HL Deb 03 July 1922 vol 51 cc196-202

Loud CARSON rose to ask His Majesty's Government whether their attention has been called to the outrages alleged to have been committed in the County of Tipperary on a young married lady, a British subject; whether it is true, as alleged, that a raid took place on her husband's residence, and that she was outraged during the raid on seven or eight different occasions; and whether any action has been taken by His Majesty's Government with reference to the matter; and whether the Provisional Government have instituted any inquiry into the matter.

The noble and learned Lord said: My I Lords, in asking the Government the Question standing in my name I assure your Lordships that my sole reason for putting it down is that, of all the horrible outrages that we have had from Ireland since the British troops were withdrawn from that country, this to my mind is one of the worst. I put the Question on the Paper because, so far as I can see, His Majesty's Government have never really realised the position in which they left helpless loyalists when they went away without making the slightest provision for their safety. The Treaty, which is now six months old, and all that followed from the Treaty, is past history, so far as politics are concerned, and my anxieties now are really concerned with the people who have been loyal in Ireland, and who have been totally abandoned.

I cannot but think that, even at the present time, it is the duty of the great British Government to try to do something I to alleviate the utter want of protection of these people in Ireland. I cannot imagine the feelings of those who came to the conclusion that it was best to leave Ireland, and, in doing so, to abandon all their friends and all those who had hitherto kept the flag flying; and, even now, I see no trace of anything being done, or of any lead being given to these people as to what is to be their fate in the future. You may have victory by the Free Staters, or you may have victory by the Republicans, whatever may be the difference between the two classes, but, believe me, the one set of people who are absolute helpless, and all the more undeservedly helpless because they are not interfering in the quarrels of these two classes, are those who have been loyal to this country.

As to the particular case which I have brought forward, I have asked whether it is true, because it is so horrible that I, as an Irishman, feel that it is an outrage which is not of an ordinary kind, or, at least, has not hitherto been of an ordinary kind, in my country. I have here an affidavit, signed and certified by a Commissioner, of this lady and her husband, and I think the best thing I can do is to read their own words, omitting—for reasons which your Lordships will well understand—the names of the people. The husband says— On Friday morning, June 22, about 12.30 o'clock, men smashed windows and demanded admittance to our house. On opening the door I was forced by two men, one of whom levelled a gun at me, into a room adjoining, with an old gentleman, 74 years of ago, who lived with us, and they locked us in. Three men then entered the bedroom of his wife and all three, she says, outraged her. The whole party ransacked the house; they took everything of value that was portable, throwing everything about.

The lady gives descriptions of what they did, and goes on to say:— While this was going on, I was outraged by different men in turn, one after the other, and a guard was always kept in my room. Finally, I was taken out of my own room, to allow it to be searched for valuables, a light being required for that purpose, and no light being allowed there while I was in it. I was brought by a man in a green uniform into another bedroom, where I was once more outraged by this man. I believe I was outraged altogether on eight or nine different occasions.

The husband says— I and the old gentleman were let out of the room, where we had been kept until about 2 o'clock, and I found my wife lying on the bed, almost lifeless, in a terrible condition impossible to describe. They add that these are the facts according to their own personal knowledge, so far as relate to them respectively.

The facts are too eloquent to require words from me, but I do demand to know how this is to be stopped. What efforts are being made to put a stop to it? These are British subjects, living a few miles away from your own shores. What does the Government do for them? Or what does the Government advise them to do? Do they advise this class of people through- out the country to leave Ireland? If they do, will they help them? Will they set up some sort of Commission which will enable them to get out? Or do they advise them to stay there? If they advise them to stay there, to whom are they to look? Has Great Britain no voice in the protection of her loyal subjects? We are entitled to know where; we stand. These people are entitled to know where they stand. This is one of many hundred letters that a man like myself receives. I do not say that; they are all as horrible as this, but they all relate to tin; perpetration of outrages which deprive people of their property under the most trying circumstances. Whether it be fruitless or not, I cannot but feel that, living as I do here in this country in, at all events, comparative security, I would be a traitor to those with whom I was brought up, and whom I love more than any people in the world, if I hesitated to bring this matter before the House.

THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (The Earl of Crawford)

My Lords, immediately upon receiving private information about this outrage, the Government communicated with its representative in Dublin. He thereupon approached the Provisional Government to inquire into the facts of this case. I am sorry to say that our information on the subject is very incomplete, and during the last four or five days it has been almost impossible to get any further information on the matter. We hear, however, that the Provisional Government has reason to suspect a particular individual as being the ringleader of this gang of ruffians. The man in question appears to have left the neighbourhood of the outrage, and an active search is now being pursued.

I confess I wish I could give a clear and definite answer to the Question of the noble and learned Lord, as to what attitude should be adopted by the Government towards some hundreds of thousands of loyalists in the south of Ireland. The particular district where this occurred, I gather, is in the hands of people who are fighting the Provisional Government, and where the power of the Provisional Government is at its very lowest. This is a sinister as well as an atrocious affair. There can be no excuse or pretext of polities, nor can it be alleged that there was the smallest provocation for this crime. If unpunished, a collective outrage of this character upon an individual involves collective discredit upon the country as a whole. If unchecked and unpunished, this foul disease will spread. A loyalist may suffer to-day; to-morrow's victim will probably be a Nationalist; and the consequences on the moral stature of a nation must be incalculable. For my own part, taking note of what Lord Carson has just said, I have always heard that this particular horror is quite alien to the records of Irish crime, and I therefore feel confident that on this particular kind of crime the Irish Government, and the Irish community as a whole, must and will do their utmost to prevent a recurrence of these foul proceedings, which shock the sentiments of every honest man, whatever be his position in life or his politics, in Ireland.

THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY

My Lords, no criticism can be offered of the terms in which the noble Earl opposite spoke of this disgusting outrage, but I confess I should have been more satisfied if he had finished his remarks by recognising, frankly and freely before your Lordships, that His Majesty's Government have a responsibility in this matter—a responsibility which they cannot be said to have discharged by merely speaking in proper terms of the outrage itself. I think that history might be searched in vain for a parallel of the proceedings of the Government in handing over Ireland to anarchy in the manner in which they have done. They took no precautions whatever to ascertain that there was a settled Government in Ireland when they abandoned the field. There was no proper provision of Courts, or of law, recognised by the Provisional Government, or of armed forces or police forces.

They withdrew all the protection of the Imperial Government, and left Ireland, to welter in the disorder and the outrage which we have seen; because of course the instance of my noble and learned friend, although a very extreme one, is not the only one. I have the report of one in my pocket at this moment, although it would not be material to read it now. The Government have abandoned Ireland, and the Government are responsible for the result. I should have been happier if they had frankly recognised the depth of the blunder which they have committed, and if they had said frankly to your Lordships, and to the country, that they recognised their responsibility and to the utmost of their power will see that the Provisional Government does justice—doesustice, that is to say, in vindicating the rights and avenging the wrongs of British subjects—of loyalists who have trusted us and whom we, under the leadership of the Government, have abandoned.

VISCOUNT LONG OF WRAXALL

My Lords, I have consistently supported the Government in the policy which they have adopted in Ireland as a result of the Conference, and I desire now to say that it I seems to me that we have reached a period I in the history of Ireland which demands some different treatment and fresh consideration. The noble Marquess who has just spoken said, with painful truth, that I the disgusting and abominable outrage which my noble and learned friend opposite has described to your Lordships' House is by no means an incident by itself, I although we would fain hope that in its particular character it is singular. I imagine that there is no member of this House who has taken, in any degree, an active part in public affairs of late, who cannot produce abundant and unquestioned evidence of the hopeless condition which Ireland has now reached, at all events in I the south and west.

I agree with noble Lords opposite who hold that the great blunder which was made had nothing to do with the Treaty, but that it was in the removal of the natural guardians of the people, either soldiers or policemen, before there were men actually ready to enter the sentry box which they vacated. At present, from information upon which I can absolutely rely, I know that there is no law whatever in a great part of that portion of Ireland. I am told that rents are not being paid. That is an old story. But now I am told that Taxes and rates are not being paid; that bills are not being paid; that people have learnt that they can do as they please, and the law will pay no attention to them whatever. If this is not an exaggeration —I believe it is not—then I say the time has come when the Government, not only in their own interests, not only in the interests of justice and fair play, but in the interests of the new State which they have created in Ireland and which they desire to see prosperous and strong, must have a policy for the future. And the time also has come when they ought to announce that policy to the world at large.

There is more at stake than the liberty of individuals. When this civil war which is now raging in parts of Ireland is over— as we hope it will be very shortly in order that there may not be more unnecessary bloodshed in that country—you will have reached but the first stage of your journey, the goal of which is the restitution of good government there. We are told that the law does not exist, and that in country villages and distant parts of the country districts the people, whether loyalists or not (for from this point of view I do not care whether they are rebels), have no security; but here within a stone's throw of the centre of our Government, here in a part of the country for which we still hold and shall continue to hold direct responsibility, it is awful to think that men and women are exposed to these crimes and that at present we do not know how they are to be ended.

My noble and learned friend concluded his speech with a direct question, and I regret that it was not possible for my noble friend who is leading the House to answer it now. I have risen to use what small influence I possess with His Majesty's Government, to implore them to consider the question of my noble and learned friend, and to do their utmost to give us a definite reply before long. His question was this: What is the advice that the Government of the day give to the loyalists in the South and West of Ireland? Do you advise them to stay there, and, if so, what guarantee, can you give them that they will not be exposed to these horrors and these terrible and disgraceful outrages? If, on the other hand, you advise them to go away, then what assistance are you prepared to give them when they go?

The Government are laying a very heavy burden of responsibility upon their supporters. In this question of giving assistance to those who are driven out of the country the record of the Government, so far as I am able to examine it and test it, is not a good one. They are at present risking the loyalty of thousands of the best men who ever served the Sovereign in Ireland, in the persons of the Royal Irish Constabulary. I have constant communications from them, saying that the assistance which they are given when they are driven out of Ireland is barely sufficient —in some cases altogether insufficient— to enable them to make a new start.

I hope that the Government are reconsidering this question; your Lordships, I believe, will have it before you to-morrow. But the precedent is not a good one. The Government's reputation is at stake. In my humble opinion, their honour is at stake. It is their bounden duty to consider this question without delay, and to be able to tell the loyalists who are constantly appealing to us what the advice is that the Government give. They cannot bring them over here. What home can they offer to them if they come? Our pavements are worn out by the feet of men seeking employment which they cannot get. It is no good adding to this crowd of hungry and expectant folk. The only chance is that they should remain in Ireland and be ready when government is restored—if by God's mercy it is restored— to take their part in the responsibility of governing their country. But if that is the advice given it is the bounden duty of those who give it to offer these people also an assurance that their liberties, their properties, aye their lives and, as we now know, the sanctity of their wives, shall be secured, if not by one Government, then by the Government of the United Kingdom.

I have taken part in this debate with profound regret. I intervened only because I feel that the duty which I have ventured —I am afraid inadequately—to indicate as being the duty of His Majesty's Government is none the less the duty of every single individual who has the means and opportunity of raising his voice in defence of those who are suffering beyond anything, I believe, that your Lordships can conceive to-day.