§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether there exists in the archives of the India Office a telegraphic despatch transmitted to India in 1869, on the responsibility of the Secretary of State, the Duke of Argyll, for communication to the Ameer of Cabul, in which, amongst other titles, Her Majesty the Queen is designated as Empress of India; and, if so, whether the Government are prepared to lay a Copy of such despatch upon the Table?
§ MR. E. STANHOPESir, the circumstances in which this telegram was sent were these: After the conclusion of the conference with Lord Mayo in 1869, it was decided to send a friendly message to the Ameer, Shere Ali, in answer to one received from him addressed to Her Majesty. A telegram was accordingly prepared by the Political Department at the India Office, and submitted to the Secretary of State for India. The telegram was headed "From the Queen of England," which the Duke of Argyll altered—apparently in his own handwriting—to "the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India," and in that form it was sent to the Ameer. There can be no objection to producing the telegram, if it is thought worth while to do so.
§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFexpressed a wish that the telegram should be presented to the House infac simile.[Laughter.]