§ Viscount Sandon,on the part of persons interested in the trade in Sulphur, begged to ask the noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, what was the nature of the agreement that had been entered into on this subject with the Neapolitan government. He was also desirous of learning at what period the monopoly was to cease, and what was the nature of the indemnity to be made to British subjects for the losses sustained by them, and upon what principles was it to be calculated. Finally, he wished to know whether the commissioners to be appointed would be Neapolitan or British, or whether it would be a mixed commission?
§ Viscount Palmerstonsaid, that the proposals made by the mediating power had 1157 been agreed to by her Majesty's Government and by the Neapolitan Plenipotentiary at Paris, who had been sent with full powers to negociate on behalf of his government. He had not yet heard from Naples, but he had no doubt, that the agreement would be ratified. The nature of the arrangement was, that as soon as it should be known at Naples that the English Ambassador at Paris and the Neapolitan Plenipotentiary had entered into arrangements, the sulphur monopoly should cease at the shortest possible period. Compensation would be made upon principles satisfactory to her Majesty's Government, The commission would consist of two Neapolitan commissioners, two British commissioners, and one French commissioner, the French commissioner to act as arbitrator in cases of difference, and the selection of the French commissioner having been made with the concurrence of the British and Neapolitan Governments. The noble Viscount, in answer to another question, proceeded to state that the sulphur question was not a single instance in which the Neapolitan government, in the opinion of the British Government, had evaded or violated the treaty of 1816. Representations and communications had been made on the subject to the Neapolitan government, and as soon as the sulphur question was disposed of, the British Minister at Naples would be instructed to renew the negotiations for a new treaty.