§ EARL DE LA WARR, in rising to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to a telegraphic despatch to Mr. Egerton, dated Foreign Office, 23rd April, 1884, in which occur the following words:—
That we do not propose to supply him (General Gordon) with a Turkish or other force for the purpose of undertaking military expeditions,Whether Her Majesty's Government' are in a position to co-operate with the Government of the Porte in sending Turkish troops to the Soudan with a view to the relief of General Gordon and the Egyptian garrison of Khartoum, if the Sultan should be willing to do so? said, he had put the Question with no desire to obtain information which it might be inconvenient for Her Majesty's Government to supply, but only to draw attention to the fact that General Gordon, in 1658 his most recent despatches, more than once urged the sending of Turkish troops to the Soudan as an effectual means of putting down the insurrection. He (Earl De La Warr) noticed with some surprise that, in the Papers just laid upon the Table of the House [Egypt, No. 13], no mention whatever was made of any communication between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Porte. He was, therefore, at a loss to understand the meaning of the words—We do not propose to supply him (General Gordon) with a Turkish or other force for the purpose of undertaking military expeditions against the Mahdi, such expeditions," it was added, "being beyond the scope of the commission he holds, and at variance with the pacific policy which was the purpose of his mission to the Soudan."—[Egypt, No. 20 (1884).]It was clear that Turkish troops could only be sent to Khartoum, or any part of the Soudan, with the consent of the Sultan; but they had not been informed whether any communication had been made to the Porte on that subject. In the despatch of the noble Earl it was stated that General Gordon was not to be supplied with Turkish troops for the purpose of undertaking military expeditions; but that did not necessarily imply that they might not be sent for other purposes, it might be of relief or defence. In a telegram received at the Foreign Office on April 9, from Sir Evelyn Baring, it was stated that General Gordon said—If you could get, by good pay, 3,000 Turkish infantry and 1,000 Turkish cavalry, the affair, including crushing of Mahdi, would be accomplished in four mouths.Sir Evelyn Baring, in a telegram from Cairo, dated April 11, added—The only Turkish forces which would be at all possible to send are regiments of the Sultan's army."—[Egypt, No. 13 (1884), pp. 9,10,11.]Those were the words of Sir Evelyn Baring. General Gordon repeated again his former telegram, dated April 8, and received at Cairo April 18, in which he said that 3,000 Turkish troops from the Sultan "would settle Soudan and Mahdi for ever." A telegram to the same effect was received at Cairo the following day, April 19, in which it was added—Do you think that an appeal to the millionaires of America and England for the raising of £200,000 would be of any avail?"—[Ibid. p. 13.]1659 Such being the views of General Gordon in repeated telegrams, he felt he was not putting a Question to the noble Earl which could be considered inopportune.
§ EARL GRANVILLE, in reply, said, that on reading the Question as it appeared on the Notice Paper, it seemed to him rather doubtful whether it was one for more information about General Gordon's safety, or was of an argumentative character. But, after hearing the noble Earl's speech, he had only to say that the Government had no more information to give than they had already supplied. It was not opportune at the present moment, he considered, to go further into the matter.