§ MR. HADFIELDsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether and when the Govern- 368 ment intends to replace English Consuls at the ports on the seaboard of the Southern States of North America (such as Charleston, Savannah, &c), declared by the President to be open for general commerce on 1st July next; and whether the same Consuls who occupied those several stations before the war, and were acquainted with the interests involved, will be again sent out.
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, in reply, that British Consuls who had been long resident in the Southern ports were either actually upon the spot or shortly would be. The Consuls who before the war were stationed at New Orleans and Savannah, had died, and their places had been already filled; the Consul at Galveston never left his post; the Consul at Charleston had been promoted to be Consul General at Cuba, but the Vice Consul who succeeded him had never been absent. The Consul at Mobile had been removed to another station, and was no longer in the service; but the gentleman actually in charge of the Consulate had been out there during the whole of the war.
§ MR. LAYARDreplied, on the 1st of July, when the ports were open.