§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether many mixed marriages, that is to say, marriages between Protestants and Catholics, have been celebrated in Malta during the present century, especially by the English chaplains resident there; and whether the project of law which the British Government has announced is to be introduced in the Council of Malta will have the effect of invalidating such marriages, and of rendering their issue illegitimate?
* THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FER-GUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.It is believed that marriages between Protestants and Catholics have been celebrated by English chaplains in Malta, but that the same marriages have also been celebrated by the Roman Catholic priests. Care will be taken that the project of law to be 1684 introduced in the Council of Malta shall not have the effect of invalidating any past marriage.