The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-18 00:00:00

OF ROME BILL.

Viscount PALMERSTON, in rising to move tbe,
second reading of this Bill, said—Sir it is not my iet°oll
Win 01
to detain the House by going into any histori
01
detail with reference to this measure. In point of f! r
the grounds, it appears to me, for this change, or owed
declaration of the law, are necessarily so plain OD
simple, and lie so entirely upon the surface, that
_„/
cannot be requisite for me to have recourse to•
abstruse or refined argument, in order to show the elo
diency of the measure which I now bring before , 0
Ilouse. Sir, doubts—and doubts only—have existed
to whether, under the interpretation which is to .
put upon words in ancient Acts of Parliament,
,0
or is not lawful for the Sovereign of this country ;
hold diplomatic intercourse with the Court of EoUl;
The chief doubt (arises upon the construction of r•
word " communion," and under the interpretation ofa
section of an old law, the Sovereign of these realms
prohibited from holding communion with the Court "0,
Rome. In my opinion the only object of such tt 110
must have been to enforce that principle, which no doL
is a fundamental principle of the constitution, that the 50;
;;;
vereign of this country must be of the Protestant religte •
and the communion contemplated by that Act I hold to tio
spiritual communion, and not what in vulgar parlaneed
commonly viewed as intercourse, and the interchange tg
the ordinary relations between different nations. But
this as it may, as great doubts have arisen upon the 0,,
ject, it is now expedient to apply to Parliament to
h;ja
move existing uncertainty, and make lawful diploalti
intercourse and relation between the Sovereignty Of it,
country and- the Sovereign of the Roman States. DT!„•
Sir, two questions here arise. First: what objectico
can be urged against such a course? And next,
advantages are likely to accrue from it? Now the
objections which present themselves to my mind as
or
pable of being started against this measure, would it to
jections founded upon that principle of the constitutteld
which I have already adverted; viz., objections folio to
upon the presumption that to legalize diplouto,
intercourse between the Crown of England and the SO
vereign of the Roman States, would tend to endse.tio
the observance of the fundamental Protestant prio9're
of our constitution. I confess that lamat a loss to Oro
gine how any rational person can suppose that t.heter
should be anything in the presence of a British 00
at Rome, or in the presence of a Roman Minist_errof
London, which would tend to shake the religious.m
of the Sovereign of this country. It is in my opilue°ooo
absurd and ridiculous a supposition, that it does .not iv
for the slightest argument to refute it. Diplomatic Ino
twos cannot be considered as having any connexion 710,
religious faith; the Sovereign of this country has kdj,P,ro•
matic relations with Pagans, with Mahometans, of
fessors of the Soonee, of the Sheeab, and, indeedcid,
every form of belief except the Roman Catholic ber'es.
which is in fact only a modification of the Christiooo
gion. We are not to suppose the Sovereign of .ies,
realms becoming Mahometan in consequence of her 120`0.•
change of diplomatic relations with a Mahometan P.l
reign; and I, therefore, cannot conceive of any rancor
person founding an objecdon to this measure upon any m 1
sumption of this kind. Well then, Sir, the questionlooo.
opinion is, whether there is any means for diplonistlctos•
munications between this country and Rome, and ;1„ er
they any advantage will arise from authorising thent, 1
tablishment. The onus probandi upon this Pe' rod
think, must lie with those who dewy this, because fold
facie, there is no reason why the Roman states so roe
form an exception to our general rule—there is 13 the
son why, if this House is not just yet converted to our
opinion of the Hon. Member for Stafford, that 61311;ooltl
diplomatic relations with every foreign countryos the
cease—there is, I svy, no reason why, if this is 1,3,„„3011
opinion of Parliament or the country, that the
states should form a solitary or iovidious exceptle%
deed such an exception, unless it be founded ulViciesci•
reasonable or substantial ground, must operate
mentally and injuriously to our interests 'jouti
commercial sad trading community. The la
states may nut constitute one of the
powers of Europe—it may not rank suil6rtbe'
highest class of foreign states ; but, eeeri4
less, it is a state of considerable importance sad xseo hi
and, as compared with the other states,

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