HC Deb 11 May 1885 vol 298 cc149-51
MR. JOSEPH COWEN

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury a Question of which I have given him private Notice, Whether Her Majesty's Government had caused any representations to be made at Rome against the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Walsh to the vacant Catholic see of Dublin?

MR. SEXTON

I would also wish to ask the Prime Minister as to whether the statement which appeared in one of the newspapers with regard to Mr. Errington's visit to Rome was correct. The correspondent said— I had shown to me Mr. Errington's credentials for the mission which he had undertaken. They are signed by Lord Granville, and are in the form of letters recommending him to the secretary to His Holiness. The recommendation reads like a letter of introduction from a State Department to the Pope, and has been so acted upon by Mr. Errington?

MR. GLADSTONE

I gather that the nature of the paragraph to which the hon. Member refers is much more to express the colour which the writer of that paragraph puts upon some particular communication from Lord Granville than any matter of fact contained in it. When Mr. Errington went to Rome he was regarded as a gentleman who was very well acquainted with the views generally of Her Majesty's Government, and qualified to give information with respect to Irish affairs. That is all I can undertake to say at present. I cannot give any information of my own knowledge beyond the recollection of what I have said.

MR. SEXTON

I will repeat my Question to-morrow.

MR. GLADSTONE

In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle (Mr. J. Cowen), I refer him to the reply which I gave some short time ago on this subject, to the effect that— The Cabinet have never, as far as I am aware, had any cognizance of any communication between Mr. Errington and His Holiness the Pope, and certainly not upon the occasion to which the Question refers. If I am asked whether any individual Member of the Government has used any such representations, as distinct from the Cabinet, my reply is that I am not aware of it."—(3 Hansard, [297] 823.) For myself, I have nothing to add to that answer. I have referred to Lord Granville, who refers me to a statement previously made by himself, and says he has nothing to add to the statement made two years ago as to the position of Mr. Errington at Rome. I can easily obtain from Lord Granville a reference to that statement. Lord Granville added that he could not go beyond the answers lately given by his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for War with respect to Mr. Errington's position at Rome. He says he was spontaneously informed a few days ago by Mr. Errington that he should resume his Parliamentary attendance this week.

MR. JOSEPH COWEN

said, that after the very elaborate but not very very explicit answer of the Prime Minister, the meaning of which the House however, would have no difficulty in divining, he begged to say that on the first available occasion, either on going into Committee of Supply or in Committee of Supply, he would call attention to the very unsatisfactory relations that the Foreign Office kept up with the Vatican, and move that the interference of the Government of this country in the selection of Bishops of the Catholic Church was inconvenient and injudicious.

MR. HEALY

asked whether, when Mr. Errington resumed his seat in the House, it would be possible, as he was now the recognized Agent of the Government at the Papal Court, for Members of the House to address to him Questions with regard to his official doings in Rome?

MR. GLADSTONE

I have not said a single word which would lead to or justify the statement that Mr. Errington is the accredited Agent of this country in Rome.

MR. HEALY

said, that, in order to test the matter, he would place on the Paper a Question addressed to Mr. Errington as the accredited Agent of Her Majesty at the Roman Court.