§ COLONEL NOLAN (Galway, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if the property of any English subjects has lately been 68 seized at Douai by the French Government; and if our Ambassador at Paris has directions to protect the property of all English subjects expelled from France for non-compliance with the new religious laws.
§ LORD CRANBORNESo far as I am aware, no personal property belonging to individual British subjects has been seized at Douai. Questions have arisen with regard to the corporate property of the English Benedictines established there, but His Majesty's Government are advised that the corporate property of a community which has voluntarily settled in France, is subject to French law, and that His Majesty's Government have no locus standi to intervene on its behalf. His Majesty's Ambassador at Paris is fully cognisant of the circumstances of the case, and has done what was possible to obtain considerate treatment for the English Benedictines.