§ Lord BALCARRES (for Sir Gilbert Parker)asked if His Majesty's Minister at Brussels was instructed to use the language he did use in transmitting Consul Thesiger's report on the Kasai district of the Congo to the Belgian Government on 7th January last year; and if any steps were taken by His Majesty's Government to protest against the reflections upon His Majesty's Consular staff on the Congo contained in the letter from the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty's Minister at Brussels on that occasion?
§ Sir E. GREYThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. There is no reflection upon the British Consular staff in the Congo in saying that they exceed the functions usually exercised by Consuls in other countries. The statement is true, and it is their duty, owing to the special Treaty rights and obligations existing in connection with the Congo State, to exceed those functions. This duty will continue until the condition of affairs in the Congo is brought into accord with the original Treaty obligations of the Congo State, and the annexation by Belgium has been formally recognised.