MR. DARNELLasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true, as stated, that the Prince of Wales is, on his visit to Derry on Saturday next, to receive an address from the local Orange and apprentice boy parties; whether the Orange address is to be presented by Mr. Robert M'Clintock, who was rebuked by the Lord Chancellor for his participation in an Orange apprentice boy meeting on the 1st of November last, when two Nationalists were shot and badly wounded, and for which one apprentice boy was convicted and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment by Justice Murphy, who described the Orange proceedings as "the wild work in Derry;" whether, on a previous Royal visit, party riots took place, in which the police shot dead three men; whether, under the circumstances, and having regard to the local party feeling, it is deemed desirable that addresses should be received from societies and individuals notorious for violent party displays; whether a demonstration of protest by the Nationalists is to take place; whether, at a meeting of the Royal Reception Committee in Derry, a vote on the subject of the propriety of receiving the Orange Address was taken, when the Committee equally divided, three Presb3'terian Liberal magistrates, one Catholic Liberal magistrate, and one Presbyterian Liberal merchant protesting against the arrangement for receiving the Orange Address 667 as a party affair; whether, some days previously, the Address of the County Derry Liberal Union was refused on the ground that the visit was non-political; and, whether the Government will take steps to prevent possible disastrous consequences on the occasion of the Royal visit to Derry by advising against the reception of the Addresses referred to?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI telegraphed to Ireland this morning, but have not yet received a specific Report with regard to the matters of fact on past occasions referred to in this Question. I understand, however, that no addresses have been received or will be received by His Royal Highness from associations which are in their constitution distinctly political, and no addresses are received which contain any political allusions. The addresses from the Orange Lodge and Apprentice Boys of Derry will not be allowed to be presented as a Party display; and as no partizan character attaches to the addresses, it is hoped that no Party feeling will be evoked which might mar the peaceful character of the reception. It is needless to add that steps will be taken to prevent any disturbance arising from any mistaken conception as to the character of the addresses. The Government are fully alive to the existence of a strong Party feeling in the City of Derry, and to the importance of taking every precaution to prevent disturbance.
§ MR. PARNELLDoes the right hon. Gentleman mean that the Orange Lodges and the Apprentice Boys Association are not political organizations?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI am neither an Orangeman nor an Apprentice Boy; but they utterly deny that they have any political meaning, and that is the general understanding.