§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is the intention of the British Government to oppose the desire which has been manifested by the people of Roumania, to elect Prince Charles of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen as their ruling prince? The question was one which affected the happiness of a kingdom and the tranquillity of Europe. Some time before Easter he had called the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the part the right hon. Gentleman took in 1858, in regard to the future prosperity of these people, then called Wallachians and Moldavians, but now designated by a more generic name. At that time, before his attention was occupied with more pressing matters, the right hon. Gentleman had succeeded by his intervention in procuring the suppression of the arrangement for the separation of the two provinces, which was 1775 provided by the Treaty of 1856; and by the Convention of 1858 these people were allowed to choose their own form of Government. They agreed to unite, and the Conference of Paris had acknowledged them. The question now was, whether the wishes of the people were to be superseded by a Conference sitting at Paris, or whether, having shown good grounds for obtaining that which they desired, their wishes were to be permitted to take effect. He hoped his hon. Friend would be able to give a satisfactory answer.
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, it was obvious that a question affecting a matter in which so many European Powers had a right to take part could not be answered on the part of the British Government alone; but he might say that the treaties on this subject bound the great Powers of Europe, in conjunction with Turkey, to provide for the election of a native prince.