§ MR. SEXTONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the attention of the Irish Government has been drawn to the charge of the Lord Chief Baron in the "Gorey Conspiracy Case" at the Wick-low Assizes, and, to his Lordship's declaration of law, namely, that no person in the absence of contract was bound to deal or trade with anyone against his own will; that any attempt to press the Criminal Law, so as to force people to deal with others against their will, was against the law, and must lead to nothing but confusion; and that this principle as to individual traders was applicable to traders acting in combination, provided that such combinations were voluntary and not inspired by a malicious desire to inflict unnecessary harm; whether, since the passing of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act of 1887, numbers of persons in Ireland have been convicted by Resident Magistrates, and sentenced to terms of imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for what the Lord Chief Baron has now declared to be lawful; whether the number of persons so convicted and imprisoned can be approximately stated; how many persons are now in prison in Ireland upon convictions contrary to the law as declared by the Lord Chief Baron; whether they will now be set at liberty; whether any compensation will be made to them; and whether the Irish Government will inform the Resident Magistrates of the state of the law?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAll the information at present at my disposal upon this subject is derived from the newspapers; but I have no antecedent grounds for doubting the substantial accuracy of the hon. Gentleman's version of a portion of the Chief Baron's charge. With regard to the latter part of the question, I have to say that no persons in Ireland have been convicted for any proceeding which the Lord Chief Baron now declares to be lawful; but that, on the contrary, it appears to me the Lord 905 Chief Baron has, in his charge, given emphatic sanction to the views as to the law of criminal conspiracy which have been hitherto taken by Resident Magistrates, County Court Judges, and (on case stated) by the Superior Courts.
§ MR. SEXTONI beg to ask whether it is not the fact that in the Kanturk, Killeagh, and other cases, men have been sent to prison for boycotting, against whom there was no evidence of compulsion or malice; and whether Mr. J. Fitzgibbon, who has been three times sent to prison, has been imprisoned for refusing to sell a necessary of life— namely, an ostrich feather, to the wife of a land-grabber?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI emphatically dissent from every statement made by the hon. Member, but it is impossible to re-argue the question now, at question time.
§ MR. DILLONMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, in the case of the two men acquitted by the jury in the Gorey case, after the charge of the Lord Chief Baron, the Government will consider the question of indemnifying the men for the great expenses to which they have been put by this groundless prosecution?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURNo, Sir, it would be contrary to all precedent.
§ MR. SEXTONDo I understand the right hon. Gentleman to say that no one is in prison now in Ireland for having refused to sell, no evidence of malice having been produced at the trial?
§ MR. A J. BALFOURMy statement is that nobody is now in prison in Ireland who is not guilty of an offence described by the Lord Chief Baron as an offence against the law.
§ MR. J. MORLEY (Newcastle-upon-Tyne)The right hon. Gentleman promised to lay this very important charge upon the Table.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am in communication with the Lord Chief Baron now.