§ MR. BROTHERTON (Wakefield)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if friendly representations can be made to the Russian Government by which the treaty exclusion of foreign warships from the Black Sea may be temporarily suspended in order to safeguard British subjects from danger.
§ EARL PERCYThe present circumstances at Odessa do not afford sufficient grounds for claiming a departure from the rule under which foreign warships are excluded from the Straits. There is nothing to show that the Russian Government have not adequate means for protecting British subjects in common with the rest of the population, nor that the arrival of British ships of war would improve the situation.