§ LORD MONTEAGLE, seeing the noble Earl, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in his place, begged to ask him, with reference to an important State Paper which had recently been received from the United States, and which had been quoted 423 in another place, whether he had received a copy of the Report of Mr. Walker, the Secretary to the Treasury of the United States, wherein certain principles respecting free trade and the Tariff were laid down, which were of a highly enlightened character? If the noble Earl had received the Paper in question, he (Lord Monteagle) would be extremely glad, in case no objection existed on his part, that a copy of the Report of Mr. Walker should be laid on the Table of the House. There was a precedent for this course existing on the Parliamentary Journals, in the case of Mr. Carroll, which occurred during the Ministry of Mr. Canning.
§ The EARL of ABERDEENsaid, that the request of the noble Lord was, to say the least, of an unusual character; and he thought that, if such a practice were to be followed to any extent, that it would lead to very inconvenient consequences. He had no wish to deprive the House of any information which might be considered necessary or valuable by any one of their Lordships; and, therefore, having received a copy of the document in question, he had no objection to produce it, as it did, he was ready to admit, contain much information on the subject about to be considered by Parliament.
LORD BROUGHAMobserved, that if the document in question had been received by the noble Earl enclosed in a despatch from an accredited source in the United States, there could have been no difficulty or objection in producing it; but unless it had reached the noble Earl in an official manner, he (Lord Brougham) agreed with him there was great inconvenience in a Member of the Government being called upon to communicate such a document to the House.
§ House adjourned.