§ MR. GOURLEYsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If there is any reason for retaining, at a cost of £2.000 a-year, a Consul General or Minister Plenipotentiary in Hamburg, considering that that City has been since the events of 1866, a part of the North German Confederation, and therefore not in a position to contract Military or Commercial Treaties?
MR. OTWAYsaid, in reply, that when this Question was considered by Her Majesty's Government during the Recess, they were of opinion, having regard to the altered state of things in the North of Germany, that it was no longer necessary to maintain a diplomatic representative at Hamburg. Before the opening of Parliament, therefore, a despatch was addressed to Colonel Ward, the Minister resident there, informing him of this opinion, and fixing a day for the termination of his mission.