MR. BRUCEI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury the following Question, of which I have given him Private Notice:—If it is true, as stated in the public journals, that Her Majesty's Government has declined to join in the new proposals made to the Porte by the Northern Powers at the recent Conference at Berlin?
§ MR. DISRAELIYes, Sir; it is true that Her Majesty's Government have been unable to concur in the proposals which have been drawn up by the Governments of Russia, Austria, and Germany, and addressed to the Porte, and which since have been acquiesced in by the Governments of France and Italy; but we have no information at present that those proposals have been formally communicated to the Porte, and until we have that information I think it would not be fair to the Powers concerned if we placed the proposals on the Table.