§ SIR CHARES W. DILKEI wish to take this opportunity of making a statement with regard to the Parliamentary Taper, Egypt, No. 9, which was laid upon the Table yesterday, and circulated in the course of the day. That Paper was presented in consequence of a Question which was put to me by the hon. Member for Portsmouth (Sir H. Drummond Wolff), and it has been laid upon the Table as an extract, and I wish to explain why that course was adopted. The reply to the whole of the subject-matter of the Question of the hon. Member for Portsmouth, as far as it was touched by the despatch, is contained in the Paper laid before the House, and the portion of the despatch omitted refers to another subject. In order to prevent any misapprehension upon the subject, I state that the rest of the despatch has been omitted, not because of any desire to conceal facts, but only because the remainder of the despatch referred to the Correspondence which was going on between Her Majesty's Government and the French Government in regard to the powers of the Egyptian Chamber of Notables. The question is still pending, and the two Governments have agreed that it would be unadvisable to publish the Papers relating to it at present.
§ MR. VILLIERS-STUARTbegged to repeat his Question as to whether any steps were being taken to intercept Arabi Pasha and his force, so as to prevent them from reaching Cairo?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEThe hon. Member is aware that the operations at Alexandria were undertaken for the purpose of protecting life and property at Alexandria: but the question 565 with regard to Cairo is a very different matter.