§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the statement that has appeared in the newspapers is correct, that Her Majesty's Government has declined to take part officially in the French Exhibition of 1889; and, whether, if the statement be correct, it is intended that henceforward Her Majesty's Government shall take no official part in any Foreign Exhibitions, or that there are special grounds for the refusal in this particular case?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)I informed the House last Thursday that Her Majesty's Government has declined to take part officially in the French Exhibition of 1889. No such inference as the hon. Member suggests is to be drawn from that fact. In the present case, the date of the proposed Exhibition has been fixed so as to synchronize with the Centenary of, and to commemorate, the French Revolution. It does not appear to Her Majesty's Government appropriate to join officially in celebrating political events in a foreign country, where differences of opinion exist regarding them.