§ MR. URQUHARTbegged to know if the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs would consent to lay upon the table of the House the papers con- 1857 nected with the settlement of the claims of Don Pacifico?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONI have no objection to do so.
§ LORD DUDLEY STUARTsaid, that the different Foreign Governments concerned in arranging the affairs of Don Pacifico had rewarded their Commissioners with honours and distinction; and the British Government not having acted in that way towards the Commissioner employed by them, it had been rumoured through the Continent that the British Government were not satisfied with the conclusion of the negotiations, and considered that the affairs had not been arranged in a way that was satisfactory to them. He begged to ask his noble Friend if there was any foundation for such a report, and whether the British Commissioner had given satisfaction in the discharge of his duty?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONhad no difficulty in informing his noble Friend that the manner in which the British Commissioner (Colonel Johnson) had performed the duty imposed upon him on that occasion, was entirely satisfactory to Her Majesty's Government. His investigation had been characterised by assiduity and diligence; he came to the conclusion that the Government themselves would have come to if they were in the same situation. His noble Friend must be well aware that the customs of Governments differed as to conferring honours and decorations on public servants. Foreign Governments lavished, he was going to say, those rewards; but they almost ceased to be rewards when they were given in such a profuse manner, and it was not the habit of the British Government so to give them.