The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-14 00:00:00

ETSPECTION OF PRISONS.

The Earl of SIIA.FTESBURY rose to bring under
their lordshipA' colmidera,tiou the 20th report of the in-
spectors
of prisons. The noble lord then proceeded to
comment at some length upon the reports of the state
of the prisons that had been made from Wales and
other places, and concluded by moving for the copy of
any communications that had been made by the inspec-
tors of prisons to the Secretary of Stow for the Home
Department.
Earl GRANVILLE said the power of the Secretary
of Slate was extremely limited on this subject. He was
afraid the answer to the returns moved for by the noble
lord would be nil.
After a fdw words from Lord PA_NMURE the sub-
ject then dropp.•d.
THE LATE LORD TRURO'S LIBRARY.
The Marquis of L ANSDOW.NE rose to call the at-
'tention of their lordships to a communication he had re-
ceived from Lady Truro. He (the Marquis of Lans-
downe) had received a"letter from, the widow of that
nobleman, in which she stated that Lord Truro, having
collected au extensive library of law kooks, and in order
that that library might be preserved, and rendered of
service, Lady Truro offered the whole collection to their
lordships as an addition to the library of their lordships.
(Rear.)

Mr. DISRAELI repeated his question -of yesterday
relative to the rumours that Prussia had been invited to
assist at the Ceofereuces at Paris, and that she bad
'rimed. the plenipotentiaries to represent her there.
He complained of the answer given to his ques-
tion of yesterday by the First LOrd of the
Treasury, and contended that, on a question of
such 'stet interest, he was ju•tified in asking
for an explanatien without first giving notice. The
house and the c,untry bad a right to know from the
noble lore (Lord Pahnereton) the truth or falsehood of
such a rumeurs It might be expedient and necessary
that ttegetiations should be secret as the noble lord
stated last night, and if so that was a reason they should
know who were tae negotiators, if they were persons in
whom eonfii:ence could be placed. The circumstances
to which .he referred could not be kept a secret. The
presence of the plenipotentiaries a% Paris must b 6 note;
rioue. Frarce had made an official notifieetianof the
fact, and he was at a loss to conceive why the English
Government 'considered it necessary to withhold
the information he hal asked for. He hoped that
the noble lord would, on reflection, • consider
that it v-ae his duly to communicate it to the house, He
(Mr. Disraeli)-could not consider that it was, withheld
from a feeling of weakness on the part of this coun-
try at the conferences. The participation of all the
great Powers in Fetrope at these conferences he looked
upon as essential to the final settlement of the'qeestion
at issue, and it was only by the admission of ?wls, as
well as Austria at these cgriferenes*that.srAterttlde
be fully represented.
Lcrd PALMERSTON said that he did not complain
of any want of coat tesy .on the part of the right hon.
gentleman in putting the question to him yesterday
without notice. No notice was required, and he
trusted the right honourable gentleman would not
consider it any want of courtesy on his part in not
answering the question. It was decided that the
proceedings of the Conferences should be secret but
not mysterious, and it was necessary it should
be if Icr no other reason than to prevent the
many questions that would otherwise have been put
to Miniete.rs by members of that house, which
might lave the eftct of retarding the final and ami-
cable settlement of the question. (Blear,, hear.) The
right hoe. gentleman had put the question that day to
him in a manner that ha was bound to answer. The
noble lord explained that Prussia stood in a position
with reference to the war that made her no party to
the negotiations for peace, having abstained from taking
any part in the ewe (Hear, hear.) Therefore it
was Prusfia was not invited at first to join the Con-
ferences ; but ae the treaties of 1840 and 1841 were to.
be reeked, and in which Prussia hal an interest, it was
considered necessary she should be invited to attend
the negotiations with reference to that part of the ques-
tion. He' was aware that Peui.sia had been invited to
attend, but he believed Baron Manteuffel Lad not yet
arrived at Paris. He defended the discreet course
adopted by the Government in keeping silent on questions
affecting the proceedings of the ConfereJce.'