HC Deb 14 February 1884 vol 284 cc876-8
MR. SEXTON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether Mr. William Johnston, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Fisheries in Ireland, attended and spoke, on the 19th October last, at a political meeting convened by the Dublin Constitutional (Conservative) Club; on the 3rd and 4th of October, at political party meetings and a political banquet at Belfast; on the 4th December, at an Orange Soirée of "The Royal Hobals Black Perceptory," in Dublin, (at which, on the motion of the grand chaplain of the Orange Society, a motion was adopted— That this meeting records its solemn protest against the action of the Government in depriving Lord Rossmore of the Commission of the Peace, and regard the step so taken as a slur on the loyalists of Ireland); on the 8th of January ult. at a political meeting in Lower Gloucester Street, Dublin; and, towards the end of January, at a banquet in honour of Lord Rossmore, a superseded magistrate, in the Rotunda, Dublin; and whether the speeches made by him on several of those occasions were calculated to excite ill-will and hostility between Her Majesty's subjects; whether this Mr. William Johnston is the same person respecting whom the Right hon. Gentleman stated, on the 23rd July last year, that he should not have attended a political demonstration at which he had attended and spoken on the 12th of that month, and that he had been informed such was the view of the Government; whether Mr. Johnston is the same official in regard to whom he made the following statement on the 31st July last year— So far as I have been able to ascertain, he was twice cautioned in 1879 by the Government then in office, and reminded of his obligations as a permanent salaried officer of the Crown. I did not ask him to give any pledge, but cautioned him against the repetition of such conduct. I hope he will accept the warning, but if he does not he must take the consequences; and, as Mr. Johnston has repeatedly disregarded those warnings, what the consequences now will be?

MR. GIBSON

Before this Question is answered by the right hon. Gentleman, I would like to know if all the meetings attended by Mr. William Johnston have not been of an entirely orderly and peaceful description; whether his language, when he has thus attended and spoken, has not been of a loyal and law-abiding character, evincing an anxiety as far as possible to support the cause of law and order; whether, in reference to the particular meetings here referred to, it is a fact that he made no speech at all; whether it is a fact that the Orange soirée was in reality something in the nature of a tea party, and what is called a political meeting in Lower Gloucester Street was merely a meeting of the Young Men's Christian Association with the Rector in the chair; whether the part Mr. Johnston appears to have taken in it was not confined to the advocacy of the cause of temperance, and whether he spoke about morality and religion, and advocated stringently the necessity of loyalty in Ireland; and whether the banquet referred to as having taken place towards the end of January was not the ordinary annual meeting of the Constitutional Club, and was not at all in honour of Lord Ross-more; and whether Mr. Johnston made any speech or took any part in the proceedings?

MR. TREVELYAN

His Excellency has this case still under consideration; and though I have seen some of the documents referring to it they do not cover the whole ground. I would, therefore, prefer postponing my reply until Monday.

MR. GIBSON

Will the right hon. Gentleman, to save trouble, remember my observations?