MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALDsaid, he wished to ask the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs a question, of which he had not been able to give him notice, inasmuch as the Papers to which it related had not—although they had been sent to all the morning journals of Saturday—been placed in the hands of Members until that day. In page 12 of those papers he found that Lord Cowley, under date of the 25th January, thus addressed the noble Lord:—"My Lord,—Since I addressed your Lord-ship yesterday on the subject of the annexation of Savoy to France." Now, there was none of the Papers which had been laid before the House dated January 24th, so that it was clear the noble Lord had received a Despatch which he had omitted from the correspondence. What he desired under these circumstances to ascertain was, how the omission occurred, and when the noble Lord will lay the Despatch to which he had alluded on the table.
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, he would have been prepared, had he received any notice of the Question to give an answer. At present he could only say he would examine the Papers and see for what reason that Despatch, to which the hon. Gentleman had alluded, had been omitted. There had been a great hurry to get the Papers printed, and he was in hopes that they would have been all delivered on Saturday, but it appeared that been had not the fact.