§ MR. J. R. YORKEasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether his attention has been called to a statement in the "Morning Post" of March 6th from their correspondent at Constantinople to the effect that the Porte intended to refer the ease of the 1854 Loan to the Turkish Parliament, and that they were unwilling to make arrangements with respect to it without the sanction of their other creditors; if the Government has taken, or will take, the opinion of the law officers of the Crown as to whether the security for this Loan being the assignment of the Egyptian Tribute, which, under tripartite treaty, comes direct from Egypt to the Bank of England, its position is not entirely independent of any action or sanction of either the ordinary creditors of the Porte 1578 or of the Turkish Parliament; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will not advise the Porte of the same?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERThe statement in The Morning Post to which my hon. Friend refers is substantially accurate—that is to say, that the Porte have stated that they intend to refer the case of the 1854 Loan to the Turkish Parliament, and that they were unwilling to make provisional arrangements with their creditors unless with the assent of their other creditors, or under some judicial decision which they might obtain. With regard to the second Question of my hon. Friend, I think he has confounded the Loan of 1854 with the Loan of 1855. There is nothing in the Loan of 1854 to which the first half of the Question relates which is mentioned in the Tripartite Treaty. That Treaty refers to the Guaranteed Loan of 1855, and the arrangement with regard to the provision for the Loan of 1855 is not such as is described by my hon. Friend. It is simply an arrangement binding the Porte to make the payments for that Loan to the Bank of England. No doubt the Loan is charged upon the general revenues of Turkey, and especially upon the balance of the Egyptian Tribute, and upon the tributes of Smyrna and Syria; but there is no provision, such as my hon. Friend supposes, that the Egyptian Tribute or any portion of it should go direct to the Bank of England.