LORD ORANMORE AND BROWNErose to ask Her Majesty's Government, Whether it is true that notice has been given to the agents of the Property Defence Association that within a short period police protection will be withdrawn from caretakers who have been put in occupation of farms; and, if so, on what grounds? The noble Lord said, that the answer to a similar Question given by the Chief Secretary for Ireland in "another place" was unsatisfactory, and was so considered by men of moderate views in Ireland. It was said that the Government were determined to give every protection in their power, but that they had the choice of the manner in which to do so. That was a matter of course; but he could state that the protection given to caretakers had been the means of preserving many lives. Irish landlords had been left for 12 months very nearly at the mercy of the Land League; and, therefore, when they saw a change of policy, especially with regard to the protection of caretakers, taken in conjunction with the speech of the Prime Minister the other day on local government and his indefinite answer to the Lord Mayor as to assistance to the Property Defence Association, they must regard it as very unsatisfactory. A correspondent from Ireland had pointed out that the increase in the number of outrages within the last few weeks had excited fresh apprehension, and had diminished the confidence in the power of the Government to check lawless violence. The withdrawal of police protection from the caretakers would lead to deplorable results, and farms would be abandoned because the owners could not afford the expense of efficiently guarding them. He hoped the Government would be able to give some satisfactory assurance as to the policy which they intended to carry out in enforcing the law for the protection of life and property.
§ LORD CARLINGFORDI am sorry that the noble Lord thinks that the answer given to a similar Question the other day in "another place" was not satisfactory. To me it appeared a very reasonable answer, and I am not able, upon the part of the Irish Government, 1084 to give any answer differing in substance from that of the Chief Secretary. The Government are fully prepared to give all the protection in their power to persons in the situation of these caretakers, or to other persons who may be threatened or in any position of danger in Ireland; but they wish—and that, I believe, was the main intention of my right hon. Friend—to reserve to themselves the right to consider, on its own merits, every application for protection of this kind—the right of choosing the best means of providing protection in any particular case. It would be impossible to assign a party of police to protect every caretaker on every farm in Ireland, as that would interfere with the working of the system of patrolling, to which the Irish Government attach the greatest possible importance, and which, as is well-known, has latterly been productive of very good results. That system the Government desire to maintain in its fullest efficiency. Therefore, they do not wish to tie their hands by any general rule or announcement on the subject. They think that caretakers may be expected to do something, at any rate, for their own defence; and it cannot be too widely known and understood in Ireland that persons in that position, when threatened with violence, are at perfect liberty to resist force by force. At the same time, the Government fully recognize the responsibility of giving protection to persons in the situation of caretakers. They only desire to reserve to themselves freedom of action, and to treat every application that comes before them on its own merits.
§ EARL FORTESCUEobserved, that the declaration as to deciding each case upon its own merits was quite reasonable; but it was the apprehension of a change of policy towards the caretakers that had so seriously alarmed the increasing number of landlords who had to provide for the safety of their farmhouses and buildings. The dangers to which caretakers were exposed were notorious. On a farm of his own, the incendiaries first barred in the caretaker and then fired the house, from which the man escaped with the greatest difficulty. The Government had shown remarkable helplessness and tardiness in their measures for the enforcement of the law, the protection of the law-abiding, and the 1085 defence of the rights of property. For more than a year, frequent cases of the intimidation, ill-treatment, and sometimes even murder, of persons engaged in serving notices or other legal documents had been notoriously occurring, and yet it was only last month that the Government, in concert with the Judges, took the simple and obvious course of enabling such documents to be legally served by post in proclaimed districts; and their newspaper organs had done all in their power, by persistent calumnies and misrepresentation, to cripple the efforts of the Property Defence Association, which comprehended landlords and defenders of the rights of property belonging to all political Parties. And now, having discouraged the contribution of money in aid of the distressed landlords, they imposed on them the heavy additional expense of protecting the caretakers. A question might be raised as to whether the recent declaration made on the part of the Government that they would deal with each case on its merits was to be construed into an intimation that the caretakers must defend themselves as best they could, and that the Government encouraged a sort of general despairing surrender of the rights of property and the occupation of farms under the terror produced by the Land League.
LORD ORANMORE AND BROWNEsaid, a recommendation from the Government to defend themselves, because the Government could not be everywhere, was nothing but a recommendation to resort to civil war.
§ THE EARL OF COURTOWNsaid, it could not be supposed that caretakers would be so carefully chosen that they would be capable of exercising great discretion in an emergency; they would not be disciplined to act with such caution as policemen would do, and in case of a house being attacked and shots being fired the Government must be prepared for a loss of life which might, perhaps, be averted if proper protection could be afforded.