§ MR. FERRANDsaid, he rose to ask Mr. Attorney General to inform the House by whose authority the written statement was prepared from which, on Monday last, he read his replies to the questions relating to the Bankruptcy Court at Leeds, and whether ho will lay it upon the table of the House; and whether he will lay upon the table the letter of Mr. Welch, the registrar, which he read to the House on Tuesday last to complete his previous statement, as well as the letter of the Hon. Richard Bethell, confirming the same.
THE ATTORNEY GENERALI think, Sir, that probably on no former occasion has the House heard so extraordinary a question as that of the hon. Gentleman. When I saw his Notice on the paper that some questions were to be put to me upon a matter of public interest, 490 of course it was my duty to go to what I considered to be the proper quarter in which to obtain correct information; and, having provided myself to the best of my power with that information, upon my own responsibility and in good faith I gave to the House the information I had thus acquired. Any memorandum either made by myself or by anybody else for my use for that purpose is a document which I believe never has been treated as of a public nature, and I wholly decline to treat it as such on the present occasion. As to the letters, if the hon. Gentleman, as between man and man, wishes to see the letter written to me from which I stated the matters which alone I thought useful to state to the House—which is not a public document, and which I am not authorized by the writer to treat as such—he is welcome to see it, for there is nothing to conceal; but I wholly decline to treat it as a public document. I have also authority from the person who received the other letter to which the hon. Gentleman refers to say that if the hon. Gentleman, as a gentleman, has any curiosity to see it, he shall be gratified; but I wholly decline, on my own responsibility, to treat them as public documents.
§ LORD ROBERT CECILI wish to ask you, Mr. Speaker, whether it is competent for a Minister of the Crown to quote in his place letters and papers which he is not prepared to lay on the table?
§ MR. SPEAKERPublic despatches, documents, and papers relating to public affairs, if read and quoted by Ministers, may be called for to be laid on the table. But the Attorney General has stated the distinction which he draws in this case, and which distinction certainly appears to me to be a just one.