§ LORD LYNDHURSTMay I ask the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether he has received any intelligence of the close of the Vienna Conferences; and, if so, whether he is prepared to lay on the table the last proposal made to or by Russia?
§ THE EARL OF CLARENDONI this morning received information from Her Majesty's Minister at Vienna that a conference was yesterday summoned by Count Buol, and that he then made a proposition to the Russian Plenipotentiaries—I am speaking from a short despatch received by telegraph—requested to know whether they might send that proposal to St. Petersburg. Upon the French and English Ministers being consulted, they said they had no instructions to agree to such a proceeding; and Count Buol then said that having fulfilled the engagement undertaken by Austria—to endeavour to find the elements of accommodation between the contending parties—and having failed to discover such means of accommodation, he considered there was no further use in conferences being held; and the conferences were accordingly closed. With respect to the question of the noble and learned Lord as to whether the proposal which was made at the conference will be laid before Parliament, I do not think there can be any objection to the production of that proposition; but as I am not yet quite certain what the proposition is—having received only a short despatch by telegraph—I must delay answering the question till another occasion.
§ LORD LYNDHURSTIt is at least satisfactory to learn that the conferences have been closed.