§ EARL GRANVILLEBefore your Lordships proceed to the Orders of the Day, I should wish to put to the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a Question of which I have given him private Notice, and which refers to a subject which has been of great interest to Europe during the last six months. It is—Whether it is a fact that Her Majesty's Government have made to the Khedive any proposal that he should abdicate; and, if so, what answer was returned to that proposal?
§ THE MARQUESS or SALISBURYThe negotiations are still going on, and I cannot give the noble Earl at the present moment any details on the subject; but I may say that England and France have advised the Khedive to abdicate in favour of his son, and that Germany, Austria, and Italy have supported that recommendation. No answer has yet been given by the Khedive.