Sitting of 12 August 1875

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS—Third Reading—Legal Practitioners* (238); Consolidated Fund (Appropriation)*; Local Authorities Loans* (276); Sheriff Substitute (Scotland)* (281); Remission of Penalties* (275), and passed.
THE POPE AND THE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN.

  QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS.
  LORD ORANMORE AND BROWNErose to call the attention of the House to the banquet given by the Lord Mayor of Dublin on Thursday, 5th of August, at which the Lord Mayor gave the health of the Pope before the health of the Queen; and to ask the Lord President, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government by intimating to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland their wish that he shall not attend any entertainment to which he may be invited at the Mansion House during such time as the present Lord Mayor remains in office, or otherwise to signify their condemnation of the disrespect shown by him to Her Majesty? The noble Lord said, that the chief magistrate of Dublin had chosen the most public occasion that had occurred for many years premeditatedly to offer a mark of disrespect to Her Majesty by proposing the health of the Pope before that of the Queen. That was evidently done in compliance with the wishes of the Roman Catholic clergy, for the purpose of asserting the supremacy of the Pope above that of the Queen; and so much was this disapproved of that the educated laity—both Roman Catholic and Protestant—had expressed their disapproval by absenting themselves from the Lord Mayor's banquets. If such a course were pursued by the Lord Mayor of London, he had not the least doubt that no Minister would advise Her Majesty to honour any entertainment he gave by her presence through her representatives. Englishmen, he hoped, were entirely loyal; but he was afraid that that was not the case with all Irishmen; and therefore, if he was right in assuming that the course he had suggested would be adopted in the case of the Lord Mayor of London, the same course ought to be adopted of advising Her Majesty's Representative in

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  Ireland to show his displeasure by not honouring any entertainments given by the Lord Mayor of Dublin; and his Question, therefore, would be whether the Government would put some official stigma on this flagrant act of disrespect and disloyalty to Her Majesty?
  THE LORD CHANCELLOR: My Lords, in the absence of my noble Friend the Lord President, it devolves upon me to answer the Question of the noble Lord. The noble Lord asks me—
  "Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government by intimating to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland their wish that he shall not attend any entertainment to which he may he invited at the Mansion House during such time as the present Lord Mayor remains in office, or otherwise to signify their condemnation of the disrespect shown by him to Her Majesty?"
  I think, my Lords, that it is only necessary for me simply to answer that Question by saying that Her Majesty's Government do not propose to intimate to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland any opinion as to the entertainments which he ought or ought not to attend.

RAILWAY BETWEEN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE PERSIAN GULF.

  QUESTION. OBSERVATIONS.
  LORD CAMPBELLasked, Whether Her Majesty's Government would object during the autumn to consider some proper mode of giving their support to the construction of a railway between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, in accordance with the views of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1872? The noble Lord said, he should not dwell on the advantages of the project to British interests, as they had been frequently explained and were well-known to the Government, whose Chancellor of the Exchequer had presided over the Committee of 1872. The object of the Question was to neutralize or modify by what the Government might say in the House of Lords, the unintentional effect of what the Prime Minister had lately said in the House of Commons on the subject. The effect, which he considered unintentional, was to prevent capital from being attracted to the project. In point of fact, however, the scheme which the Prime Minister apparently disparaged, was not the scheme which the Ottoman Govern-
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  ment were now inclined to favour. He (Lord Campbell) would only add that a rare union of favourable circumstances encouraged the attempt now to act on the Report of the Select Committee of 1872. The Government had a majority in both Houses. Opposition was more a name than a reality. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in matters of this kind, so often the Cerberus at the Gate—unless his mind had wholly changed—would, on the contrary, become the pioneer and leader of the enter prize. The public mind was now awakened upon Eastern topics. Last of all, they had a First Lord of the Treasury who, in memorable language, had declared that Great Britain ought to be considered an Asiatic even more distinctly than an European Power. Was such a moment likely to recur, and ought it to be sacrificed?
  THE LORD CHANCELLOR: My Lords, Her Majesty's Government would view with very great satisfaction the construction of a railroad opening up communication between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf if the construction of such a railroad could be achieved. But the noble Lord asks whether the Government are inclined to consider the question of giving their support to the construction of such a railway? I presume that that means support to be given either in the shape of a contribution to the funds for making the railway, or in that of a guarantee of those funds. Now, Her Majesty's Government entertain the opinion that it would not be right for them to recommend to Parliament, and that it would not be a policy they could recommend to Parliament, either to provide money or to guarantee the money for the construction of a railway on foreign soil.
  House adjourned at half past Twelve o'clock, till To-morrow, Twelve o'clock.