THE EARL OF BECTIVEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If Her Majesty's Government has taken any steps to ascertain the views of the French Government respecting the renewal of the Convention of 1875, which expires in 1882; and, if so, if he will communicate the answer of the French Government to the House? He also asked, If Her Majesty's Government consider that any alteration in the jurisdiction of the Consular Court at Tunis is required under the present confused state of affairs in the Regency; and, if not, will Her Majesty's Government obtain an undertaking from the French and Tunisian Governments that the jurisdiction of the Court shall be as extensive in the future as it was when the Court was first established?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEIf the noble Lord will turn to the Convention with Tunis, which was laid before Parliament in 1876, he will perceive that Article 40 provides that at any time after the expiration of seven years from the date of the Convention, either of the high contracting parties shall have the right to call upon the other to enter upon a revision of the same; but until such revision shall have been accomplished by common consent, and a new Convention shall have been concluded and put into operation, the present Convention shall continue and remain in full force and effect. With regard to the second Question of the noble Lord, I have to say that the Convention of 1875 determines the jurisdiction of the Consular Court, and the subject is therefore covered by the reply which I have given to the noble Lord's previous Question.
THE EARL OF BECTIVEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is to be inferred from Lord Granville's letter of the 20th May to the French Ambassador that England does not recognise the Treaty forced upon the Bey on 12th May; whether, as a matter of fact, Her Majesty's Government does or does not recognise such Treaty; and, whether the Order in Council of the 18th May does or does not treat Tunis as a part of the Ottoman Empire; also, if Her Majesty's Government is aware that M. Roustan has ordered the Bey of Tunis to surround the house of the Sheik-el-Islam with soldiers; and that M. Roustan has sent an intimation to the Sheik-el-Islam as to the decision he must deliver in the Enfida case?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEI am unable to give within the limits of a reply a full statement of the views of Her Majesty's Government on the points raised by the noble Lord; and I must leave him to appreciate the views expressed in Lord Granville's Note. With regard to M. Roustan, Her Majesty's Government have received no information of the kind referred to from Her Majesty's Consular General at Tunis.