§ MR. A. J. BALFOUR (City of London)I wish to ask the Secretary for Foreign Affairs a Question with regard to the Egyptian frontier. We have been scrupulously careful not to embarrass the 973 Government by asking Questions on the subject, and if the right hon. Gentleman, consistent with the public service, can give the House and the country some information on the point, I am sure that there will be very general satisfaction.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir EDWARD GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickI quite agree that, from all that has appeared in the Press, and in view of the fact that a similar Question is to be put in another place to-day, some information on the subject should be given to the House.
The British Ambassador on Thursday presented a Note at Constantinople requesting the Porte to agree to the demarkation by Great Britain and Turkey of the line from El Rafah to the head of the Gulf of Akabah on the basis of the telegram from the Grand Vizier to the Khedive of April 8th, 1892, and pending a settlement to withdraw his troops from Tabah. We have asked for a favourable reply in ten days' time.
To explain this Note it will perhaps be convenient that I should give a short summary of the negotiations which have preceded it. Early in the year Egyptian troops were sent to occupy certain posts in the interior of the Sinai peninsula, including Tabah on the western coast of the Gulf of Akabah. On arrival at the latter post it was found that 150 Turkish troops were already in occupation. His Majesty's Government protested against the occupation by the Turks of Tabah, a place unquestionably within the Sinai peninsula, and pointed out to the Porte that if any doubt existed as to the frontier line a joint Delimitation Commission was the best solution of the question. On February 13th, Lord Cromer reported that the Turkish commandant at Akabah was demanding the withdrawal of the Egyptian troops from the Faroun Island, an island in the northern part of the Gulf of Akabah. His Majesty's ship Diana was instructed to proceed to Faroun to protect the Egyptain post there. After further representations the Sultan decided to send two officers from Constantinople to inquire into the matter, and they left for Egypt on February 20th. It was hoped the Turkish Commissioners would discuss the matter, or form part of a joint Com- 974 mission of delimitation. The Turkish Commissioners, however, left Cairo and proceeded to Beirut without having, communicated with the Egyptian Government, the Khedive, or Lord Cromer. On March 21st the Turkish Ambassador made a communication to the effect that as Tabah was a dependency of Akabah no objection could naturally be made to the presence there of Turkish troops, and that it was considered unnecessary to send officers there from Egypt to institute an inquiry into the question. The Sultan then authorised Mukhtar Pasha to negotiate with the Government of Egypt, and at his own request the negotiations were transferred to Cairo. Mukhtar Pasha had an interview with the Khedive, and demanded on behalf of his Government that the boundary of the Sinai peninsula should run from El Rafah to Suez and from Suez to Akabah. The Khedive in reply to these representations suggested that the telegram of April 8th, 1892, should betaken as the basis of a settlement, that the line should run from El Rafah to Akabah, joining the coast three miles west of Fort Akabah, and that the remainder of the line of frontier should be demarcated by competent surveyors. The Grand Vizer's reply to the Khedive was to the effect that the Gulf of Akabah and the Sinai peninsula were outside the territory defined in the Imperial Firman, that the telegram of April 8th, 1892, only referred to the western side of the Sinai peninsula, that the interpretation of that telegram was a matter which only concerned the Imperial Ottoman Government, that Akabah had been adopted as the headquarters of the district of Akabah, and the hope was expressed that no occasion will be afforded for interference.
I think I need only add that the delay, the extent of the demands which have been put forward by the Porte, and the tone and character of the Turkish communications to the Khedive have made it impossible to defer a settlement indefinitely, and that is why we are now pressing our original demand for a joint delimitation. I think I may claim on behalf of his Majesty's Government that they have shown great patience and moderation; but the latest developments of the Turkish demands, if admitted, will place Turkey in a position which will be a real danger not only to 975 the freedom of the Suez Canal, but also to the liberties of Egypt and of the Khedivial dynasty. His Majesty's Government cannot be indifferent to such issues, and the importance of them makes it necessary that we should press for a settlement on the lines of the frontier of Egypt as it has existed undisputed and undisturbed from a period many years previous to the British occupation.
§ MR. LUPTONIs not the matter one eminently suitable for reference to The Hague Tribunal.
§ [No reply was given].