HC Deb 10 June 1890 vol 345 cc524-7
MR. J. REDMOND (Wexford, N.)

I wish to ask the Chief Secretary a question of which I have given him private notice. Is the right hon. Gentleman correctly reported in the Times as having made the following statement on the previous evening:— They must remember that the houses of those persons who attempted to redeem had been wrecked by the mob. I stated before that a Member of this House had boasted that those things had occurred. I believe he controverted that What he did was to give to the reporter of a newspaper owned by himself, and the editor of which was a personal friend of his, an account which I quoted accurately"? I also wish to ask whether I am the Member referred to?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

Yes; the hon. Member is the Member of the House to whom I referred, and the quotation he gives from the Times newspaper fairly and accurately represents what I said on the occasion, with the exception that I did not say that he was the owner, but I did say that the editor of the newspaper was a personal friend of his. I have here the report of the interview in the People newspaper. It says, that on Tuesday evening Mr. John E. Redmond, M.P., passed through New Ross, and in an interview with its representative spoke of affairs at Tipperary. He said he had Never seen such excitement in his life as there is in the town of Tipperary at this moment. The houses of the men who paid their rents are there left alone by everyone. The houses of these men have been nearly wrecked, and there cannot be got in the County of Tipperary a glazier to replace the windows which have been smashed to pieces. The combination of the Smith-Barry tenants is one of the best in Ireland.

(6.2.) MR. J. REDMOND

I am sure the House will in fairness allow me to say two or three words in the way of personal explanation. What I have to say may seem rather startling to the right hon. Gentleman. I never gave any such interview as that which has been quoted to the representative of any newspaper whatever, and I never made any statement which could possibly be twisted or distorted into approval of the occurrences in Tipperary—either in an interview, in a speech, or in any other manner. In my own justification, as this charge has been made against me of boasting of the wrecking of these houses, and as the charge had been made that not one of the Irish Members had denounced these occurrences, I ask permission to state that at the earliest possible moment after the breaking of the windows by certain persons in Tipperary—which is the disturbance referred to—in September last, namely, on the following Sunday, September 8, I myself publicly denounced at a meeting in the town of Tipperary those occurrences in the following words. I will read the report of my speech that appeared in the Freeman's Journal of Monday, September 9. It is as follows:— There were two plain and manifest duties which they at once were bound to fulfil to wards these men" (namely, the tenants who had combined). "The first of these duties he was there to speak about, with a full sense of his responsibility, candidly, and without the slightest fear as to whether his words would be well received or not. The first duty they owed to these men was to put down disorder in the town. He (Mr. Redmond) had read with pain of the breaking of windows and the throwing of stones. He was not afraid to speak his mind to Tipperary men. … Stone throwing and window-breaking wore unworthy of Tipperary. It was a cowardly proceeding, and was found to bring injury to the cause of the Smith-Barry tenantry and the cause of Ireland generally. He asked them to put down disorder with a strong hand, and thus to deprive their enemies of the only weapon they had to use against them—that is, the weapon of misrepresenting their movement as a lawless, turbulent, and an unjust one. That speech was made immediately after the occurrences. It was made on the spot, in the town of Tipperary. It was the last public meeting which the Irish Members were allowed to address freely in that town, with the exception of those meetings where Englishmen were present; and I must say I think it a strange circumstance that the right hon. Gentleman should publicly accuse Members here of not only not denouncing these occurrences, but of boasting of them, when he ought to have had a knowledge of that speech of mine.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I do not know that it is part of my duty to read every speech delivered by hon. Gentlemen opposite. I, of course, accept at once with the greatest pleasure the contradiction which has just been given by the hon. Gentleman of an elaborate report in a newspaper, published in his own constituency. I have not given the House an adequate idea of the elaborateness of the account of the alleged conversation reported in a newspaper which is friendly to the hon. Member, and of which the editor has been twice a martyr to the National cause—once under the administration of the right hon. Gentleman opposite and once under mine. I presume that the hon. Gentleman has taken pains to prevent the evil effects and pernicious consequences which would necessarily be produced in the locality from this report of his words. I have no doubt that the hon. Gentleman sent a distinct contradiction to the editor, but, unfortunately, that contradiction was not brought to my notice.

MR. J. REDMOND

Am I to understand that this alleged interview, published in a small country print, was brought under the right hon. Gentleman's notice, and that the long report of my speech in the Freeman's Journal was not brought to his knowledge?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

The occurrence in question was reported in the People of the 14th of September last year.

MR. J. REDMOND

That is not the date. It was the 4th of September, and my speech in Tipperary was on the 8th.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

It was in the beginning of September. Whether I had the good fortune to read the excellent observations made by the hon. Gentleman on the occasion referred to I do not know. If I had known that the hon. Gentleman had delivered that speech I would have given him great credit for it, as such speeches are only too rare. Bat I read the extracts from the alleged interview that were brought to my official knowledge, and I thought they were most significant. I will no longer say that the hon. Gentleman used the expressions attributed to him, though I do say that as the statement appears in a paper which supports his Party, and circulates in his constituency, I was justified in attaching significance to it.