HL Deb 08 February 1842 vol 60 cc140-3
Lord Clifford

rose to beg their Lordships to postpone till after the Easter recess a motion of which he had given notice to the House, on the 1st of October last, for the appointment of a Committee to inquire how far it was in the power of the Government and Council of Madras to afford protection to natives of this country and Hindostan, and to hear evidence on the subject, and report it to the House. The reason why he thought it necessary to bring that motion forward was, that the Governor-general of India bad asked for the fullest information on every point to which he had referred, when speaking upon that subject on a former occasion. He understood, that a report had been sent to the presidency of Madras, stating what had taken place in that House, on the 23rd of September. His speech on that occasion lasted upwards of an hour, but did not occupy more than twenty lines of the columns of the newspapers. He had, therefore, thought it necessary to make a protest in the papers as to the report which had appeared on the 24th, relative to what he had said on the 23rd. If any of the reports which appeared in the public papers of the 24th, had been forwarded to India, those reports were only calculated to promote confusion: and the question on which he had addressed their Lordships was one of so great consequence, that it was absolutely necessary, that false reports should not go abroad. He would not now go further into the motion, which be wished their Lordships to postpone till after the recess, but would merely ask, whether any answer had been received at the Board of Control, with regard to the information which had been sent out relative to the correspondence between Lord William Bentinck and J. Manuel de Castro, the Governor of Goa? He was not disposed to condemn, upon such information as he had yet received on the subject, the conduct of Mr. Blackburn towards the Catholic subjects of Queen Victoria in Bengal, in refusing to allow them access to churches or chapels built with their own money and on their ground, except on the condition of assisting, in defiance of the prohibition of the head of the Catholic church, officially notified to them by their bishop, at divine service performed by clergymen who were not in communion with the see of Rome, on the ground, that in such conduct he was not borne out by the law of Madras, which did not recognize the decision of Sir Peter Grant, at Calcutta, that after the Order in Council of Lord William Bentinck, laid on the Table of the House, Oct. 4, 1841, no one could plead in court, as a Catholic priest, who was declared in court by the Catholic vicar apostolic, recognised by the Governor in Council, as sent by the Pope with the consent of the British Government to be superior of the Catholic missions in the Presidency, "with all the jurisdiction given him by the Pope," and admitted by the Governor in Council as beneficial to the interests of England. This was the statement to which he had drawn the attention of their Lordships on the 23rd of September last, making a motion at the same time for the production of certain papers; some of those papers were laid on the Table; others it was declared could not be found at the India House, which was the case with nearly all the papers relating to the subject. He repeated his motion on the 4th of October, and notwithstanding this declaration, the papers were produced. He entreated their Lordships, between the present time and the Easter recess, to direct their attention, in some degree, to the subject, which he considered as one of immense importance to the peace of India, and one on which he thought it most material, that no false reports should go abroad. He had thought it right to protest against what he had been made to say in the public papers, though he did not think himself called on to state what he did say on that occasion. When the aggrieved parties came forward, as they intended to do with a petition and address to her Majesty, and not till then, he should bring his motion forward. He had expected, that the address and petition would, by this time, have arrived in this country, but circumstances had occurred to prevent it; he expected both the petition and the address, however, would reach this country by the Easter recess, when they would be presented in due form. He was not authorised to state the precise terms in which they were couched, but there was one particular about them, which had pleased him much. In the address to the Queen, it was expressly stated, that if on examination it should be found, that any injury had been done to any one, it was the petitioners' first request, that no vindictive measures might be taken on their account against the persons who might have aggrieved them. They asked for tranquillity and security for the future, and not for vengeance for the past, which they utterly disclaim. He concluded by asking the noble Lord, the President of the Board of Control, if he had received any further communication on the subject?

Lord Fitzgerald

would confine himself to answering the question put to him by the noble Lord. Their Lordships would not expect, nor would the noble Lord expect, that he should make any observations relative to the speech which he had addressed to their Lordships in September last, or in reference to any observations which he might make in respect of the committee to be moved for. He agreed with the noble Lord as to the importance of the subject, which, when it was brought forward, would, doubtless, receive that attention from their Lordships, which the noble Lord thought it entitled to. The noble Lord had yesterday mentioned to him, that he intended to ask a question on this subject, and he then told the noble Lord, that no answer had yet been received in reply to the inquiry made by Lord Ellenborough, at the period alluded to. He was not prepared to say, nor did he think, that any one was competent to give the information to the noble Lord, as to the nature of the inquiries directed to be made by Lord Ellenborough. Nor did he know how much or how little of the speech alluded to by the noble Lord had been communicated by Lord Ellenborough to the parties in India, to whom the interrogations were sent. This was what he had stated yesterday to the noble Lord; but to-day he observed in the mail that had been received from India, a private communication to Lord Ellenborough from Lord Auckland, in which it was stated, that the information he could give on the subject, was generally imperfect, and not very satisfactory. As soon as he could make himself master of the question, he would lay the information, such as it was, before their Lordships, but he was afraid it was not so satisfactory as it might have been, had more time been allowed for inquiry.

Adjourned.