HC Deb 24 February 1898 vol 53 cc1527-8
SIR E. ASHMEAD BARTLETT

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: (1) with regard to the cession of Soudanese territory to Abyssinia, whether, in 1884, the Egyptian Government protested against the abandonment of the Soudan, which was forced upon Egypt by the then British Government; (2) whether the Egyptian Government has always maintained its claim to the whole of the territory evacuated by, or lost to, Egypt under the compulsion of the British Government in 1884; (3) whether the Sultan, who is sovereign of the whole of Egyptian territory, has ever recognised that abandonment of the Soudan; and (4) whether the Egyptian Government is, at the present time, reclaiming and re-occupying Soudanese territory, which was evacuated in 1884–5?

MR. CURZON

I think my hon. Friend, in the first part of the Question, has confounded the facts with regard to two distinct territories and groups of events. There has been no cession of Soudanese territory to Abyssinia. The Frontier districts of Somaliland which are affected by the recent Treaty with Abyssinia were never a part of the Soudan. The Egyptian Government themselves proposed the abandonment of Harrar, and consented to the abandonment of the Coast in 1884. As regards the Soudan, the answer to the first two Questions of my hon. Friend is in the affirmative, to the third in the negative, and to the fourth in the affirmative.

MR. H. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)

Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us whether there is any official map giving the delimitation of the Soudan?

MR. CURZON

I do not know, but I will inquire.

SIR E. ASHMEAD BARTLETT

Will my right hon. Friend reconsider the answer he gave not long ago as to the desirability of publishing the existing Treaties in regard to these districts, accompanied by maps. The right hon. Gentleman referred us to a large and an expensive book, but could not the Government publish a Blue Book on the subject?

MR. CURZON

It is a little difficult for me to answer the Question, because I am not quite certain to what Treaties my hon. Friend refers. I was asked a question the other day about Treaties concerning the West Coast of Africa and the Niger, and I answered that they were to be found in "Hertslet's Map of Africa by Treaty."