§ MR. F. O'CONNORsaid, that agreeing with the Times of that morning that "forewarned is forearmed," he begged to put a question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in order that all sides of the House might be "forearmed" with regard to the subject to which he was going to refer. He understood—though he did not say it, upon an authority which the 1260 right hon. Beronet could not contradict—that it was the intention of the noble Lord the Prime Minister to make the proposition of the hon. Member for South Essex (Sir E. Buxton) a question of confidence or no confidence in the Government. It was also rumoured that a message had been sent from Downing-street to the hon. Member for the West Riding, and the hon. Member for Manchester, requesting that they would not leave town for Manchester until after that question had been disposed of. He wished to give the right hon. Gentlemen an opportunity of stating whether these rumours were well founded.
§ SIR G. GREYwas not sure that he quite understood the question of the hon. Gentleman. If the question was whether any private communication had passed between the noble Lord the First Minister of the Crown and certain Members of that House, that was a question upon which he could give the hon. Member no information. His noble Friend was not in the habit of communicating to him the contents of his private letters. He could only say that he had never heard of any communication of the kind referred to before. As to making the Motion of the hon. Member for South Essex a vote of confidence, he had not even heard the subject mooted.