§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI wish to ask the noble Earl the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether he can give the House any information as to the terrible events now taking place at Alexandria?
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKMy Lords, all the telegrams we have received at the Admiralty from the Admiral and from his Secretary have been communicated to the Press; but perhaps it would be better that I should inform your Lordships, in some consecutive order, of the telegrams we have received since the last information I communicated to your Lordships. On Tuesday night we received a short telegram from Sir Beauchamp Seymour himself, saying that he had attacked the batteries in the morning, silenced the forts, and that a landing party from the Invincible—the party, it appears from a telegram from the Secretary, consisted of 12 officers and men—had burst three guns, and spiked six in Fort Meks. He also sent a nominal roll of the casualties. On Wednesday, we heard that, at half-past 10, the Inflexible and Téméraire each fired three shells into the Moncrieff Battery, at Ras-el-Tin. No other ships were engaged. There was no response from the shore, and at noon further operations were suspended, in consequence of a flag of truce having been hoisted at the arsenal. One of our gunboats, with a flag of truce, proceeded there to communicate. The terms demanded by the Admiral of the Military Commandant were the same as those at first demanded—namely, that the forts on the Isthmus and those commanding the entrance to the harbour should be temporarily surrendered for the purpose of disarmament. These terms, which your Lordships will observe were most moderate under the circumstances—the disarmament having practically taken place by the guns of the Fleet—were refused, and the flag of truce struck.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYHow long did the flag of truce continue flying?
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKFrom 12 to 3 o'clock. As far as I can ascertain, the time was somewhere about three hours. One shot was then fired by us into the lines at Meks, which are about four miles to the west of the town. On this, the flag of truce was hoisted again, and our fire ceased, and has not since been resumed. This morning we received the following telegram from the Admiral:—
Immense conflagration in Alexandria last night. Forts apparently abandoned, and entire garrison withdrawn under flag of truce, leaving 255 convicts to pillage and fire the town. Invincible, Monarch, Penclope, and gunboats inside harbour. Other iron-clads under weigh off the New Port.It seems that the soldiery, having released the convicts, left their fellow-countrymen to be pillaged and murdered. There is no reason to suppose that the conflagration arose from the fire of the ships. In point of fact, during the whole of yesterday only seven shots were fired; and, so far as we can judge, it is in the highest degree improbable that any of those shots could have caused the conflagration to occur. The Queen having commanded me to acquaint the officers and men of Her Majesty's approval of their conduct on the 11th, and to inquire as to the condition of the wounded, the reply of the Admiral's Secretary to-day is that, as far as ho could learn, they were doing well. The answer to-day to an inquiry as to the safety of the Khedive is that nothing certain is known; but he is believed to be at Ramleh, where the Turkish steam yacht is anchored, apparently waiting until the weather will allow him to embark. There was a very heavy sea yesterday off Alexandria, which has made communication between the Admiral and the telegraph ship, the Chiltern, which was lying some five miles from Alexandria, difficult, and that will quite account for the infrequency of the communications that we have been able to receive from the Admiral. The Chiltern is now being moved into, or quite near to, the harbour. The telegrams received from time to time have been from the Admiral's Secretary, who has sent us what he has been able himself to observe from the Chiltern.
THE EARL OF CARNARVONThe telegrams my noble Friend has just read say nothing with regard to the terrible report circulated in some of the newspapers as to the massacre of the European and Christian population. It would be very satisfactory to the House if the noble Earl could add anything in disproof of that statement.
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKI have read to the House the whole of the official information which we have received from Alexandria. Her Majesty's Government have no other knowledge than that which other Members of your Lordships' House have respecting the report to which my noble Friend has referred.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYIs it a fact that a portion of the town was set on fire on Tuesday by the fire from the ships, and has the noble Earl any knowledge that the fire was extinguished?
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKWe have no knowledge of any portion of the town having been set on fire by the fire from the ships. No information to that effect has been given to us. It appears to me, on looking at the chart and consulting with the Naval authorities, that Sir Beauchamp Seymour has taken, in the operations he has carried on, every possible precaution to prevent his guns having any effect upon the town of Alexandria. I should say it is not probable that any fire which has taken place could have seriously damaged the town. The Palace, doubtless, was set on fire by the ships, because it is situated close to the Ras-el-Tin Fort.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI wish to ask the noble Earl the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government are prevented by any diplomatic engagements from landing troops for the purpose of taking possession of the forts and maintaining order?
§ EARL GRANVILLEI do not think we should be debarred from taking steps in that direction, and we are quite ready to do so. Instructions have been given with regard to landing troops. Assistance of that kind will be given if it is required.
§ EARL DE LA WARRasked whether the bombardment of the forts of Alexandria by British ships took place with the concurrence of the other Powders; and whether it was true that the Porte had continued to protest against such a course?
§ EARL GRANVILLEIn answer to the noble Earl, I have to state that Her Majesty's Government consider that the exceptional measure taken by the Admiral in self-defence is quite separate from the general question of restoring order in Egypt, which is the subject before the Conference at Constantinople. We have no reason to believe that any of the Great Powers take a different view from ourselves in that respect. The Sultan has made some remonstrances; but they have been based on the information he has received from Alexandria, and on the assurances which were given that no 257 preparations were going on, and that the Egyptians wore not arming the forts. That information and those assurances have been proved to be quite incorrect.