HC Deb 11 March 1897 vol 47 cc499-500
MR. J. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Secretary of State has yet received official information that Nazim Pacha, the Minister of Police during the massacres at Constantinople, has been appointed Governor General of the Province of Beyrout; whether this appointment has been made under the system of reformed administration guaranteed by the Ottoman Porte; if the Secretary of State has not received official information, will he institute inquiries as to whether the appointment to this Governor Generalship of Nazim Pacha has been made, as positively stated in the Public Press; and whether, in the event of the appointment having been made, the Secretary of State will direct the British Ambassador at Constantinople to make a strong remonstrance on the subject, and to insist, in the interest of the lives of the Christian population, that Nazim Pacha's appointment be instantly cancelled?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. G. CURZON,) Lancashire, Southport

No official information has yet been received of this appointment, but inquiries will be made. Beyrout was not one of the six vilayets to which the scheme of reforms agreed upon in October, 1895, was to be applied.

MR. MACNEILL

asked whether he was to understand that no inquiries had yet been made, seeing that he put a question upon the subject on Tuesday?

MR. CURZON

said he did not know the exact moment a telegram had been or would be sent.