§ MR. HUMEbegged to ask Viscount Palmerston whether the engagements entered into by the Protocol of May, 1847, with the Governments of France and Spain, had been fulfilled, and whether we were free from them?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONMy hon. Friend will recollect that the first two parts related to an amnesty for political offences, and the last two to the elections. Those elections have taken place, and the Cortes are now assembled. Therefore undoubtedly the state of circumstances to which the Protocol related is past, and I have informed the Portuguese Government that there are no longer any grounds on which this country can interfere in the present state of Portugal.