§ MR. HORSMANAssuming, Sir, that the Papers which are about to be presented are still in course of preparation, I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman at the head of the Government, Whether the Alabama Treaty Papers about to be presented will include any communications from the British Commissioners to the Foreign Secretary, explaining how it happened that the proceedings at the meetings of the Commissioners were not recorded, so as to afford evidence of what passed between the Representatives of the two Governments with reference to the withdrawal of the Indirect Claims; and, whether the Papers to be presented will include the communication from the British Commissioners to the Foreign Secretary, by which—as stated by Sir Stafford Northcote—
The Commissioners were distinctly responsible for having represented to the Government that we understood a promise to be given that those Claims were not to be put forward, and were not to be submitted to arbitration?
MR. GLADSTONESir, the Question of my right hon. Friend may be very briefly answered. The Papers which I believe are prepared to be laid upon the Table of the House to-day—although I cannot speak quite positively upon the point, as my noble Friend is not present—are in continuation of the Papers previously presented. They will come down 1737 from the date of the last Papers presented to the latest date; but they do not go back to the prior proceedings, and consequently they do not contain any reference, unless it be some purely incidental reference. They do not purport to contain any reference made to the proceedings at the meetings of the Commissioners, nor any reference to the declaration made by the right hon. Gentleman oppposite the Member for North Devonshire (Sir Stafford Northcote) as to the responsibilities of the Commissioners in representing that they understood a certain promise to have been made.
§ MR. HORSMANThen, am I to understand that no information is to be given to Parliament on this subject?
MR. GLADSTONENo information respecting this subject will be contained in the Papers which the Goverment are about to lay upon the Table of the House.
§ MR. HORSMANSince, then, we are not to have the information in the Papers, I will put my Question in another form. I wish to know—first, whether the Commissioners reported to the Government that the question of placing on record what passed on the subject of the Indirect Claims was ever raised before the Commission? I wish, in the second place, to ask, Whether, if that question was raised and discussed by the Commissioners, they stated to the Government the reasons for their determination not to place them upon record; and thirdly, I wish to ask, Whether any communication was made from the Commissioners to the Government stating that the withdrawal of the Indirect Claims only rested upon an "understanding," and whether the Government approved that position?
MR. GLADSTONEIn order, Sir, that I may give a precise answer to two of the Questions of my right hon. Friend, I must ask him to be kind enough to place them on the Paper. With respect to the third, I think it is material to reply that I am quite confident—I may trust my memory on this point—no representation was ever made to the Government by the British Commissioners that our security for the exclusion of the Indirect Claims from the negotiations rested only upon an understanding between themselves and the American Commissioners.