§ Mr. Burgebegged to ask the noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, if he had any objection to produce the correspondence which took place with the French government previous to the Convention for the suppression of the Slave Trade. He begged leave also to ask, in what manner the French government had provided for adjudicating as to French vessels captured with slaves on board? With respect to that Convention itself, he wished further to ask, whether the French government had taken any measures to carry its provisions into effect, and whether any further 1352 measures of the same kind had been agreed to with other foreign states?
§ Viscount Palmerstonsaid, that he did not feel bound to produce the correspondence that had led to that Convention, as the Convention itself was before Parliament. As to the tribunals which were to be formed by the French government, he had to state, that it was the intention of the French government to invest their consular agents with power to carry into effect the purposes of that Convention, and there was no doubt that steps would be taken by that government to establish those local tribunals in convenient places. With respect to the latter part of the hon. Gentleman's question he must observe, that no steps had yet been taken with a view to a negotiation with other foreign powers on the subject of a convention for the suppression of the slave trade founded on the same principles as that with France.