HC Deb 25 July 1881 vol 263 cc1750-4
VISCOUNT SANDON

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department a Question, of which I have given him private Notice, with regard to the accuracy of the reports which appear in to-day's newspapers as to the discovery at Liverpool of a considerable number of infernal machines. I have to ask whether it is true that 10 or 12 machines, loaded with dynamite, have been seized on board two passenger vessels quite lately; that these terrible machines were supposed to have been put on board in America; and also I should be glad if the right hon. Gentleman would say whether the reports in the newspapers are supposed to be true which connect these machines with the Fenian conspiracy?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

Sir, the accounts which have appeared in the morning newspapers relating to the explosive machines seized at Liverpool are substantially correct. The Government have not hitherto been desirous of giving publicity to the matter—first, because the knowledge of the facts might have proved an obstacle to the detection of the offenders; and, secondly, from a natural desire not to create alarm. But secrecy in these days has ceased to exist; and now that the circumstance is generally known, it is right that the facts should be authoritatively stated. More than three weeks ago the Government received information of the consignment to Liverpool, and as being then on their way from America, of a number of infernal machines concealed in barrels of cement. I accordingly communicated at once with the Commissioners of Customs, and a confidential agent of the Customs and a Metropolitan police officer were despatched instantly from London to Liverpool to await the arrival of the vessels which had been designated in the information I had received. These officers reached Liverpool only a few hours before the arrival of the first of the vessels. The cargoes were accordingly searched, in concert with the police and the Customs authorities at Liverpool; and in the first vessel six of these machines were discovered in a barrel said to contain cement. Four more were found at a later period in the second vessel, concealed in the same manner. The machines each consist of a metal box divided into two compartments, the upper portion containing a six hours' clockwork movement, so arranged as to ignite a detonator to be hereafter inserted, which was to communicate with the lower compartment, containing 11 cartridges, each charged with three ounces of a nitro-lignine compound, which resembled, and was first mistaken for, but which has proved not to be, dynamite. It is, however, of a highly dangerous character—of the character of gun cotton. I have had the material carefully examined and experimented upon at Woolwich. The 10 boxes which were found contained a charge of over 2 lb. of this explosive material in each box, and one of the barrels of cement contained in all nearly a stone weight of this nitro-lignine compound. It is impossible to estimate the fatal effects of even an accidental concussion of such a mass of explosive material. I need not say that Her Majesty's Government have employed, and are employing, every resource at their disposal to detect the consignees in England and the consignors in America of these machines. The actual history of the despatch of these machines is under investigation in America, and still remains to be ascertained. The noble Lord would not expect me now to go into any details. But in answer to his Question on the matter, I have to say that upon the face of them, and according to the original information I received, they appear to be the precise and literal fulfilment of projects openly avowed and declared in the Irish Fenian Press of America. Week by week for the last nine months open threats and public instigations to general outrage and personal assassination have been circulated in those newspapers. Subscriptions for this purpose, and for the snaking of such machines as these, have been openly collected in the United States, and actually expended for that purpose. More than one attempt of the kind has been made in England by miscreants hired and despatched from America for this purpose; and their work has been publicly claimed by their instigators as the reward of the past, and as a motive for fresh subscriptions. I thought it my duty at an early period of this Session, in the debates on the Irish Arms Bill, to call the attention of this House to these publications—their avowed object, and their necessary results. Some foolish and inconsiderate people—to use a mild term—made light of these atrocious teachings, and disparaged all attempts to restrain or punish these incitements to crime; but Her Majesty's Government have not regarded them as things to be laughed at or neglected. They knew well the gravity of the case, and have not been the dupes of the mischievous fallacies of their apologists. In my opinion, the principal origin of these attempts is to be found in the assassination Press. This poisonous seed, sown broadcast, finds a congenial soil in evil minds, and bears a fatal fruit. We have shown in the prosecution of The Freiheit that the law of England is capable and ready to deal with such criminals, not less in the interests of our own people than in those of foreign States. In my opinion, it is the duty of every civilized Government to co-operate in putting down with a strong hand these nefarious enterprizes. I have seen with regret the attempt on the part of persons in this country, who ought to know better, to weaken the hands of the Government in the representations they have thought it their duty to make to the Government of the United States on these matters. It is my firm belief that the Government of the United States is as ready as our own to repress and to punish the authors of such crimes. It is their interest, no less than ours, for the danger is as great to every American citizen as to every British subject who crosses the Atlantic. But, in any event, I can assure the House that Her Majesty's Government are, and have long been, fully alive to their responsibility in this matter—a responsibility which the House will believe is sometimes heavy enough to bear—and the Government confidently count on the support of Parliament and the country, while they employ every power of the Executive and every engine of the law to detect and to destroy these associations of assassins.

VISCOUNT SANDON

After the very grave statement of the right hon. Gentleman, perhaps he would forgive me for asking if Her Majesty's Government have made a distinct representation to the American Government on the subject, and in what way such a representation, if made, has been met?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

As I have already stated to the House, representations with reference to publications in America have been already made; but the official answer has not yet been received. With reference to this matter of the dynamite machines, a representation cannot be made until we receive the information we have sought for from the sources of information that we have set to work in America.

MR. BELLINGHAM

May I ask if the Government believed these documents were so dreadful, and were circulated in Ireland, why they have been so remiss all this year in not stopping the circulation of The Irish World?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

I have already stated to the hon. Member the principle on which the Government have acted, and the distinction of the two cases. He refers to The Irish World, and I have not referred to The Irish World.