§ Lord Monteagledesired to ask the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs a question respecting our recent negotiations with Brazil. The House would shortly have to consider the subject of the annual sugar duties, and it appeared to him important that it should previously be put in possession of the grounds on which the late negotiations with the Brazilian govern- 2 ment had been broken off. He, therefore, wished to know whether the noble Earl was prepared to lay upon the Table papers explanatory of the matter?
§ The Earl of Aberdeensaid, he could not consent to the production of any papers which would show the principle upon which the negotiations with the Brazilian government had been undertaken. Although the negotiations had been broken off, they were not entirely at an end, for the Brazilian government had actually appointed a plenipotentiary, with instructions to renew them in this country. Without entering generally into the subject he had no objection to state that the negotiations had been broken off, because the amount of duty insisted upon by the Brazilian government was such as it was impossible for England to consent to.