HC Deb 24 July 1863 vol 172 cc1358-9
MR. DARBY GRIFFITH

said, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, in any statement which he may have recently been understood to have made on the subject of Poland, it was the intention of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in any way to recede from or modify the declarations made by him to the Russian Ambassador, as recorded in his second Despatch of the 10th April, 1863, in which, after saying that the intentions of Her Majesty's Government were not otherwise than pacific, he continues, "but the state of things might change; the present overture of Her Majesty's Government might be rejected, as the representation of the 2nd March had been rejected, by the Imperial Government. The insurrection in Poland might continue, and might assume larger proportions, the atrocities on both sides might be aggravated and extended to a wider range of country. If, in such a state of affairs, the Emperor of Russia were to take no steps of a conciliatory nature, dangers and complications might arise not at present in contemplation"?

MR. LAYARD

said, he was at a loss to know what answer he should give to the Question of the hon. Gentleman, He could only state that he had no reason to believe that the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs had said anything at variance with what he had written upon that subject.