§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Mr. Colquhoun, the English Consul General in Egypt, together with he English Consul in Alexandria and other gentlemen, have lately (on the 2yth June) visited the works of the Suez Canal, and had expressed his satisfaction with what he had seen and heard there; and whether such approval is to be understood to be qualified by the condition that forced labour should not be employed on the works of the canal, and that the obligations in that respect of the Pacha of Egypt towards the Porte be faithfully fulfilled?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, he had seen the report alluded to by the hon. Member in a foreign newspaper, but he had received no information on the subject from the Consul General. The Consul General had informed him of his intention of visiting the canal, but had not sent any information as to the result. He would take that opportunity of answering a question which had been put to him a short time previous respecting the exportation of Guano. The question was whether the Peruvian Government had opened the Guano trade? He had received no information to that effect; on the contrary, his information was that, the late contract having expired, it was their intention to invite tenders for a new contract. What Her Majesty's Government had asked was that the Guano should be sold at a certain price, and that the trade should be opened to all nations.