§ Lord Palmerstonsaid, he rose for the purpose of putting some questions to his right hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to a statement which had been made public during the last few days. The statement to which he alluded related to a certain document, called an amnesty, which it was said had been issued, or was about to be issued, by the government of Portugal. According to this statement, 1405 the amnesty was to be,—"first, an amnesty to all privates and officers below the rank of captain; secondly, it includes all civil officers who have taken no active share in the re-actions which have occurred in Portugal against the authority of Don Miguel—but these are not to be reinstated in their offices; thirdly, the amnesty states that the Treasury, in restoring the property of those emigrants who shall return to Portugal within six months, will not restore the rentals of which the government may have disposed." Now, upon this part of this delightful document, he had only to observe, that he believed there was no law in Portugal which warranted such a proceeding as withholding these rentals. But to proceed: "fourthly, the garrison of Terceira, and the inhabitants of that island, are to be included in the amnesty;—fifthly, the prisoners will be set at large, but some, designated by government, must leave the kingdom and reside abroad for a certain time;—sixthly, with regard to all other classes of emigrants, Don Miguel engaged to grant another amnesty eighteen months after the recognition of his authority by England, reserving to himself such exceptions as he may please; lastly, Counts Saldanha and Villa Flor, Generals Stubbs and Mello, the Marquis de Valentina, and some other noted characters, who fought against the Marquis of Chaves and General Povoas, are proscribed for life." He had said upon a former occasion, that every body knew what the meaning of an amnesty was in the language of Spain, of Turkey, and of Portugal; but he begged leave to retract that statement so far as related to the latter country, for certainly, now that he had seen this document, he must confess, that he was not before aware of the meaning of the word amnesty in the language of Portugal. He spoke, of course, upon the supposition that the document was genuine, though he did not mean to pronounce any opinion upon the genuineness of it. Supposing, then, that the document was genuine, he begged to ask his right hon. friend, first—whether the English Government had received any, and what communication of a project of an amnesty to be granted by Don Miguel. Secondly, whether such project of an amnesty, if it had been communicated to the English Government, had been communicated to them by Don Miguel direct, or through the intervention of any and what 1406 foreign court. Thirdly, whether such project of an amnesty had been the spontaneous act of the present government of Portugal, or whether it had resulted from the negotiations of the English Government in its endeavours to mitigate the severity of Don Miguel towards the Portuguese. Lastly, he wished to ask his right hon. friend, whether those negotiations, supposing such negotiations to have had this effect, had been carried on with Don Miguel directly, or by the intervention of any and what foreign Power? He would put these questions into the hands of his right hon. friend, and he should be obliged to his right hon. friend if be would give him an answer to them; or to such of them as he felt he could answer consistently with his public duty.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, that he could perhaps satisfy his noble friend without referring to the document, which, however, he thanked his noble friend for being obliging enough to put into his hands. His noble friend had referred to a document which had been copied from the foreign into the English Newspapers, and which purported to be an amnesty granted, or intended to be granted, by Don Miguel, to persons who had taken part in the recent political events in Portugal. He had seen that document in the papers, but he could assure the House and his noble friend, that his Majesty's Government had no knowledge of the existence of such a document, or of any intention of issuing such a document. His noble friend, therefore, had as much information as his Majesty's Government had on this subject; and it would be seen, therefore, that as the newspapers were the common and only source from which any thing respecting the document could be learned, he could tell no more about it than any other hon. Member could. This, he believed, would satisfy his noble friend, and there was no occasion for him to go through his noble friend's questions, which, after this explanation, of course fell to the ground.