§ MR. SPEAKERacquainted the House that he had received the following letter relating to the imprisonment of a Member of this House:—
§ Dundalk,
§ June 20, 1888.
§ SIR,
§ I have the honour to report that Mr. John Dillon, M.P. for East Mayo, duly appealed to me, as County Court Judge and Chairman of Quarter Sessions, from two Orders of Conviction made one on the 11th May, 1888, and one on the 12th May, 1888, whereby he was convicted under the first of said Orders of having with other persons unlawfully taken part in a Criminal Conspiracy, punishable by Law, to compel and induce certain persons, tenants of farms situate in divers parts of Ireland, not to fulfil their legal obligations, to wit, to refuse to pay to the owners of such farms the rents which they the said tenants were and might become lawfully bound to pay, and which the owners of said farms were and might become lawfully entitled to be paid; and, under the 2nd of said Orders, of inciting persons unlawfully to take part in a Criminal Conspiracy, stated in the same terms. Upon each of these convictions Orders were made that Mr. Dillon should be imprisoned for six months without hard labour, the sentences to run concurrently.
§ Mr. Dillon appeared in due course before me this day at the Quarter Sessions held at Dundalk, in the said county, when, upon hearing the evidence and what was advanced by Mr. 970 Dillon in his defence, I affirmed the conviction and the sentence in each case.
§ I have the honour to be, Sir,
§ Your most obedient servant,
§ W. KISBEY,
§ County Court Judge of Armagh and Louth.
§ The Right Honourable
§ The Speaker of the House of Commons.