§ MR. PARNELLasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he could give the House any information with regard to the reported seizure of the printing presses, the type, and the premises of The Kerry Sentinel, the seizure of the issue that was in course of being printed, the arrest of the printer and manager of the paper, and the occupation of the premises for several days by an armed police force, an occupation which, as regarded a portion of the premises, was, he believed, still in operation, and by which three issues of the newspaper were prevented from being printed?
§ COLONEL KING-HARMANsaid, he would wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman, at the same time, if he would be prepared to lay on the Table of the House a copy of the article which appeared in The Kerry Sentinel, and which was reported to have formed the basis of the action by the Government?
§ MR. HARRINGTONasked, also, whether any such article as the hon. and gallant Member alluded to had appeared in The Kerry Sentinel; and whether it was in consequence of such an article that the course referred to was taken against the paper?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the reports which have appeared in the newspapers regarding the seizure of The Kerry Sentinel were obviously so important that I came down to the House provided with extremely full information with regard 785 to the whole affair. Since, however, I came to the House I have received a telegram from Dublin, which, while not asking me to refrain from answering the Question, is of such a nature as to lead me to think that it would be in the interests of public order, and possibly in the interests of private individuals who may have charges brought against them, that I should not answer it, and that I should be wrong to enter into any details on the matter. I regret extremely, however, that I am not able to give the full answer to the Question which I came to the House prepared to give.
§ MR. PARNELLwished to say, with reference to the refusal—which, he trusted, was only a temporary one—of the right hon. Gentleman to reply to the Question, that he should put a Question on the Notice Paper for next Monday.
§ MR. TREVELYANsaid, he was quite prepared to give full information; but he should not be justified in doing so after receiving the telegram he had alluded to.
§ MR. HARRINGTONsaid, he was interested in the question; and as it would appear from the answer of the right hon. Gentleman that he had some peculiar feelings of delicacy with regard to giving information, he wished to assure the right hon. Gentleman that he was perfectly prepared to meet any charge either in that House or out of it.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORsaid, he did not wish to press the right hon. Gentleman to give any information which he had good reason for withholding; but the hon. and gallant Gentleman the Member for the County of Dublin (Colonel King-Harman) had asked a Question which was calculated to excite misapprehension, and to leave his hon. Friend near him (Mr. Harrington) under an unjust stigma. He would, therefore, ask the Chief Secretary, whether he was able to inform the House that the proceedings against The Kerry Sentinel were not based on any article which appeared in that newspaper; and whether the notice which appeared in it addressed to the "Invincibles" was not also published in, and copied from, The Times and other newspapers?
§ MR. TREVELYANI am sorry to say that I feel bound to confine myself to the answer that I have already given; and in confining myself to that answer 786 I wish it to be understood that it is not intended to imply any charge against any individual whatever, either in the House or out of it. Still, I am quite certain that I ought not to answer this Question without more minute information from Dublin.