§ MR. BRYCEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to reports which have recently appeared in the newspapers, of acts of religious oppression practised by the Turkish authorities upon Christian subjects of the Sultan, in violation of the engagements repeatedly contracted by the Sultan's Government for the securing of religious liberty within his dominions; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will inquire into the facts; and, if satisfied of their existence, remonstrate with the Turkish Government upon the subject?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BOURKE)The rumours in question have not escaped the attention of Her Majesty's Government, and are at the present time the subject of inquiry by Her Majesty's Representative at Constantinople, in communication with the branch of the Evangelical Alliance in that city. I may mention that of the 16 persons who were stated by the Evangelical Alliance to have disappeared, and were supposed to have been imprisoned, some have now been discovered to be at largo. When the facts have been thoroughly investigated, Her Majesty's Government will be ready to make representations to the Porte as to any departure by the Turkish officials from the principles of the Hatt-i-Houmayoun of which there may be sufficient evidence.