§ 7. Mr. BUTCHERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will immediately lay upon the Table of 642 this House the correspondence which has recently passed between this country and the United States of America?
§ Sir E. GREYSome columns in the Press have lately been filled with communications between the United States Government and His Majesty's Government. I shall be obliged if the hon. Member will inform me whether it is this correspondence that he wishes to have laid before Parliament. My impression is that the documents of greatest importance and public interest have been published already, and I cannot publish anything more than has already been published without first obtaining the consent of the United States Government.
§ Mr. BUTCHERIs it not desirable that the dispatches sent to the American Government from our Foreign Office should be circulated as early and as widely as possible?
§ Sir E. GREYThen I understand the hon. and learned Gentleman does mean the dispatches which have appeared in the Press. There will be no difficulty in doing that. I think it might be convenient that I should have them collected in one Paper, together with the dispatches which the United States Government have addressed to us and which have been already published.