LORD CAMPBELLIt may be convenient that I should state my intention as to the Notice which, last Monday, was postponed from the exceptional, although not unusual, conduct of the Government. I propose to bring it on next Monday, without the terms which they objected to. If they again appeal to me as before, I shall again postpone it. But I shall not postpone it, only because the noble Earl the Secretary of State threatens to deprive the House of the privilege of hearing him upon it. On the contrary, the hope that those who think as I do, may bring their views before the House entirely unanswered, would be too great a lure to be resisted. The same lure is offered by the same threat on the part of the noble Earl the former Secretary of State, and the small group he represents on Eastern subjects. Perhaps I may be now permitted to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have further news as to a Russian advance on Constantinople or Gallipoli?
§ EARL GRANVILLEMy Lords, I rise to ask the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs one or two Questions, of which I have given him private Notice. The first is, whether he can give your Lordships any information as to the further movements of the Fleet? The next is, whether he can state to the House the result of the communications which have passed between this country and the Russian Government? Lastly, I wish to ask the noble Earl whether he is in a position to make any statement as to the mooting of the Conference?
§ THE EARL OF DERBYMy Lords, the principal Question put to me by the noble Earl is one which on Tuesday evening I promised to answer when your Lordships should meet again. Your Lordships will have seen in the Papers already laid on the Table a despatch signed by me, and dated the 13th instant, in which I expressed the earnest hope of Her Majesty's Government that the Russian Government would not make any movement of troops towards Gallipoli, or of such a nature as to threaten the communications of the English Fleet. That despatch was followed on the 15th by a Memorandum in the same sense, produced by a report which had reached us of the accumulation of Russian troops in the neighbourhood of the lines of Boulair. To these communications I received a reply on the 18th, stating that the Imperial Cabinet maintains its promise of not occupying Gallipoli or entering the lines of Boulair. The Russian Government, the reply goes on to say, "expects in return that there shall be no debarcation of English troops on the Asiatic or European shores." We answered on the 19th, saying that we had received with satisfaction the assurance given, and were ready to meet it by a corresponding engagement not to land troops on the European side, and that we were prepared to extend this engagement to the Asiatic side of the Straits, on receiving an assurance that Russia would also abstain from landing troops there. I have to-day received the Russian answer to that communication, which is to the effect that the Russian Government "does not intend to occupy the Asiatic shore of the Dardanelles if England equally abstains from doing so. If this condition be fulfilled, as well as that of not disembarking English troops on the European shore of the Straits, Russia will not occupy Gallipoli and will not enter the lines of Boulair." I think, my Lords, that the result of those communications will not be unsatisfactory to your Lordships' House. Now, with regard to the Question of the movements of the Fleet. According to the last report which I have received, the ships are in a position somewhat further from Constantinople than Prince's Islands, but nearer than Moudania Bay. Admiral Hornby, as I stated before, having full discretionary power to exercise his own judgment in the matter, 45 has chosen this place after communication with the Ambassador; but I do not know any particular reason which has led to the selection. It has not been in consequence of any orders from home. The noble Earl (Earl Granville) went on to ask as to the meeting of the Conference. On that point I do not know that I have much to add to what I said before. The difficulty as to the place of meeting has been removed. All the Governments are agreed that the Conference should meet at Baden, and it is generally expected that it will meet towards the end of the first week in March; but I am bound to say that I have heard indirectly, in a manner which leads me to attach a certain weight to the statement, that one of the Governments concerned may possibly object to the shortness of the time and ask for a somewhat longer delay. Much has been said as to the place of meeting of the Conference, but I am not aware that any communications of an official character have passed between the Powers as to a question which has been raised—namely, whether when the Conference meets it should be attended in the usual manner by Ambassadors with full powers, or, as on some occasions, by the Foreign Ministers themselves of the various countries represented. The latter plan is preferred by one or two of the Governments; but I am bound to say that, as far as this Government is concerned, we think it open to great objection, because, in a Parliamentary system of Government, you could not remove, for the time being, the Foreign Minister from Parliament and exclude him from the deliberations of the Cabinet for a period extending, perhaps, over some weeks, without the greatest inconvenience arising from such a course. Besides, he could not undertake to settle questions of European importance on his own responsibility; he must refer home for instructions; he would be cut off from consulting with his Colleagues, and would thus be reduced to the position of acting upon instructions, in the framing of which he would have had no share. I therefore apprehend that, as far as this Government is concerned, we shall not depart from the ordinary course of sending an Ambassador; and, I believe, that course will be adopted when the Conference meets by the great majority of the Powers.