§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, he wished to put a question to the hon. Member for London (Mr. Crawford) in respect to his Motion which stood on the paper for that evening, on the subject of the destruction of timber in the Gulf of Bothnia during the Crimean war. He trusted that the hon. Gentleman would accede to the request which he was now about to make. He had made inquiry as to the nature of the papers in relation to the matter, and he confessed he found that those papers alone did not constitute any sufficient ground on his part to appeal to the hon. Gentleman for a postponement of his Motion. At the same time he was bound to say that those papers would not place the House in possession of the facts of the case. He wished, therefore, to add other papers to them, in the shape of a correspondence with the Board of Admiralty as to the nature of the attack which resulted in the destruction of this timber. He would undertake that the papers should be printed without any loss of time. He hoped, therefore, that the hon. Gentleman would not object to postpone his Motion for a few days. He had reason to believe 1184 that his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer would grant the hon. Gentleman an opportunity of bringing his Motion forward on another day. In the meantime the Government would take the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown upon the merits of the case.
§ MR. CRAWFORDsaid, he was ready to proceed with his Motion at once; but as his only object was to get a decision upon the merits of the question, and as the right hon. Gentleman appeared to think it necessary for that end that further papers should be produced, he felt that he had no alternative but to accede to the request of the right hon. Baronet. He would, however, only do so upon the clear understanding that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would grant him an early and suitable opportunity for bringing on his Motion.