HC Deb 15 March 1897 vol 47 cc678-9
MR. DILLON

On behalf of the hon. Member for South Donegal (Mr. J. SWIFT MACNEILL), I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Secretary of State has yet received official information that Nazim Pasha, 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 Pasha 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 Pasha's appointment be instantly cancelled?

*MR. CURZON

The appointment of Nazim Pasha as Governor General of Beyrout has been officially confirmed by Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople. As I have already informed the hon. Member Beyrout is not one of the six villayets to which the scheme of October last applied. After consulting Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople Her Majesty's Government have come to the conclusion that Nazim Pasha can scarcely be held personally responsible for many of the measures supposed to have been executed under his orders, and that there are not sufficient grounds for protesting against his appointment.

MR. DILLON

Was he not at the head of the police during the frightful massacres in Constantinople, and is he now to be allowed to be Governor of a district in which Christians live? [Opposition cheers.]

*MR. CURZON

I believe that he was the Minister of head of the police—the exact office I do not know. But, of course, in this matter we can only act on the advice of Her Majesty's Ambassador, who, I believe, has the confidence of both sides of the House. We have consulted him, and he sees no ground for protesting against the appointment.