§ MR. W. GORDONasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to a Letter addressed on the 13–25th February by the Ottoman Minister of Finance to the Imperial Ottoman Bank, purporting to be published by the Order of the Imperial Ottoman Government, in which provision is made for the full payment of the Turkish Loan of 1855 out of the Egyptian Tribute, whilst no such provision is made for the payment of the Loan of 1854; whether Her Majesty's Government has given its sanction or approval to this arrangement; and, whether Her Majesty's Government considers that such an appropriation of the Egyptian Tribute will be in accordance with the 3rd Article of the Convention of the 27th June 1855, which provided that the interest and sinking fund of the Loan of 1855 should be a specific charge upon the Egyptian Tribute, only to the extent of the surplus of that Tribute which should remain over and above the part thereof already appropriated to the Loan of 1854?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERA copy of the letter referred to, which appeared in the Constantinople newspapers, was forwarded to the Foreign Office by our Ambassador at Constantinople; but Her Majesty's Government have never been asked to give their sanction or approval to any of the arrangements of the Ottoman Government in regard to loans. I do not think I could answer the third Question of my hon. Friend within the proper limits of a reply; but I may say that the Papers connected with the Ottoman Loan will be laid upon the Table of the House in a few days, and that they contain the Correspondence respecting the Loan of 1854.