MR. J. G. HAMILTONasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he can say whether there is any foundation for the statement which has been made abroad that several thousand British subjects took part in the recent insurrection in Paris?
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDSir, Lord Lyons reports that his attention having been called to a statement, alleged to have been made by Prince Bismarck, that upwards of 8,000 British subjects had assisted the Commune in Paris, he took every step in his power to ascertain the truth of that statement. He believes it to be erroneous, and that the number of British subjects who took part in the proceedings of the Commune may be counted by tens and not by thousands. The British Secretaries to the Embassy report that during the progress of the insurrection only one British subject is supposed to have been enrolled amongst the National Guard, and that among the great number of prisoners taken when the insurrection was suppressed, not more than from 15 to 20 British subjects were found among them. Upon inquiry, 1776 it is hoped and believed that evidence accusing them of any complicity in the designs of the Commune can only be proved against one-fifth, at the very outside, of that number.