§ MR. H. B. SHERIDANsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that some persons connected with the India Office are about to 1669 give an entertainment to the Sultan and Pasha of Egypt, not at their own expense: and, if so, who are the persons who give the entertainment, and what day has been fixed for it; whether the Members of the House of Commons are to be invited to meet the Sultan and Pasha; and, if not, who are the persons invited to do honour to these personages, and will there be any objection to give a list of them; and whether, in his opinion, instead of burdening the resources of India by expending the funds in parties of this sort, which it is reported is to be strictly private, or confined to officials and their friends, it would not be better to charge for the tickets, and amongst others to invite the Members of the Mouse of Commons to meet these distinguished guests?
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEsaid, with respect to the entertainment which was to be given at the India Office, and to which the Sultan and the Viceroy of Egypt had been invited, he was sorry to find that the Viceroy did not intend to remain in this country, and therefore would be obliged to decline the invitation. With regard to the entertainment itself, it had been their wish to invite as many Members of the House of Commons as they were able to do, but it was impossible that they should send invitations to the whole of that House, because they felt that there was no reason why they should send invitations to the whole of the House of Commons which would not equally apply to the other House of Parliament. And as there were upwards of 1,000 Members in the two Houses of Parliament, and as it would be necessary to invite ladies also to take part in the entertainment, if they had invited all the Members of both Houses, and one lady with each Peer and each Member of that House, that would have given them a more numerous list than their space would accommodate, and would have rendered it impossible to invite any other persons, even those who were most closely connected with India, or other persons who had any claim to be present on such an occasion. They had therefore made out their list of invitations as well as they could. He was unable to give any better answer to the hon. Gentleman than that. Of course, when they were about to give a ball, it was necessary to ask a certain number of ball-going people and also a certain number of those who were connected with India. It was further necessary that they should ask the Members of the Corps Diplomatique and 1670 other distinguished persons now in this country, and likewise a certain number of officers of the army and navy, who were at least as much connected with India as Members of that or of the oilier House of Parliament necessarily were. Well, he could only say, from what he had learnt from the Invitation Committee who had had charge of preparing the invitation lists, that they had the most difficult, duty to perform. There were at least 4,000 or 5,000 persons to whom invitations might very properly have been sent, and to whom they would have been very glad if they could have sent them. But no entertainment of that kind could succeed if they asked so many people that if they came they would be crowded together, and would only interfere with each other's comfort. They had done the best they could, and he was sorry that a large number of persons whom they should like to have asked were not invited. As to the suggestion of the hon. Member that they should give a list of the Members and other persons invited, to be laid before the House, he really did not think that would be a desirable course to pursue; and with regard to the Question whether in his opinion it would not be advisable that a charge should be made for the tickets, he thought that would be highly objectionable, and would entirely defeat the object of the entertainment, which was to show honour on the part of the Indian Government to their distinguished guest. The hon. Gentleman would see, upon reflection, that there would be all the same difficulty in issuing tickets to be paid for as attended the course actually adopted on that occasion. If tickets were issued on payment to all who chose to apply for them, they might have the place filled with the most objectionable persons; and if they exercised any selection as to the persons to whom they were issued, the same difficulty as was now experienced would arise. They had done the best they could, and could only express their sorrow if they had not been able to give general satisfaction.