§ MR. CLAYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Is the British Factory at St. Petersburg recognized by Her Majesty's Ambassador or Her Majesty's Consul there; and, docs Her Majesty's Government authorize the levying of a rate on British shipping at Cronstadt and St. Petersburg for the support of a Church which is only recog- 1667 nized by the Russian Government as aChapel attached to the British Embassy?
LORD STANLEY, in reply, said, 'the Russian Company was an association created under a Royal Charter and an Act of Parliament, and it must therefore be recognized by the British Embassy and the British Consul in the same way that any 'Other mercantile association constituted under British law would be. With regard to the charge in question, the rate levied at Cronstadt and St. Petersburg for the support of the Church there, it was matter, he understood, of private agreement among the British mercantile houses engaged in the Russian trade, and, as far as he could ascertain, was not raised under any British authorization. The British Embassy had no control over the collection or distribution of the funds. The whole matter had been inquired into about five years ago. He had received no information, however, on the subject since he took charge of the Foreign Office.