§ MR. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to a statement contained in the "Freeman's Journal" of the 8th instant, that a certain suggested compromise on the 1715 Sunday Closing (Ireland) Bill has come from the Government, and that the promoters of the measure are willing to accept it; and, whether it is true a compromise on the subject between the Government and the supporters of the Bill has come from or been accepted by the Government: and, if so, whether he is prepared to state the terms of such compromise to the House?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, in reply, said, his attention had been called to the statement in question, and to others which purported to give an account of certain matters which had been discussed in a Cabinet Council recently held, as well as the views of different Members of the Cabinet on those subjects. Now, if he might venture to make a suggestion to the hon. Member, it would be that he should not place too implicit confidence in the statements made by certain correspondents of Irish newspapers, more especially as those statements, he perceived, not unfrequently contradicted one another. There was, he might add, no truth in the statement to which the hon. Gentleman referred that any compromise had come from or been accepted by the Government on the Bill in question.