§ LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILLasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether in making or sanctioning any proposals for annexing of portions of Turkish territory to Greece, Her Majesty's Government have taken any steps to ascertain whether such annexation will be acceptable to the population of the districts proposed to be thus ceded; if so, what is the nature of such steps, and whether the Correspondence detailing them can be laid upon the Table; and, whether the text of the Petitions addressed to the Conference of Berlin by the inhabitants of several districts in Albania and Thessaly can be presented to Parliament?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, Her Majesty's Government have taken steps to ascertain the feeling of the population in the territory proposed to be ceded. Her Majesty's Government have every reason to believe that the Christian population, which in the territory which was the subject of the proposals of Berlin amounted to six-sevenths of the whole, and which in Thessaly alone formed a much larger proportion, is unanimously in favour of annexation; and Her Majesty's Government hope that any Mussulmans who may be transferred to Greek rule will enjoy better security for life and property than at present, and will receive those ample guarantees in regard to their religion and their civil and political rights which were stipulated for by Lord Odo Russell at the fifth meeting of the Conference at Berlin. The Petitions addressed to the Conference were not sent to the respective Governments; but their titles and purport are printed with the Protocols in the Parliamentary Papers, Greece, No. 3, 1880.
§ LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILLasked the hon. Baronet whether further Papers would be published before Easter?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, I think it highly improbable that Papers upon the subject will be laid on the Table before Easter. It is the desire of all the Ambassadors now at Constantinople that the strictest secrecy shall be observed with regard to their proceedings.