MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury has His Majesty's Government observed the statement made by Señor Silvela, Prime Minister of Spain, at the meeting of the Cortes last week, immediately before his resignation, of the many interests and motives of alliance between France and Spain and the necessity for a close union between those two countries; have His Majesty's Government received any information as to the existence of an alliance or an understanding between the French and Spanish Governments; if so, are they aware of the conditions thereof; and does the understanding, if any, extend to Gibraltar.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.We have no information as to any alliance between the French and Spanish Governments.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAn understanding is of the nature of an alliance, and that word covers it. We have no knowledge.