LORD STANLEYsaid, that since he last thought it necessary to bring the af- 241 fairs of Spain under the notice of their Lordships, he had had an opportunity of examining the papers which had been laid before them respecting the circumstances under which the British Minister, Sir Henry Bulwer, quitted Madrid. He was not, however, now about to enter into any discussion of the merits of the question, neither had he any intention of calling upon Her Majesty's Government to state the course which they intended to pursue with regard to those occurrences, under the circumstances in which they were at present placed; but he must say, that in the papers to which he had referred there was a manifest incompleteness. To him it appeared that there were important omissions upon a subject respecting which full information was most material. A most material part of the case appeared to him to have been wholly omitted; he alluded to a statement on the part of the Government of Spain to the Government of this country, setting forth the motives which had induced the former to take so strong a step as that of sending away our Minister from the Court of Madrid. He was sure it would be at once felt that noble Lords opposite ought to take some decided course, and that they ought as soon as convenient to furnish the House with information regarding these transactions. The question which he at present wished to put was this—had Her Majesty's Government received any communication from the Court of Madrid explaining the motives which had impelled them to the remarkable step that they had recently taken, or whether any communication had been made in addition to those made to Sir H. Bulwer respecting the motives of the Spanish Government, and the ground of their proceedings; and, if so, whether it was the intention of the Queen's Government to lay copies of such documents before Parliament?
§ The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNEreplied, that since the papers to which the noble Lord had referred were laid on the table of the House, other communications had been received by means of the only legitimate channel through which correspondence of that kind could pass, or from which it could be received. He had further to say, that that correspondence, as far as it had gone, would not be considered as affording any satisfactory explanations of the reasons which had influenced the Spanish Government; and therefore, until further communications were received, 242 he could scarcely think it desirable to lay any additional papers on the table of the House. Until further opportunity could be afforded for eliciting the sentiments of the Spanish Government, he did think it inexpedient to carry the production of papers any further for the present. But, the moment those documents were complete, they should, without delay, be laid upon the table of the House in the fullest form. The noble Lord had spoken of certain material omissions from the papers already before their Lordships. Upon that point he had only to observe, that neither he nor any of his noble Friends were at all aware of any such omissions. As the noble Lord had said, he should abstain from entering into any discussion of the general merits of the question. If ever they should become the subject of discussion, he doubted not that it would be fully in his power to satisfy their Lordships, and even the noble Lord opposite, that nothing material had been omitted—at least, nothing that could not be satisfactorily explained.