HC Deb 08 May 1863 vol 170 cc1396-7
MR. HORSMAN

said, as the noble Lord at the head of the Government was not present, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a Question in reference to certain Enclosures in a Despatch. The Despatch itself had been produced, but not the Enclosures; and he wished to know whether there will be any objection to produce them. To make the Question intelligible, he would read that part of the Despatch which relates to the Enclosures, and which were written in reference to the state of affairs in Poland in the years 1831 and 1832. The noble Lord at the head of the Government, at that time Secretary for Foreign Affairs, wrote a Despatch to Lord Heytesbury on 22nd March 1831, giving him instructions as to his communications with the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, and in it was this paragraph— In order to put your Lordship more completely in possession of the views of the British Government in 1814 and 1815 on the subject of the arrangements for Poland, of the part which was taken with regard to those arrangements by the British Plenipotentiary at the Congress of Vienna, and of the bearings of those arrangements upon the security of other states. I send your Lordship copies of various Despatches received at this office in the year 1814 and 1815. Your Lordship will see explained in these Papers the importance of the advanced military position which the kingdom of Poland presents to Russia interposed as it is between Austria and Prussia, and at no great distance from the capital of each. He wished to ask the Under Secretary of State whether there will be any objection to produce those Enclosures, which are now half a century old, and therefore matters of history?

MR. LAYARD

Sir, in answer to the Question put to me by the right hon. Gen- tleman, I beg to observe that a Notice has been put upon the Paper by the hon. Member for King's County (Mr. Hennessy) to call the attention, of the House to the state of Italy this evening; and when the hon. Member shall bring on that Motion, the noble Lord at the head of the Government will be in his place, and will no doubt answer the Question.

MR. HORSMAN

gave notice that he would ask the Question again on Monday.