§ SIR J. KENNAWAY (Devon, Honiton)I beg to ask the Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, besides the condemned Armenian prisoners recently referred to, there are also 24 who have been for six months in gaol awaiting trial, and if there is any pros- 410 pect of a speedy hearing of their case; whether, on the anniversary which occurs this mouth of the accession of the Sultan of Turkey to the Throne, it is the habit of His Imperial Majesty to release prisoners convicted of State offences; and whether the Secretary of State would see his way to urge that on this occasion the Royal clemency should be extended to the Armenian prisoners now under sentence?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickThere are other prisoners still awaiting trial at Angora, though accounts differ as to the exact number. The Sultan has already been asked to extend his clemency to some of the prisoners; in two cases recently he has done so, and in other eases the sentences have been materially reduced. Any further representations must depend upon the nature of the evidence to which Her Majesty's Embassy has been promised access.