and he believed it to be true.
MR. BRUCEI trust, Sir, that my hon. Friend will acquit me of any intentional disrespect to him when I say that I decline answering his Questions. I do not presume to scrutinize the intention of my hon. Friend in asking these Questions; but their effect is obviously to throw doubt and suspicion on the manner in which this prosecution is conducted, and so to influence the pending trial, and I altogether decline to contribute to any such result.