MR. HERBERT ROBERTSI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to 1088 the reported speech of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, made in the Viceroy's Council on the occasion of the passing of the new Sedition Law on 18th February, and particularly to the comparison of certain classes of the Indian people to the carrion kite and jay; and whether, in view of the present state of public opinion in India, in reference to the new Press Law, he will take note of language used under such circumstances by a responsible ruler of an Indian province?
§ The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAThe only mention of jays, kites, and eagles made by Sir Alexander Mackenzie was in a poetical quotation from Lord Macaulay. I am not prepared to lay down the rule that members of the Viceroy's Legislative Council are to be prevented for the future from quoting poetry in their speeches.