§ MR. DENMANsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government have received any information as to whether the amnesty offered by the Emperor of Russia to those engaged in the Polish insurrection is intended to suspend the execution of political prisoners taken since the commencement of those proceedings of the Russian authorities which led to the insurrection?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir it is well known that the Russian Government have issued a proclamation of amnesty. It is stated that there is some variation between the copy issued at St. Petersburg and the copy issued at Warsaw, but we have no accurate information on the subject. Different interpretations have been put upon that amnesty, some persons understanding it to have the comprehensive sense mentioned by my hon. and learned 467 Friend, and other persons believing its scope and intention to be more restricted. All I can say is, that I hope the larger interpretation is the just one. It is impossible but that the Russian Government must be sensible that their troops in Poland have, unfortunately, committed so many acts of ferocious violence that there is a great arrear of mercy and indulgence due by that Government to set them right in the public opinion of Europe.