§ MR. W. H. JAMESasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he will lay upon the Table, any Consular or other official Reports concerning the recent outrages on Jews in Russia, which Her Majesty's Government may have received?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEYes, Sir.
§ MR. SERJEANT SIMONasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government has received any official accounts of the persecutions and the outrages which the Jews in Russia have suffered for several months past; whether the correspondence will be laid upon the Table of the House; and, whether it is possible for Her Majesty's Government in any manner to exercise its friendly influence with the Russian Government on behalf of the Jews?
MR. GLADSTONEMy hon. and learned Friend by this Question has called my attention to a subject to which no man of ordinary feeling can refer without sentiments of the utmost pain and horror; and if I do not enter into detail on such a subject beyond what is necessary for a reply to the Question, I am sure my hon. and learned Friend will feel there is a duty of reserve incumbent on me in the Office I have the honour to hold, which is special in comparison with that which attaches to other individuals differently situated. Now, as to the first part of the Question of my hon. and learned Friend, it has been substantially answered in the reply to a previous Question which was made by my hon. Friend the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. There is a verbal matter which I ought, perhaps, to mention. If I were to say that the Correspondence would be laid upon the Table of the House, it might possibly give rise to some misapprehension. This is a subject upon which—there being no official locus standi for Her Majesty's Government in regard to a matter purely internal and under the control of another Government—it would not, strictly speaking, be made the subject of an official inquiry. On the other hand, it is the duty of Her Majesty's Consuls in foreign countries to report, for the information of Her Majesty's Government, all matters which may come within the circle of their knowledge upon subjects 245 of public interest, whether painful or otherwise. Reports have, therefore, been made to Her Majesty's Government, which have, a few minutes ago, been laid upon the Table of the House. My hon. and learned Friend asks me whether it would be possible for Her Majesty's Government in any manner to exercise its friendly influence with the Russian Government on behalf of the Jews. My hon. and learned Friend puts that Question in the belief that whatever opinion we may entertain, and whatever may be the causes of the deplorable outrages which naturally arouse his sympathies, the Government of the country in which they have occurred must, and does, regard them with the same feelings as ourselves. When a case of this kind occurs, deeply interesting to us, as well as to that country and humanity at large, it is often in the power of Ministers, situated as the Foreign Ministers of this country are, to effect something that may be useful by unofficial, friendly, and private communications, taking care that they strictly observe the due limits of the position which they hold, but able on that very account, perhaps, to exercise the most beneficial influence. But my hon. and learned Friend will at once perceive that to make either engagements to offer such communications, or still more to make them the subject of announcements in an official capacity to the House of Commons, would deprive any action of that kind of the hope of beneficial effects. My noble Friend (Earl Granville) entertains feelings of interest and sympathy on this subject as warmly and strongly as any man, and will endeavour, on any due and promising occasion, to give effect to those feelings; yet he certainly will abstain from anything that would arouse the jealousy either of foreign Governments or peoples, on this ground even beyond any other—that if he were to mistake his position, so far from being advantageous, it would be positively detrimental to the object he has in view.