§ MR. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the report in the Daily News of 19th July, that General Hassan Hairi Pasha has been appointed Governor of Erzeroum and General Osman Nowie Pasha Governor of Van, in the places of Samih Pasha and Halied Bey dismissed; whether he knows anything as to the previous history and character of the two former; and whether it is true, as reported in the Daily News of the 21st instant, that
Osman Ghazi Pasha has been appointed to command in Armenia to carry out a policy of wholesale persecution and suppression in Armeniawhich is said to have been decided upon by the Porte?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONWe have no official knowledge of these appointments.
§ MR. LEVESON GOWER (Stoke-upon-Trent)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether Her Majesty's Government have reason to believe that it is the present intention of the Porte shortly to proclaim a state of Martial Law in Armenia; whether such a proclamation would be in distinct violation of the undertaking of the Turkish Government in the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1878, to introduce reforms into the administration of that country; and whether, in the event of such a proclamation being issued, Her Majesty's Government will notify to the Porte that they hold themselves fully absolved from all obligations imposed upon England by this Convention?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHThe Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs will answer the question.
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONWe have received no information of any such intention on the part of the Porte, and it is, therefore, unnecessary that I should reply to the hypothetical questions suggested by the hon. Member.