§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if it is true, as reported in the Times, of 19th August that the Governor General of Suakin has again commenced an aggressive warfare in the country beyond his limits; has sent the Haden do was to try and drive the Dervishes from Sinkat, and provided them with arms and ammunition; but that they returned with no greater result than the capture of 400 sheep and a little grain, which they consumed; and whether Her Majesty's Government, to obviate a recurrence of last year's events, will interfere to prevent a renewal of this class of raids, and insist on the observance of the policy they prescribed, to hold Suakin and the ground necessary to prevent approach to the works, but on no account to go beyond?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.The facts of the case are that the Egyptian Government permitted a tribe near Suakin, which had suffered much from the exactions and outrages of the (so-called) Dervishes, to drive them back and recover some of their cattle. They were also assisted by a supply of arms and ammunition. The result was much more successful than is represented in the Report referred to. Her Majesty's Government saw no cause to interfere with the discretion of the Egyptian Government in the matter; the policy pursued being in accordance with the recommendations made in despatches which have been presented to Parliament.