§ SIR GEORGE PECHELLsaid, he begged to ask the noble Lord (Lord John Russell) if any information had been received that the Government of Spain had issued certain decrees relative to the abolition of the slave trade in the island of Cuba, and to its resolution to enforce the observation of the treaties with this country; and if so, whether the reduction of the number of the cruisers on the coast of Cuba, as appeared by a recent return from the Admiralty, had taken place with reference to those decrees.
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, it was quite true that information had been received that the Government of Spain had passed certain decrees with a view to a strict observance of the treaties with this country in respect to the slave trade. Those decrees were of a very satisfactory nature, and Her Majesty's Government trusted that they would provide to a great extent for the suppression of the slave trade. He might mention one provision of the decrees, which, if duly carried into effect, would operate very much to produce that effect, and that was, a provision for the registration of the slaves now in Cuba. Thus, persons subsequently found in the condition of slavery, and not registered, would be taken to be free, and would be liberated. With respect to the reduction of the number of cruisers, that measure was determined on before the intelligence of the decrees was received in this country, and it was only as a temporary reduction.