§ LORD ROBERT CECILsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a Question, which he imagined he would have no difficulty in answering. A few days since the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Layard) stated that a letter had been received from Mr. Seward, promising that the mails on board the Peterhoff should be forwarded unopened to their destinations. From a report which had appeared in the newspapers of the previous day, it seemed that the captors, by whom he understood to be meant Admiral Wilkes, had declined to permit that course to be taken. He (Lord Robert Cecil) therefore desired to ask the hon. Gentleman, Whether the Foreign Office has received any information to that effect from Lord Lyons, and whether he has been ordered to take any course on the subject?
§ MR. LAYARDIn answer, Sir, to the Question of the noble Lord, I beg to state that what I told the House is strictly in accordance with the information received by Her Majesty's Government. There appeared to have been some difficulty in determining in the prize courts what should be done with the mail-bags. The matter was referred to Mr. Seward, and Mr. Seward informed Lord Lyons that he had sent orders to New York that the mail-bags should be forwarded to their destination without being opened. At the same time, as had been stated by Earl Russell, Mr. Seward informed Lord Lyons that a gem Ionian would be sent to England to 1154 settle the principle upon which mail-bags, such as those of the Peterhoff, should in future be treated—the question being new and now raised for the first time. No information had been received since that time by Her Majesty's Government.