HC Deb 28 February 1873 vol 214 cc1095-7
MR. STAPLETON

asked Mr. Attorney General, Whether his attention has been called to a paragraph which has appeared in several papers, announcing that a public subscription has been opened in aid of the cause of His Majesty Charles VII. of Spain; whether it is in accordance with the Law of England to raise subscriptions in order to foment civil war in a country with which we are at peace; and, whether the abdication of King Amadeus alters the character of the war now being carried on by the Prince who is called Charles VII., so as to render such subscription legal, in as much as the Republic has been proclaimed in the capital and is the de facto Government there and in other parts of Spain?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

I have ascertained from the best authority that although the English Government are in communication with the persons administering the Government in Spain, no Government has yet been constituted in that country which admits of recognition. Any endeavour, therefore, to raise a loan to support foreigners in their attempts to possess themselves of the government would, if they resulted in contracts, find those contracts unenforceable in the Courts of Law and Equity in this kingdom. When any form of government has been recognized by England, then contracts for money made in this country by British subjects to support foreigners in attempts to resist or overthrow that Government are illegal contracts. No English Court of Law or Equity will enforce them, and the strongest language, if confined to observations upon the conduct of individuals in connection directly with such a transaction, is not actionable. This is the result of a judgment of Lord Eldon's, in 1823; of two Judgments of Sir L. Shadwell, in 1824; and of two judgments of the Court of Common Pleas in the time of Lord Wynford.— It is contrary to the law of nations (which in all cases of International Law is adopted into the Municipal Code of every civilized country) for persons in England to enter into engagements to raise money to support the subjects of a Government in amity with our own in hostilities against their Government, and no right of action can arise out of such a transaction."—De Wiitz v. Hendricks. But I find nothing in the cases to justify me in stating—and I am not prepared of my own authority to state—that though the contracts may be illegal, those who enter into them are in any way punishable. The matter was, I know, much considered by those who disapproved the conduct of those who sympathized with the Slave States in the late American War, and opinions were, I believe, taken, which were substantially to the effect I have stated. This, I am aware, is not a categorical answer to the hon. Gentleman's Question; but it is the only answer I can give him. I am happy to be able to furnish the House with all the information in my power with respect to the existing state of the law; but it is not my duty as Attorney General to construe documents or to give a legal opinion on their construction. I must therefore decline to pronounce an opinion on such documents, and still more on abstract questions of law such as those put by the hon. Member.