§ MR. BERNAL OSBORNESir, as the House is not likely to receive any satisfactory answer, I give notice that I will draw the attention of the House, on the first occasion of our going into Supply, relative to the publication of the secret diplomacy in the public newspapers.
§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, that being of a more sanguine character than the hon. Member for Liskeard, he should put the Question of which he had given notice. He wished to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, since secresy is not observed by the other parties to the Conference, it would not be a mere empty form to maintain it towards the House of Commons; and whether, when the extension of the Armistice was consented to, it was understood and agreed that that extension should be final?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, I will not enter into the first part of the hon. Gentleman's Question, which is only argumentative, and, I think, is hardly Parliamentary. With regard to the latter part, I have no reason—but rather the contrary —to believe that when the Armistice was prolonged there was any decision in the Conference that that prolongation should be a final one. The Question is open to the Conference, which may prolong the Armistice or not at the expiration of the present term, according to the then existing circumstances.