§ THE EARL OF ST. GERMANS, who had a notice on the paper for the production of a letter written by him to Lord Palmerston in 1853, respecting the Queen's College at Cork, said he had put his notice on the paper in consequence of a passage in the Report of the Commissioners on the Queen's Colleges in Ireland, which imputed blame to the Government with which he was connected with respect to certain dissensions that then prevailed. On reconsideration, however, he thought it better not to make the Motion, as he found that the letter to which it referred contained animadversions on the conduct of certain parties, which it would not be beneficial to the public service to publish. He could assure their Lordships that when he was in Ireland nothing engaged his attention more than the condition of this college. He was in constant communication with Sir John Young, the Chief Secretary, with the Lord Chancellor, and with the Attorney General, and he took no step in the matter without the concurrence of those eminent persons. Had the more energetic and decisive action which the Commissioners seemed to recommend been adopted at that time, it would, he was convinced, have produced very injurious consequences to the college, by causing the secession either of that distinguished scientific man, Sir Robert Kay, or of the Vice President and many members of the colleges. He did not wish to impute any blame to the Commissioners, and was convinced that if they had seen papers which he was quite willing to show to them they would have come to a conclusion different from that at which they had arrived.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYsaid, that not having seen the Report of the Commissioners, he could form no judgment upon the merits of the case; but if that Report contained anything which the noble Earl thought reflected upon his conduct, nothing could be more natural than that he should take the earliest opportunity of setting himself right with their Lordships and the public. Under the circumstances he thought that the noble Earl had shown equally good judgment and good feeling in not pressing for the production of a 2272 letter some portions of which might have been injurious to the feelings of others.
§ House adjourned at a Quarter past Nino o'clock, 'till To-morrow. Half-past Two o'clock.