§ SIR WILLIAM HUTTsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Government propose to maintain any naval force on the West Coast of Africa, for the purpose of suppressing the Slave Trade?
MR. GLADSTONEI can give my right hon. Friend an answer that I hope will be satisfactory to him, in reference to his inquiry on a matter in which he has taken so active and distinguished a part. Of course, we speak now of the West Coast of Africa exclusively, and I must be understood to say nothing which would prevent Her Majesty's Government from keeping some limited force upon that coast if we thought it neces- 832 sary for purposes of trade. Subject to these two limitations, I can assure him that the squadron has been reduced, and that the matter is under consideration now with the view and with the hope of its entire withdrawal.