§ MR. WHALLEY,who had placed on the Paper a Question with respect to the Jesuits in England, said, he would not trouble the House by reading it, but 496 would ask the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reply to it as it stood on the Notice Paper.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERI think I must trouble the House by reading the Question of the hon. Member. It is as follows:—
To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the statement of the First Lord of the Treasury, that 'circumstances might render it expedient to put in force the existing Laws prohibiting the residence in this Country of Members of the Society of Jesus, as defined in the Act of 10 Geo. IV.; whether the present position of European affairs may not be regarded as demanding that step, having regard to the way that the Papal authorities are actively engaged in exciting public opinion against Russia as the head of the Greek Church, and to the increase in number, influence, and activity of the Jesuits, the recognized agents of the Vatican in this Country; and, whether, in the event of not enforcing the existing Laws, some other and what means will be taken for protecting the Executive Departments of the Government and the public interest generally, from the secret operations of this dangerous organization.The hon. Gentleman puts it more pithily to me—what I mean to do in reference to the Society of Jesus. Well, as a matter of fact, I know very much less about the proceedings of that Society than does the hon. Member, and the chief information I have received as to the members of that Society came from the hon. Member himself. But, with regard to the first part of the Question, I may say I am not aware that the Papal authorities are more actively engaged in exciting public opinion in this country than a good many other people are. Exciting public opinion, I have been told on high authority, is a very proper thing to do; but I am quite sure that if anything were being done which was injurious or unfriendly to our Ally, the Emperor of Russia, proper representations would be made to Her Majesty's Government by His Majesty's Ambassador on the subject, and that those representations would receive prompt attention. With regard to the other part of the Question, as to the dangers which are threatened to the Executive Departments of the Government, "from the secret operations of this dangerous organization," I undoubtedly feel, as we all feel, much alarmed at this suggestion. What I would propose to the hon. Member is that he should place at our disposal the information which he seems to possess on this subject.