HC Deb 22 March 1815 vol 30 cc330-1
Mr. Ponsonby

wished to know, from the noble lord opposite; who, he understood, intended to more, to-morrow, that the House should adjourn till Monday se'nnight, whether the papers relative to the Congress at Vienna, which he intimated his intention of laying before the House, would be ready for the use of members before the recess; and whether it was his intention to lay before the House the instructions given to lard William Bentinck?

Lord Castlereagh

said; he had learned, on inquiry, that the papers would not be ready so soon: they should, however, be laid on the table as early as possible. With respect to the instructions given to lord W. Bentinck, they would be produced and, if the information thus afforded, was not sufficient, gentlemen were at liberty to call for any other documents they pleased.

Mr. Ponsonby

said, it was then impossible that he could fix a precise day for a motion which he intended to bring forward respecting those papers. He should, therefore, give notice generally, that after the recess he should bring forward a motion on that subject.

Mr. Whitbread

said, a declaration had been published, in the newspapers of that day, purporting to be a Declaration of the Congress, by which the proceedings of that body were stated to have terminated. He wished to know whether that paper was authentic, and whether the ministers and sovereigns assembled were now proceeding to their respective homes to govern under the principles there determined on.

Lord Castlereagh

said, that the present was a specimen of the extent to which the hon. member's system of questions was carried. He (lord C.) had recently declared that the proceedings of the Congress had not yet terminated, and the state in which they then were, and now the hon. member wished to know whether that Congress had issued another declaration. The Declaration in question alluded to a state of things which did not exist—the breaking-up of the Congress.

Mr. Whitbread

wished to understand whether or no the declaration, was authentic?

Lord Castlereagh

said, if the hon. member wished to know whether it had emanated from the Congress at Vienna—at certainly had not.