MR. WHITE SIDE—Sir, before the House proceeds to the Orders of the Day I have to ask its indulgence for a few minutes. At the close of the debate on Friday night the noble Lord the Member for Tiverton (Viscount Palmerston) said, that I had misstated the proposal made by the Austrian Government with reference to Italy in 1848, and that that offer was only that Lombardy should he constituted a Duchy, under the control of an Austrian Grand Duke. In consequence of the confusion occasioned by the departure of Members from the House, I have been reported to have said that I acknowledged I was mistaken. I made no such acknowledgment, nor do I intend to do so. On the 24th of May, which was a date subsequent to that to which the noble Lord referred, the following offer was made to him, as appeared from paper No. 377 among the documents relating to those occurrences:—
BARON HUMMELAUER TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON,London, May 24, 1848.My Lord,—In conformity with the permission which, you were good enough to give mo, I enclose herewith a statement of the principles which would form the basis of an arrangement of the Lombardo-Piedmontese question.(Enclosure in No. 377.)Lombardy would cease to belong to Austria, and would be free either to remain independent or to unite herself to any other Italian State she-might choose.To that communication the noble Lord replied on the 3rd June, that unless Venice was included he would not make that the basis of an arrangement.