HC Deb 09 May 1889 vol 335 c1552
MR. TOMLINSON (Preston)

I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for War, whether his attention has been called to the note on the recent drowning of a soldier at Malta, in the Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette of April 13th, 1889, and particularly to the following passage— It is satisfactory to know that the supposed murderers are in custody; but this case is only another instance of the conduct of some of these Maltese gentry, and we fancy a little application of Lynch Law administered by the comrades of some of these victims of extortion would tend to mend matters. And, whether any facts have come to his knowledge tending to show that the appearance of this note has tended to aggravate any ill-feeling which may exist between the military and civilians in Malta?

*MR. STANHOPE

My attention has been called to this article, and I utterly agree with my hon. Friend in reprobating most severely such an attempt to instigate the soldiers in Malta to justify a previous outrage by the commission of a later. Such language in a professional paper can scarcely fail to increase the ill-feeling which unfortunately exists, but I do not think that it actually caused the riots which took place on April 16th, as the article was only republished in Malta on the lath.