The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-10 00:00:00

TREATY OF TEXAS.

Mr. O'CONNELL inquired of the Nohlo Lord at
the head of Foreign Affairs if he had any ohjcction to
lay before the House any information that he roFses,,cd
with respect to the Treaty of Commerce with Texas?
Lord PALMERSTON replied that no information
could be !aid before the House until the Treaty had
been rat:ll,7d.

Mr. O'CONNELL said, in that CJEC his moticn
rrould come before the House in another form.
DUTIES ON RUM.

Sir ROBERT PEEL said, it had been stated
by a Right Hon. Gentleman, upon the propo,,al for the
equalization of the rum duties, that he s!louki op-
pose that motion upon the ground of the existence of
slavery in India, and the Right Hon. Member had
since asked for pipers, which the Hon. throoet at
the head of the Board of Control had consented
to produce. Ho (Sir R. Peel) begged to ask whe-
ther it wiis the intention of her Majesty's Government
to postpone the measure with reference to the duties
on turn, until that information had been laid before
the House.

Lord PALMERSTON replied, Certainly not. It
was his intention to laiog, the subject before the House
on Friday next.
APPREHENSION OF MR. M‘LEOD.

Lord STANLEY wished to ask the Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, an explanation relative to a
statement made by him yesterday evening, and also to
ask the Noble Lord an additional question in reference
to the subject which formed a matter of conversation
between them on that occasion. He had asked the
Noble Lord whether he had any objection to lay upon
the table the whole of the correspondence since 1637
with the United States of America in reference to the
seizure and capture of the steamer Caroline,
and also whether he would lay the correspond-
ence with reference to the apprehension of Mr.
M'Leod on the table. The Noble Lord said
he did object to lay on the table the correspondence
with referenco to these two subjects, but that he had no
objection, and there could not be any, to lay on the
table so much of the correspondence in reference to
the last-mentioned subject as had been already pub-
lished in the newspapers, inasmuch as it had been laid
before Congress. Now, he submitted to the Noble Lord
whether he ought not to reconsider the answer he had
then given. At all events the production of the cor-
respondence in that form would be a matter for his own
discretion. He (Lord Stanley) had asked the Noble
Lord for the production of the whole correspondence
--he did not ask him to lay any partial corres-
pondence on the table of the House, and
which the Noble Lord was about to pro Luce, not
on the ground that it contained the whole of the facts
of the case as it really stood, but on the ground that
through some other and irregular means it had ob-
tained publicity.—(Hear, hear.) He could not but
think that that would lead to a very inconvenient pre-
cedent, and would place the case on a principle
which would be liable to great misunderstanding as re-
garded Great Britain in the eyes of bee colonies, and
the world generally. He did not ask for the produc-
tion of those papers which had been laid before the pubic
He wished also for a more explicit answer to a
question which was asked yesterday, namely, whe-
ther her Majesty's Government had taken any steps,
and whaf, as regarded the liberation of Mr. M‘Leod.
The Noble Lord had told him that her Majesty's Go-
vernment would, and indeed had taken such steps as
they thought necessary on the subject. He did
not ask them what steps they had taken, If the
Noble Lord thought proper to withhold that information,
but he did ask him whether he had taken such steps
for the protection and liberation of Mr. M'Lcod (who
had been apprehended on the 12th of November,lB.lo),
as would be effectual in point of time in reference to the
proceedings then going on. He wished to ask that ques-
tion, and also to give the explanation, though he did not
wish to press for the production of papers, nor
did he ask fur them when they did not give the
whole information. At the same tine he was aware of
the responsibility which attached to any Member calling
upon the Government for papers which they were not
willing, on public grounds, to produce ; at the same time
reserving to himself the expression of his opinions upon
the subject, and the full right of pressing upon the
Government at a future time for the whole of the cor-
respondence.

Lord PALMERSTON—.When he stated yester-
day that he would have no objection—that he could
have no reasonable objection to offer against the pro-
duction of papers which had already been hid before
Congress, he did not intimate any intention, on the part
of Government, to lay on the table of the House any
other part of the correspondence, therefore he thought
the Noble Lord had, and would exercise a sound
discretion in abstaining from pressing for it.

