§ MR. W. H. SMITHasked the First Lord of the Treasury, If he is now prepared to give any indication of the period at which it will be possible, without serious danger to European life and property in Egypt, to discuss the policy pursued by the Government, and the efficacy of the steps taken to support the Khedive, in pursuance of the engagement tendered to His Highness in the 69 Joint Note of the 8th January; and, as to the course adopted by Her Majesty's Government with reference to, and in maintenance of, the demand made upon the Egyptian Ministry on the 25th May by Her Majesty's Consul General, at Cairo, of "conditions" which, in the name of Her Majesty's Government, he asserted "to be necessary for putting an end to the disturbed state of the Country," and with respect to which he announced that, "in case of necessity, Her Majesty's Government will exact their due fulfilment?
MR. GLADSTONESir, inasmuch as, according to our latest information, the Conference has not met until to-day—it probably has met to-day—it is impossible for Her Majesty's Government to forecast the future in such a way as to enable me fully to answer the Questions of the right hon. Gentleman. Our duty is to place the right hon. Gentleman, as soon as we can, in a position to form a judgment for himself, and to make any proposal which he or his Friends may think fit, and which we will be prepared to meet according to the best of our ability and the circumstances of the time. It has been already stated by my hon. Friend near me (Sir Charles W. Dilke) that we are preparing Papers, with respect to which I wish it to be understood that it is impossible to bring them up to the actual moment. We desire to place the House in possession of those up to the 31st of May, and we are inclined to believe that they will enable the right hon. Gentleman and his Friends to form an adequate judgment upon the retrospective portion of the subject, and on the conduct of the Government. These Papers will be delivered in the course of next week, and we hope that they will be distributed in the early part of the week after. The right hon. Gentleman naturally wishes to know in what position he will be placed when we come to consider this question, so as to be able to decide on any course that he may think fit to take. It will be necessary for the Government to ask the House to go into Committee of Supply on Monday. The immediate and urgent reason for going into Supply, even though it may involve the interruption of the Crime Prevention Bill, if that Committee should not then be closed, is the necessity of taking Votes for the Navy. We shall also ask the 70 House for a further short Vote on Account of the Civil Service, which will be absolutely necessary shortly after. It will be more convenient to deal with it as one subject. I will now tell the right hon. Gentleman what we further intend. Sunday week will be the 2nd of July, and soon after that the Papers up to the 31st of May will be in the hands of hon. Members. By the middle of July—say, about 10 days after the issue of those Papers—I will engage, on the part of the Government, to propose going into Committee of Supply, so as to enable any hon. Gentleman opposite to raise the question of Egypt if he thinks fit. That is as much as I can say at the present time. I hope that will be deemed satisfactory. I trust that hon. Gentlemen, viewing the urgency of the case with respect to the Irish Bills, and especially with respect to the Irish Bill on which we are now engaged, will not, on Monday, make such use of their privilege on going into Committee of Supply as to cause inconvenience to the necessary Business of the House.
§ MR. W. H. SMITHasked whether Supply would be the first Order on Monday?
§ MR. J. LOWTHERSir, I understood the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to say that the first batch of Papers would be in our hands to-morrow.
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEThat is the second batch.
§ MR. J. LOWTHERI would suggest to the right hon. Gentleman, with the view of obviating the disagreeable necessity for Motions for the adjournment of the House, that as soon as the Prevention of Crime Bill has passed through Committee, he will afford the House an opportunity of considering the Papers as far as they have been delivered.
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEWhile the Conference is sitting, of course, the Government can take no part in an exhaustive discussion; but if the right hon. Member, when he has read the Papers, sees any cause for blaming the Government, and makes a Motion to that effect, of course, that would be a different matter; but a generally vague discussion during the sitting of the Conference would be extremely inconvenient.
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANWe propose to go on where we left off.
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI shall propose to go straight forward with the Votes in the order in which they come.
§ COLONEL MAKINSasked whether it would be convenient to deal with the question of the Marines on Monday; or whether there would be another opportunity given for the discussion of the question in the way indicated by the present Chief Secretary for Ireland?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANbelieved it was understood there should be a general discussion on Vote II., seeing that there was a limited discussion on Vote I. At any rate, he would confer with the right hon. Gentleman. (Mr. Trevelyan) on the subject.
§ MR. W. H. SMITHIs it to be entirely Naval Votes on Monday?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANYes.