COLONEL SYKESsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, What amount of truth there is in statements made in letters addressed to Shanghai and Hong Kong Newspapers received this morning from China, that the American Consul and his Marshal, and four other Europeans, bad been wounded 237 in a conflict with an armed body at Newchang; and that Mr. Consul Meadows had caused all British subjects to be supplied with a rifle and ammunition for their personal safety?
§ MR. LAYARDstated, in reply, that the Government had no official information of the nature mentioned in the Question. From the various questions of this nature which had been asked by his hon. and gallant Friend, he was afraid that many of the statements sent to him were greatly exaggerated. There was in the papers that day a statement of the North China Herald that the United States Consul had been engaged in some fracas at Newchang, but that account did not agree with the statement in the hon. and gallant Gentleman's Question. It appeared that during last winter, when the port of Newchang was blocked up with ice, the British Consul organized a body of volunteers, but he was not aware that anything had been done by them. When the last accounts left a number of vessels had arrived at Newchang, and a flourishing trade was being carried on in the port.