§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYI wish to put a question to the noble Earl respecting certain events which have just taken place at Chester. It appears that an inroad of some 1,500 Fenians has taken place, with the intention of attacking the Castle and possessing themselves of the arms stored there, and that there being very few troops to protect the city, it has been found necessary to send down by train a regiment of the Fusileer Guards. I would ask the noble Earl, Whether he has received to-day any accounts from Chester, and what was the state of the town?
§ THE EARL OF DERBYI believe I can give the noble Lord little more information than has appeared in all the public papers. The facts are shortly these:—On Sunday morning my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department received an intimation from Liverpool that considerable excitement prevailed in that town caused by an extraordinary influx of strangers from Manchester, Staley-bridge, Preston, Halifax, and other quarters, none of them appearing to have any business to do, and all of them having a very suspicious aspect. In the course of the afternoon of Sunday information had been received that the object of these men was to go on the following morning to Chester and endeavour to take possession of the arms stored in the Castle. In consequence of this information, the chief constable of Liverpool thought it necessary to send over an officer to Chester to apprise the authorities. It was late when he got there; but having called up the functionaries, he suggested that immediate steps should be taken; and next morning the proceedings were telegraphed to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. He thought it right to communicate at once with General Garvock, commanding the district, and with the Mayor of Chester, putting them in communication with each other, and authorizing the Mayor, if he thought it necessary, to send for an additional company of the 54th Regiment, from Preston. In the course of the day the number of these persons in Chester had largely increased. There were 1,500 or 1,600 who were described as Fenians, and apparently bent on the design attri- 274 buted to them. The Mayor, therefore, requested authority to send for further troops from Manchester or Preston. Thereupon, my right hon. Friend communicated with the War Office and the Commander-in-Chief, and it was agreed between them that it was not desirable to weaken the small force at Preston and Manchester, on which the safety of Liverpool depended, there being not a single soldier there—consequently, if other troops were required it would be desirable to send down a battalion of Guards from London. That was communicated by telegraph to the Mayor between nine and ten o'clock, with the request that if more troops were considered necessary to telegraph back again and a battalion of Guards would be ready to be sent down. In the meantime directions were given that 500 men should be kept in readiness to start on a moment's notice. At one o'clock a telegram was received from the Mayor urgently desiring that the Guards should be sent down; and they were sent down at two o'clock this morning, and must have reached Chester at an early hour this morning. I requested my right hon. Friend to let me know the latest accounts; but when I came to the House he had not received any further intelligence. A private telegram, however, had been received by Lord Elcho from Lord Grosvenor, which reported that the matter had been serious, and that the town had been saved by the promptitude of the measures which had been taken.