§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Government has any information as to disquiet among the warlike population of the Upper Congo, and whether he can say to what the disquiet and opposition to the Government are due; if he can say whether the natives are well armed; and whether he has information which will enable him to estimate the number of rifles possessed by the 200,000 warriors of the Upper Congo.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYHis Majesty's Government have no information as to the alleged state of disquiet in the Upper Congo regions beyond what is contained in a Belgian newspaper. Our attention has been called to the existence of traffic in arms and ammunition, but it is impossible to state with accuracy the 841 number or quality of the weapons which have been imported, or in whose possession they are now.