§ MR. KINNAIRDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the second Roman Catholic Bishop about to be appointed to the new see at Malta is to be exempted from all liability to be prosecuted in any Court of Law for any offence, civil or criminal?
§ MR. CARDWELL,in reply, said, the Bishop of Goza was not appointed by the British Government but by the Court of Rome. In 1860 it was proposed to divide the Bishopric of Malta, and create a separate Bishopric of Goza, His noble Friend at the head of the Government assented to the arrangement on condition that the same restriction imposed on the Bishop of Malta should be imposed on the new Bishop. That arrangement was carried into effect last year, and instructions were given to the Governor of Malta to give effect to the existing state of the law, which was passed in 1828, for the purpose of limiting the ecclesiastical privileges of Malta, and that law exempted from the jurisdiction of the temporal tribunals the persons of the Governor and the Bishop.