§ LORD DORCHESTERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, By whose authority—and for what reasons, the leave of Captain Burnaby, of the Royal Horse Guards, granted by Her Majesty to travel in Russia and Asia, was rescinded; and by whom the cost of a telegram conveying an order to that officer to return was borne? He said that in putting these Questions, of which he had given Notice a week ago to the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he wished to disclaim all intention of raising any political question or causing any controversy between the two sides of the House. He was aware that the discussion in reference to the atrocities perpetrated in Bulgaria had created a great deal of interest, and he only regretted that, side by side with the compendious Blue Books on the subject and the able Report of Mr. Baring, they had not a list of the horrors that occurred in Poland in 1863, and the like of which he believed had also occurred in Circassia. He had read a letter from a remote town in Asia Minor in which it was stated that Bashi-Bazouks had returned from Bulgaria, and the vindictive propensities which were displayed in Bulgaria had been aroused by the remembrance of what took place in their country when it was subjugated. But it was not his wish to open up a sore which they all hoped was in process of being healed; and speaking from those (the Opposition) benches, he believed that the Government were entitled to the greatest consideration and a favourable verdict for the firmness and moderation and dignity with which they had conducted the affairs of the Conference at Constantinople. It had been said by a great master of the English tongue that "it is not in mortals to command success;" but he felt sure that the Government had done what they could to deserve it. He had not, however, risen to address their Lordships on that subject, but to ask two Questions which affected, he thought, the basis of the individual and personal liberty of every Englishman who sought recreation abroad, and liberty to travel under the passport of the British Foreign Secretary. In this instance they had a British 1746 officer who applied to the commanding officer of his regiment, that application was forwarded to the Brigade office, thence to the Divisional office, and thence to the Horse Guards, and from the Horse Guards to the War Office. [A laugh.] That, at least, was the system when he knew it, and he had some experience; and he did not know that the recent alterations in our military system had had the effect of simplifying matters —he should rather say the reverse. Well, this officer openly and avowedly sent in his application, which passed through all the necessary channels, and eventually what was called "Queen's leave" was granted to him to proceed to Russia and Asia. The officer left in the most undisguised manner and proceeded to St. Petersburg, where he took up his quarters at one of the principal hotels. He took letters of introduction from the Russian Ambassador here to his brother at St. Petersburg, and called upon the British Ambassador and the military attaché; and he (Lord Dorchester) could not imagine how more publicity could have been given, or a more open announcement of his intentions made than were made by Captain Burnaby. He proceeded by railway as far as the last station on the route, at Orenburg, and finally rode some 900 miles across the Desert. He was not bound, either as a British officer, or a man of honour, to specify to the Russian Government at what precise point he was going to emerge from their Empire into the neighbouring territory of the Khan of Khiva—but what he did, he did without taking advice or permission from the Russian Minister. In that consisted the sin and offence of Captain Burnaby. When he was at Khiva, he received a message by two Tartars telling him that he was to return to the fort of Petro Alexandrovsk, where a message was awaiting him from His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief. That he (Lord Dorchester) believed was the tenor of the message; but, at any rate, a message awaited him from England. Believing in the honour and truthfulness of the parties from whom he received this message, he accompanied the Tartars back to Fort Alexandrovsk. The two Tartars never allowed him out of their sight; and, further, he learned at Khiva that the Khan had heard of his enforced departure, and that a party was to escort him to 1747 the fort. It was little more than an open arrest—it was very like sending a common soldier with a file of men to the rear. At Petro Alexandrovsk a communication was made to him by the commandant, stating that he was to return to his country by the way which he came, and that he had strict orders to refuse him permission to proceed as he wished, either through Tashkend or by the Caspian Sea—than which he (Lord Dorchester) could not imagine more harmless routes. There might be some difficulty in determining the precise limits of the leave granted to Captain Burnaby, but he was not aware that he exceeded the limit permitted when he went to travel in Russia and Asia; and he did not think that the Commander-in-Chief would punish him for exceeding it by about 20 miles, the extent to which he travelled beyond the Russian boundary. Captain Burnaby had a great knowledge of Arabic, and was a first-rate Russian scholar; and he regretted that when he (Lord Dorchester) was in the Crimean War in 1854 he had not that knowledge, for he might say that the number of Englishmen in the Crimea who could speak the Russian language