§ MR. SCOTT MONTAGU (Hants,) New ForestI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Dr. Cornelius Herz is still in custody at Bournemouth at the expense of the British Government, under warrants granted by Sir John Bridge, Chief Magistrate of the Metropolitan Police Courts, issued in January, 1893, upon requisitions by the Government of the French Republic; whether, on the 3rd of August, 1894, Dr. Herz was condemned in his absence by a French Court, on the same charges as those set out in the warrants on which he was arrested in England, to imprisonment for five years and a fine of 3,000 francs; whether the French Court declined to admit a medical certificate, signed by Sir Richard Quain, Sir George Johnson, Dr. T. Lauder Brunton, and Dr. William Frazer, stating that, in their opinion, Dr. Herz's removal 999 from his present place of detention would endanger his life; whether the French Court refused to allow Dr. Herz to be represented by Counsel or otherwise, or to allow any statement to be made on his behalf; and whether the continued detention of Dr. Herz under the warrants issued in January, 1893, is legal, having regard to the fact that his case has now been adjudicated upon by the French Courts?
§ MR. ASQUITHHer Majesty's Government have received no official intimation from the French Government with reference to the case of Dr. Herz, and I only know what has appeared in the newspapers, and can express no opinion upon the question whether his continued detention under the warrants issued in January, 1893, is legal. That is a question of law. If Dr. Herz is advised that anything which has happenend under his further detention is illegal, it is competent to him to test the matter by an application to an English Court of Law. I intend to take the opinion of the Law Officers on the subject.