§ MR. LAIRDsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government are in possession of the data upon which Mr. Christie, in his despatch to Earl Russell of the 6th November, 1862, founded his statement that it was "known to the Brazilian Government, as well as to his Lordship," that Mr. Consul Vereker, when he left Rio Grande do Sul, "was in a state of nervous excitement, with a delusion about attempts to assassinate him," and upon which the Marquis of Abrantes, in his note to Mr. Christie of the 20th October, was led to question Mr. Vereker's "infallibility respecting the discovery of crimes;" and, if so, whether there was any objection to lay the documents containing such data upon the table of the House, in continuation of the correspondence relating to Brazil just presented to Parliament by Her Majesty's command?
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, in reply, that he was afraid he should be unable to give any documents containing the data to which the hon. Gentleman alluded. The facts were simply these:—Mr. Vereker, a very zealous public servant, had been called upon to make great exertions owing to the misconduct of the Brazillian authorities, in the matter of the wreck of the "Prince of Wales." The excitement consequent upon what had taken place, together with the effects of the climate, were attended with such bad results upon his health that he was obliged to leave Brazil, labouring under a nervous excitement. Mr. Vereker, however, he was happy to say, was now quite recovered, and would return to his duties shortly.