§ MR. FREELANDsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether any application has been made to the Turkish Government for their consent to have laid upon the table of the House the Report of Lord Hobart and Mr. Foster on the Finances of Turkey; whether the: responsibility of withholding that Report rests on the English Government or on the Turkish Government; and, whether that Report has been printed; and, if so, to what class of readers Her Majesty's Government are of opinion that a knowledge of its contents should be confined, at a time when many millions of British capital are being invested in Turkish securities.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONI think, Sir, I stated on a former occasion that the Report in question was presented to the Turkish Government. It was made for the information and use of the Turkish Government, but it was delivered in the first instance to Her Majesty's Government, and was by them sent to Constantinople. I believe it has not yet been translated into a language which the Turkish Ministers can read, it being drawn up in English; and therefore I can hardly say at the present moment that the Turkish Government have knowledge of it. They have it, but not in a form in which they can make use it. The responsibility of not producing it rests so far upon Her Majesty's Government, that we did not think ourselves entitled to publish a Report relating to the financial details of the Turkish administration until the Turkish Government had full cognizance of it and had intimated that they would have no objection to its publication. Whether they may object or not I really am unable to say. The Report has been confidentially printed at the Foreign Office, as is the custom with documents which are intended to be read by Members of the Cabinet. It saves a good deal of time, and is otherwise very convenient to have them thus confidentially printed rather than to multiply manuscript copies for the Members of the Cabinet. But the documents are printed for the confidential use of the Cabinet, and I do not apprehend that any other person has had access to the Report on Turkish finances. If it has reached the hands of any other person, it can only have done so by breach of faith on the part of those who had the custody of it.
§ MR. FREELANDAm I to under- 712 stand that the Turkish Government have received a copy of the report in English?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONYes. The Report itself was sent to Turkey, and it is now being translated into French, which is a language which the Turkish Ministers know. There are very few of them who have sufficient knowledge of English to enable them to read a report in that language.