HC Deb 08 April 1925 vol 182 cc2192-3
5. Mr. PONSONBY

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the statement recently published by M. Ljuba Jovanovitch, President of the Serbian Parliament, with regard to the complicity of the Serbian Government in the murder of the Austrian Archduke at Serajevo in 1914, will be published as a supplement to Cmd. 7860, the collected diplomatic documents relating to the outbreak of war?

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN

No, Sir. Command Paper 7860, as its title shows, is a collection of official diplomatic documents contemporaneous with the outbreak of war in 1914, whereas the statement referred to by the hon. Member is contained in a volume of personal reminiscences published 10 years after the events to which they relate, and of very doubtful historical value. In any case, the statement has no bearing on the question of responsibility for the War, which depends not upon the authorship of the assassination but on the manner in which Austria and Germany used the crime to provoke war.

Mr. PONSONBY

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is no doubt about the authenticity of the statement in question, and is it not as well that this Blue Book, to which I refer in my question, should be corrected and made as accurate as possible?

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN

I am not questioning the authorship, which is what I understand the hon. Gentleman to refer to when he speaks of the authenticity. I question the historical value of the statement, and in any case it is not relevant to the Blue Book which was published.

Colonel WEDGWOOD

But is M. Paschitch, who was in power in 1914 and is now in power, making any communications to the representatives of foreign countries on this exposure by one of his subordinates?

Mr. CHAMBERLAIN

I should be very much surprised if he did.

Forward to