§ MR. BIGGARasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is the fact that, in connection with the riots at Glasgow on the 14th August, twenty-six Catholics and five Protestants were arrested by the Police, that at the Police Courts all the Catholics were convicted and sentenced to fine or imprisonment, and all the Protestants acquitted and discharged, while the charges against the Protestants were sworn to by the Police as positively as the charges against the Catholics; whether, in particular, it is the fact, in the case of James Findlay (Protestant) and Kennett McLennan (Protestant) the Police swore they were caught "red-handed," the former "striking freely all round in the middle of the procession," the latter violently attempting to rescue a prisoner, and yet both men, although bringing forward no exculpatory evidence whatever, were dis- 1341 charged from the bar, the magistrate finding the charges against them "not proven;" and, whether, under the circumstances, he will order a public inquiry?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTI have received a further communication from the Procurator Fiscal of Glasgow in reference to this matter; and I may say there has been so much contradictory testimony that I do not think it will be of any advantage that I should enter at present upon the matter. I have, therefore, placed the matter in the hands of the Lord Advocate.