§ MR. MARTIN (Worcestershire, Droitwich)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he has received any communication from His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg concerning the manner of the expulsion of the correspondent of The Times from the Russian dominions; whether such expulsion was in accordance with precedent, seeing that it was directed against an English newspaper and not against an individual; and whether His Majesty's Ambassador took all steps possible to protect a British subject, of personal repute, residing within the dominions of a friendly Power.
(Answered by Mr. A. J. Balfour.) A Report has been received from His Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg on the subject, but it does not add materially to the accounts that have already teen published. We are not 321 aware of any precedent for the expulsion of the correspondent of a British newspaper on account of the tone adopted by the newspaper. His Majesty's Ambassador himself took steps to obtain, if possible, the rescission of the order, or, at any rate, to protect Mr. Braham from unduly harsh treatment. Sir C. Scott has been called upon to supply by telegram full particulars of all the circumstances which accompanied Mr. Braham's expulsion.