§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland a Question of which I have given him private Notice, Whether his attention has been called to the speech delivered by the hon. Member for North Wexford (Mr. J. E. Redmond) at the last meeting of the Central Branch of the National League, and reported in a daily paper, in which the following passage occurred:—
He did not believe that, pack how they may, the Government would he able to get a jury to convict the men who were accused of having committed a crime. He would say more, and it was this—that, in his opinion, far better it would be for a man to be condemned to penal servitude for the term of his natural life than to have formed one of the jury who would thus have outraged the sense of justice of the whole Irish people.I beg, Sir, to ask, in view of that statement, whether the Government will protect the men who are exposed to such threats in the performance of a grave, unpleasant, and responsible duty cast upon them by the laws of their country?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH) (Bristol, W.)I have not seen the report of this speech, but I have heard of it. The Government will take any necessary steps to protect jurors in the discharge of their duty.