might be counted on their fingers. He did not think that the knowledge of languages was an objectionable acquirement to officers of the British Army—he thought that nothing could be better than that English officers should learn modern languages — it would be much better for them than the new-fangled examinations of officers. If they could only put them through their facings as a drill-sergeant did the recruits, it would be more useful than so many examinations. A very curious thing happened to him that day. He went to a certain scientific society to ascertain the exact distance that Captain Burnaby had travelled under his passport. The gentleman with whom he conversed said—"Of course, you have not come for the purpose of making the examination paper public—but your inquiry bears directly upon a question which is going to be put in an examination in one of the Departments." That gentleman gave him the distance from St. Petersburg to Khiva as about 2,300 English miles. The Questions he desired to put to the noble Earl were of serious importance, and he only put them from the sense of dignity which was due 1748 to officers in the English Service. No British subject should have been treated in this manner, far less a British officer so accomplished a linguist, and so conversant in the manners and customs of Oriental nations, who had such a laudable spirit of inquiry and so great intrepidity as had been exhibited by Captain Burnaby, who, travelling quite alone without any English servant, with merely those servants whom he could pick up in the country through which he was attempting to push his way—travelling in the East as Edwards, Burns, Abbett, Stoddart, and Conolly had done before him. Such an expedition was not considered a crime in the days of Lord William Bentinck, and he did not see it should be considered a crime now-a-days. He should not have put the Questions if he had been able to discover the reasons for the conduct that had been pursued. If their Imperial Ally had thought it necessary to stop Captain Burnaby, he should have done this before he left the Russian territory. It could only be for one of three reasons that Captain Burnaby had been sent back—having misconducted himself in this country; or secondly, having misconducted himself in that country; or thirdly, that the exigencies of the public service of this country required him at home. Those were the only three reasons which he could find for what had been done. He had no doubt the noble Earl would enlighten their Lordships on these points. He should regret if it were spread abroad in the East that a captain of the Queen's Guard—a man of high rank, who had become friendly with the Khan of Khiva, and, indeed, upon the best possible terms with him, for on the very morning he was recalled he had received as a present a dressing-gown from that Chief—should have been sent home in a manner in which a guardsman left a public-house with a corporal's picquet. He begged to ask the Questions of which he had given Notice.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYI think your Lordships are much indebted to the noble Lord for putting these Questions, and for the amount of entertainment which he has extracted out of matter extremely simple, and not of very large or general interest. I am glad that the feelings which seem to exist in the noble Lord's mind are not shared in by your 1749 Lordships generally, or, as I hope, by other persons out-of-doors. The noble Lord has spoken in high terms of the merits of Captain Burnaby; but he has evidently put a construction upon what has been done which is entirely different from that which the War Office, or those who are aware of all the circumstances, can accept as just. The noble Lord has spoken of the high character of Captain Burnaby, and with that I entirely agree. I have always heard him spoken of as a very efficient officer; and—though I am not acquainted with him personally—I believe that he is a very popular officer; and to these qualifications he adds the distinction of being an adventurous traveller and a successful writer. And, I may now say, once for all, without enlarging on the point, that there is absolutely no offence charged against him, nor the slightest stigma put upon him by the course which has been adopted. The noble Lord speaks of Captain Burnaby having been treated—as I understand—in an ignominious manner by Russian officers, or other persons in the Russian service who were appointed to accompany him on his return home. He also spoke of the conduct adopted towards Captain Burnaby by the Russian authorities, and of his being placed under arrest; and he likened the manner in which, he says, Captain Burnaby was brought back to this country to the taking away of a soldier from a public-house by his comrades.
