MR. GIBSON BOWLES () Lynn RegisI beg to ask the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have observed the statement in the North German Gazette to the effect that the chief object of German anticipations is to bring home certain lessons to Holland, that Holland is alarmed at the spectacle of the fate which has overtaken the Spanish colonies at the hands of America and by the action of England in South Africa, that dangers to Holland would be obviated and advantages secured if Holland would take steps to obtain an offensive and defensive alliance and a customs union with Germany by entering into the same relations with the German Empire as were maintained with Prussia by the South German States between 1866 and 1870, and that a union of this nature would be of equal advantage for the position of Germany as a great Power for her influence on the seas and for her colonial sphere of commercial activity; whether Her Majesty's Government have now any information as to communications or negotiations having passed between the Government of the Netherlands and the German Government 224 in connection with the hostilities proceeding in South Africa, having reference to the relations between these two Powers; and whether they have any reason to anticipate that the project of an alliance between Holland and Germany, or of the inclusion of Holland in the German Empire, is under consideration by the Government of the Netherlands.
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. BRODRICK,) Surrey, GuildfordThe answer to the first question is in the affirmative, and to the two remaining questions in the negative.