Lord Holland, seeing a noble lord at the head of 826 the foreign department, in his place, wished to ask of that noble lord, whether in the present state of the negociation with the United States of America, it would be improper to lay before the House such Papers, or at least that part of the correspondence which it was notorious had already met the public eye? He did not wish to make a motion for the correspondence in a negociation, unless it was the opinion of those who had the management of that negociation, that it would not be improper to communicate the correspondence, and he therefore wished to ascertain this fact, in order that he might give a short notice of a motion for such parts as it might not be deemed improper to communicate.
Marquis Wellesleysaid he had not received the commands of his royal highness the Prince Regent, to lay any of the Papers alluded to by the noble lord before the House. If the noble lord, however, would give notice of a day for a motion upon the subject, he should then be prepared to state distinctly to the House, whether or not it would be improper to communicate the correspondence moved for.
Lord Hollandsaid he was afraid he had been misunderstood by the noble lord. What he wished, in order to ascertain whether he should give notice of a motion was, to know whether it would be improper to communicate any part of the correspondence. Without having any extraordinary confidence in ministers, a confidence so far would of course be conceded to them, namely, that they having the management of a negociation would be the best judges whether it was improper or not to communicate any part of the correspondence. It was with this view that he asked the question.
Marquis Wellesleyrepeated that he had no commands from his royal highness the Prince Regent to lay any of the correspondence before the House, but that if the noble lord gave notice of a day for his motion, he should then be prepared distinctly to state his opinion upon the subject.