THE MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDEwished to know whether his noble Friend the Under Secretary for War had received any information with reference to a gross outrage stated in the newspapers to have been committed by a regiment of the Antrim Militia on the inhabitants of Kinsale. It was stated that, by way of celebrating the 12th of July, they got themselves into a state of intoxication, and in that condition committed very serious outrages. One of the statements he had seen was that on the Sunday night and on the Monday indications of disorder were shown by the men, and that the officers commanding the regiment were so much prepared for a disturbance taking place that they ordered the regiment to be confined to their barracks on the 12th of July. But the men broke out, and proceeded to demolish windows, attack the people, and commit such acts of disorder as were utterly disgraceful. He did not think it was necessary to call the attention of Parliament to every military disturbance that took place; but here was a regiment the officers of which were said to be cognizant of the spirit that animated their men, and he maintained that if the allegations turned out to be true the regiment should be disbanded. They had hurt the feelings, injured the property, and attacked the persons of the Roman Catholic subjects of the Queen in that town, if they did not actually commit murder. According to one account a Roman Catholic chapel had been attacked and a Roman Catholic clergyman in delicate health set upon in the street by these men, who if the statements were true might well be termed miscreants; and had they not been repulsed by a strong body of the people no one could say to what extremities they might have proceeded. He did not say all this merely on newspaper authority, for it was a fact that there had been brought to Kinsale 200 Horse Artillery and a troop of the Scots Greys. A picket of sixty or seventy men had been sent to quell the riot, but instead of doing so they joined the rioters and turned the tide of victory in their 1281 favour. He must say that if any portion of the militia were to he embodied it ought not to be men animated by such feelings as were evidenced by these gross outrages. He wished to know whether his noble Friend had received any information about this affair, and whether any steps had been taken respecting it.
§ THE EARL OF RIPONwas sorry to say that so far as information had reached the Government he had to confirm the statement of his noble Friend that there had been a disturbance in the town of Kinsale on the 12th of July, arising out of a contest between the militia and the inhabitants. In the present imperfect state of the information which the Government had received it was impossible for him to give any opinion as to the facts of the case, or as to the origin of this unfortunate proceeding. He might state, however, that the most active measures had been taken by Major-General Eden, the officer commanding the district, for the suppression of the disturbance. At half-past ten in the evening he was informed that a military riot had broken out in Kinsale; by twelve a troop of dragoons was sent from Cork to that town, and by half-past five in the morning General Eden himself was on the spot. When he arrived he found the disturbance at an end; but, seeing that a strong feeling existed against the militia in the town, he thought it his duty to remove them, and by seven in the morning of the 13th they were on their way to Cork, where they now were. Lord Seaton, the General commanding in Ireland, had ordered a strict and impartial inquiry to be made into all the circumstances of the case, and the Government were satisfied that the whole matter would be sifted to the bottom. Should the facts turn out to be such as had been described in the newspapers, and he trusted they would not, his noble Friend would have no reason to complain of the want of justice being done.