Lord STANLEYL-1 did- not ask for it. I asked
for the whole correspondence.
Lord PALMERSTON—With respect to the other
question, what he had to state was this. A case
of a somewhat similar nature happened, or was about
to happen, a year or a year and a half ago ; and
upon that occasion instructions were sent out to Mr.
Fox, laying down what the Government thought were
sound principles in the emergency. At that time it
was rendered unnecessary to act upon the instruction;
but the case having now actually occurred, Mr. Fox,
without waiting for fnrther instructions from home,
acted upon the former instructions, and made the de-
mand upon the American Government for the libera-
tion of Mr. I\l'Leod. He then reported the whole
case to the Government, but from various
causes that communication had been much longer
on its passage than usual, and it was only
a few days ago that he had received the final portion
of what had taken place between Mr. Fox and the
American Government—it was, therefore, only that
day that an opportunity had presented itself for sending
out final and conclusive instructions—they were then
ready prepared and were on the point of being sent off;
but what the nature of those instructions was, neither
the Noble Lord nor the House would then expect him
to say. Mr. Fox had founded his remonstrances with
the American Government upon instructions sent him
by the Government respecting a case of a similar nature,
which it was feared would have occurred.
Lord STANLEY said ho wished to understand
whether the Noble Lord received information of the in-
tervention of Mr. Fox relative to the affair of Nov. 12,
1840, and whether any instructions had been sent to
that gentleman upon the subject
Lord PALMERSTON said that the instructions
given were precisely to the same effect as those which
were stated as being given in the former case. It was
not till Saturday last that the Government had re-
ceived from Mr. Fox the last communications respect-
ing his correspondence with the United States' autho-
rities.

Mr. HUME said he wished to put a question
to the Noble Lord. The Honourable Member
then proceeded to read from a paper, purporting to be
a general order, signed by Colonel M'Neb, announcing
his Excellency's great satisfaction at the destruction
of the steam-boat, which was effected in a man-
ner so creditable to the Volunteers, and stating
his Excellency's unqualified approval of the important
service thus rendered by those brave men. The ques-
tion which the Hon. Member wished to put was whe-
ther there had been over a communication from her
Majes!y's Government upon the subject, and whether
they signified their approbation of the Act.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL believed the purport of
the Honourable Gentleman's question to be, whether
the Government approved of the orders of the Co-
lonial Government under which the Caroline was at-
tacked.—(Cheers.) His Noble Friend had already
rnswered the question.—(Cheers.)
Mr. T. DU NCOMBE wished to ask a question of
the Noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, as
to whether the Government had adopted the act of
the captors of the Caroline as their own ? He thought
it right that the House should know whether they had
given their approbation or not, and whether, if they had
given it, they had since withdrawn it—( Hear, hcar)—
or did they now adopt it ?—(Hear, hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON said, that if the question
wore whether the Government did or not consider the
captors of the Caroline justified, his answer was, that
the Government did consider them perfectly justified.
Mr. HUME.—Has the Noble Lord, or her Ma-
jesty's Government, ever signified that to the Govern-
ment of the United States in any form ?—( Hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON-.-Yeg• it bas been now-

municated both to the Minister of the United Stxtes 7
here, and by Mr. Fox to the American Government..
IRISH RAILWAYS AND POOR-LAWS.
Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN wished to ask the Nobl.
Lord, the Secretary for Ire!and, whether he intended
to bring before the House any proposition relative ter
railways in Ireland ; and also whether it was intended
to propose any amendment of the Irish Poor-law Act..
Lord MORPETH replied in the negative.
IRISH MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ACT.
Mr. SHAW wished to ask whether it was the Inten-
tion of the Government to introduce any Bill for the
purpose of amending the Municipal Corporation Act of
Ireland, inasmuch as many Courts of Justice and of local
jurisdiction were placed in great jeopardy by reason of:
its not being certain whether, under the Municipal Cor—
poration Act, they could perform their functic'ns or not..
Lord MORPETH said that his Hon. and Loarned
Friend the Attorney-General was preparing a meas.uro
which it was his intention to propose to the House tor
the purpose of remedying seme of the defects of that
measure.