§ LORD DORCHESTERI read it from his book.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYI have not had the pleasure of reading his book, and therefore cannot decide how far these remarks are justified; but what I can say on the subject is this—that if Captain Burnaby has any complaint to make against the Russian authorities, small or great, with regard to their treatment of him, let him make it to the Foreign Office, and we will take care that if he has in any way been improperly treated reparation shall be asked for. More than that I cannot promise. I cannot hold myself and the Government responsible for acts done by foreign Governments or their agents, when no complaint of those acts has reached us at the Foreign Office. The noble Lord went out of his way to vindicate the conduct of Captain Burnaby in matters in which I have never 1750 heard it attacked. I never denied that he had gone on his journey publicly, and not in a secret or underhand manner. I cannot, however, agree with the contention of the noble Lord when he says that the recall of Captain Burnaby from his travels was a personal slight put upon him, and that because the route he contemplated following was laid down, and he had permission to travel on leave, we had no right to interfere with his movements. If Captain Burnaby had not held an appointment under the State, but had been a private person, we should have had no right to interfere with his movements; but he was an officer of the Queen, to whom leave had been granted, and it is impossible to say of a person so situated, when political considerations render it necessary or desirable that he should be recalled, that it can be considered in the light of a violation of his personal liberty to require his return. The simple facts are these: —The first we heard of Captain Burnaby was from our Ambassador at St. Petersburg on the 18th December, 1875. He stated that a British officer had passed through St. Petersburg without communicating with the Embassy. There may have been some misunderstanding about that, as there is contradictory evidence on the point, but that is the statement which I received. Of course he had a right to report himself or not at the Embassy as he thought fit. But he applied direct to the Russian Minister of War, who promised to give him facilities for travelling throughout the Russian dominions, but said he could not give his consent to his crossing the Russian frontier into the independent Central Asian States, inasmuch as it would be impossible for the Russian Government to guarantee his personal security beyond the Russian lines. It was afterwards reported from St. Petersburg that Captain Burnaby had passed over the Russian frontier into Central Asia, and was then travelling among the independent States, visiting on his way the capital of Khokand, which country was at that time at war with Russia; and it seemed to us undesirable that a journey of that kind should be undertaken through those independent provinces bordering on the frontier of Russia by a person who was known to be a British officer; because it was certain to lead to misconstruction by Russia on the 1751 one hand, and by the native populations on the other. Captain Burnaby was a British officer, and I need hardly tell your Lordships that the notion of a man in that position travelling through a wild and dangerous country on his own account, without orders, for the mere love of information and adventure was a thing entirely unintelligible to Oriental people. He would be regarded as a political agent, and any denial of the fact, so far from causing it to be disbelieved, would only have created greater belief in its truth; any outbreak occurring in those parts would have been ascribed to the intrigues of this British agent; the mere presence of such a person amongst them would have led to rumours of foreign interference, and these rumours again, probably, to disturbances amongst the people. But more than that; if any mishap had befallen Captain Burnaby himself the Russian Government would have disclaimed all responsibility, and the British Government would have found it practically impossible to interfere with effect. The noble Lord says it will not redound to our credit when it is stated all over Asia that a British officer has been turned back on a journey of this sort; but I think it would be much less to our credit if a British officer, known to be such, had been murdered, or detained for ransom, by a barbarous people not far from the Indian frontier. It would not have been possible to have allowed such an insult to pass by without notice; yet it would have been practically impossible to send an expedition to release him or to obtain redress. That has been felt so strongly by the Indian Government on similar occasions that they have done, more than once, precisely what the Russian authorities did—they have discouraged and tried to prevent to the utmost of their power a British subject adventuring without permission amongst the semi-barbarous frontier tribes. I have nothing more to add; but will repeat that Captain Burnaby was not a private tourist, but an officer on leave, who was recalled for reasons of a political nature. As to the message sent to him, it was simply a message to return home. Of what was done to him by the local authorities I know nothing. As to the question by whose authority was he recalled, of course it was by the act of the military authorities; but the re- 1752 sponsibility rests with the Foreign Office. As to the last part of the Question—by whom the cost of the telegram conveying the order to return is to be borne—I am not prepared to answer it further than this—that the telegram between London and St. Petersburg was on the public service, and will be charged upon the public funds. As to what was the precise mode of transmission between St. Petersburg and Khiva I am not aware; but I have no doubt that information can be obtained if the noble Lord wishes to have it.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYI do not like to answer that question offhand, but my impression is that it reached him either through the Russian War Office, or direct from the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg. I may say, once for all, that I have never received at any time any communication on this subject from the Russian authorities.