§ MR. ANDERSONasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If the Treaty for the suppression of the slave trade, signed some time ago by the Sultan, and mentioned in the Queen's Speech of 5th February, is still unratified; and, if it be the fact as stated in foreign newspapers that it contains a clause stipulating that captured ships or slaves are to be handed over to Turkish authorities for adjudication; and, if so, whether some more impartial tribunal could not still be arranged for?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, the Treaty referred to in the Question of the 323 hon. Member for Glasgow has been actually ratified by the Queen, and also by the Sultan; but on account of a technical informality—the insertion of the French text only and not the English in the Turkish ratification, the latter has been referred back to Constantinople for correction. The Treaty provides for reciprocal treatment—that is to say, it agrees that—
British cruisers may visit, search, and, if necessary, detain any Ottoman vessel which may be found engaged in the traffic in African slaves,and hand it over to the nearest or most convenient Ottoman authority, while, on the other hand, "all vessels navigating under the British flag in the Red Sea," and other Turkish waters—Which may he found engaged in the traffic in African slaves, may he seized and detained by the Ottoman authorities or cruisers; but it is agreed that the vessel and its cargo shall, together with its crow, he handed over to the nearest British authority for trial.It is further provided that the "captured slaves shall be released by the Ottoman authorities."