§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I have given the noble Viscount opposite private notice that I would ask him whether he was able to give the House any further information with regard to the situation, military or political, in South-Eastern Europe.
§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (VISCOUNT MORLEY)My Lords, I am afraid that the information which I can give is in quantity very slight, though it is by no means unimportant. This morning the Foreign Office received a copy of the Circular Despatch which has been addressed by the Bulgarian Government to their representative in London and which was communicated by the Bulgarian Minister this morning at the Foreign Office. The contents of that communication tally very accurately with the account of what was expected which appears this morning in one at least of the morning papers.
Perhaps the noble Marquess would be interested to have a word—it cannot be more—as to the negotiations between Turkey and Italy. His Majesty's Government, as the House may be quite sure, have shared the general hope and expectation that those negotiations which have been going on would end in a peace. We therefore, like other European Powers, must greatly regret the unexpected and unfavourable turn which those discussions in Switzerland have taken. Whether it amounts to a rupture it would not be possible to state definitely to-day, but the House will be interested to know that it is unfortunately true that the present aspect of it is unfavourable.