§ Mr. Courtenay,seeing the noble Lord, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in his place, begged to ask him the following questions with respect to the affairs of Portugal:—first, whether the Viscount D'Asseca did not address to the noble Lord, on the fourth of May last, an application on the part of the Portuguese Government, in respect of the demands of France, as the Viscount states in his letter of the 23rd of June?—Secondly, at what period, and through what channel, did his Majesty's Government receive the first intimation of the intention of the French Government to send a naval force to the Tagus?—Thirdly, was the letter of the 17th of June to Mr. Hamilton, the first communication made thereupon to the French Government?— Fourthly, whether Admiral Roussin's letters of July 11th, to which the Viscount D'Asseca refers in his letter of the 1st of August, will be among those papers?—Fifthly, whether his Majesty's Government had a copy of M. Cassas' protest, to which the Viscount D'Asseca refers in his letter of the 23rd of June, and will lay it before the House?—Sixthly, whether his Majesty's Government had received any intelligence of the formal termination of the war which existed between France and Portugal?
§ Viscount Palmerstonhad to apologize to his right hon. friend for not having afforded him the opportunity of asking these questions before. He would then answer them as shortly, and as explicitly as his right hon. friend had asked them. To the first, he begged to reply, that a letter was delivered to him personally by M. D'Asseca on the 4th of May. No answer was given to that letter in writing, but Viscount D'Asseca was verbally informed that his Majesty's Government would not interfere in the case, but strongly advised the Portuguese Government to give just satisfaction to the French demands. At this time, it was uncertain whether England herself would not be at war with Portugal, 884 as Mr. Hoppner's letter, announcing the compliance with our demands, was not received till the 14th of May. M. D'Asseca's letter of the 14th of May was not included in the papers presented to Parliament, because it described itself as being a confidential communication, and because it had an inclosure containing remarks on the French demands, which it was not thought right to publish.—To the right hon. Gentleman's second question he had to state that the channel through which his Majesty's Government received the first intimation of the intention of the French Government to send a naval force to the Tagus, was a despatch from Lord Granville, dated April 4th, in which that nobleman stated that Count Sebastiani had informed him, in conversation, that the French Government might find it necessary to send a fleet to the Tagus, if no satisfaction were given to France by Don Miguel's Government.—To the question of whether the letter to Mr. Hamilton was the first communication made upon the subject to the French Government, he had to answer, yes, the first written communication.—To the fourth question he begged to reply, that his Majesty's Government had not received a copy of Baron Roussin's letter of July 11th to which M. D'Asseca alluded in his note of the 1st of August.—To the fifth question he replied, that no copy of any protest of M. Cassas against the establishment of a Commission at Lisbon had been received by his Majesty's Government.—To the last question his reply was, that no formal communication had been received by his Majesty's Government with respect to the termination of the war between France and Portugal, except the Convention of Lisbon, and the announcement made by the French Government, that they had attained that satisfaction which was the object of their expedition, and that their fleet had, consequently, left the Tagus.