§ MR. SERJEANT SIMONasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Cubans who were taken out of the "Octavia," and detained at Porto Rico, have been released; if not, whether Her Majesty's Government have taken, or intend to take, any steps to procure their release, seeing that the "Octavia" was a British vessel, and that at the time she was seized by a Spanish vessel of war she was on the high seas, and that the Cubans, in common with all on board, were under the protection of the British flag?
§ MR. BOURKE,in reply, said, the Cubans had not been released; but Her Majesty's Government had received an assurance from the Spanish Government that nothing would be done to them or to the vessel until an arrangement had been come to between the two Governments. An instruction to Mr. Layard on the subject was being drawn up.