The secondary subject of the debate was the conduct of
the police. The Parnellites denounced this as brutal; but the English Members present at Bodyke testified that it was admirable. Mr. Healy himself bore testimony to the character of Colonel Turner, the officer in chief command, and the Home Secretary read out that officer's report upon the alleged brutality. Colonel Turner says :—"The police have behaved throughout with very great moderation and forbearance, which is quite remarkable, con- sidering that one officer and fifteen men have been disabled, and some seriously injured. In no case have they batoned the people unnecessarily, and the use of the baton has, Jam quite sore, saved the necessity of proceeding to extreme measures, which we have been very near to once or twice, and which must have resulted in loss of life." The fifteen men injured have been assailed with hot melted lime, hot etirabout, and bludgeons, and are forbidden to repress those outrages by using their arms. In the United States they would have resorted to the revolver at once, and in any State of the Continent, even the most free, they would have been protected by a volley from the soldiery. The real wonder is that, exposed as they are at once to mob violence and to popular hatred, they continue to do their duty. The motion for adjournment was defeated by 246 to 165.
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