§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, in view of the military preparations of France and England, Her Majesty's Government will give an assurance to Parliament that no joint Anglo-French nor British occupation of Egyptian territory will take place until the Sultan, who is Sovereign of Egypt, shall have been invited and shall have formally refused to check the revolutionary party, and to restore the status quo ante in Egypt?
MR. GLADSTONESir, in giving such an answer as I can to this Question, I may say that I have not in view the military preparations of France and England, with respect to which the hon. Gentleman, no doubt, has information which I am unable either to affirm or deny. But I cannot give any assurance as to what will be done in the Conference. I only point the attention of the hon. Gentleman to the fact that Her Majesty's Government have all along favoured intervention by the Sultan as Sovereign of Egypt in preference to intervention by any other Power.