HC Deb 06 June 1873 vol 216 c546
MR. BAILLIE COCHRANE

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been drawn to M. de Lesseps' proposed Railway to India through Central Asia from Orenburg viâ Samarcand to Peshawur; and, if it be true that the Russian Government is in treaty with M. de Lesseps on this line of communication, whether Her Majesty's Government will reconsider their policy on the subject of Railway communication with India, and especially with regard to the Euphrates Valley line?

VISCOUNT ENFIELD

Sir, Her Majesty's Government have been informed of communications which have passed between M. de Lesseps and General Ignatieff, the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople, on the subject of a proposed Railway to India through Central Asia, but they are not aware of what view the Russian Government take of such a proposal.