§ MR. DALRYMPLEasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that six Protestant missionaries have been or are about to be put upon their trial for open air preaching in Cal- 358 cutta; and, whether he and Lord Ripon approve the action of the Government of Bengal in endeavouring to suppress this form of work by Protestant missionaries which has hitherto been unmolested?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON, in reply, said, that no official information on the subject referred to had been received at the India Office; but on reference to the Indian newspapers he found that three Protestant missionaries had been prosecuted in the Magistrate's Court at Calcutta for disobeying an order of the Commissioner of Police prohibiting the holding of open air preaching in the enclosed squares of Calcutta, except by permission in writing. The magistrate, on July 3, decided that the Commissioner of Police was not legally empowered to make such an order, and that in doing so he had acted ultra vires. Other missionaries were summoned on a similar charge; but the cases against them had not been brought forward. Since the judgment of the magistrate was delivered, the Calcutta Missionary Conference had communicated with the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, who had replied in a conciliatory spirit, proposing an amicable discussion of the subject with a view, if possible, of reconciling all conflicting interests and securing the maintenance of peace and order during preaching in the enclosed squares of Calcutta. Although he had received no official information, he had heard very fully in an unofficial manner from the Viceroy in reference to those proceedings. The action taken by the police and municipal authorities was in no way instigated by the Viceroy or the Indian Government. The Viceroy, in fact, knew nothing of the proceedings until he read an account of them in the newspapers, and he had done all in his power to promote a friendly settlement of the matter, which he hoped would now be arrived at.