§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Sultan has recently ordered the Pacha of Egypt to discontinue the supply of forced labour to the works of the Suez Canal; and whether Her Majesty's Government will support the Sultan in that determination?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, the hon. Gentleman is well aware, and so is the House, that some time ago the Sultan gave an order that forced labour should be discontinued in Egypt, as it has long been in every other part of the Turkish Empire. The parties engaged in the Suez Canal, who had been employing forced labour to a great extent, petitioned for a prolongation of time, which has been, I believe, twice granted to them. No doubt it is very much to be regretted in the interest both of England and of France that, when both countries are much in need of cotton, 30,000 or 40,000 people who might he usefully employed in the cultivation of cotton in Egypt, are occupied in digging a canal through a sandy desert and making two harbours in deep mud and shallow water. I should hope that so useless an occupation will soon be put an end to.