§ VISCOUNT MILTONsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, If he will lay upon the Table of the House, a Copy of such Letters, Correspondence, and Enclosures from Governor Douglas (at one time supposed to have the full title of Colonial Governor of Her Majesty's Possessions on the Pacific Coast of North America) or his Secretaries, and from the Secretary to the British Commission on the Water Boundary question, as were received by the Colonial Secretaries, warning Her Majesty's Government of the apparent intentions of General Harney, or the United States Forces, to invade a part or parts of Her Majesty's dominions on the coast of the Pacific, before and up to the year 1859 inclusive; and, why a Question, of a similar nature yesterday, addressed to the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, upon Colonial affairs, should be answered by the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as he the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies then stated?
§ MR. MONSELLSir, as my noble Friend desired to receive an answer from me, I put myself into communication with my noble Friend, Lord Clarendon. He has authorized me to state that it would be ascertained what Papers have already been given, and what, if any, can be added to them without prejudice to the public service. I can only repeat, in substance, what I said yesterday—that the matter, though no doubt relating to territory which, if belonging to Her Majesty, would form part of a Colony, is one which is the subject of a dispute between this country and a foreign Power, that such disputes are treated by the Foreign and not by the Colonial Office, with whom, therefore, it rests to determine whether the various Papers on the subject which they received through the Colonial Office can or cannot be laid before Parliament without injury to the public interests. In point of fact, all Papers that have been presented on the subject have been presented by the Foreign Office.