§ Lord John Russellwished to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer a question with respect to the opium which had been surrendered at Canton. It was understood by some parties that the right hon. Gentleman stated, on a former evening, that the only difficulty in the way of the settlement of the claims of the opium merchants existed in the fact, that the ratification of the treaty with China had not yet been received. As there seemed to be some misapprehension upon the subject, perhaps the right hon. Gentleman would repeat the statement he had made on the former evening.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, that what he had stated to the noble Lord the former occasion was precisely this: that until the ratifications of the treaty with China were exchanged, it would not be consistent with usage and practice to deal with the question as settled; that the Government could not act upon the provisions of the treaty until it was signed and ratified by the governments of the two countries; that the information necessary to guide the Government as to the value 251 of the opium had for some time been concluded, and that the Government was in possession of all the facts and circumstances which would enable it to come to a proper and immediate decision. Since then the Government had considered that it would not be necessary to wait for the reception of the ratification of the treaty in this country, but to send out instructions to India for the distribution of the sum to which the opium-traders were held to be justly entitled; because, previously to the arrival of these instructions in India, the probability was, that the ratification of the treaty would be there.