§ MR. BURDETT-COUTTS (West-minister)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state whether any secret agreement was signed in the year 1844, or at any other time, byt Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Aberdeen, and the Czar of Russia.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord CRANBORNE,) RochesterNo trace of any such agreement can be found in the Archives of the Foreign Office, nor in the collection of Treaties and Conventions between Russia and Great Britain published officially by the Russian Government. It was stated by Lord Aberdeen in the House of Lords on 504 the 13th March, 1854, that the communications which the Emperor Nicholas had had with him and the Duke of Wellington were verbal and that he was not aware whether His Majesty had had any with Sir Robert Peel.
§ MR. BURDETT-COUTTSMay I ask whether there is any system or custom in the conduct of foreign affairs which would permit such a secret agreement to exist without its being in the Foreign Office?
§ LORD CRANBORNEI think my hon. Friend will see that, above all other Questions, this is one of which he would do well to give notice.