§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether any information has been received at the Foreign Office that Captain Gordon, of the Royal Engineers, who was in command of Chinese troops in the service of the Futai of Shanghai, has condoned the treachery of the Futai in putting to death the Taeping Princes at Soochow and plundering the city, and against which Captain Gordon himself, Major General Brown (commanding the British troops in China), and all the European Consuls at Shanghai had published an indignant protest; whether he has consented to continue in the service of the Futai notwithstanding these indignant protests?
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, he must beg to state that, as far as he was aware, Captain Gordon was not in the service of the Futai but of the Chinese Government. He understood that he was continuing in command of the troops which he had disciplined. He was not quite aware of his reasons for that, but he understood that his motive was that he was afraid that if these troops were disbanded great danger might ensue to the settlement of Shanghai.
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERsaid, he wished to know, whether the Government have received any information as to Captain Gordon having been engaged in the siege of a Chinese town?
§ MR. LAYARDreplied, that he was not aware of that fact, but he might add that accounts had been received that morning that Her Majesty's Minister at Pekin had made representations to the Chinese Government on the subject.