Mr. LLOYD GEORGEWith your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I would like to make a personal explanation, inasmuch as last week I put a question which east some doubt upon the circulation of these documents. I wish to say that, having heard the statements of my right hon. Friend, and having made some inquiry, I unreservedly accept the statement made by the Foreign Office that, in so far as I am concerned, the Papers were circulated. The circulation, as the House knows very well, and as Cabinet Ministers know very well, is either a limited one to the Departments particularly concerned, or it is a circulation to the whole of the Cabinet; but whether it was a limited one, or a circulation to the whole of the Cabinet, I have 2377 no doubt at all that the document was circulated to me as the head of the Government. Therefore, I assume that I received it.
My recollection is that at the time of circulation I was ill, and that I saw no Papers. That is not the fault of the Foreign Office, and I am not putting it on that ground. Afterwards I went down to the country for about three weeks. That accounts for the fact that it has completely passed away from my memory. There is another reason which I think it is fair to Lord Curzon and myself I should state, having regard to the attention which has been attracted by this correspondence. Lord Curzon and I saw the late M. Gounaris on 12th January together. I then stated to him that there would be no peace unless the Greek forces retired from Smyrna. I told him of the memorandum which Lord Curzon was submitting to the Allies, and which involved that withdrawal. I said those were the terms of the British Government. I then urged him very strongly to place himself entirely in the hands of Lord Curzon, and he promised to do so. He was here in February, but I did not see him. He asked to see me. I told him the matter was in the hands of Lord Curzon.
The correspondence was with Lord Curzon, and whatever communication there may have been from me was a. communication made after consultation with the Foreign Office. I wish to make that quite clear in order to show that a statement had been made by the Foreign
§ Secretary and myself that the British view was that the Greek forces should be withdrawn from Smyrna.
§ The only other statement I should like to make is this. Neither my colleagues nor I are responsible for raising this question at the present moment. We certainly should not have raised it when the Foreign Secretary was away. It was raised by papers which are certainly not particularly friendly to me, and although they support my right hon. Friend, he certainly is not responsible in the least for the fact that they published this correspondence. But they published it with the suggestion that something happened between M. Gounaris and myself without the knowledge of the Government, that I kept it from my colleagues, and that I conducted certain negotiations. I felt I could not allow that to go on without making certain inquiries. I wish to make it perfectly clear to the House what actually transpired, and I have no doubt at all, so far as I am concerned, that the document was sent to me in the ordinary course.