§ MR. LEWISasked the First Lord of the Treasury, With reference to the obligation imposed by the comity of Nations, when a friendly Government comes forward and asks for the arrest of certain men, undertaking to make a case for their extradition, whether Her Majesty's Government regard it to be the duty of another friendly Government to comply with such a request; and, whether the conduct of Her Majesty's Government will in future be guided in this sense in all cases of a demand for the extradition of persons who may find 767 refuge in Great Britain? The hon. Member explained that he put the Question in consequence of an answer given last Thursday by the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies.
MR. GLADSTONESir, I would rather the Question had been referred either to the Representative of the Department concerned with such subjects, or to some of the legal authorities of the Government. As far as I can form, a judgment, I do not think the Question refers with exactitude to the answer given on a former occasion by my hon. Friend (Mr. Evelyn Ashley). My hon. Friend was giving an answer, as I understand it, with reference to a case where a Treaty of Extradition exists between two countries, and where a certain power has been exercised for proceeding under that Treaty. But, of course, an obligation imposed by a Treaty is not an obligation under the comity of nations, and consequently the Question, as it has been put, appears hardly to apply to the answer given by my hon. Friend. With respect to any obligation imposed by the comity of nations, that presumably would have to be considered not as a general rule, but as a case to be judged according to the circumstances, and also as limited by the provisions of the Municipal Law. As the hon. Gentleman knows, Her Majesty's Government have no general power under an Extradition Treaty to deliver persons up to a foreign Government on a mere allegation of offence, but only certain powers under the Extradition Treaty given in consideration or in consequence of that Treaty.
§ MR. LEWISsaid, that he had drawn up his Question in accordance with the statement of the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, but was very courteously informed by the Clerk at the Table that the Question was not in Order. He had ventured to restore it to the original form, and he hoped that when he put it again it would not be ruled out of Order.