§ MR. W. A. MACDONALD (Queen's Co., Ossary)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he has observed a statement in The Echo, of the 15th instant, that Arabi Pasha has suffered severely from his long imprisonment; whether it is intended that the imprisonment of Arabi shall continue to the end of his life; and, whether the Government will consider his case with a view to releasing him, if such a step can be taken consistently with the interests of the British Empire?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)No information has been received by Her Majesty's Government that Arabi Pasha has suffered in health. The sentence pronounced on him in 1882 was death, which was commuted into perpetual exile, the commutation to become void should he return to Egypt. Her Majesty's Government do not consider that such a step as his release would be consistent with the interest of this country, or of Egypt, or with the justice of the case.