§ Mr. MOOREI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been drawn to the language of Mr. Justice Madden on the state of affairs in the King's County and the prevalence of intimidation there; and if, having regard to the fact that no verdict has been obtained in that county in agrarian cases, what steps the Government intend to take to secure an impartial trial and the vindication of the law.
§ MR. BIRRELLI would refer to my Answer to the similar Question put by the hon. Member for Mid. Armagh on the 4th instant, †There was only one agrarian case for trial at the recent assizes for King's County. In that case the jury disagreed, and the accused persons are to be put on trial again.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that these remarks by Justice Madden were made not on sworn testimony or on his own inquiry or personal knowledge, but. were based merely on the private reports of the constables involved, and should not, therefore, carry more weight than the words of any person passing over West-minster Bridge? Is not this a practice unknown in this country?
§ MR. BIRRELLEverybody knows that the Judges of Assize are supplied with police reports in Ireland, and that they comment from time to time on what they conceive to be the state of affairs.