§ MR. HOPWOODsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, If there is any Correspondence between Her Majesty's Government and the Emperor of the French relative to the offer of mediation between the Federal and Confederate States; and, if so, whether there will be any objection to lay it upon the table of the House; also, if Her Majesty's Government are aware that any reply on the subject has been received by the Emperor of the French from the Federal Government?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, the only official document on the subject to which the hon. Gentleman's Question relates is the Despatch from Lord Russell of the 13th of November last to Lord Cowley, containing a reply to a verbal communication which had been received from the French Ambassador, and that Despatch is already on the table of the House. With regard to any later communication between the French Government and their Minister at Washington, and the answer which may have been given to it, I am sure the hon. Member must see that it is not convenient, if it were even possible, for Her Majesty's Government to give answers as to the communications between foreign Governments and their agents in foreign capitals.