§ MR. SPENCER WALPOLESir, in reference to the hon. Gentleman's (Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen's) reply to the Question put by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Salford (Mr. Charley), I wish to ask my right hon. Friend at the head of the Government whether that reply, which conveyed to the House the impression that the policy of the Government was the policy of religious equality, not only in Barbadoes, but everywhere else, was the announcement of a new policy on the part of the Government with regard to the churches in England, Scotland, and Wales?
MR. GLADSTONEI can assure my right hon. Friend that we have no covert intention of making any disclosure to the House in the answer of my hon. Friend (Mr. Knatchbull-Hugessen), which, I believe, was given under the consciousness in his mind that he was Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, and that he was speaking for the colonies, and not for other portions of the Empire. I think, if the words "in the colonies" were inserted after the words "religious equality," his answer would probably be brought into the strictest conformity with established rules.