§ MR. J. O'CONNELLrose to ask the noble Lord the questions of which he had given notice. The first question was whether the noble Lord had received official information of the decrees of the Provisional Governments of the Cantons of Friburg and Lucerne, banishing for ever the Jesuits, the Liguorians, the Brothers of the Christian Doctrine, the Ursuline Nuns, the Sisters of Providence, and other denominations of religion, male and female, under pretence of their being affiliated to the Jesuits; also, confiscating their entire property, and annulling any and every provi- 969 sion which they might have made of it during nearly two months previous to the surrender of Friburg and Lucerne? The next question he would ask the noble Lord was whether he had also received official information of the enormous demands made upon the cantons of the Sonderbund for the expenses of the war, 1,000,000f. being demanded by the 20th inst., and 2,000,000f. more within a brief space afterwards, besides other charges and exactions? And, finally, he begged to ask the noble Lord—
§ MR. SPEAKERhere called the hon. Member to order, and informed him, that as the third question he was about to ask was one which involved the expression of an opinion, it was not competent for him to put it.
§ MR. J. O'CONNELLsaid, that with a view to conform to the rules of the House, and that he might be in order, he would move that the House do now adjourn, so that he might have an opportunity of putting the question to the noble Lord. There could be no doubt that the acts of the majority in Switzerland had been of a most tyrannous character. Insults and outrages had been offered to the clergy of the religion of the minority. There had been extreme persecution and plundering of individuals among that minority, whose only crime was to discharge faithfully the duties imposed upon them by their fellow-citizens. The third question, therefore, which he wished to ask the noble Lord was, whether, considering these acts, an urgent case had not arisen for the intervention of the Powers who guaranteed, in 1815, the cantonal independence of Switzerland?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONIn answer to the first question of the hon. Gentleman, I beg to state, that Her Majesty's Government have received official information of the decrees of the newly-established Government in the canton of Friburg, banishing the Jesuits and certain religious orders supposed to be in connexion with the Jesuits in that canton; but we have not received any official account of any similar decrees as to the canton of Lucerne, or any account of any of the proceedings referred to in the second question of the hon. Member. With respect to the concluding question of the hon. Gentleman, I beg to state that it has not appeared to Her Majesty's Government that in the present state of things in Switzerland there are sufficient grounds for the intervention of the Powers who were parties to the Treaty of Vienna, or that they would be justified 970 in interfering with the internal affairs of Switzerland.