§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government have learnt, either from the London Missionary Society or from any other source, that Mr. Shaw is absolutely prevented from all communication of any kind with persons outside the vessel on which he is imprisoned; whether any communication has been received by any person in this Country direct from Mr. Shaw; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government can state the nature of such communication; whether Her Majesty's Government have been informed by the French Government of the nature of the charges on which Mr. Shaw is imprisoned, and if such charges contain anything more serious than an attempt on the part of Mr. Shaw and other Europeans to organize an ambulance society, under the Red Cross, for the relief of the wounded; and, further, what steps Her Majesty's Government have taken, considering the strictness of Mr. Shaw's imprisonment, to obtain for him access to counsel to defend him on his trial?
MR. GLADSTONEThis Question links together inconveniently the matters connected with Mr. Shaw, and I will go over the points to which the hon. Member refers, dealing strictly, in the first place, with matters of fact. With regard to the first part of the Question, we have no information of any kind. Our information, it must be remembered, is scanty, and is not recent; but no communication 1759 was allowed by the French Admiral with Mr. Shaw by any person outside the vessel, as far as our information goes. With regard to the second part of the Question, of course we cannot say what communication may have been received; but no communication has been received to our knowledge from Mr. Shaw by any person in this country since the date of his arrest. With respect to the third part of the Question, I stated on a former evening the general effect of the information which we had received from the French Government. As to the nature of the charges against Mr. Shaw, we have never heard a word in any document which has reached us about an attempt having been made by Mr. Shaw and other Europeans to organize an Ambulance Society for the relief of the wounded. No such thing has been included in what the French Government told us with respect to these charges. With regard to the latter part of the Question, we have communicated fully with the French Government on that subject and pretty constantly; and the French Government, of course, like ourselves, labour under the disadvantage of a want of all rapid communication. We have no telegraphic communication with Madagascar; the French also are considerably embarrassed by the want of it; but, in addition to the assurances that were given by M. Waddington, and which were, I admit, quite of a general character, M. Waddington has been authorized by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to assure Lord Granville and the English Government that the French Government will not only give, as a matter of course, every facility to Mr. Shaw for his defence, but, generally speaking—and this is an important declaration if it be given and if it be received, as I have no doubt it has been given and will be received, in an equitable spirit—that they will do everything in their power to put an end to this incident. That is by far the best thing I can state in the absence of any specific information. In these circumstances we have considered, obtaining light of the general practice as well as we can, what are the proper limits of action on the part of the British Government, and it would be beyond all doubt quite proper that we should instruct our Agents as speedily as we can to ascertain for themselves whether Mr. Shaw is in 1760 possession of those facilities, and to lend whatever aid may be found necessary—if it is found necessary—to enable him to secure this assistance.