§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI wish to ask the Prime Minister a Question, of which I have not had an opportunity of giving the right hon. Gentleman Notice—namely, if, when he derided on Monday, as exaggerated, the statement in my Question as to the condition of the Mahometan population in Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia, he was cognisant of the contents of the Blue Book distributed this morning, in every page of which authentic and circumstantial details are given of cruelties to which Mahometans have been and are still subject?
MR. GLADSTONEIt is impossible for me to answer satisfactorily a Question of this kind, given, as it has been, without Notice; but I must take exception to the expression of the hon. Member. It is not for me to deride the Question, or the expression of any hon. Member of this House, nor did I deride the Question of the hon. Gentleman. I remarked that, if I answered the Question of the hon. Gentleman without observation or comment, I should become a party to assertions which I was not prepared to make; and, therefore, I noticed those assertions, which notice the hon. Member now describes under the name of derision.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI shall repeat my Question on Thursday.