§ MR. NOBLE (Hastings)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he can give the House any information about the arrest of Mr. Augustus Hare, at Embrun, France, on 22nd instant, and complained of by him in a letter to The Times of 29th instant?
§ MR. CAVENDISH BENTINCK (Whitehaven)also asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he has seen a letter addressed to The Times newspaper, under date 27th April, by Mr. Augustus J. C. Hare, stating that the authorities at Embrun, in France, had refused to accept his British passport as an identification, "because it was not dated in the present year;" and, whether it is necessary for British subjects travelling abroad to renew their passports every year?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE) (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)I have read Mr. Hare's letter in The Times of the 29th ultimo. No complaint has, however, been received at the Foreign Office from him; but should any such complaint be made it will be at once inquired into. Ordinary passports for English travellers in France were abolished by the Emperor Napoleon, and we have never been informed that they were required, except temporarily during the Franco-German War. When passports are issued by the Secretary of State they hold good for an unlimited time, as far as Her Majesty's Government are concerned; but we are not aware how long their validity is recognized by the authorities of foreign 550 countries. When inquiries on this point are made at the Foreign Office it is customary to suggest that the holder of the passport, before setting out on his journey, should apply for a visâ to his passport from the Diplomatic or Consular authority of the country which he proposes to visit. A notice was inserted in The London Gazette of May 11, 1886, warning all travellers in France that under the provisions of a recent French law, "making sketches, drawings, or plans, in the vicinity of a fortress," rendered persons liable to fine and imprisonment. I can express no opinion upon the case, of which I know nothing, except from Mr. Hare's published letters.
§ MR. CAVENDISH BENTINCKAre we to understand that in future it will be necessary, for the purpose of identification, for English travellers in France to have their passports viséd?
§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSONI have no reason to believe that it is necessary for ordinary travellers; but I need not remind the House that in some countries there is some susceptibility about making drawings; and I think in the Eastern part of France just now that is only natural. At any rate, English gentlemen cannot be too careful in providing themselves with every safeguard against arousing suspicion.