§ Sir W. BULLasked the Prime Minister (1), in view of the fact that, because of the absence of common and universal agreement thereto, neither the Declaration of Paris, 1856, nor The Hague Conventions, 1907, nor the Declaration of London, 1909, have become part of the Law of Nations, do His Majesty's Government propose to repudiate and to withdraw from all obligation to be bound by those instruments; and (2) having regard to the fact that the second article of the 1262W Declaration of Paris of 1856 declares that the neutral flag covers enemy's merchandise with the exception of contraband of war, and that His Majesty's Government nevertheless propose to detain and take into port neutral ships carrying enemy goods, and therefore in effect repudiate that article of the Declaration of Paris, whether His Majesty's Government propose to denounce and repudiate the Declaration itself?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe answer to these questions is in the negative. All that is necessary to be done in order to carry out the decision recently announced will be effected by an Order in Council which is about to be issued.