§ MR. TOTTENHAMasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether Mr. George Bolton, about whose conduct a Notice of Motion has been given, is the same gentleman who has successfully conducted the recent prosecutions in the South and West of Ireland for murders and other offences committed by members of secret societies; whether there is reason to believe that he is the object of special aversion to members of those societies; and, whether his conduct has not in every one of these cases commanded the approbation of the authorities?
§ MR. SEXTONsaid, that, having given Notice of a Motion with regard to the gentleman referred to in this Question, he would now ask the Chief Secretary, whether this Mr. George Bolton is not the same gentleman whose management of a prosecution in Sligo was characterized with such extraordinary severity by Mr. Justice Barry; and whether he is not the same gentleman reported by Lord Justice Fry to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland for revelations affecting his character as solicitor in the drafting of the marriage settlement of his wife?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, this Question is a good example of the manner in 1641 which hon. Gentlemen ask Questions, the answer to which they know very well. The hon. Member for Sligo (Mr. Sexton) was answered on this matter by my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General for Ireland pretty recently, and very fully; and I do not think it is necessary to repeat that answer now in any great detail. Mr. Bolton is, no doubt, the gentleman the hon. Member has in his mind. In answer to the hon. Member for Leitrim (Mr. Tottenham), I have to say that it is the fact that Mr. Bolton has successfully conducted some important prosecutions in the county of Tipperary, and also some of those from the West of Ireland which were recently tried in Dublin, and that his conduct in these cases has commanded the approbation of the Government. It is not improbable that on this account he may be the object of special aversion to members of secret societies.