HC Deb 29 July 1864 vol 176 cc2188-9
SIR HARRY VERNEY

said, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether (France and England having placed on record that in their opinion no satisfactory settlement of the Schleswig-Holstein Question can be arrived at otherwise than, with the consent of the populations of those countries, either through their constitutional organs or in some other way, and Prussia having made proposals during the Conference which implied that she shared that opinion) Her Majesty's Government have, in conjunction with that of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, taken steps to urge on the Government of Prussia the propriety of not departing from that principle, and the importance, in the interests of European peace, of acting upon it as speedily as possible?

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

No, Sir; as long as the British Government were acting in Conference in conjunction with the other Neutral Powers, of course proposals and suggestions were made; but the Conference being over, negotiations have terminated and the negotiations being now conducted between the belligerent parties, it is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to interfere further in the matter.

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