§ MR. HENRY SEYMOURsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, What information Her Majesty's Government has received relating to the ill-treatment of Missionaries in Abyssinia, and the imprisonment of Her Majesty's Consul there by King Theodorus; and what steps Her Majesty's Government have taken in consequence?
§ MR. LAYARD, in reply, said, Her Majesty's Government had received indirect information that the King of Abyssinia had placed in confinement Her Majesty's Consul and several Missionaries established there, and also the French Consul; but according to the last information the French Consul had been released. The information, however, might be very incorrect, as the King took care that no information should leave his country, and the facts were difficult to get at, but Her Majesty's Government would do all in their power to obtain the release of Captain Cameron and the Missionaries. The most natural step would be to send some person there to demand their release, but Her Majesty's Government were rather afraid that he 1146 would share the same fate as the Consul and the Missionaries. The question was how to get at the King without endangering the liberty of others. He trusted, however, that means would soon be found of communicating with the King, and the subject was under the serious consideration of the noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Office.