yet known. He wished to have the antecedent parts.

The earl of Liverpool had no objection to produce one document of anterior date, the only one then officially communicated to him. When the whole of the papers were before the house, noble lords would be enabled to form their opinions on the entire case, with explanations of particular parts.

Lord Erskine wished to know if the noble lord thought it possible for them to advise the king, whether the negotiation would prove efficient or non-efficient, if their lordships were ignorant of the contents of the papers upon which that negotiation had been established. That was a question which could be decided by his majesty's government alone, because they had seen the papers; but their lordships would never venture to deliver an opinion on a subject of which they knew nothing whatever. He, for one, therefore, should never give his opinion upon such information; at the same time he did not wish it to be supposed that he felt any anxiety to drag open the question. He had consented to the secret committee, because he considered it both a legal and constitutional proceeding; but the present was a question totally distinct from that proceeding, and until he heard those papers, he, for one, would never deliver an opinion on the present subject.

The quention was then put, and the house adjourned.

In the house of commons the proceedings were of a more limited nature.

Lord Castlereagh appeared at the bar of the house, and acquainted the Speaker, that he had it in command from his majesty, to lay before the house certain papers, which he then held in his hand, relative to the late negotiation between their majesties. The papers were then presented, and the title of them read by the clerk at the table, which were the same as those read in the house of lords.

Lord Castlereagh then rose and said, he felt it his duty to state to the house, that his majesty had been induced to order these papers to be laid before them, in order to show the house that every effort had been made to relieve parliament from an inquiry of this painful nature, and prevent the necessity of the house proceeding farther in the investigation. Having failed in accomplishing that object, he had been authorised to present to the house the papers just then read. His majesty, on ordering him to bring down these papers, had made a complete communication of the whole of the proceedings which had taken place on the subject of the differences existing between those illustrious individuals, and it was with pain he had to communicate that the result had not led to

any satisfactory arrangement.

His majesty felt the extreme importance of the question about to be agitated, and was accordingly anxious that, before the house should enter into any discussion of the subject, the whole of those papers, concluding the series of information of what had been done up to the present time, should be laid before them, so as to shew the nature of the efforts which had been made to bring about a satisfactory arrangement. It would be improper on his part, as well as unsatisfactory to the public, if the house were suffered to proceed in the investigation of a subject of so much importance without the most complete and authentic information, so as to relieve the house in some degree, from the painful situation in which it was now likely it would be placed. These papers were already in the act of being printed, and he hoped they would be ready to-morrow early for the members' information. Under these circumstances, he felt it his duty to propose, first, that the order of the day for resuming the debate on his majesty's message should be adjourned until Wednesday the 14th; and next, to follow it up with a motion, that the papers be printed. This mode of proceeding, he trusted, would enable the house more adequately to determine what should be done under all the difficulties

of the case. He concluded by moving the papers should be printed.

Mr. Brougham wished it to be understood he concurred in the statement which had been made by the noble lord of the nature of the proceedings which had taken place with reference to this subject, and, in common with the noble lord, he as deeply regretted that these efforts should have been made in vain. The noble lord could not feel deeper or more sincere regret than himself, at the unfortunate failure of those overtures for accommodating the differences subsisting between the illustrious individuals in question. He thought the house would not be of opinion, after it had seen the papers now laid on the table, that there was any reason to award blame to her majesty. He was not hereby disposed to cast any blame on the disposition manifested on the part of the other illustrious individual concerned. Amongst the many unfortunate peculiarities of this case, it had one striking peculiarity, that the house might, after it had seen these papers, be of opinion that blame did attach in another quarter.

The further debate on this question was, on the motion of lord Castlereagh, then adjourned until Wednesday the 21st.

A fresh opening being made for the accommodation of this important difference-Mr. Wilberforce, to his credit, seized the opportunity, and on the 20th, in the house of commons, rose and said, that in consequence of the failure of the late ne

gotiations between the king and queen, he felt it his duty to give notice, for the following day, of a motion on the subject.

Mr. Brougham said, that to-morrow being a notice day, the motion of the honourable member would, according to the rules of the house, take precedence of the discussion of the noble lord (Castlereagh's) motion. He threw out this, not for the purpose of objecting to the honourable member's motion, but in order to inquire whether it would not be as well to pursue the same course upon this as upon former negotiations. That course was to lay upon the table a statement of the grounds on which the negotiation had failed. If this were done, it would, perhaps, lead, on the part of ministers, to a defence of the opposite party. Until this took place, it was desirable that all parties should abstain from touching either directly or indirectly, on the manner in which the negotiation had been conducted, because the grounds upon which the parties acted could not be fairly examined. This course would not in any manner, preclude the fullest inquiry into the subject.

Lord Castlereagh was not aware that the honourable and learned member was correct in the view which he took of the mode of proceeding adopted on former negotiations. On a variety of occasions he had seen that no consideration