§ SIR GEORGE BOWYERsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government have taken any steps, by representations in the proper quarter, to obtain redress for the alleged insults and outrages lately offered to a British Subject, the Archbishop of Rhodes, Bishop of Malta, in the Port of Messina? As the Archbishop was proceeding from Malta to Rome, the ship touched at Messina. As soon as it arrived, a number of boats surrounded it, full of men, who threw all kinds of dirt and rubbish into it. So hostile was the demonstration that the captain thought it necessary, for the safety of the ship, to steam out of the harbour at once.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, I believe the hon. and learned Baronet has been misinformed as to the nature of the transaction. No doubt the ship in which the Archbishop had embarked was surrounded by boats, but the people in those boats threw words, and not mud, into the vessel. It was, undoubtedly, an offensive demonstration, and Her Majesty's Government have made a representation to the Italian Government, hoping that they would take steps to inquire into the matter, and that those persons who had be offended might receive such punishment as the law provided.