§ MR. BAILLIEbegged to ask the hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary for the Colonies, if it was the intention of the Government to oppose the Motion, of which notice had been given, that the evidence taken by the Ceylon Committee should be printed; and whether it was the intention of the Government to lay on the table of the House the report of the Royal Commission which was sent to Ceylon, in conse- 372 quence of an address from the House of Commons in the last Session of Parliament, as well as the evidence taken before the Commissioners?
§ MR. HAWESsaid, the hon. Gentleman was aware that on the first night the House sat, he laid on the table papers which were included in the notice he had given. There were papers, however, which could not, and ought not at present, be laid on the table of the House, inasmuch as a gallant Officer was about to be subjected to a court-martial and the subject matter of those papers formed part of the case.
§ MR. BAILLIE, in consequence of the answer of the hon. Gentleman, felt he had just reason to complain, and was under the necessity of asking a question concerning the privileges of the House. It would probably be in the recollection of the House, that at the commencement of the last Session of Parliament, the noble Lord at the head of the Government had not only utterly impugned a statement made by him (Mr. Baillie) in that House, but had accused him of producing false documents injurious to the character of an officer in the British Army; and the House thought the matter of so much importance, that they deemed it necessary to address Her Majesty that a Commission should be sent to Ceylon to ascertain the truth or falsehood of those charges. That Commission was appointed, and the report of that Commission arrived in this country at the end of the last Session of Parliament. The noble Lord refused to produce that report at the end of the last Session, on the ground that the evidence on which the report was founded had not been sent home to this country. But that evidence had now been sent home to this country; and the Government now refused to produce the report, on the ground that a court-martial was some time or other to take place in Ceylon; and thus it appeared that the inquiries of the House were to be delayed, and made dependent upon the proceedings of the Commander-in-Chief. If they were made so dependent, he could predict that the report would not be laid on the table of the House in the present Session. The question he had to ask was this: the report having been already submitted to the Ceylon Committee, he wished to know whether the document having been submitted to a Committee of the House, it was not virtually in the possession of the House, and whether it was not a breach of privilege 373 to refuse the production of the document? He also wished to ask, whether, as a Member of the House, whose character had been impugned, he had not a right, as a question of privilege, to ask for the production of this document?
§ MR. SPEAKERMy answer to the hon. Member's first question must depend upon what took place before the Committee of last Session. If the document was formally laid before the Committee, and regularly entered upon the Minutes, it would be, of course, in the possession of the House, and not in the possession of any Government department; and in that case it would be a breach of privilege to withhold it; but if the document was not formally laid before the Committee, the House has no control over it, and the Government department in whose possession it now is are justified in withholding it, until the House has determined that it shall be produced. There is no question of privilege involved in the second question. The hon. Gentleman seeks to justify himself as a Member of the House, and on that account claims to be entitled to the production of those papers. That is not a question of privilege, but one which the House must decide for itself upon a Motion.