§ MR. CREMER (Shoreditch, Haggerston)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the attention of the Government has been called to the revolting charges which have been made against the members of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition; whether any of the persons charged with such barbarous conduct held commissions as officers in the Army; and whether the Government are prepared to appoint a Commission of Inquiry or to take any other steps to ascertain the truth of the extraordinary statements which have been so freely made?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. W. H. SMITH, Strand, Westminster)The Government are aware that very grave charges of the nature indicated have been made against members of the Emin Relief Expedition, notably against two who are dead, and incapable of answering for themselves. One of these gentlemen held a commission in the Army; but the Government were in no sense responsible for his selection as one of the staff of the expedition, or for the expedition itself. It is not, therefore, the intention of the Government to appoint a Commission of Inquiry.