§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the man Trew, speaking at the Custom House, Belfast, on recent Sundays, inflamed the mind of the mob against certain churches in Belfast, and stated that as soon as they had finished with St. Clement's they would attack those also; and whether, as the same laws against intimidation and incitement to riot are in force in the North and South of Ireland, he will cause them to be enforced in Belfast as in the South?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe strongest words used by Mr. Trew 948 in the direction suggested in the first paragraph were those spoken on the 8th January, when he said that—
As soon as things are finally arranged at St. Clement's Church, we will tackle St. George's; we will carry on no tom-foolery outside the church; we will just walk in in a body and bring out everything that ought not to be there.On the 22nd January, he used similar language about the same church, and also alluded to St. Peter's Church, and to the churches at Bushmills and Hillsboro'. It has hitherto been the practice of successive Governments in Ireland to abstain from prosecuting for incitements in connection with religious disputes, which, unfortunately, are by no means confined to the North of Ireland, and the Government do not consider it desirable to depart from this practice in the present instance. The law with respect to intimidation, and to incitements to riot, is the same all over Ireland, and the attitude of the Government in the present case has been identical with that observed in other parts of Ireland in other cases of a similar kind. The policy of the Government has been to stand neutral between the parties to such disputes, and the police only interfere so far as is necessary to preserve the public peace.