§ MR. ALEXANDER BLAINE (Armagh, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, at the last Election for the Mid-Armagh Division, on the day of the 293 polling at Tanderagee, Mr. Thomas Clarke, of Ballymore, agent for Mr. Dickson, was jostled, hooted, pushed, and nearly knocked down, and pursued from the courthouse by a shouting crowd, and, in the evening, had to take shelter in Mr. Thomas Mathers's from the rabble; whether Mr. John Magenis, of Mullins Hill, was knocked down at the courthouse door and bad to run to a house for safety; whether Mr. Thomas Kelly, of Ballykeel, his son, and Mr. Alexander Adair, were surrounded in the street by a mob and savagely beaten with sticks, and Mr. Adams, J.P., driving home after voting, was hooted and stoned, and John Kavanagh threatened that if he did not vote for Sir J. P. Corry they would take his life; whether a bottle was thrown into the passage leading to the polling station, and struck a constable on duty; whether the police were ordered to barrack by Major O'Brien, J.P., when following a mob pursuing a voter, and, on another occasion, having carried off a stick from a rioter, the police were ordered to restore the bludgeon by Major O'Brien, J.P.; and, whether the Government will inquire into the conduct of the resident magistrates, the officers of police, and others accountable at that election for the protection of voters?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne)There was a disturbance in Tanderagee on the occasion of the late Armagh Election, caused by some Orange drumming parties coming into the town. Some police and civilians were assaulted, and stones were thrown; but my information differs in several respects from that of the hon. Member. Some of the parties have been identified, and were, I believe, brought before the magistrate today. There was an extra force of Constabulary in the town. There was no Resident Magistrate present, and the police appear to have been in charge of a head constable.