§ Mr. Whitbread.I would wish to put a question to a noble lord opposite (lord Castlereagh), which the non-formation of a house yesterday prevented me from proposing sooner. I would wish to know why in the London Gazette there have been no dispatches published as coming directly from the gallant and much-lamented sir John Moore? I hope that it is only an omission in the documents printed, which his majesty's ministers mean to remedy by a speedy publication of them.
Lord Castlereagh.I think it is a novel mode of procedure to put questions to his majesty's government, as to the lincof conduct they should adopt. I can assure the hon. gent, and the house, however, that there has been no opinion given in the dispatches received by government as to the transactions in Spain, which we shall not be happy to communicate. The dispatch he alludes to was not a dispatch which that gallant and much-lamented officer considered as an official one when he framed it; although at the same time he thought it right to submit it to government, to give what parts of it they thought proper to the public. His majesty's government have always advised his majesty to make 132 as full communication to the public as possible, consistent with the circumstances of the case to be stated. Nothing could have been more honourable to that gallant officer than the dispatches he has transmitted; and I believe it was his last wish, that government should use their discretion in regard to the publication of them.
§ Mr. Whitbread.I certainly think that if that gallant officer expressed any wish upon the subject, that ought to have been an additional reason for a more ample publication of them.
General Stewart.As it may appear that the lamented general may have communicated his exact sentiments at the moment these dispatches were written, by their becoming hereafter public, I think it may be necessary to state what he said to me at the time he sent them off. He said he was extremely hurried at the time of sending home the dispatches; and he had not leisure to write so fully as he could have wished; and therefore as he had endeavoured to do his best in regard to the communication he was making, it must be entirely confidential, leaving it at the same time to government to publish such parts of them as they might think right. Ho rather expressed a wish that they should be published, for if it transpired that he had sent home dispatches, and nothing was to be published, it might appear extraordinary; at the same time leaving it entirely to the discretion of government. Certainly, some parts of the dispatches alluded to are of a delicate nature, but, as the greater part of them do so much credit to that great and lamented character, I am satisfied my noble relation would have published them more fully, if he had been aware of the anxiety of that general himself, and if the hurry of business had permitted him to discriminate with accuracy what might be made public without detriment to the public service. I trust, therefore, that the greater part of these dispatches are such as ministers may approve for publication, as I am satisfied that it will be to the army the greatest gratification they can receive.
Lord Castlereagh.I certainly did not understand that the hon. and lamented officer had expressed any such anxious wish upon the subject: if I had thought so, I would certainly have endeavoured to discharge, to the utmost, that duty which appears due to his memory. I can, 133 however, assure the house, that government made such a communication as they, at the lime they received these dispatches, deemed expedient. Since it has been his wish, I certainly shall endeavour to execute it to the utmost of my power.