§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFSir, I beg to ask my hon. Friend the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a Question of which I have given him private Notice. It is, Whether any answer has been received to the telegraphic despatch sent to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Vienna (Sir Henry Elliot), asking him if he was at liberty to give the name of the authority who stated that Prince Gortchakoff would not submit the proposal for the retrocession of Bessarabia by Roumania to the Conference or Congress, and whether he is able now to give the name of the "trustworthy authority," the informant?
§ MR. BOURKESir, in reply to the Question of my hon. Friend, I have to state that we have received an answer to the telegram sent yesterday on the subject referred to; and, in consequence of that telegram, I am able now to state that the trustworthy authority alluded to was the Roumanian agent at Vienna.
§ MR. JOHN BRIGHTWill the hon. Gentleman state whether that was the agent to whom the declaration was made at St. Petersburg?
§ MR. BOURKEIt was not.
§ MR. JOHN BRIGHTThen he is an intermediary?
§ MR. BOURKEThe right hon. Gentleman must have forgotten the despatch. It said, "a trustworthy person." The Roumanian agent at St. Petersburg had been informed of it by Prince Gortchakoff, but the trustworthy person referred to was the Roumanian agent at Vienna.
MR. GLADSTONEIs it known how the Roumanian agent at Vienna got his 477 information? Was it from the Roumanian agent at St. Petersburg?
§ MR. BOURKEThat I am unable to state, because it is not in the telegram we have received; but if the right hon. Gentleman desires further information, I dare say I shall be able to give it to-morrow.