§ Mr. NOEL BUXTONasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether, in view of the responsibility of Great Britain, as one of the signatories to the Treaty of Berlin, for the welfare of the European provinces of Turkey, he would call the attention of the Bulgarian Government to the disorders brought about in those provinces by the incursion of armed bands operating from Bulgaria?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir Edward Grey)I have no reason to suppose that the other Powers who are parties to the Treaty of Berlin would be prepared to join in repre- 181 sentations either at Sophia or Constantinople, and under present circumstances I should not consider that representations would be opportune or useful. I have already deprecated official excesses, and expressed the hope that the Turkish Government in Macedonia will be just as well as firm, and I would deprecate as strongly the action or incursion of armed bands, which must necessarily make the task of good government difficult or impossible. The two evils act and react upon each other, and it is equally desirable that one and the other should be stopped by those who have authority or influence.