HC Deb 18 February 1884 vol 284 cc1187-8
COLONEL KING-HARMAN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he is aware that on Sunday, the 3rd instant, an old man named Murray, and his two sons, when returning from Divine Service, were wantonly attacked by a body of about 300 men who were on their way to a meeting of the National Land League; whether the old man, Murray, was struck on the head with a stone, and whether he is still in a precarious condition from the injuries he received; whether there were only twenty-five police in the town of Ballymote on the occasion, although incendiary placards calling the Land League meeting had been posted for some days; and, whether this is one of the meetings which the Government decline to prohibit on the ground that there is "no fear of crime or outrage arising from them?"

MR. SEXTON

As this matter concerns my constituents, I wish to ask whether the National Land League, of which this is said to have been a meeting, was not suppressed in October, 1881; whether the meeting was not one even of the National League; whether it was a meeting of a purely local character, convened by the principal Catholic inhabitants of the district, to protest against a Circular issued by five Protestant clergymen, chaplains of the local Orange Lodges, calling upon the landlords of Sligo to give farms to none but Protestant tenants; and, whether all the other statements by the hon. and gallant Gentleman are not equally ill founded?

MR. TREVELYAN

, in reply, said, it was an exceedingly inconvenient thing to have these supplementary Questions put without Notice. Two or three hours' Notice might, at any rate, be given. He would not answer Questions from impressions; and, therefore, he would not categorically answer the hon. Member for Sligo (Mr. Sexton). He was aware that on the occasion referred to an old man named Murray was injured, and that he was in a precarious state; but he could not express any opinion on the circumstances of the affray, as cases arising out of it were now sub judice. Meanwhile, he must not be taken as admitting the accuracy of the statement of the hon. and gallant Gentleman (Colonel King-Harman). After careful inquiry, a force of 25 police had been considered sufficient for the occasion; and, as a matter of fact, it was sufficient. Although it happened that some persons fired shots with serious results, the disturbance in connection with this firing was over in a few minutes, and all persons concerned in it on both sides were made amenable. The placard calling the meeting, which he had read, could not be called incendiary. No recommendation was made to the Government to prohibit the meeting, nor had they reason to apprehend that crime or outrage would follow.