§ 46. Mr. LYNCHasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware of the intentions of the Kaiser in regard to the restoration of the ex-Emperor of the Russians; whether he has received any reports of movements in Russia tending to that end; and whether, in view of the downfall of a Court friendly to Germany and the establishment of a Republic in Russia, he will take steps to remove the name of the ex-Tsar from the list of honorary officers of the British Army?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe answer to the first and second parts of the question is in the negative. As regards the last part of the question, I cannot add anything to the statements already made on this subject.
§ 48. Mr. BYRNEasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the Maximalist Government in Petrograd has issued a manifesto proposing an immediate peace without annexations or indemnities; that in this document the Maximalist Government declares that by annexations or appropriations of territory by violence the government understands, conformably to the rights of 1827 democracy in general and of the working classes in particular, all annexations of a small, weak nationality by a great and powerful State without the consent of this nationality and independently of its degree of civilisation and of its geographical position in Europe or in overseas countries; is he aware that the manifesto states that if any population whatever is retained by violence by any State whatever, or if the right of a plebiscite is refused it against its will, such as is manifested in the Press, by national assemblies, the resolutions of parties, or by risings or insurrections against the oppressors, if moreover the oppressors refuse to withdraw troops in garrison, or if they do not grant the population the right to arrange its own form of government, such a state of things constitutes, in the opinion of the Maximalist Government, an annexation or an appropriation of territory by violence; whether His Majesty's Government will accept this definition of an annexation and apply it to Ireland; and whether it will give that country the fullest and freest opportunity of deciding by means of a plebiscite upon its own form of government?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe answer is in the negative.
§ 51. Mr. PRINGLEasked the Prime Minister whether he can make a statement with reference to the situation in Russia?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThere is no statement on this subject which could be usefully made at present.