§ MR. NORMAN (Wolverhampton,'S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government has any reason to believe that other European Governments would agree to regard as neutral a ship canal in Central America occupied and fortified by the United States Government; whether Her Majesty's Government has reason to believe that the Republic of Nicaragua accepts the view expressed by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, that the relationship between the United States and Nicaragua is analagous to that between Turkey and Egypt at the time of the construction of the Suez Canal, namely, the relationship between suzerain and vassal; and whether Her Majesty's Government understands that the United States Government associates itself with the protocol signed by all the Great Powers of Europe at the London Conference on 13th March, 1871, to the effect that it is an essential part of the law of nations that no Power can liberate itself from the engagements of a Treaty except with the assent of the contracting parties, by means of an amicable arrangement.
§ VISCOUNT CRANBORNEWith regard to the first paragraph of the question no communication whatever has passed between Her Majesty's Government and other European Governments upon the subject. We think that no useful purpose will be served by dealing with paragraphs 2 and 3 at the present moment.