LORD ELLENBOROUGH, who had the following Notice on the Paper, "To call the attention of the House to a statement made by the First Lord of the Admiralty on the 23rd of July, in which he said that ' most elaborate instructions were being drawn up to be given to captains of merchant vessels,' in case of war or imminent danger of war; and also to ask His Majesty's Government what punishments could be inflicted under our present laws on alien officers serving on board of British ships in the event of their infringing or divulging the secret instructions confided to them, and thus increasing the risks incurred by other British vessels; and if, on inquiry, such punishments are found to be less severe than the penalties to which officers of British nationality would be liable; whether His Majesty's Government would bring in a Bill to put the alien officers of British ships in the same position as British subjects as regards punishment for such conduct," said: My Lords, as your Lordships will have an opportunity of discussing the subject of alien captains when the Merchant Shipping Bill comes up for Second Reading to-morrow, I beg to put without further comment the Question that stands in my name.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord TWEEDMOUTH)My Lords, I am sure I am voicing the feelings of your Lordships when I congratulate the noble Lord on the happy prospect that is opening up before him. The noble Lord has put to me something in the nature of a legal conundrum rather than anything else, and I think 1179 the best thing I can do by way of answer is to read the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown which I took on the subject.
The Law Officers report that under the law of high treason; (a) officers who are British subjects would be liable for communicating to the enemy secret information to the prejudice of this country wherever the offence was committed; (b) aliens employed as officers on British ships would incur the same liability if such information were communicated either on the high seas or in the territorial tidal waters of any other State. It is probable, but not certain, that this liability would attach even though the information were communicated on foreign territory, provided the alien officer retained at the time his position on the British vessel to which he was attached. Under the Official Secrets Act (a) officers who are British subjects would be liable for communicating secret information within the meaning of that Act anywhere; (b) alien officers would clearly be liable if the communication were made within His Majesty's dominions in the ordinary sense of that term, and probably, though not certainly, the Court would hold that this expression applied to a British ship on the high seas and in the tidal territorial waters of other States. No distinction is made between the punishments imposed on British subjects and aliens after conviction. Of course there is no intention of giving any great opportunity to captains to distribute information as to the intentions of the Admiralty. The idea really is that we are to have all the instructions drawn up; and then, if necessity arose, instructions for a particular voyage would be given to the captain of a particular ship as to the course he ought to take in the event of dangers arising.