§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYMy Lords, there are some other papers which I wish to ask the noble Earl opposite a question about—I mean the Danish papers. We have received a portion of the Danish papers this morning, after waiting a much longer time for them than I believe to have been at all necessary. But those papers only begin from January, 1863. I have written privately to the noble Earl, representing the necessity of giving all the papers dealing with this great question from the beginning of the Correspondence —namely, from the year 1850—and comprising that which was continued through the years 1851 and 1852. This portion of the Correspondence is of the greatest importance. It is impossible to understand the whole bearing of the question unless we go back to the years 1850 and 1851, when Lord Palmerston was Foreign Secretary, and 1852, when my noble Friend behind me was in office. A proof of the ignorance which exists in reference to this question, and the impossibility of judging fairly and correctly upon it, may be found 1062 in the public papers. I do not think I ever saw the public press so wide of the truth as when dealing with this question. I do not blame it in the slightest degree, because it has really no data to go upon, and it is, therefore, constantly making mistakes. The press has taken the garbled statements of German newspapers and German pamphlets, and extracts from papers published by the French Foreign Office. It has not, therefore, put the whole case before the public, because it has no means of doing so. Both the public and Parliament are really ignorant of what has taken place. I will, however, state what has happened in respect to myself. The other night I recapitulated to your Lordships what I had done during my short tenure of office in 1852, in respect to the Duke of Augustenburg. I knew that what I said was perfectly exact and accurate, for I took care to look over all my memoranda made at the time. But in a day or two afterwards I received a letter from the brother of the Duke of Augustenburg, requesting me, in consequence of my having misstated what had taken place, to retract what I had said publicly in this House. Knowing that what I said was exactly the truth, and that I could prove it if I had the power of producing those papers — which, of course, I had not without Her Majesty's permission — I answered him that I respectfully declined to retract or to modify what I had said. I only quote this fact as an instance of how easy it is for a statement to be made by a man of the importance of the Duke of Augustenburg's brother, which is not quite accurate, and how easy it is to mislead the public as to their judgment. Surely on this question, which is now agitating Europe, the public should be made acquainted with what has taken place—how that Treaty of 1852 was discussed, negotiated, and completed, and what correspondence took place between the various Governments at the time in respect to Schleswig-Holstein and the great German Powers to whom we must attribute the deplorable events that have taken place. I, therefore, hope the noble Earl will have no objection to produce the whole of the Correspondence which took place in 1850, 1851, and 1852, on this subject, and the less so as I am informed it has been prepared.
§ EARL RUSSELLI have to-day produced one portion of the Correspondence— the Correspondence which took place be- 1063 tween the Austrian, Prussian, and Danish Governments in 1851, in consequence of which the Treaty of 1852 was entered into. With regard to the subsequent period alluded to, I should like to communicate privately to the noble Earl about that part of the Correspondence, as I am not at present aware how far that can be produced.