The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-12 00:00:00

THE MORTABA CASE.

The following memorial has been presented to
Lord Malmesbury by the Committee of the Pro-
testant Association :
" 1. Your memorialists haVe heard with deep sorrow and
regret that in the Roman States, Edgar Mortara, a child
of Jewish parents, has been taken from his father's house
in the city of Bologna, and:placed in the city of Rome with-
out his father's consent, for education in the Roman
Catholic religion, on the ground of his having been baptised
by a Roman Catholic servant of the family.
"2.
Your memorialists strongly object to the principle
that, the mere fact of a Jewish child having been baptised,
with or without its own consent, or the consent of its
parents, should entitle the cleigy, ministers, inquisitors, or
other agents or officers of the Papacy to take such child
away from parental control, believing, as they do, that such
course is in direct violation no less of natural right than of
the principles of civil and religious liberty.
"3. Your memorialists also desire to express their con-
viction that there is no satisfactory evidence that the rite of
baptism ever was actually performed over the child, and
they indulge a hope that any intervention which can pro-
perly be called into exercise by her Majesty's Government
will be exerted to procure the restoration of this child to
his parents.

"4. Your memorialists are aware that it may be con-
tended that her Majesty's Government has no strict right
to interfere in matters relating to the laws or the internal
administration of the affairs of a foreign country, and also
that the present case having arisen in she Roman States
may be considered as a still further complication of the
affair.

" 5. Your memorialists, nevertheless, very respectfully
desire to remind your lordship that on former occasions the
intervention of the Foreign-office has been exercised, and
successfully exercised, in a friendly way to procure the libe-
ration of some who had been wrongfully imprisoned:
" 6. In the year 1844 the case of Dr. Kalley occurred,
who had been imprisoned for conscience sake by the Portu-
guese authorities at Madeira. A deputation waited on Lord
Aberdeen, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and
Dr. Kalley was restored to liberty. 'On this case your me-
morialists do not so much rely, because Dr. Kalley was a
British subject.
" 7. Two stronger and more remote cases have, however,
occurred in reference to persons now British subjects; one
the case of Dr. Achilli, who had been imprisoned in the
Inquisition at Rome, and the other that of a man and his
wife, named Madiai, who had been imprisoned at Florence.
" 8. In each of these latter cases the parties were fo-
reigners, there was a British Minister at Florence, and a
consular agent at Rome. Strong sympathy was expressed,
both in the case of Dr. Achilli and that of the Madiai, in
this country and elsewhere. Representations were made by
philanthropic persons, the intervention of those whose high
position in European diplomacy gave them great weight
was called into exercise, and the liberation of Dr. Achilli
from the Inquisition in Rome and the Madia from their im-
prisonment at Florence was accomplished:
"9. Your memorialists therefore respectfully lay the
matter before your lordship, and humbly pray that it may
be considered in what manner the influence of the British
Government, exercised so often with success in defence of
civil and religious liberty and the rights of the oppressed,
may be now exerted for the restoration of the child, Edgar
Mortara, to his parents at Bologna, and that steps may be
taken accordingly.
" Signed on behalf of the committee,
" JAMES LORD, Chairman.
"Protestant Association, 31, Strand, Nov. 3."