§ Mr. Horsmanwished to put a question to the hon. and gallant Member for Sligo relative to what was understood to have been stated by him the other night with regard to the King of Hanover. The hon. and gallant Gentleman was understood to deny the statement that application had been made, at the instance of her Majesty, to the King of Hanover, to allow his apartments in St. James's Palace to be occupied by her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, and that such application had been refused. Some days having now intervened, affording to the hon. and gallant Member an opportunity to obtain further information, he preferred inquiring of him whether he still persisted in that denial, to putting a question directly to the Government upon the subject.
Colonel Percevalsaid, he had not stated on the occasion alluded to, that no such application had been made to the King of Hanover. He said no such application had been made by the Duchess of Kent; and, lest any misconception should arise as to what fell from him on a matter of so much delicacy, after the observation of the noble Lord the Secretary for the Colonies, that what he had stated was new to him, he begged to remind the House that he rose immediately after the noble Lord had sat down, and requested, as an indulgence, to be allowed to read the statement he now held in his hand, and which, with the permission of the House, he would again read, as the best answer to the question which had been put to him. These were the very words of the statement;—
It has been erroneously conceived that the 288 King of Hanover's apartments in St. James's Palace were required by the Duchess of Kent. In fact, her Royal Highness did not only not express any wish for them, but even asserted they would not suit her; and her Royal Highness was not pleased that her name had been made use of in connexion with them.His statement was, not that no application had been made to the King of Hanover, but that the application was not made by the Duchess of Kent, and that the Duchess of Kent was dissatisfied that such application had been made. He might also say, that since Friday last he had been in communication not only with Sir F. Watson, but also with a Member of the Government, and he was authorized to say, first, that the Commissioners of Woods and Forests had applied to the King of Hanover for the use of his apartments, which application had been refused, and that subsequently the noble Lord at the head of the Government, Lord Melbourne, had made the same application, which was also refused. He repeated his statement went only thus far—he denied that any such application had been made by the Duchess of Kent; and declared that her Royal Highness had expressed her disapprobation of the application.