§ MR. O'CLERYasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If Her Majesty's Government have received any official intelligence relative to the bombardment and destruction of several towns and villages on the Cantabrian coast of Spain by the naval forces of the Alfonsist Government, whereby, according to the reports in the newspapers, thousands of persons have been rendered homeless, and also of the devastation of the corn-producing districts of the north of Spain by the Alfonsist troops; and, whether Her Majesty's Government would make representations to the Government of Madrid, with a view of mitigating the sufferings of the non-combatant population?
§ MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, that Her Majesty's Government had received intelligence of the bombardment of certain villages on the Cantabrian coast and other villages by the Spanish steam frigate Vittoria. As to the statement of the hon. Gentleman, that thousands of persons were rendered homeless, he feared that such results must be expected in a country given up to the calamities of war. As at present advised, he did not think that any representation to the Government of Madrid 222 of the kind referred to in the second part of the hon. Gentleman's Question would have the desired effect.