§ MR. SEXTONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been drawn to certain proceedings at Edenderry, King's County, on the 15th instant, in a case of a claim for compensation under the Crimes Act, made by one Thomas Smith, and heard before Mr. C. H. Teeling, 118 B.L.; whether Captain L'Estrange, R. M. for the district, was examined as a witness in the case, and, being pressed by the Court to give an explanation of his general statement as to the condition of the district, replied that "he was glad to find he had forgotten all the old stories;" whether he subsequently made statements concerning gentlemen in Court which they openly characterized as base calumnies; and, whether, finally, the Investigator ruled that he would not allow Captain L'Estrange to continue; that some of his observations had been highly improper, and that all the statements he had made would not be reported by the Court to the Lord Lieutenant, as many of them had been both improper and irrelevant; and, what explanation is offered of the conduct of Captain L'Estrange in Court, and in what manner the Government propose to mark their sense of it?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, I have received a report on the facts of this case from Mr. Teeling, who acted as the investigator on the occasion, and to whom the hon. Member's Question had been referred, in which he states that, while he regretted that Captain L'Estrange should have made any public observations on the case outside his evidence in the witness-box, and so have drawn replies from other persons in Court and introduced matter which was irrelevant and outside the scope of the inquiry, the form of the Question suggests a view and account of the matter, so far as Captain L'Estrange's action is concerned, very much in excess indeed of what actually occurred; and Mr. Teeling adds that he derived the greatest assistance from the evidence given by Captain L'Estrange as to the state of the district where the outrage occurred. Some of Captain L'Estrange's observations appear to have been indiscreet, and he will be informed that such is the view of the Irish Government.