§ MR. P. A. M'HUGHI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that several thousand persons openly disobeyed and defied the proclamation of a resident magistrate forbidding the holding of a United Irish League meeting at Dromahair, County Leitrim, on September 17; will he explain why, although the proclamation set forth that anyone disobeying it would be prosecuted according to law, no one has been prosecuted for acting in contravention of the proclamation; and will he give one or more of those who defied the proclamation an opportunity of testing the legality of the proclamation by instituting proceedings against them in accordance with the threat conveyed in its terms.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURSeveral attempts were made to hold a meeting in defiance of the proclamation, but as they were unsuccessful the main object of the proclamation was attained. Prosecutions are in consequence unnecessary. Any person who may have defied the proclamation has already power to test the legality of the proceedings in a court of law if he so desires.