§ MR. SEXTONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been drawn to the following passage in the Lenten Pastoral addressed by the Catholic Bishop of Elphin to the clergy of his diocese:—
We have evidence, which we deeply deplore, that Freemason and Orange Lodges are actively at work in our midst, plotting the extermination of our people, fostering disunion, provoking outrages, in a word, undermining the very foundations of social order; and, what is most lamentable, these lodges are not only sanctioned but directed in their evil work by public officials, by Justices of the Peace—nay, even by Ministers of the Protestant Church;and, whether the Irish Executive will have regard to this statement in their conduct of the promised investigation into the Orange Society in Ireland?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe Lenten Pastorals of Roman Catholic Bishops are not communicated to the Irish Government, nor have they any means of verifying what they may be stated to contain. Any specific statement from a Bishop, or any documentary evidence which is submitted bearing on the operations of the Orange Society in his diocese, of which he may desire to complain, will receive careful attention; but the Government cannot undertake to investigate the accuracy of general statements of opinion by any individual, however eminent.