§ COLONEL KING-HARMANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has 1742 been called to the violent language which has been used at some of the recent meetings of the National League; and, whether he can give the House any assurance that a continuance of speeches of a disloyal and menacing nature will not be permitted during the Recess?
§ MR. SEXTONsaid, before the right hon. Gentleman answered that Question he wished to ask Mr. Speaker whether there was not a Standing Order, No. 154, which declared that no Member was allowed to put a Question as to a matter of opinion; and whether the epithets "violence," "disloyal and menacing" did not come under that Rule?
§ MR. SPEAKERI cannot say it appears to me to be a Question which is out of Order; yet, as it may be matter involving controversy, I think the epithets "violence," "disloyal and menacing" might well be struck out.
§ MR. HEALYwished to ask whether the attention of the right hon. Gentleman had been called to the following language, which appeared in an English provincial newspaper, The Gloucester Journal:—
Ireland is rapidly going to the dogs. Her political fortunes are directed by a hypocrite, who is also a blood-guilty tyrant and a conspirator against the honour of the country. This hateful and atrocious Gladstone, who' were flattery to call a rascal, has associated with him in the Government incompetent nobodies, who, partly through ignorance and partly through malice, are betraying every British interest. About the only conspirator with any brains is a fellow named Chamberlain, who makes screws or something at Birmingham, and who has been in league with the Irish rebels, and incited them to get up murderous outrages as an excuse for robbing landlords by an iniquitous system of spoliation. The people of the country are afflicted with a great dementia which prevents them from realizing the odious character of their political Leaders and the imminent perils into which these pernicious adventurers have brought our beloved country. The populace, lulled into false security, are looking forward to peace and prosperity; but a very different period is being prepared for us by the strangest of philosophers and geniuses that were ever allowed to touch the helm of affairs.
§ MR. HARRINGTONsaid, that before the Chief Secretary answered the hon. and gallant Member for the County of Dublin (Colonel King-Harman), he desired to ask him whether his attention had been called to the following language of the hon. and gallant Member himself in the report of a meeting in the Rotunda on February 10— 1743
He could look tack with pride, and even sympathy, to those who in the days of old carried the flag of rebellion in Ireland.
§ ["Order!"]
§ MR. SPEAKERIt appears to me that the Question now being put, as well as the Question already put by the hon. Member for Monaghan (Mr. Healy), has no bearing on the Question of the hon. and gallant Member.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORsaid, he would like to ask the right hon. Gentleman a Question which would have a distinct bearing on the Question of the hon. and gallant Member. He wished to ask the Chief Secretary whether, if in his reply he adopted the adjectives used by the hon. and gallant Member, he would state the particular meetings at which this language was spoken, and also name the speeches in which violent and disloyal language was used?
§ MR. TREVELYANWell, Sir, my reply will not raise, I think, any of the points referred to in recent Questions. I can only say, in reference to the Question of the hon. and gallant Member, that it is not convenient to make general announcements of the course the Government will adopt in a hypothetical case, and the latter part of the Question is hypothetical. The probable action of the Executive in future may be gathered from observation of its action in the past.