§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSONsaid, he rose to repeat the question which he had addressed to the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the other night, Whether it is true that it has been decided at Constantinople by the Representatives of the Powers that the Lebanon shall be placed under a Governor who shall be selected from the Maronite sect; and, whether that Governor is not to be under the orders of the Governor General of Syria, but is to communicate directly with the authorities at Constantinople? He also wished to know whether that decision has received the assent of the Representatives of Her Majesty?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLSir, I have to state that the arrangement which has been agreed to is that there shall be a Christian Governor of the Lebanon; but it is not specified in the agreement whether he is to be a native of the Lebanon or not. The Commissioners had agreed, with the assent of all their number, except the French Commissioner, that the Governor should not be a native; but when the question came to be considered by the Representatives of the various Powers at Constantinople it appeared that they had received different instructions from their respective Governments. It was agreed, however, upon the proposition of the Prussian Minister at Constantinople, that a Christian Governor of the Lebanon should be appointed, but, as I have stated, without any specification whether he was to be a native of the Mountains or not, and in that arrangement Her Majesty's Ambassador concurred. As to the other part of the hon. Baronet's question, I believe the Christian Governor will be under the orders of the Pasha of Sidon; but I cannot give a positive answer on that point because Her Majesty's Ambassador has informed me that various details were to be consigned to a Protocol, and I have not yet received any notice of such a document.