§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he can give the House any information as to the present position of affairs in Egypt; and when it will be in the power of the Government to explain the policy which they are pursuing in that country?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, in answer to the Question of the right hon. Baronet the Leader of the Opposition, I have to remind the House that, in January last, an Identic Instruction proposed by France was addressed to the English and French Agents in Egypt. It was to the effect that they should simultaneously make an identic declaration that the English and French Governments considered the maintenance of Tewfik Pasha on the Throne, on the terms laid down by the Sultan's Firmans, as the only certain means of guaranteeing in Egypt the good order and prosperity in which England and France 669 were equally interested. The declaration proceeded to state that the two Governments, being closely associated in the resolve to guard, by their united efforts, against all cause of complication which might menace the order of things established in Egypt, did not doubt that the assurance publicly given of their formal intention in this respect would tend to avert the dangers to which the Government of the Khedive might be exposed, and which would certainly find England and France united to oppose them. On January 30, Her Majesty's Government fully stated, their views as to the future to the Government of the French Republic in a most important despatch, which will ultimately be laid before Parliament, although it cannot be given at present. On February 6, Her Majesty's Government proposed that the English and French Governments should communicate with the other Powers their views as to the best means of maintaining the status quo; and on February 11 a Circular to that effect was sent to the various capitals. In March certain differences manifested themselves in the views of the English and French Governments; but the divergences which then existed are wholly at an end. During the present month the unconstitutional steps taken by the Ministers of the Khedive resulted in a most critical situation. This became the subject of an active interchange of views between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the French Republic, with the happy result that the two Powers are now in absolute accord as to the steps to be taken in view of future eventualities which it is now hoped may not arise. The two Governments feel confident that the course agreed upon will meet with the assent of all the other Great Powers and of the Porte.
§ MR. BOURKEAre no further Papers to be laid upon the Table at present?
§ SIR. CHARLES W. DILKENo; not at present.
§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he can state what steps Her Majesty's Government have taken to protect the lives and property of British subjects in Egypt during the present crisis?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, the English and French Fleets have 670 gone to Suda Bay, on their way to Alexandria. Orders have already been sent to Suda Bay that they are at once to proceed to Alexandria.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTCan the hon. Baronet state, whether the assent of the Porte has been obtained to the course it is proposed to carry out?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKE, in reply, said, he had already stated that the English and French Governments were confident in the opinion that the course agreed upon would meet with the assent of the Turkish Government.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTBut you have not yet received it?
§ MR. O'DONNELLCan the hon. Baronet state, whether, for the repression of disturbance in the interior of Egypt, the plan sketched out of a joint Anglo-French military expedition, or of a Turkish expedition, has been approved of, and forms one of the bases of the perfect accord between England and France?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEI must, Sir, with the permission of the House, decline to answer that Question.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTsubsequently asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether the assent of the four other Powers had been obtained to the proposed political intervention in Egypt?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKE, in reply, said, he had spoken of the other four Great Powers in his reply to the right hon. Baronet opposite (Sir Stafford Northcote), and he could make no further allusion to the subject.