§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, on the 8th of June, Her Majesty's Government were aware that Suleimam Sami had been refused permission to cross-examine the witnesses for the prosecution, that his two counsel, a Frenchman and an Italian, had in succession thrown up their briefs, 472 and that Major Macdonald had applied for an adjournment of the trial, which had been refused; whether Her Majesty's Government were acquainted with these circumstances when, on the 13th of June, Lord Granville approved the conduct of Sir E. Malet in refraining from interference, "for which," Lord Granville writes, "there does not seem to have been any necessity;" and, whether Her Majesty's Government will obtain and lay before this House the evidence by which Sir E. Malet writes, on the 9th of June, that it was clearly established that Alexandria was burnt by the orders of Suleiman Sami, and in disobedience to the orders which he received from Arabi?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICESir, the Papers presented to Parliament supply the answer to my hon. Friend's Question. As Sir Edward Malet's telegram containing the account of the trial of Suleiman Sami is dated June 14, and Major Macdonald's Report was only received on the 19th of June, they clearly could not have been in the posession of Her Majesty's Government on the 8th of June, or on the 13th of June; but the facts mentioned in those documents have in no measure altered the opinion of Her Majesty's Government. I may observe that the hon. Member would seem to imply in his Question that Major Macdonald applied for an adjournment because of the refusal of the Court to cross-examine the prisoner. If the hon. Member will refer to page 24 of the Blue Book, he will see that this was not the case. There will be no objection to presenting the proceedings of the Commission d'Enquête, when they are received, provided they are not too bulky and the cause of unnecessary expenditure in printing.