§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether his attention has been directed to the following paragraph, which appeared in The Observer of 1st May:—
The report that Sir Drummond Wolff has proposed to fix a term of five years for the continuance of our military occupation of Egypt is calculated, if taken by itself, to create an erroneous impression. We have reason to believe that the proposed engagement to withdraw our troops at the close of 1892 is coupled with two conditions. The first is that nothing is to occur in the interval to necessitate the continuance of our occupation, a necessity of which we are to remain the sole judges; the second is that in the event of our withdrawal we are to be authorized by the Sultan to return at our own good will to Egypt, to the exclusion of any other Power, and oven of Turkey herself, if there should he any renewal of internal disorders, or any such default in the payment of Egyptian liabilities as might give rise to European intervention;and, whether this is a correct statement of the proposals made to the Porte by Sir Henry Drummond Wolff; and, if not, whether he will state to the House what are the exact nature of these proposals?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)I must once more ask the House to excuse me from making such a statement as the hon. Member asks for. Negotiations with the Porte in regard to Egypt are proceeding; and Parliament will be informed of their nature and result, as soon as this can be done consistently with the public interests.