§ MR. GREGORYasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 851 If his attention has been called to the losses sustained by Mr. Edward Gibbon Swann, at Islay, in Peru, through the conduct of Mr. Vines, the British Consul there, and of the Judical authorities at that place; and, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Report made by Mr. Nugent, the Consul at Arica, upon the subject?
§ MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, that the dispute between these gentlemen arose some years ago, and that the matter was closed before the present Government came into office. Mr. Swann appeared to have been employed by Mr. Vines to carry out some speculative transactions in Peru, and they having subsequently quarrelled, Mr. Swann brought various charges against Mr. Vines. An inquiry into the circumstances was made under the direction of the Foreign Office, and the result was that an order was sent from the Foreign Office that Mr. Vines should be dismissed. That decision, however, Mr. Vines anticipated by resigning, and he having thus quitted the public service, Lord Granville had not thought it necessary that any further notice should be taken by the Government of the matter, and that if Mr. Swann had sustained any injury through the conduct of Mr. Vines, he should apply for redress to the ordinary tribunals of the country. Under these circumstances the Foreign Office did not think that any good could result from the publication of the Papers referred to.