§ * SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign 663 Affairs, whether Duffileh is included in the territory still leased to the King of the Belgians as the head of the Congo State, and left to His Majesty by the Franco-Congo Treaty; and, whether a British post has been established there by a recent expedition?
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. GEORGE CURZON,) Lancashire, SouthportQuestions connected with the lease granted to the Sovereign of the Congo State cannot be discussed with advantage while the question of the transfer of the Congo State to Belgium is still unsettled. We have heard that Major Cuningham visited Duffileh and made a treaty with the Chief, to whom he gave the British flag, but did not establish a post.
§ * SIR C. DILKESurely the question whether Duffileh is included in the territory is a question of fact and not a question of policy.
§ * MR. CURZONDuffileh is, as the right hon. Baronet says, in that portion of the valley of the Nile which was leased under Lord Rosebery's agreement to the King of the Belgians; but, as I have said, questions connected with this matter cannot properly be discussed while negotiations are pending.