HC Deb 07 August 1893 vol 15 cc1430-1
MR. COBB (Warwick, S.E., Rugby)

I wish to ask the Prime Minister a question of which I have given private notice. It is whether, in spite of the apologies offered in this House on Monday last, and the request of Mr. Speaker, as representing the general sense of the House, his attention has been called to the following circular, issued from the office of the newspaper England, owned by a Member of this House:— 291, Strand, London, August 4, 1893. The Mêlée in the House of Commons.—Dear Sir,—1 beg to call your special attention to the extreme Party value of the account of the melee in the House of Commons which appears on pp. 10, 11, and 12 of England this week. It is the only full and consecutive narrative which has been published, and proves clearly that the Radicals and Irish were the cause of the disorder. It should be circulated in every constituency and in all Conservative clubs. Yours faithfully, H. Walker, Manager. Whether the newspaper in question, under the date of August 8, publishes a series of highly-coloured statements of a one sided and imflammatory character; and whether, in view of the endeavour to turn the incident to Party uses, and avail of it for the political purposes of one political Party, he will reconsider the attitude taken by the Government as to taking any steps with respect to the recent disturbances? As an excuse for asking the last question, I may quote two short extracts from the paper. One is this— Mr. Logan is well-known as a bruiser, and has often fought with navvies and others in his district. Knowing his fondness for fighting, his friends were very anxious about him on Thursday night. The other is as follows:— Some of Mr. Gladstone's followers in the Press, wise in their generation, have endeavoured to say that Mr. Gladstone could not see or hear what was going on. This is perfectly false. Mr. Gladstone can see well enough if he chooses, and if the disturbance had been caused by the Conservative or Unionist Members he would have been prompt enough to rise to Order and to uphold the Chair. If the Prime Minister prefers it, I will put the question on the Paper for tomorrow.

MR. W. E. GLADSTONE

It is only within the last five minutes I have been made acquainted with the purport of the question which my hon. Friend has put to me. I answer it, therefore, without the advantages I might have had from a more deliberate review and a better acquaintance with its terms, which I have, perhaps, caught imperfectly. Still I think, Sir, I have gathered its general purport. It appears to me to travel into a region where I do not think we should be prepared to follow the editor of the newspaper from whom my hon. Friend has quoted. The matter is in the judgment of the public. If any improper language has been used, or improper insinuations made, well, that, I am afraid, is apt to happen in the administration of a free Press, or of any Press, and less, perhaps, in a free Press than any other. But it must happen, and it must be left to correction by the good sense of the public. In any case, however, I think that the judgment of this House, recorded especially most formally in words used by yourself from the Chair, which words have been made matter of permanent record—that judgment, I think, is to be regarded by us as final; and I am not aware that anything has happened which ought to lead the Government to recede from the view they have taken of the subject.