§ 51. Mr. RONALD McNEILLasked the Prime Minister if his attention has been called to an assembly held at Gaeta on 12th April, attended by some 2,500 Montenegrin refugees, who, describing themselves as fleeing before the sanguinary Serbian terror into Italy, passed a resolution expressing the pain with which they observed that the Peace Conference has remained indifferent to all appeals and protests against the bloodthirsty tyranny carried on in Montenegro by the Serbian army; whether the statement contained in this resolution that the Serbians had burnt their homes, destroyed villages, and imprisoned or shot their most prominent citizens, accords with information conveyed independently to the Government; and whether it is proposed to pay any attention to the supplication of these refugees that their country shall not be forcibly incorporated in the Serbian Kingdom before the Montenegrin people have had an opportunity of expressing their will as to their fate.
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI have seen a copy of the Resolution referred to, but I cannot accept the statements made therein as representing with any accuracy the present situation in Montenegro. The future of Montenegro can only be settled on its merits by agreement between the Allies, and until a settlement is reached any discussion of the question based on ex parte statements is undesirable.
§ Mr. McNEILLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that within the last few weeks 5,000 Serbians have been not merely defeated but almost annihilated by an army of Montenegrins, and is it not time to put an end to this fighting by having some peaceful solution of the question?