§ Mr. Hornerbegged leave to ask a question or two of the noble lord, his Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. A document had been received in this coun- 300 try, of the authenticity of which no doubt seemed to be entertained by the public, purporting to be a Declaration on the part of the sovereigns of the allied powers. The information which he wished to obtain, with respect to this document, was such as, in his opinion, it could not be inconsistent with the noble lord's sense of what was due to the public service to give. He was the rather disposed to put to the noble lord the questions which he was about to state, because the information which they were calculated to elicit appeared to him to be very material, with reference to the expected discussion of that evening. The document to which he had alluded expressly stated, that offers of peace had been made to the enemy by the sovereigns at the head of the allied army on the banks of the Rhine; and the tenour of it seemed to imply that those offers had been rejected; although that was not expressly asserted, and although the passage from which it was to be inferred was certainly susceptible of an opposite interpretation. The questions, therefore, that he begged to ask the noble lord were these, viz.—Was the document authentic? If so, had his Majesty, as one of the confederated powers, concurred in the offer that had been made to France? Had the offer, which the Declaration stated to have been made to France, been rejected?
Lord Castlereaghsaid that he felt no difficulty in replying to two of the questions put to him by the hon. and learned gentleman. The document which he had mentioned was authentic. He had also the satisfaction to state, that a perfect concert existed among all the allies with respect to the measures that had been adopted; every proceeding having been marked by the utmost spirit of cordiality. What those measures were, however, or what had been the result, of them, he trusted the hon. and learned gentleman would not press him to declare.
§ Mr. Hornerobserved, that the first part of the noble lord's reply afforded sufficient proof of the property of his (Mr. H.'s) enquiry.