MR. ASHMEAD-BAETLETTasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he is cognizant of the contents of the Blue Book distributed on the 25th inst. in which circumstantial and authentic details are given of the persecution and cruelty to which the unfortunate Mussulman population of Bulgaria and Roumelia have been and are still subject; and, whether, in view of the information contained therein, he has modified his judgment regarding the condition of the Mahometan population in those provinces?
MR. GLADSTONEThe hon. Gentleman, I observe, has altered the Question; but I will reply to it as well as I can after hearing the words which he has used. I am generally cognizant of the character and contents of the Blue Book to which he refers, and I regard them with great pain. As to my judgment regarding the condition of the Mahometan population in Bulgaria and Roumelia, I cannot modify it, because I have not been able to form one, not feeling myself in a position to form, as, perhaps, the hon. Member has, a clear idea of the full condition of the Mussulman population in those Provinces. All that I said on a former evening was that I declined to be a party to the assertions which appeared to me to be clearly involved in the former inquiry of the hon. Gentleman—one of which was that the majority of the Mahometan population had been exterminated, and the other of which was that they had been reduced to slavery. I declined to be a party to these expressions. The state of the case I have not, I think, clearly conveyed to the mind of the hon. Member. Naturally enough the practice has been, as incidents of a painful character have been reported home, to direct particular remonstrances or expostulations to be made. That is is a mode of proceeding which is all very well up to a certain time, but which, if continued and repeated too long, loses efficacy altogether, and absolutely becomes unreal. The course, therefore, we have thought it right to take is this—We have thought it right to adopt what we believe may be 532 efficacious in acquiring a full and clear view of the state of the case from information of undoubted authority. The hon. Gentleman must be quite aware, as I am, that many of the reports we receive from the Provinces—for instance, the reports from the Greek population regarding the conduct of the Bulgarians, or the reports from the Bulgarians with reference to the conduct of the Greek population—cannot be received without a great deal of care and caution. What we have done is—we have included in the instructions to Mr. Goschen a particular injunction to consider, on his arrival at Constantinople, whether it would not be well that he should despatch one of the thoroughly confidential persons in immediate connection with the Embassy, and directly responsible to him, to obtain such information upon the general state of the question as may enable him distinctly to advise us as to the course we should adopt.