§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether all the correspondence which passed between this Government and Sir Alexander Swettenham, in relation to the Admiral Davis incident and to his retirement, has been published; and, if not, will he lay it upon the Table of the House.
§ MR. CHURCHILLNo Sir. There is a considerable volume of correspondence upon the details of the incident to which the hon. Member refers; but his Majesty's Government have decided, after careful consideration of all the circumstances, that the public interest would not be served by its publication either hero or in the United States, and that such publication is wholly unnecessary to enable a just opinion to be formed on the only point on which fault has been officially found with Sir A. Swettenham, viz., the propriety of his letter.
§ SIR GILBERT PARKERI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies if the Government have knowledge of any reasons which prompted Sir Alexander Swettenham to dispense with the services of the contingent landed by Admiral Davis other than those published in his letter to the Admiral; and, if so, whether he will state them.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe Government believe they are in possession of all the material facts, but the propriety of Sir Alexander Swettenham's action in dis- 690 pensing with the services of the contingent has not been called in question, and no useful purpose, but the reverse, would be served by setting forth the reasons for it.
§ SIR GILBERT PARKERI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in view of further information received as to the privacy of the letter addressed by Sir Alexander Swettenham to Admiral Davis, and that a private letter of the kind should not have boon published without permission, and that this Government had not requisite knowledge of all the facts when it administered its rebuke to Sir Alexander Swettenham on 22nd January, whether it can see its way to make due apology and reparation to him.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe Answer is in the negative.
§ MR. BRIDGEMAN (Shropshire, Oswestry)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if the throe telegrams, Nos. 2, 3, and 4, of the published correspondence, are the only official communications received by the Colonial Office from the Governor of Jamaica relative to the letters which passed between him and Rear-Admiral Davis; and if the telegram No. 2 contained any explanation of the letters.
§ MR. CHURCHILLFurther official communications have been received from Sir A. Swettenham with regard to the correspondence between himself and Admiral Davis, but His Majesty's Government have decided that it would be contrary to the public interest to publish any further Papers.
§ MR. REMNANT (Finsbury, Holborn)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if the Colonial Office wilt place before the House the message sent by Admiral Davis to his superior officer, Admiral Evans, relating to Sir A. Swettenham.
§ MR. CHURCHILLthe question of publishing a report from one officer in the United States Service to another officer of that service is obviously a matter which does not fall within the province of His Majesty's Government.
§ MR. REMNANTIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the letter has already been published in the news papers?
§ MR. CHURCHILLIt is not the; practice of the Government of this country to publish as official Papers what is published in newspapers.
§ MR. JESSE COLLINGS (Birmingham, Bordesley),calling the right hon. Gentleman's attention to the fact that the letter he was now asked to publish absolutely exonerated Sir A. Swettenham from the charge brought against him, asked whether, in justice to this House and for the honour of the country, he would not publish that letter.
§ MR. CHURCHILLdid not see how the honour of the country and the House of Commons was involved in the question whether there should be published as an: official Paper a letter already made public in many newspapers.
§ SIR GILBERT PARKERasked if it was not the case that the Government originally took action upon a letter published in the newspapers.
§ MR. CHURCHILLNo action was taken upon a newspaper publication except in the event of that publication being accepted and endorsed by Sir A. Swettenham.
§ MR. FLAVIN (Kerry, N.)Do hon. Gentlemen above the gangway want to get up a war with the United States?
§ MR. BRIDGEMANI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if His Majesty's Government are in possession of a copy of Rear-Admiral Davis's answer to the letter from the mayor of Kingston; and, if so, whether they will publish it.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe correspondence was published in the Jamaica Gleaner of the 19th January. There appears to be no reason for re-publishing it.
MR. BMDGEMANI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will say whether the letters pub-blished in [Cd. 3403] between Rear. 692 Admiral Davis and Sir A. Swettenham were official communications; and whether he has any official information showing by whom they were communicated to the Press.
§ MR. CHURCHILLCorrespondence passing between the Governor of a British Colony and the Admiral of a foreign fleet upon matters of public importance lying wholly within the scope of their respective official duties, is necessarily official correspondence in the strictest sense, and cannot be divested of its official character by any informality in expression. The Answer to the second part of the Question is in the negative.
§ MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in reference to the Papers recently presented, whether Sir Alexander Swettenham was requested by the Colonial Office to withdraw his resignation; and, if so, on what grounds the request was made.
§ MR. CHURCHILLSir Alexander Swettenham was not requested to with draw his resignation, but was given the opportunity of doing so if he wished. He preferred not to withdraw it.