§ MR. M'COANasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether the following extract from a Report in The Times, of 21st December, 1883, of a speech delivered by him at Edinburgh on the previous day, is substantially accurate:—
I believe that the Tory Party is not prepared to give way an inch to the Irish Party in this matter [of further concessions]; it is resolved to stand firm; and I tell you truly and sincerely that on this question the Tory Party is entitled to your support. It is time, and high time, to pull up. Concede nothing-more to Mr. Parnell, either on the land, or on the franchise, or on local self-government. We have gone in three short years too far, and we have gone too fast; the hill is very steep, the drag has not been sufficiently weighted, and, unless we take a long pull and a strong pull, the horses will get away from us, and there will be a terrible smash. Develop, if you like, in any way you may, the material resources of Ireland. Advance public money on the easiest terms for railways, tramways, canals, roads, labourers' dwellings, fisheries, and objects of that kind. We owe the Irish a great deal for 117 our bad government of them in the past, and, if we are not stingy, there are few injuries, however deep, which money will not cure. But do not, as you value your life as an empire, swallow one morsel more of heroic legislation; and, by giving a continuous support to the Tory Party, let the Irish know that, although they cry day and night, though they vex you with much wickedness, and harass you with much disorder, though they incessantly divert your attention from your own affairs, though they cause you all manner of trial and trouble, that there is one thing you will detect at once, in whatever form or guise it may be presented to you, there is one thing you will never listen to, there is one thing you will never yield to, and that is, their demand for an Irish Parliament; and that, to their yells for the repeal of the Union, you answer an unchanging, an unchangeable, and a unanimous 'No;'and, if so, whether he still adheres to these views of Irish policy, and, as a Minister of the Crown, will continue to give them his support?
THE SECRETARYThe speech to which the hon. Member alludes was made nearly two years ago. Of course, the hon. Member will understand that I cannot be perfectly certain as to the absolute accuracy of the report of a speech made nearly two years ago; but I have every reason to believe that it is accurate. I hope the hon. Member will not think me wanting in courtesy towards him if I express the opinion that I should be altogether misusing the time of the House which is allotted to the asking of Questions, and abusing the privilege and the latitude which is given to Ministers by the House in answering Questions, if I were to enter into any controversy with him as to any speeches which I may have made some time ago. But if the hon. Member thinks, in the exercise of his discretion, that it would be either to the public advantage or to his own personal satisfaction or relief to pursue any controversy further about speeches which I have made, then I would invite him to take advantage of the numerous opportunities which the proceedings of this House must undoubtedly afford him to raise the matter in debate, and I can assure him that I will meet him with the utmost frankness and candour. I neither withdraw nor apologize for anything that I have said at any time, believing, as I do, that anything which I may have said at any time was perfectly justified by the special circumstances of that time, and by the amount of information which I may have had in my possession.