§ MR. F. S. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether the terms of the surrender agreed upon with respect to Zeitun included the appointment of a Christian governor; whether the Sultan, in spite of the assurances given to the representatives of the six Powers with regard to that matter, has failed to perform his part of the agreement; and, what representations have been made on the subject by Sir Philip Currie and the other Ambassadors, and with what result?
MR. CURZONThe terms of surrender agreed upon with respect to Zeitoun included the appointment of a Christian to the office of Kaimakam in accordance with the Act of Reforms. The Turkish newspapers of April 15th announced the selection for the post of Mahmoud Bey, a Mussulman, and on the same day Her Majesty's Ambassador, and the French and Russian Ambassadors at Constantinople, protested against the appointment as a distinct breach of the assurances given by the Porte, and expressed a hope that it would be cancelled. The reply of the Turkish Government has not yet been received.