SIR JOHN HAYasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, To state what amount of money has been recovered from the Government of Persia on account of the debts of a late member of the Persian Legation in this Country, and to ask him to state whether, under the circumstances, he does not believe it will be just to repay the debt incurred by Mr. Mackenzie, late Her Majesty's Consul at Resht, to a Persian subject, the bond having been secured under the Consular seal?
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDSir, the late Minister of Persia in this country has remitted, since his departure, about a third of the whole sum that was claimed from him to meet certain specified liabilities in England. The case of Mr. Mackenzie was as follows:—When Consul at Resht he borrowed a sum of money, to be repaid in four months, of a merchant of Teheran, named Mirza Jafir. He was recalled within the four months, and left without paying. The Persian Government intervened on behalf of Mirza Jafir; but Her Majesty's Government have stated on several occasions that they could not hold themselves responsible for debts incurred without their knowledge and sanction. The case for the creditors was re-opened in March, 1870, by their lawyer, Mr. Pringle, who forwarded a copy of the bond on which the seal of Her Majesty's Consulate was visible; but in the copy of that document presented to the Foreign Office by the Persian Minister, the seal is the private seal of Mr. Mackenzie, and the copy is certified as correct by Mr. Abbott with the Consular seal, Mr. Abbott having been Mr. Mackenzie's superior Consul at Tabreez.