The Irish standard., 1890-08-02
The IRISH C0NSTABULARY.
The Most Gigantic, Most Overpaid
Most Useless Police Force In .
the World.
)HN DILLON lNDlCTS THEM,

u ~
During the Lively Parliamen ntarta Debate
i On Police Shadowmg II
+ Ireland. :. .:.. II.
During recent debate in the British
parliament on q vote to defray certain
charges in connection with the. Royal
Irish Constabulary John Dillon made a
stirring speech in reply to Chiet Sac
retary Balfour. NWeclip the f5llowing
portion of his address from the Dublin
Freeman's Journal Of July u:
During the last three years we have
seen that the lrish police have murder.
ed four or Eve people. There have been
four coroners' juries' verdlets Of wilful
murder against them. They nave dis
persed meetings. They have bludgeon.
ed and battoned hundreds Of perfectly
peaceful and unresisting people, and
yet IN no single instance, from Begin
ming to end, have they been punished
or. reproved. On the contrary, the
right hon. gentleman reads out the first
lie the police like to send him, and
refuses absolutely to grant any inquiry.
The result is that the police now have
come to several conclusions, the first of
which is that they can do whatever they
like with most absolute impunity and
safety; secondly, that the more often
sive, the more Insulting. and the more
outrageous their conduct is, provided
alone it 10 against the N Nationalists, the
better chance Of promotion (cheers.)
The consequences is that we have in the
ranks of the Irish police the demorallza-
tion and the disorganization which has
already been described at considerable
length in this house, and which. / must
lsay, threatens that force with the most
I evil consequences That l. consider q
very great evil in Ireland. and regret
to nav it 10 gro wing evil (hear, hearl
That de emoralization has shown itself in
la great variety Of ways, which the hon.
gent tlema :instaneed. It has been said,
and said quite truh1v sthA Irish
police are becoming daily more oppres=
sive, more cruel, and more dls0rderly,
Now, according to the right hon. gem
tleman. the other day the mob marched
through the streets Of Tipperary wreck
ing the houses Of their political oppo-
nents. and throwing explosive machines
about, What I should like to know ;is,
| if this be the case,
| WHERE WE'RE THE POLICE?
(Cheers.) Ii they allowed these houses
to be wrecked where they had a gar
rison of l30 armed policemen for popu-
lation of: 1000 inhabitants, I ask has
human experience ever heard Of such a
thing? L say that they ought all of
them to be stripped of their clothes to-
morrow as an utterly worthless and ab-
surd force if they are unable to prevent
the wrecking of the houses OF the inha-
bitants Of Tipperary (cheers). The
whole eystem is absolutely and uttetly
at fault. and when the right hon.
gentleman gets up to defend it in this
house he is bound to contradict himself
in every second sentence. The right
hon. gentleman himself lncites the
police to acts Of violence and cruelty by
| his answers and speeches in this: house.
He had also melted the magistrates and
all the officials in Ireland to act in an
unconstitutional way by the repeated
and reckless inaccuracy Of his answers
and statements. Only Yesterday he
described most dreadful case OF boy-
cotting, which he said was typical
case IN the county of Waterford, where
| q poor man was prevented from selling
his pigs. The man Power. who pre-
vented him. he said, was now living in
Jail for shadoWing this man. The man
Power was arrested 1t is true, but he
| was released on appeal four months
ago (cheers and laughter). He has not
been in jail for the last four months.
That IS sample Of the way in which
the right hon. gentleman goes on. He
sdoes not take the trouble to inform
himself on Irish affairs, and where he
has not got policeman's story handy
he tosses out whatever first comes to
his mind Cheers and laughter). Our
complaints in these matters are com
plants about the administration Of the
jlaw5in Ireland. The right hon. gentle
j 49,, :, ~ forrod Of thns fnnorinn oF fh;c