HC Deb 28 July 1887 vol 318 cc355-8
MR. H. CAMPBELL (Fermanagh, S.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he can state the grounds on which the Government proclaimed the County of Fermanagh under the Coercion Act, seeing that only one outrage has been reported by the Constabulary; when, and in what part of the county did the outrage take place; what were the names of the parties concerned; and, whether they have been convicted?

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)

(who replied) said: Fermanagh is one of those counties that have been proclaimed only under those parts of the second section which deal with taking forcible possession and assaults on officers of the law. My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary, in his answer to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Newcastle (Mr. John Morley) on Monday last, explained the principle upon which the Government acted in putting this part of the Act in force in all the counties in Ireland. The outrage to which the hon. Member refers had nothing to do with the action of the Government in this matter.

MR. W. REDMOND (Fermanagh, N.)

Arising out of the answer of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, may I be allowed to ask him if the attention of the Government has been called to the following paragraph in the address of Mr. Justice Murphy recently to the Grand Jury of the County Fermanagh:— Nothing (said Judge Murphy) can exceed the peace and quiet obtaining in this, as I trust: I may call it, your prosperous county. The bills to go before you are only two in number. May I ask him whether, in face of the assertions as to the peace of the county made by Mr. Justice Murphy the Government think it likely to contribute to the peace——

MR. SPEAKER

Order! The hon. Gentleman is at liberty to put the first part of the Question; but he is now drawing an inference.

MR. W. REDMOND

Then I will ask whether the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's attention has been drawn to the learned Judge's Charge; and whether he will distinctly state the ground on which this peaceful county has been subjected to the stigma of coercion?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I have not read the charge referred to. [Mr. W. REDMOND: You ought.] The Proclamation under which Fermanagh has been proclaimed is simply an extension of a certain principle which during the debates on the Bill one of the hon. Members below the Gangway moved should be extended to the whole of Ireland.

MR. O'DOHERTY (Donegal, N.)

I beg to say, Sir, as being that hon. Member, that that is not so.

MR. W. REDMOND

In consequence of the answer of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman I beg to give Notice that, as a Representative of the county, I shall take the earliest opportunity of protesting against the infamy of placing these peaceable people under the stigma of coercion.

MR. O'DOHERTY

I wish to ask the right hon. and gallant Gentleman whether he refers to the Motion I made that Party riots should come under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Law Amendment (Ireland) Act?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

Now the hon. Member mentions it, I believe it was he who proposed that the clause should apply to all parts of Ireland in order to prevent Party disturbances. I think he meant it chiefly to refer to the North of Ireland.

MR. SEXTON (Belfast, W.)

I would ask the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, whether the Proclamation of this County of Fermanagh does not take the two offences of taking and holding forcible possession and assaults upon constables and other ministers of the Crown out of the ordinary jurisdiction and convey it to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction composed of two Resident Magistrates; and whether that change of jurisdiction arises from the prevalence of these two offences, or from the circumstance that the ordinary tribunals had failed to deal with them?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

The county was proclaimed, among other reasons, because intimidation prevails there, and because there are 15 persons subjected to Boycotting?

MR. SEXTON

I must press this matter. The right hon. and gallant Gentleman has just said that intimidation prevails in Fermanagh. I would ask him whether it appears by the Official Returns sent by the Inspector General of Constabulary, and issued from Dublin Castle, that in the last six months there has not been reported by the police in the County Fermanagh one single case of intimidation? I refer, Sir, to the Report in which intimidation is classed under two heads—the first including intimidation by threatening letters and notices, and the second "otherwise;" and in the six months these two heads are represented by blanks; and I would ask him, seeing that the two crimes of taking and holding forcible possession and assaulting constables, and other ministers of the law have been transferred from the ordinary to special jurisdiction, whether he is aware of the fact certified by the Inspector General of Irish Constabulary, that in the County of Fermanagh, in the course of the last six months, not one of either of the two classes of offences has been committed?

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I have not referred to the Return mentioned by the hon. Gentleman; but I have a Return which shows that there are 15 Boycotting cases in the county.