§ MR. WATKINsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Mr. Burnley Hume is still in charge of the Embassy at Washington; and, if so, when Her Majesty's Ambassador, Lord Lyons, may be expected to resume his duties?
§ MR. LAYARDSir, I should very much regret if the Question of my hon. Friend inferred any reflection upon Lord Lyons for not being at his post; but I rejoice at this opportunity of bearing my testimony to the singular zeal, tact, discretion, and ability with which Lord Lyons has carried on the business of this country at Washington during a most critical and important period. Of the many thousand cases with which Lord Lyons has had to deal in no one single instance has he not received the entire approval of Her Majesty's Government; and it may, perhaps, interest the House to hear the amount of business that has been transacted during the last three or four years by the Washington Embassy. The correspondence of one year fills sixty large folio volumes. In 319 less than three years there were 13,948 entries in our registries. Those were of single despatches. Nearly all of them contained inclosures, and one despatch contained no less than 203 inclosures. It took the gentleman who drew up the list of British claims last year no less than six weeks to prepare it. I think that, looking at this enormous amount of labour, it is not surprising that the health of Lord Lyons should have broken down. He is now in this country on leave of absence, and I am quite sure that the House would not think it right or proper for Her Majesty's Government to press him for a decision as to whether he should return to his post at Washington or not. Mr. Burnley Hume is conducting the business of the Embassy at Washington with the entire approval of Her Majesty's Government.