§ Mr. Fox.—Sir; I take this opportunity of putting a question to the right hon. gent, opposite tome, upon the subject of an answer which he gave to me, respecting the mediation of Russia. I understood at that time there would be no general objection to giving this House information on that subject; that I understood to be said most clearly and distinctly, but that then circumstances which were not likely to be of long duration prevented ministers from making any communication upon that subject to the House: since which time 4 months have elapsed. What I now wish to know of the right hon. gent, is, whether those circumstances still stand in the way of such communication?
The Chancellar of the Exchequer.—Sir; on the 22d of Nov. last, there were circumstances which, in the opinion of his Majesty's ministers, precluded any communication to this House upon the subject to which the hon. gent, has adverted. But it was then intimated, that if these circumstances did not exist there might be other circumstances which, in the opinion of his Majesty's ministers, might render a communication improper, even although those circumstances which precluded any communication did not exist: and now other circumstances do exist, and they so far operate on the minds of his Majesty's ministers as to convince them they ought not to advise his Majesty to direct any communication to be made upon that subject at the present moment,
§ Mr. Fox.—I am often unfortunate in my recollection of the statement of facts as they usually come from the bench opposite to me, and never was more so than in the 960 present instance; for I have not the smallest trace in my mind, nor any ground for conceiving anything of what was said against this communication, but the circumstances which the right hon. gent, alluded to in the first part of his speech to-night, viz. those circumstances which then precluded his Majesty's ministers from making any communication to the House upon the subject, and which were not expected to be of long duration; and what I certainly understood was, that afterwards ministers would be happy to give information on that interesting subject. Not a word do I recollect as having struck my ear of those other circumstances which the right hon. gent, states as reasons for not making any communication whatever upon the subject. We must, however, of course, be all inaccurate, for I must give credit to the right hon. gentleman's explanation of what was said upon that subject, and I must now understand, that other circumstances besides those that immediately precluded ministers from making a communication might have been looked for.—Here the conversation dropped.