MR. GIBSON BOWLESI 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 made by M. Develle, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday last, to the effect that in 1884 and 1885 England entered into negotiations with France respecting the evacuation of Egypt, and that a Convention was signed fixing 1888 as the date of the evacuation; whether Her Majesty's Government accept this as a correct statement of the facts; and whether all the communications and despatches relating to the negotiations and Convention in question are included in the Papers already laid before Parliament; and, if not, whether he can state what communications and despatches are not included therein, and will now lay them before this House?
§ SIR E. GREYAn exchange of Notes between Lord Granville and M. Waddington took place in June, 1884. The Notes in full, and the conditions on which the proposals contained in them depended, will be found in Egypt, No. 23, 1884.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESCannot the hon. Gentleman give me some indication of what the tenour of the answer was?
§ SIR E. GREYThe answer to which I referred the hon. Gentleman was, that it is not the practice to publish all the communications and Despatches, but only such as give an adequate impression of what has occurred. It may be that in this case all were published, but I have had no time to ascertain.