MR. BENTINCKsaid, in reference to the circumstance that the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General having in debate on the case of the "Tornado" cited and relied on documents not communicated to the House—namely, a written statement by a person professing to have been captain of the ship, and also a photograph of alleged instructions given by the owners to the same person; he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, having regard to the clear obligation of Her Majesty's Government to produce all Papers relevant to the Question at issue, he will, without delay, lay these documents on the Table, together with the legal evidence of their authenticity, and of the employment of the said person to command the ship?
MR. GLADSTONEsaid, the hon. Gentleman was justified in his general proposition that it was the duty of the Minister to produce official documents which he quoted; but he thought he had rather misapprehended the nature of the information given by his hon. Friend the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His hon. Friend stated that one of the Papers in his possession was a statement by Captain Holmes, and that he had seen a photograph of the private letter of instructions. The photograph of the private letter of instructions was not in the hands of his hon. Friend; but Captain Holmes made a verbal statement, and all that his hon. Friend professed, to do was to convey faithfully to the House the effect of that verbal statement. This the hon. Gentleman would see was hardly a document for production. In order that his hon. Friend might be perfectly accurate he himself took down the statement of Captain 8 Holmes and read it over to him, and Captain Holmes said he did not wish to make any correction in it. There was no secresy about it, and his hon. Friend would have the utmost pleasure in showing it to the hon. Member, or any other Member who wished to see it.