§ MR. PATRICK JOSEPH O'BRIEN (Tipperary, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, having regard to the critical state of health of Mr. John Powell, namely, suffering from congestion of the lungs and spitting of blood, he will order his immediate release from Limerick Gaol?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe General Prisons Board state that the Medical Officer of the prison reports that Mr. John Powell is not suffering from congestion of the lungs, but was on the 19th inst. placed under hospital treatment in consequence of slight blood-spitting, which the prisoner told the Medical Officer he had had several times before.
§ MR. SEXTONMay I ask whether this unfortunate gentleman is now suffering his third term of imprisonment, at the beginning of which he was only recovering from the effects of his previous detention, and whether this term has been imposed for a letter which appeared in his newspaper during his absence; and whether, in the circumstances, the right hon. Gentleman will not reconsider the case?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI cannot answer the last question without notice, as it refers to the moral responsibility of 492 this gentleman for what appears in his newspaper. But with respect to the statement that Mr. Powell is only recovering from the effects of his previous imprisonment, I an informed that Mr. Powell was better when he was discharged than when he entered.
§ MR. SEXTONI bag to give notice that when the Address is moved next Session, I shall call attention to the unjustifiable and in part illegal conduct of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant and his subordinates with regard to the treatment of political prisoners in Ireland, and that I shall move an Amendment to the Address on the subject.