HC Deb 15 November 1888 vol 330 cc1238-9
MR. J. E. ELLIS (Nottingham, Rushcliffe)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that Mr. P. A. M'Hugh, Mayor of Sligo, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment on the 10th instant for publishing two articles in The Sligo Champion, of which he is proprietor?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)

Yes, Sir. The sentence of the Resident Magistrates was confirmed by the County Court Judge.

MR. J. E. ELLIS

asked, how the right hon. Gentleman reconciled this action on the part of the Government with his oft-repeated assertion that the Government did not interfere with the liberty of the Press in Ireland?

ME. A. J. BALFOUR

In the first place, these are not the proceedings of the Government, but of the County Court Judge. In the second place, I have never made the assertion which the hon. Gentleman attributes to me. What I have constantly asserted—and what I now repeat—is, that the Government had never interfered, either directly or indirectly, with any legitimate expression of opinion on any political subject whatever; but when a newspaper becomes an organ of intimidation to an individual, it legitimately comes under the operation of the law.

MR. P. O'BRIEN (Monaghan, N.)

asked, whether it was not the fact that the article for which Mr. M'Hugh was convicted was not a quotation from another newspaper; and, also, on what grounds he was not treated as a first-class misdemeanant?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

said, that the County Court Judge thought the case so palpable that he declined to make the order for Mr. M'Hugh to become a first-class misdemeanant. He must ask for Notice with regard to the first part of the Question.