§ MR. BOWYERsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is true that military deserters and other fugitives, subjects of the Emperor of Austria, are being, or have been, lately received and enrolled as soldiers by the Sardinian Government; also, whether Her Majesty's Government have any information regarding the object of that enrolment; and whether Her Majesty's Government have offered any and what advice to the Sardinian Government on the subject with reference to the preservation of the peace of Europe?
MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALDsaid, he regretted to say that Her Majesty's Government had been informed that arrangements had been made by the Sardinian Government for the reception and enrolment of military deserters or refugees from the Austrian army. With respect to the object of that enrolment, the hon. Member was as able to judge as Her Majesty's Government. With regard to the advice which had been tendered on the subject, he had to state that Her Majesty's Government had in the most urgent way impressed on the Sardinian Government that they ought, in the present delicate state of affairs, to take no step that should give umbrage or cause any remonstrance on the part of Austria—that it was absolutely necessary for the preservation of the peace of Europe that the most pacific measures should be pursued.