§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONasked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether he can inform the House what are the charges contained in the fresh warrant recently issued for the apprehension of Mr. Sheridan?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)I must respectfully decline to answer this Question.
§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Government have cancelled the warrant for the apprehension of Mr. Sheridan; and, whether they intend to avail themselves of that gentleman's co-operation in preserving order in the West of Ireland?
MR. GLADSTONEI will give the hon. Member all the information in my power. There is a warrant out against Mr. Sheridan, dated December 21, 1881. It is a warrant under the Protection of Person and Property Act. It has not been executed, and neither has it been cancelled. The reason why it has not been executed is that the authorities have not been able to execute it. Mr. Sheridan was previously arrested under a similar warrant on March 15, 1881, and he was released on September 18, 1881. That is all the information I have to give. As to the latter part of the Question, I am not aware of any reason the hon. Member has to put such a Question to me—["Oh!"]—at any rate, I must decline to answer it until the hon. Gentleman has given me some intelligible account of his reasons for supposing that in any shape there is any co-operation between Mr. Sheridan and Her Majesty's Government.