HC Deb 17 May 1877 vol 234 cc1102-3
MR. E. JENKINS

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government are aware that after the Conference at Constantinople, and before the negotiations preceding the Protocol of London, the Government of the Sublime Porte had itself propounded or suggested its willingness to send a Special Envoy to St. Petersburg to treat on the subjects of disarmament or demobilisation; and, whether the phrase in the Russian declaration attached to the Protocol, viz., qu'elle envoie à St. Petersbourg un Envoyé Spécial pour traitor du désarmement, auquel Sa Majesté L'Empereur consentirait aussi de son coté, was more than a reference to this previous suggestion or proposal of the Porte?

MR. BOURKE

I am afraid I can only inform the hon. Member for Dundee that we have no information at the Foreign Office with respect to the willingness of the Sublime Porte at any time to send a Special Envoy to St. Petersburg, beyond that which is contained in the Papers which have been laid upon the Table.