§ MR. BAINESsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If it is true that Julian dc Vargas, a Spanish Schoolmaster at Malaga, has been imprisoned in a felon's prison since the 12th of March, and is now under prosecu- 1479 tion by the Fiscal, who demands a sentence' of seventeen months' imprisonment for having in his House a Spanish Bible and, Testament and a few French Protestant; books not of a controversial character; and whether he will use the friendly influence of this Government with the Government of Spain to obtain an abandonment of this religious persecution, so calculated to offend the public feeling of the rest of Europe, where the rights of conscience are now acknowledged by the law of all countries—Protestant, Roman Catholic, and even Mahometan?
LORD STANLEY, in reply, said, he believed that the facts of the case to which the hon. Member referred were these—A man named Vargas, a schoolmaster at Malaga, was now under prosecution by the local authorities of the district. There was some discrepancy between the several statements that had reached him from various sources as to the precise nature of the charges against this person. The charge against him, he believed, was not that of having Protestant books in his possession, but that he, being a schoolmaster, was alleged to have taught Protestant doctrines to the pupils under his charge, and the fact of his having certain Protestant books in his possession was only brought forward as evidence in support of the charge. The proceedings instituted against him had been instituted by the local authorities upon their own motion, and not by the Spanish Government who did not even appear when the matter was first mentioned to know that such proceedings had occurred. With regard to the later part of the Question he need hardly remind the hon. Member that this was a very delicate matter for the Government to meddle with, because, the man being a Spanish subject and subject to Spanish laws, whatever Her Majesty's Government might think of the policy of the proceeding, they had absolutely no right to interfere. Any communication between the two Governments upon the subject must be one of an entirely friendly and unofficial character; and even in that case we had to guard most carefully against the appearance of wishing to dictate to the Spanish Government. The only ground upon which diplomatic action could be founded in a case of this kind was that such proceedings tended to create a good deal of excitement among a Protestant community, which might result in international ill-feeling. Upon that ground alone had he felt himself at liberty in a 1480 perfectly friendly and unofficial manner to advise the Spanish Government to deal with Vargas with as much leniency as was possible under the circumstances.