Lord Robert Cecil expressed concern because the Govern- ment were
accused of conniving at irregular " reprisals "—as if Skin Fein propagandists were careful of the truth. Mr. Asquith admitted that the troops and police, when they were hit, were entitled to hit back, and said that he had no sympathy with the abominable crimes and outrages of the Sinn Feiners. But he devoted most of his speech to the exceptional case of Balbriggan, lamenting that the offenders who retaliated on the Sinn Feiners had not been brought to book.
Mr. Bonar Law aptly reminded Mr. Henderson, who com- plained of a few Sinn Feiners being deported, that, when he (Mr. Henderson) was a member of Mr. .Asquith's Government in 1916, not 24 but 1,836 Sinn Fellers were 'deported on sus- picion. Mr. Boner Law regretted Mr. .Asquith's insistence on a few oases of reprisals which nobody defended, and his reluctance to say anything about the innumerable murders and oases of arson of which the Sinn Feiners were guilty. The Government would not hold a public inquiry into the reprisals, as the witnesses would be intimidated by Sinn Fein. Moreover, the Government intended the soldiers and police to feel that they would be supported ; the inquiry, therefore, would be held in private. Mr. Asquith's policy was one of surrender to crime. The Government would treat Ireland fairly, but would make no concession to murder. After a speech by Mr. Thomas, who denied the right of the Government to arrest the Irish railwaymen who obstructed the troops, the House divided and rejected Mr. Henderson's motion by 346 votes to 79.
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