§ MR. P. STANHOPE (Wednesbury)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government have received official corroboration of the statement that Mr. Karaveloff, ex-Prime Minister of Bulgaria, and Mr. Slaveiokoff, ex-Prefet of Sofia, have been barbarously flogged during their detention in gaol; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will make strong representations to the Bulgarian Government on the subject of their alleged treatment of political opponents?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)A rumour to the effect stated in my hon. Friend's Question attracted attention last March, and on the 10th of that month I stated, in reply to the noble Lord the Member for Ipswich (Lord Elcho), that on the rumour of M. Karaveloff and others having been illtreated in prison, an official inquiry was ordered by the Regents, and that the officials who conducted it reported positively that none of the prisoners complained of had been 1880 beaten or otherwise illtreated, and that the prisoners were treated with the consideration due to their former position.