§ SIR ROBERT PEELasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether he has any objection to lay upon the Table of the House, for presentation to Parliament, Copies of the Reports furnished to the War Department by the Military Attaché of Her Majesty's Embassy at Paris, during the last five years, following the precedent established by the presentation to Parliament of the yearly Reports of Her Majesty's Secretaries of Embassy and Legation for the Countries in which they reside?
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDSir, at the request of my right hon. Friend. I will answer this Question. It will not be in my power to lay on the Table the Reports referred to by the right hon. Baronet. They are of a strictly confidential character, and could not be produced without great public inconvenience, and seriously compromising the persons from whom the information was obtained. The right hon. Gentleman will allow me to remind him that they differ materially from the Reports sent in by the Secretaries of Legation in foreign countries, which refer simply to questions of import, export, trade, produce, and commerce.