§ MR. POWELLcalled attention to the circumstances under which an Envoy from His Royal Highness Prince Kassa of Abyssinia to Her Majesty the Queen was detained three months at Alexandria; and asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he will state to the House the reasons which induced Her Majesty's Government to advise the return of the Envoy to Abyssinia without fulfilling his mission? The 1775 other evening an hon. and gallant Member congratulated the House upon the great success which had attended the Abyssinian campaign; but it should be borne in mind that that campaign had in a great measure been successful owing to the friendship and timely aid given by Prince Kassa to Lord Napier of Magdala. The British Army went through 240 miles of Prince Kassa's territory; and if Lord Napier were not leaving behind him a friendly Prince he would have had to occupy that country with a line of troops. He did not know the reason why Her Majesty's Government had not received the Envoy; but he could not help thinking that they ought to have shown greater courtesy to a Prince who had done us such good service.
§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDsaid, he would endeavour to explain the reasons for the delay of the Envoys of the Abyssinian Prince at Alexandria; but first, with regard to the Correspondence, he wished to state that he would answer the Question another day. He was not aware that any Correspondence existed which could be laid on the Table. The facts with regard to the Envoys were these—On the 7th of October, Colonel Staunton reported the arrival at Suez of two Envoys from Prince Kassa bearing presents for the Queen. These presents were either to be sent to the Queen, or to be brought over to England by the Envoys. The Envoys were willing to pay their expenses to England, but when here expected to be treated as Royal guests, as they had been treated by the Khedive of Egypt. Colonel Staunton therefore requested instructions as to the course which he should pursue. Application was made both to the India Office and the Treasury on the subject. On the 10th of October the India Office expressed their regret that they had no funds available for such a purpose. When the unfavourable reply was received from the India Office application was made to the Treasury, who thought it would not be fair to make use of Imperial funds for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the journey of the Envoys and their maintenance in England. On the 3rd of November, therefore, with the concurrence of the India Office, Colonel Staunton was requested to inform the Envoys that their presents should be sent on to England through him, but that he was not authorized to encourage the journey of the Envoys 1776 themselves to England. The presents arrived on the 6th of February, at Southampton, and were said to be of the value of £1,500. They consisted of a gold-mounted burnous or robe, a gold-mounted head-stall for a horse, gold-mounted shoes, a gold-mounted collar or necklace, and a gold-mounted saddle. Accompanying the presents was a letter which it was very difficult to decipher, and it was only the day before yesterday that a translation of it could be obtained. The hon. Member might rest assured that this question had not escaped the attention of Her Majesty's Government, and that the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs would lay the letter of the Envoys before Her Majesty. In the meantime Colonel Staunton had been requested to convey to those Envoys an assurance of the friendship which Her Majesty entertained, and to inform them that a suitable reply to the letter would be sent to be laid before their Royal Master. The delay was unfortunate; but it was not easy to avoid, but there certainly was no intention on the part either of the Foreign Office or the Treasury to treat the mission of these gentlemen otherwise than with friendly respect.
§ MR. EASTWICKreminded the House that Prince Kassa had been of the greatest service to our forces in the Abyssinian Expedition, for at the very first interview with Lord Napier he presented the Army with $10,000 worth of food, including flour, which, at that time was especially valuable. When our troops were leaving the country presents were made to Prince Kassa, and it was a very natural thing that he should have sent Envoys with return presents to the Queen. He regretted that it had not been thought advisable to pay the expenses of those Envoys. They were educated at Bombay by Dr. Wilson, and could explain the wishes of their master better than could now be done. He hoped it might still be deemed desirable to allow them to come.
§ MR. GOLDNEYsaid, the hon. Gentleman who had introduced this subject happened to be a brother of the unfortunate Englishman who was murdered some time back in Abyssinia when on a hunting expedition. When the hon. Member and another brother sought assistance Prince Kassa came forward expressing his regret, and offered them every possible facility for discovering 1777 the author of the massacre, and even an army to accompany them into the district. He had heard from persons quite competent to form an opinion on the subject that greater respect for Englishmen could not be shown than had been evinced by Prince Kassa. After all that had been done by the Prince a little more consideration should have been shown to his Envoys.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he could not avoid remarking that, considering that the Abyssinian War had been owing to not answering a letter, it was doubly unfortunate that the same course should be again pursued by the Foreign Office. The noble Lord (Viscount Enfield) who had explained what had occurred in the clearest possible way, gave the House to understand that, up to the present moment, no reply had been given to the letter accompanying the presents brought over from Abyssinia in October last. Not only had no answer up to this day been given to this communication, but the Envoys of the Prince to whom we owed so much, were allowed to remain at Suez for a period of three months, without knowing whether they were ultimately to come to England or to be sent back, their mission uncompleted. He must say the reasons which had been assigned by the noble Lord for the long delay which had occurred, and for the refusal to receive the Envoys of a friendly Prince in England, were such as to give grounds for great regret. It seemed that neither the Government of India nor Her Majesty's Treasury could find the few hundred pounds necessary to receive with ordinary hospitality the Envoys of a friendly Eastern Prince, and he trusted the people of this country would take into consideration the cause of the unhappy line of conduct which had in the present instance been pursued, and would ascribe it to a policy to which we owed so much of the falling off of our prestige not only in the East, but in the West—a policy which led to the cutting down on every occasion, right or wrong, of our expenditure. He, for one, would appeal with confidence to the British public to say whether a few hundred pounds laid out in giving a hospitable reception to the Envoys of a friendly Prince would not be money well expended in the interests of civilization and the maintenance of peace among those Eastern nations.