§ MR. DALGLISHsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, adverting to the statement that a steamer of 3,000 tons and 500 horse power, plated with 4½ inch armour from stem to stern, was launched on Wednesday from the yard of the builders of the Pampero, and said to be the property of the Danish Government, Whether, if such should prove to be the case, the Government will seize her as they have seized the Pampero, or will permit her to sail from the Clyde?
§ MR. LAYARDIn answer, Sir, to the question of my hon. Friend, I will, with the permission of the House, state exactly what took place. Shortly before hostilities broke out between the German Powers and Denmark, the Danish Minister in this country informed the noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Office that a vessel, intended for the purposes of war, was being built in the dockyard to which my hon. Friend alludes. He stated that he had no desire to give Her Majesty's Government any inconvenience or trouble in the matter, and that he would give orders to stop the fitting of the vessel if that were the wish of Her Majesty's Government. The noble Lord thought it would be better to stop her fitting, but the builders remonstrated, and represented that it would be very hard on them, and would cause great inconvenience and loss if they were not allowed to finish the vessel, so as 1252 to enable them to get her off the stocks. The Danish Minister communicated this to the noble Lord, who stated that he had the most implicit reliance in the good faith of the Danish Minister, and that if he would give his word that the vessel should not leave the Clyde, he would consent that she should be finished so as to enable her to leave the stocks. The Danish Minister did give his word, and the vessel was completed, and left the stocks, but is detained in this country until hostilities shall have ceased. I cannot conclude without bearing my testimony to the great loyalty and honourable conduct of the Danish Minister in this matter.