§ MR. GREGORYsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Whether he is prepared to lay on the table of the House all the communications which have been received from the Government of Greece upon the subject of the demolition of the Ionian fortresses and the neutralization of those Islands; also, all communications received from the three protecting Powers and the Government of France? He likewise wished to ask another question, having reference to a rumour prevalent at Liverpool, and he did so for the sake of those who believed that rumour, not on his own account, for he entirely disbelieved it. The rumour was that vessels, or a vessel, of superior strength and speed, were being fitted out at Liverpool or some other English port, with the intention of pursuing and capturing the Alabama, inasmuch as the Federals had been unable to do it themselves. He wished to know whether any information on that head had reached the hon. Gentleman, and whether he will apply the same vigilance to the prevention of acts of hostility towards a friendly nation to which we have granted belligerent rights, as he has shown in dealing with vessels suspected of being fitted out with designs hostile to the Federal States?
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, in answer to the first question of his hon. Friend, he was aware that the treaty relating to the cession, of the Ionian Islands had not yet been signed by the Greek Government, although it had been sent to Athens. Until that treaty was signed it would be impossible to lay upon the table of the House the correspondence connected with it. As regarded the second question, the only information he possessed was derived from the newspapers, and one of these suggested that the whole paragraph might be a wily contrivance on the part of the Confederates. If so, his hon. Friend would probably know more about it than the Government. 567 The law, of course, would be applied impartially to either side.