Lord Folkestone gave notice of his intention to move, on that day fortnight, for the re-printing of certain papers which had been printed last session, relative to the Oude charge exhibited against marquis Wellesley.
Lord Howickexpressed a wish to know from the noble lord, with what view he proposed to bring forward the motion of which he had given notice, and what was the nature of the measure he meant to found upon the papers to which his notice referred?
Lord Folkestonereplied, that his motion would refer to the re-printing of the several papers connected with the Oude charge; namely, numbers 3, 4, and 5. With respect to any subsequent proceeding, he believed that none was likely to be taken for some time. The house was aware that the hon. gent. (Mr. Paull) with whom this business originated was now a petitioner, and until that petition was decided, it was not intended to ground any measure upon the papers to which this notice related. But yet, to prevent any delay hereafter, it was thought expedient that those documents should be fully before the house, in order that, if the hon. gent. already alluded to should be in a situation to prosecute this important enquiry, he might be enabled to proceed at once, unimpeded by the procrastination which the printing of papers upon this subject had so often produced in the course of the last parliament; and in order also that if Mr. Paull should not be in a situation to follow up this business, he himself (lord Folkestone), or some more competent person, might be furnished with the means of proceeding upon it. The noble lord concluded with expressing a belief that he had fully replied to the enquiry of the noble secretary of state, and expressed a readiness to afford any further information in his power upon the subject.
Lord Howickapprehended that the reasons stated by the noble lord could not be considered a sufficient parliamentary ground for the proposition he professed to have in view. It did indeed appear to him quite without precedent to make a motion for the production and printing of certain papers upon which the mover did not state that any direct proceeding was to be instituted, but merely upon the chance that another gentleman not a member of that house, might ground some proceeding upon them. This, however, he felt was not the proper time to argue the question; but he could not help observing, that the course proposed must be attended with extreme hardship to the party concerned in the case to which the notice referred. For that house was to be called on to promote the circulation of the most severe attacks upon the character of the noble person a1luded to. The effects of such publications were easily to be estimated, and he would submit whether they could he in fairness acceded to, without any precise statement that a parliamentary measure would be founded upon them, or without any defi 435 nition of the statement of such measures. The noble mover did not say that any farther parliamentary proceeding would be taken upon those papers; but merely that it might; and really he could not think that a sufficient ground for the noble lord's intended motion.
Lord Folkestonewas aware that this was not the proper time for any argument upon the subject; but he would, with the leave of the house, make a further reply to the noble secretary of state. The object of the motion of which he had given notice, could not be fairly supposed to involve any harshness towards lord Wellesley, as the noble secretary of state stated, any farther than as it professed to assist and facilitate the enquiry respecting that noble lord's conduct. But the noble secretary of state seemed to imagine, that there was some probability the enquiry might be relinquished, and that therefore the documents his motion would relate to, might not be necessary. Of this, however, he could assure the noble secretary, that the enquiry would certainly be persisted in; for if no other person should offer, he pledged himself, if a member of parliament, to follow it up. The papers he had described were, the noble lord observed, laid before the house last session, and therefore there could be no just objection to their being re printed, particularly as the enquiry would be proceeded in. Indeed, if the hon. gent. who originally brought it forward should not be enabled from his presence in that house to prosecute it, he would, rather than let it drop, take it up himself. Those papers would not, therefore, be suffered to lie dormant on the table. It was for no such purpose that he intended to move for them. They were, indeed, already in the hands of the greater part of the members, and in general circulation; but in order to satisfy the forms of the house, it was necessary to have them again laid on the table, and re-printed, before any parliamentary proceeding could be founded upon them. Whether his motion for this purpose should be agreed to or not, he could not guess. He did not indeed anticipate the opposition manifested by the noble secretary. But whether that opposition should be persisted in or not, whatever the fate of his motion might be, that motion would certainly be made, and the enquiry to which it related as certainly prosecuted.