MR. PEASE (for Mr. W. E. FORSTER)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Representatives in Egypt have been or will be instructed to press upon the Khedive of Egypt the fulfilment of the Convention of 1877 between the British and Egyptian Governments for the suppression of the Slave Trade, and to endeavour to obtain the abolition of slavery in Egypt?
MR. GLADSTONEIn answer to this Question, I need hardly state that the Government are, like my right hon. and hon. Friends, very anxious to deal both with the subject of the Slave Trade and the subject of slavery in Egypt. One of the very first despatches sent from the Foreign Office to Lord Dufferin was upon this subject. There has not been time since his arrival to receive any Report from him, nor do we know, indeed, that he had time to frame a Report; but it is 1722 a subject which he will by no means neglect, and on which we shall be desirous to pursue a policy in conformity with the spirit of that policy with which the name of this country has been associated for so long a period.