§ MR. BRIGHTSir, I wish to ask the First Lord of the Treasury a question upon a matter of very great importance. I was not in the House last night when the noble Lord gave an answer to the question put by the right hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Disraeli), but on reading what he said in the papers this morning it does not appear to me to have been either distinct or satisfactory. I do not put this question for the purpose of embarrassing the Government in any way. The noble Lord knows that for many weeks past I have been very silent on every matter connected with the war, believing that the noble Lord was desirous to make peace. We have now, however, entered on a new stage, and I am anxious, and so are thousands besides, for some precise information on this most important subject. The fact of the markets rising, corn having gone up from 5s. to 7s. a quarter, is an ominous sign, and proves the extent of the public anxiety. What I want to know is, whether the noble Lord at some early period 2049 will tell us distinctly what are the terms which we offered, in conjunction with the French Government, to the Russian Government; what the Russian Government has intimated its willingness to accept; and what other terms of settlement Russia intimated its willingness to propose, or has proposed? We want to know what is the exact distance between the point offered on the one side and the point intimated or offered on the other, in order that the country may know exactly what is the object of the prolonged war in which we are engaged. The noble Lord will admit that I have a right to expect an answer to these questions, unless some extraordinary reason connected with the resumption of negotiations should stand in the way.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONIf the hon. Member had been in the House yesterday he would have heard the question he has now put satisfactorily answered. I then stated that it was the intention of the Government to lay on the table of the House, at the earliest opportunity, the whole of the protocols of the Conferences at Vienna; and I added that I thought it would be found that those protocols would contain all the information that the House could expect.
§ MR. BRIGHTThe noble Lord did not speak of the counter-propositions, or state any time.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONThe hon. Member will find all the information he requires in the papers. I may say, further, that my noble Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has informed me that the papers are being prepared as fast as possible; and I do hope that they will be laid on the table in the course of a few days.