§ MR. BARRIETo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the decision of a majority of the justices at Ballymote Petty Sessions, on 12th November, adjourning until February next, without hearing any evidence for the prosecution, summonses charging twenty-one members and officers of the United Irish League with intimidation designed to compel Protestant farmers in the Riverstown district to become members of the League, whether the Law Officers of the Crown have now concluded the consideration of the question of making application to the Kings' Bench Division of the High Court for a writ of mandamus compelling the justices to hear and determine these cases.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) My right hon. friend has asked me to reply to this Question. I have conferred with my colleague, the Solicitor-General, and with the counsel who appeared for me at the first hearing of the case, but I do not think it would be in the public interest that I should state the conclusion at which, in concurrence with them, I have arrived.