AN INDIGNANT PEER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11251, 1 July 1922, Page 6

AN INDIGNANT PEER

LORD MIDLETON INSULTED ASTONISHING SEQUEL TO SIR EL WILSON’S DEATH. ARTICLE IN “MORNING POST.” By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cablo Association LONDON, June 28. A curious story of how a peer visited the home ol Lady Bathurst, proprietress of the “Morning Post,” and demanded an apoljgy for a newspaper criticism, was told in tho House of Lords, when Lord Bathurst accused Lord Midleton of calling at the lady’s home, tremblin'* with hysterical excitement, end demanding an instant apology. He declared that Lord Midlct >n told Lady Bathurst that if it had happened in former days ho would havo shot Lord Bathurst. Lord Midleton, who was in the House of Lords, interjected: “Wliat I said was, that if tho circumstances were those of a centuiy ago, I would have called out the noble lord and attempted to shoot him.” Tho incident arose when Lord Midleton called the attention of the House to a paragraph sent by the “Morning Post’s” Dublin correspondent, relating to the murder of Field-Marshal Wilson. This paragraph read: “The rait bu'k of Southern Irishmen, from the Midleton anti-partitionists to the Rory O’Connor Republicans, are going about their business as if the Empire’s greatest soldier had been a blind beggar run over by a cab. The foul deed gives monumental satisfaction, indeed, for the whole race is steeped ii. the infamous doctrine that killing is no murder when the victim is an Orangeman or a Loyalist.” Lord Midleton described tbe statement as a calumnious and malicious libel. Ho said be would not have mentioned .the matter but that he had failed to secure a withdrawal of an apology from Lady Bathurst. The Lord Chancellor said the case was an astonishing one, and constituted the grossest outrage. He recommended Lord Midleton to take advice as to whether he had no remedy. He added that Lord Bathurst’s attitude should be one of sackcloth and ashes for such a vile insult. Lord Bathurst explained that inquiries were being made in Dublin regarding tho subject.