§ MR. W. E. FORSTERSir, I beg to ask the House for its attention and indulgence for a few moments while I make a short statement on a personal matter. It arises out of an incident which happened yesterday, at the close of the debate on the second reading of the Arrears Bill. I was not in the body of the House at the time. Had I been, I should have 1531 said what I have to say then, and I should have saved the House the trouble of attending to me now. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister called the attention of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for North Lincolnshire (Mr. J. Lowther), who, I am sorry to see, is not in the House. I sent him private Notice, but possibly he may not have received it. My right hon. Friend called his attention to a statement which he was reported to have made in Yorkshire. It was, I think, to the effect that "Mr. Forster's Colleagues were conducting clandestine negotiations, to a great extent, wholly unknown to him." I must admit that I did not read that speech with attention. It was made after I left Yorkshire, when there was no possibility of my replying to it there, and I did not scan every word as I might otherwise have done. But now that the statement has been alluded to in the House, and as I see by the papers this morning that the right hon. Gentleman seems still to adhere to the statement, I think it due, both to my late Colleagues and myself, to say that the right hon. Gentleman has been absolutely misinformed. The fact is, as I have already stated in the House, I was cognizant of the negotiation to which he doubtless alluded, although the time came when I felt I could no longer share any responsibility connected with it. I repeat what I said before as regards this negotiation, that I would not have referred to it if it had not been referred to by others; but, as it was referred to, I felt it my duty to state exactly what I believed to have occurred so far as I was connected with it. If the right hon. Gentleman were in his place, I should ask him to accept my assurance—and I ask the House to accept it—that it is entirely contrary to my belief that there was anything clandestine in the conduct of the Government.
MR. GLADSTONESir, I did not think that I had what may be called any legitimate locus standi yesterday when this matter arose; and, therefore, I remained silent after the explanation of the right hon. Gentleman. I now only rise for the purpose of saying, as my right hon. Friend was not in the House, that what happened was this. The right hon. Gentleman the Member for North Lincolnshire, in reference to something that had fallen from me in a 1532 former speech, expressed his desire to explain something or anything he had said, or to justify anything he might have said, in the course of the Yorkshire election. He produced a considerable number of speeches, apparently cut from newspapers; and he was not aware exactly of what passage he was called upon to sustain and justify. It was under these circumstances, I said, if it was convenient to the right hon. Gentleman—as I had the passage here to which reference had been made—that I would read it. He desired that I should do so, and it was upon that I rose and read the passage brought particularly to my attention. I am much obliged to my right hon. Friend (Mr. W. E. Forster). I regret very much that the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. J. Lowther) is not here; and, as the matter may be referred to hereafter, I shall not allude to it at greater length now. But, as I have been obliged to say this word, I will merely mention that there is a difference between my right hon. Friend the Member for Bradford and myself. He used the word "negotiation" in connection with certain transactions—a very important word. Of course, there is this great difference between us and him—that we should be compelled to deny, and deny entirely, that the word which my right hon. Friend has used is applicable to what took place.
§ MR. CHAPLINSir, I have just this moment received a communication from the right hon. Gentleman the Member for North Lincolnshire, and perhaps the House will allow me to remind them of the cause of his absence on this occasion. In the first place, I assume that he has not received the Notice in time from the right hon. Gentleman. In the second place, I may mention he is steward of the Jockey Club, and therefore steward of Epsom, where, upon the Derby Day, I presume, he is attending to his duties. The House will remember that my right hon. Friend said last night that if the Prime Minister was able to show him that the communications in question, both upon paper or oral, did not bear the interpretation placed on them he should be ready to withdraw them. After the statement of the right hon. Gentleman the late Chief Secretary for Ireland, I am quite unable to say what interpretation my right hon. Friend would place upon them; but as 1533 to the word "negotiations," I think—[Cries of "Order, order!"] If I have the permission of the House, I would like to say, in regard to the word "negotiations"—["Order, order!"]—
§ MR. SPEAKERI think that the hon. Member must feel himself that, in the absence of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for North Lincolnshire, it is not desirable to pursue this matter further.
§ MR. CHAPLINI will not refer to the matter further, Sir.