OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 26 April 1861)

§ MR. VINCENT SCULLY

said, his object in rising to make a few observations in reference to the case of Captain Macdonald was to express a hope that no course would be taken by the Government that would seem to imply a causa belli, so that the good feeling which existed between the two countries would he disturbed. He believed the case had been wholly misrepresented to the House, and as the noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Department might have to deal seriously with the subject, he (Mr. Vincent Scully) hoped he would take the trouble to inform himself upon it before he came to the conclusion that the British Government was in the right and the Prussian Government in the wrong. That Government had no opportunity of giving any answer or being heard in that House. He thought that 1207 every Member of the House, on the evidence which had been presented to it, would come to the conclusion that there was no ground for blaming the conduct of the Prussian Government, which had done what it could consistent with not setting aside the laws and institutions of that country. The case had been tried three times, and the evidence was of a most contradictory nature; yet our Government had assumed that the Prussian evidence was all false. In many cases Prussian officials had been strictly punished, short of actual imprisonment, on complaints of a similar character. It was clear that personal violence had been used by Captain Macdonald, for it had been sworn that he put his hand on the shoulder of Dr. Parow's wife to remove her from the railway carriage, and that he had given the station-master a violent blow on the chest, which he had felt for some days afterwards. He thought Captain Macdonald's punishment a very lenient one. He could not but complain also of the arrogant tone of the despatches of the noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Office, which was calculated to sow the seeds of misunderstanding between two friendly Powers who were closely allied. There was no fear of British subjects being ill-treated when travelling abroad if they properly conducted themselves.