§ MR. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to the statement in The Manchester Guardian of the 11th instant that arrests are of daily occurrence of Christians in Armenia, and that the number in prison amounts to 1,800 or 2,000 persons; that three Armenians were recently murdered and the murderers were confined for a mouth in prison and then released; that when the Turkish assassins were killed in their turn 80 Armenians were arrested, tried by Court Martial, and not by usual civil procedure; and that 25 of them were executed and 23 condemned to 210 imprisonment for life; whether the Foreign Office has any information on these points which it can communicate to the House; and whether Great Britain intends to propose a conference of the Powers on Armenian affairs?
§ *SIR E. GREYWe have no information of any recent murders, but there have been numerous arrests of Armenian subjects of the Sultan on charges of sedition. Inquiries are being made; but the reports as to the actual state of affairs are very conflicting, and we have no information to communicate to the House except that a general assurance has been given that an amnesty will be granted to all Armenians other than those who are accused on strong grounds of having instigated the posting of the placards, and that these latter will be secured a fair trial. It is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to propose a Conference of the Powers on the condition of the Armenian subjects of the Porte.