§ MR. GRANT DUFFsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether any correspondence passed between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Emperor of the French, from the 1st of August, 1859, to the commencement of the present Session, with reference to the occupation of Perim or the Suez Canal; and, if so, whether there would be any objection to lay it upon the table of the House?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, there had been no correspondence between Her Majesty's Government and that of Franco relative to the occupation of Perim. A correspondence, however, had taken place between the two Governments with respect to the Suez Canal, but it had come to nothing. A despatch had subsequently been written from Constantinople to the Ambassador of the Sultan in London, and certain propositions had been made to Her Majesty's Government, asking them whether they, in conjunction with the Government of France, would be prepared to guarantee the security of the Suez Canal, supposing it could be made. The answer of the Government had been that they declined to enter into any such guarantee.