HL Deb 13 February 1880 vol 250 cc582-3
EARL GRANVILLE

My Lords, I regret having arrived in the House yesterday a few minutes too late to hear a statement made by the First Lord of the Treasury. The object of that statement appeared to be to correct a misapprehension which had arisen concerning an explanation he had given a day or two before in answer to a Question which I put to him. I should like now to ask him to be good enough to state what was the character of the misunderstanding which he desired to obviate. The two statements seem to have been the same, with the unimportant exception of the transposition of the two sentences. One was that there had been communications with Persia respecting the North-Eastern Frontier, about which it was premature to give information to the House; the other that no concession had been made to Persia with regard to the clause of the Treaty respecting her possession of Herat. I wish now to ask the noble Earl, Did the sentence mean merely that the concession had not yet been granted, or that such a concession would be contrary to the policy of Her Majesty's Government?

THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD

My Lords, the misapprehension to which I referred was an impression, which I found somewhat general, that in the statement I originally made in this House in answer to the noble Earl, I stated that no communications had been made by Persia to Her Majesty's Government with respect to Herat. That, as your Lordships know, is not the case. I stated that we had not released Persia from her engagement not to occupy Herat; but, at the same time, I informed the House that there had been communications from Persia—and not infrequent communications—hough they had led to no conclusion. As to the other inquiry of the noble Earl, he, who is himself so well acquainted with the conduct of public affairs, will, I feel sure, agree with me that these fragmentary allusions to negotiations still pending will only lead to further misunderstanding if I went beyond the absolute statement I have already made, that we have not released the Persian Government from their engagement not to occupy Herat.