§ MR. BRYCEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is not the fact that the reforms 23 which the Ottoman Porte undertook by the sixty-first article of the Treaty of Berlin to introduce into the provinces inhabited by the Armenians have not yet been introduced; and, whether he will inform the House what progress has been made with the negotiations between the Six Powers and the Porte for the execution of this sixty-first article, and generally towards the settlement of the Armenian Question?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEI regret to state that no progress has yet been made towards carrying into effect the 61st Article of the Treaty of Berlin. Lord Dufferin has made strong representations on the subject to the Sultan and his Prime Minister, who appear, both of them, to be alive to the gravity of the situation, and has earnestly pressed them, pending the elaboration of a permanent scheme of reform, to take immediate steps for arresting the more crying evils, by appointing an able Administration with ample powers and extended jurisdiction. The absence of some of the Ambassadors from Constantinople, the suspension of business during the month of Ramazan, and other causes, have hitherto prevented any joint action of the Representatives in regard to the Armenian reforms; but Lord Dufferin is fully alive to the great importance which the Government and people of this country attach to the question, and he has stated that he will spare no effort and miss no opportunity of pressing forward its solution.