§ MR. SPOONERsaid, he wished to ask the noble Lord at the head of the Government when the Report of the Maynooth Commissioners was likely to be laid upon the table of the House, and whether he was aware of the fact—for such he (Mr. Spooner) knew it to be—that a portion, if not the whole, of the evidence contained in the Report, had been already submitted to Dr. Cullen? He should wish also to know by whom and upon whose authority that evidence had been so furnished to Dr. Cullen?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, that the Report was now nearly in print; that 1975 he understood the last part of it had been revised, and that in a few days it would be laid before the House. He found that before that Report had been made a question had arisen as to the solution of certain questions relating to ecclesiastical discipline, in connection with the College of Maynooth, and that one of the Commissioners was desirous of having the opinion of Dr. Cullen, as one of the trustees of the college, upon that question of discipline. Dr. Cullen had stated that he could not well give an opinion upon the point until he had seen the evidence out of which the question had arisen. It also appeared that Dr. Cullen, understanding, as he did, the purpose for which the evidence had been put into his hands, and the degree of discretion which he was expected to exercise with regard to it, had taken the evidence with him to Rome, and had there, without the knowledge of the Commissioners, and without any permission from them, had part of it translated into the Italian language, and published in Rome. So far as the Commissioners were concerned, he (Lord Palmerston) did not think they were to blame. They wished to have an opinion on ecclesiastical discipline from competent authority, and whether they acted prudently in placing the evidence in the hands of Dr. Cullen, every one was able to judge for himself. The result proved that the Commissioners had been deficient in proper caution.
§ MR. SPOONERsaid, he wished to know which of the Commissioners it was who had laid the evidence before Dr. Cullen, and also whether, in so doing, he had had the concurrence of his fellow Commissioners?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, that the concurrence of the entire body of Commissioners had, in taking that step, neither been asked nor given. The communication upon the subject of the ecclesiastical discipline of the college had naturally been made by a Roman Catholic member of the Commission.