§ MR. LAYARDsaid, he wished to put three questions to the noble Lord at the head of the Government. Last Tuesday week the noble Lord said that he could not state whether any acknowledgment would be made of the services of Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch; and he begged now to ask whether a communication had been made to those gentlemen, offering them £1,000 each, which offer had been indignantly rejected. He also wished to ask whether the Government had now received any confirmation with regard to a treaty between Russia and Persia, to which he had alluded on former occasions? And also, whether the negotiations with the Persian Ambassador at Paris had terminated, and when the papers on the subject would be laid on the table?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, in answer to the first question of the hon. Gentleman, I have to say it is true that an offer has been made to Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch of the nature described by the hon. Gentleman. The offer was declined, not indignantly, but very courteously, and in kind language. With regard to the treaty to which the hon. Gentleman has referred, I have the satisfaction of stating to him and the House, on the authority of the Russian Minister at this Court, and on that of the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, that there is no foundation whatever for the report that such a treaty is in existence; to use the words of the Russian Minister at this Court, "the whole is an entire fable." With regard to the negotiations at Paris, they are not yet concluded, but are still going on. No one knows better than my hon. Friend how slow Orientals are in matters of this kind, 1489 and as the negotiations are still going on I am sure my hon. Friend and the House will see the necessity of not entering into any discussion which is likely to interfere with those negotiations.