§ SIR GEORGE PECHELLsaid, he wished to put a question to the noble Lord the Member for the City of London with respect to a report which had appeared in the public papers a few days ago. It appeared that accounts had been received from the port of Trieste that three Russian frigates, which might have gone out amongst our merchantmen, had either been hauled out of the way or sold, and the crews permitted to go through the Austrian territories, to meet, perhaps, his gallant Friend, Admiral Napier, in the Baltic. This showed what the Russians intended to do with the ships. If they intended to sell them, and to transport their crews overland to other places, this would give the people of this country some idea of the Mode in which Russia intended to carry on 698 the war. He wished to ask the noble Lord whether the Government had received any information on the subject?
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLAccording to the information received by the Government, three Russian corvettes of war had been at Trieste, two of them had been taken into the inner harbour at Trieste, where they had been disarmed and sold, and the third, it was understood, had proceeded to another harbour to be sold.