HC Deb 01 March 1878 vol 238 cc536-8
SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF

asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether, during the negotiations for Peace between Russia and Turkey, the attention of Her Majesty's Government, and of the other Powers parties to the Treaties of 1856 and 1871, has been directed to the Declaration signed at London on the 17th of January, 1871, and subsequently adopted by the Government of France, in the following words:— The Plenipotentiaries of North Germany, of Austria-Hungary, of Great Britain, of Italy, of Russia, and of Turkey, assembled to day in Conference, recognize that it is an essential principle of the Law of Nations that no Power can literate itself from the engagements of a Treaty, nor modify the stipulations thereof, unless with the consent of the contracting Powers by means of an amicable arrangement; and, whether any intimation had been conveyed to the Governments of Turkey and Russia to the effect that no engagements taken between them and in any way affecting the stipulations of European Treaties would be valid in International Law until they receive the assent of the other Powers parties to the said Treaties; and that any compact, agreement, or Treaty entered into separately or secretly between the Russian and Turkish Governments affecting such stipulations will be in contravention of the principle of the Law of Nations as laid down by the Declaration in question? The hon. Baronet added that his Question was principally addressed to the news we had received of the re-organization, under a Russian system, of the Bulgarian Principality.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER

Sir, I think the best answer I can give to my hon. Friend is to refer him to what he will find in the Papers already laid on the Table of the House. If he will look at Papers, Turkey, No. 3, 1878, page 5, he/will see that on the 14th of January Her Majesty's Government instructed Lord Augustus Loftus to state to Prince Gortchakoff— That, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, any Treaty concluded between the Government of Russia and the Porte affecting the Treaties of 1856 and 1871 must he an European Treaty, and would not be valid without the assent of the Powers who were parties to those Treaties. Again, in Turkey, No. 5, 1878, page 3, my hon. Friend will see that on the 25th of January Her Majesty's Government issued a Circular Despatch to their Representatives at Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Rome, stating, with reference to the pending peace negotiations between Russia and Turkey, that they could not recognize the validity of the arrangements that might be come to— Unless they shall be made the subject of a formal agreement by the Powers parties to the Treaty of Paris. Her Majesty's Government entertain the hope that the view of the case above stated, which is entirely based upon the Treaties, and more especially upon the Treaty of London of 1871, will receive the assent of the other Powers who were parties to those Treaties. On the 30th of January—Turkey No. 5 —Lord Augustus Loftus telegraphed that he had communicated to the Russian Government the views of Her Majesty's Government as to the validity of the bases of peace, and that Prince Gortchakoff had replied that the bases then being negotiated were— Only to be considered as preliminaries, and not definitive as regarded Europe. His Highness stated categorically that questions bearing on European interests will be concerted with European Powers, and he had given Her Majesty's Government clear and positive assurances to this effect.