§ EARL GRANVILLEMy Lords, I rise for the purpose of putting to my noble Friend the Lord President of the Council (the Duke of Richmond and Gordon) a Question, of which I have given him private Notice, on an important subject; and, in the absence of the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquess of Salisbury), I feel that I can only do so by the indulgence of the House itself. I wish to ask the noble Duke, If he can state to the House whether the Memorandum which appeared last week in a London evening paper, and which purported to be an agreement between the Government of Her Majesty and the Government of Russia, is or is not substantially correct; and, if it should appear that that is really the case, I would also ask my noble Friend if he is in a position to state whether any further information will be given to the House with regard to that paragraph of the Memorandum which applies to the Protectorate of Asia Minor?
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONMy Lords, in answer to the Question which has just been addressed to me by the noble Earl opposite, I have to state that the Document to which he has alluded was evidently furnished to the journal in which it was published by some person who had access to Papers that were confidential. So far as Her Majesty's Government are concerned, the publication of that document was totally unauthorized, and, therefore, surreptitious; and, as an explanation of 1570 the policy of the Government, it is incomplete, and, consequently, inaccurate. At the proper and earliest opportunity, Her Majesty's Government will give the fullest information to Parliament on this subject; but, in the meantime, they must appeal to Parliament, in the public interest, to justify them in declining to answer particular Questions on the matter.
§ EARL GRANVILLEI think I need scarcely assure your Lordships that, in putting the Question to the noble Duke, I had no wish whatever to embarrass Her Majesty's Government, especially at a time like the present. But, if my noble Friend will permit me, I should like to ask him yet another Question—namely, whether the full information which he has just promised will be laid before the House, is likely to be given to us during the course of the negotiations which are now in progress, or when these negotiations come to a termination?
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONI am not prepared at this moment to answer the Question which my noble Friend has just addressed to me.
EARL GREYDo I understand the noble Duke to say that, though the Papers to which the attention of your Lordships has been called were surreptitiously furnished and incomplete, he does not deny that, so far as they go, they are an accurate account of certain transactions which have taken place—or, at least, that they contain the substance of a document which was drawn up and signed at an interview between Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Russian Ambassador in London?
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONIn answer to the noble Earl, I have simply to state that I made no such admission.
LORD HOUGHTONIt appears to me that this question is one of such vast and vital importance, that it would be alike gratifying to the Members of your Lordships' House and desirable in itself, if some more satisfaclory explanation could be given on this subject than that which we have just heard. The noble Duke opposite, in his reply to the Question of the noble Earl (Earl Granville), has left the case pretty much where it originally stood; and I rise 1571 merely to suggest to him that this question is not one between the present Government of England and the Parliament of this country, but one between the Government of England and the whole of Europe. There can be no doubt that the effect produced upon Europe by the publication of the document to which reference has been made has been portentous. In France, especially, the change of public opinion which has taken place in consequence of its appearance has been most notable and most painful, in every way, to the dignity of this country. My Lords, it would not be my desire—and I am certain it would not be the desire of any Member of this House—to throw the slightest embarrassment in the way of Her Majesty's Government upon this matter; but, whatever our opinions may be upon the general question, I think we must all feel that it is a great misfortune that the document which has been alluded to should have appeared at the present time. Even if the conditions mentioned in it are not true—even if the surrender which, according to it, we would require to make, is one to which the people of England would consent—there can be no doubt that it would have been far better for all parties if the document had appeared as the issue and outcome of a general Congress, rather than as the result of a preliminary investigation. My Lords, as the matter now stands before this country and the world, England did not enter the Congress of Berlin with free hands. It stands before Europe, that England went into that International Assembly with a contract which, in the main, abandoned some of the most important points which I, and other Members of your Lordships' House, considered it to be the duty of the Government of this country to maintain; and I am sure that if Her Majesty's Government can give such an explanation of the document as may serve to place England in a more dignified position than that which she at present occupies before Europe, that explanation will be thankfully received by the House generally.
EARL GREYThe noble Duke the Lord President of the Council has stated that I was wrong in understanding him to have admitted that the document recently published was accurate so far as it went; but I really think that your 1572 Lordships have a right to expect a little more from the noble Duke than we have yet heard. It appears to me that we are entitled to know whether that alleged agreement between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Russia is true and correct or not, so far as it goes. I cannot perceive any object to be gained by making a mystery of a document which has all the appearance of an official and authentic Paper. The noble Duke has said that he does not admit it to be authentic; but, at the same time, he has not said that it is not authentic. The noble Duke might go a little further, I think, and distinctly state to the House whether that Memorandum is or is not what it professes to be.
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONThe noble Earl who has just spoken must really allow me to be the best judge of how far I ought to go in this matter. The noble Lord opposite (Lord Houghton), no doubt, entered into various topics which were not alluded to by the noble Earl who introduced the subject; but I think the noble Lord was irregular in the course which he thus adopted. My noble Friend (Earl Granville) asked me a Question as to the authenticity of this particular document. He was good enough to give me Notice in the morning of his intention of putting such a Question, and since then I have had time thoroughly to consider and to weigh the answer which I should give to him. I have given him that answer. I have stated that Her Majesty's Government do not consider it expedient, in the public interest, to enter further into the subject at the present time.