MR. GORSTasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the engagements earnestly to support the Government of the Khedive, which were made by the late Government on 19th September 1879 and by the present Government on 3rd March 1881 respectively, ought not to have been communicated to the Sultan of Turkey as the Suzerain; and, whether either of them was so communicated; and, if so, at what date?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICENeither of these engagements were communicated to the Sultan. His Majesty was, however, aware of the position of England and France in regard to Tewfik Pasha, inasmuch as it was at their request that he issued the Firman to His Highness in August, 1879. The Papers upon the subject were laid before Parliament in 1880 (Egypt, No. 1).