THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONI wish, Sir, to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer a Question of which I have not given Notice, and I hope the House will allow me to say a few words in explanation of it. I do not wish to move the adjournment of the House; but if it be necessary I will do so. The Question refers to an answer which was given by the right hon. Gentleman yesterday to a Question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxfordshire (Mr. Cartwright) with regard to the Papers on the subject of Greece. The right hon. Gentleman is reported to have said that certain Papers for which my hon. Friend asked could not be produced at present, inasmuch as they referred to negotiations still pending. In the debate on the Address the right hon. Gentleman went in considerable detail into an account of the transactions with regard to the Greek Frontier; and he referred in his speech to certain proposals which had been made by the Government of France, through M. Waddington, on the 19th of December, and which were renewed by M. de Freycinet on the 7th of January. He also stated that Lord Salisbury had, in the course of January, made a proposal for an International European Commission, which, in his opinion, would form a more satisfactory mode of bringing this matter to a conclusion; and he added that the result of these negotiations would be indicated in the Papers shortly to be laid upon the Table. Since that time, two Questions have been put to Her Majesty's Government by Members on this side of the House, evidently pointing, and intended to point, to the Papers referred to by the right hon. Gentleman, and the answers which were given have been such as to lead us to suppose that as soon as the Papers were complete they would be laid upon the Table, and that the Correspondence relating to these matters would be included. The right hon. Gentleman is, however, reported to have said yesterday 1209 that these Papers, for the production of which my hon. Friend asked, related to negotiations which have not been concluded, and therefore could not, in accordance with the usual practice, be produced. The Question I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman is, Whether he adheres to that answer; and whether we are to understand that until these negotiations are brought to a conclusion—which the House will see may be a very long time—we are to have no further information than that which is contained in the Greek Papers already presented? If so, I think the House is entitled to some explanation why the right hon. Gentleman referred in his speech, contrary to the usual practice, to Papers which he was not prepared to lay upon the Table of the House.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERI have referred back to what I stated in the debate on the Address, and I see that, in answer to some observations that had been made, I stated the general position at that time of the negotiations with regard to the Greek and Turkish Frontier. There had been some misapprehension as to what had taken place; and in order to state what the case was, I informed the House that the matter had been lately under the discussion of the Greek and Turkish Commissioners at Constantinople, and that the details would be contained in Papers that would be very soon presented to the House. I then said that the first meeting was held on the 7th of November, and that other meetings were from time to time suggested, but were put off until the 29th of December, at which time the Conference seemed to have come to an end. In the meanwhile, on the 19th of December, M. Waddington communicated to Her Majesty's Government the proposal of a line of Frontier which he recommended, and that proposal was submitted to the other Great Powers. I then explained what took place in consequence of the resignation of the French Ministry; and I stated that M. de Freycinet had informed Lord Lyons that the French Government adhered to M. Waddington's proposal, and that Lord Salisbury had since discussed the matter with the French Ambassador, and that the result would be found in one of the Papers which would be presented to the House, in which Lord Salisbury expressed himself in favour of proceeding 1210 by an International European Commission. I stated that the matter would be more clearly shown by Papers which would be laid upon the Table; and I probably led the House to suppose that in the first Paper that would be presented those proceedings would be included. I can hardly say from memory whether it was in my mind that that would be the case, or whether it would be possible to lay on the Table the Papers containing all those proceedings. That was stated on the 5thof February; but, four days afterwards, the hon. Member for Birmingham (Mr. Chamberlain) put a Question to me when the Papers promised with reference to the Greek Question would be laid upon the Table: and in answer to that the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said they were in print, and would be issued soon; but active negotiations were at present going on between the Powers. Therefore, it would be impossible to lay the Papers on the Table until the negotiations were terminated. That is in accordance with the general practice, that whilst negotiations are going on Papers with reference to them ought not to be presented, and especially that they could not be presented without the concurrence of the French and other Governments concerned in the matter. I had thought, when speaking in February, that we might have been able to bring the matter to such a point that the Papers could all have been laid together, and that the negotiations would have been sufficiently advanced for that purpose. But when we were pressed by the hon. Member for Birmingham the Foreign Office found it impossible to lay on the Table those which were connected with negotiations that were then pending; and the result has been that, in order not to delay information which could be presented to the House with regard to that part of the proceedings which had terminated, we laid Papers bringing the matter down to the end of last year; but it was impossible to include in those Papers the Papers that had reference to the new negotiations which were taken up on the basis suggested by Lord Salisbury. That is the explanation of any discrepancy that may appear in the answers that have been given on the subject.
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONI do not wish to be unduly pertinacious 1211 in this matter; but I wish to make an appeal to the right hon. Gentleman, as no representative of the Foreign Office is present, to impress upon the Foreign Office to give as soon as possible so much of the Papers relating to these negotiations as may be possible. We know very well that Papers are frequently produced bearing upon negotiations before those negotiations are absolutely and finally concluded. Now, the Papers which have been presented contain no information whatever as to the negotiations with regard to Greece which have passed between the Powers. They are simply a record of the abortive negotiations which took place between the Turkish and Greek Commissioners. It is quite evident that when the Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke on the 5th of February he did not have it in his mind that any public inconvenience could be caused by the production of these despatches. If it had been otherwise, he would not have referred to Papers which he was not prepared to lay upon the Table. I cannot help thinking, also, that although the negotiations may not have been entirely concluded, and although some Papers cannot possibly be produced, it would be in the power of the Foreign Office, before the new Parliament re-assembles, to give some information as to what has taken place. I only press the right hon. Gentleman to make inquiry as to whether some information cannot be given upon this important question.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERI will endeavour to ascertain from the Foreign Office, before the House meets to-morrow, whether any of the Papers could at this stage of the negotiations be produced.