§ Mr. LINCOLNasked the Prime Minister whether.the conditions for the recognition of the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the part of Great Britain, as expressed by him on 12th October, 1908, in reply to a question by the right hon. Member for South Dublin, have been fulfilled; if so, can he say when all the interested parties, including Servia and Montenegro, have signified their consent to it; and, if not, will he consider the advisability of calling together a European conference in order to give these changes international validity, as was stated by him at Leven on 7th October, 1908, and to regularise all other questions, removing thereby grave causes for friction among the Powers?
Mr. McKINNON WOODIn so far as Turkey is concerned, the conditions indicated in the Prime Minister's reply made on 12th October, 1908, have been fulfilled. Servia, in a Note communicated to the Austro-Hungarian Government in March, 1909, agreed to abandon an attitude of protest against the annexation, and both Servia and Montenegro agreed to abide by the decision of the Powers in regard to Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin. The changes, in so far as concerns Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin, already possess international validity by the consent of the 879 signatory Powers, and there is therefore no need for a conference for this purpose. Nor is one required to remove friction amongst these Powers, which, happily, does not exist at the present time.