HC Deb 27 February 1865 vol 177 cc749-50
SIR HARRY VERNEY

wished to ask the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Whether the following passage from a Despatch of Earl Russell's, of January 27, which has been published in some English papers, and commented upon by certain foreign newspapers, is authentic, namely:— If Austria should allow Prussia to dispose of the Duchies as she pleases, serious complications would be brought on in Europe, the responsibility for which would naturally fall on Austria; and further, that the destiny of the Duchies can only be legally settled by the Confederation, and that Power which should usurp for itself the disposition of them, without their consent, would commit a most arbitrary act.

MR. LAYARD

replied that he was much obliged to his hon. Friend for giving him the opportunity of stating that the despatch was a pure invention. No such despatch had been written, nor any despatch similar or approaching to it.