HC Deb 05 May 1871 vol 206 cc269-70
SIR ROWLAND BLENNERHASSETT

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether any Correspondence took place between the English Government and the Governments of France, Austria, Prussia, and the smaller German States, in reference to the demand made in August 1866 by the French Government on the Cabinet of Berlin to cede to France the fortress of Mayence and a portion of the Rhenish provinces of the Prussian Monarchy; and, if such a Correspondence exists, whether there is any objection to lay it upon the Table of the House?

VISCOUNT ENFIELD

Sir, there were rumours in the autumn of 1866 that France had claimed the cession of Mayence as compensation for the aggrandizement of Prussia in Germany, but they presently subsided, and there is no Correspondence which could be published on the subject.