§ MR. T. BARINGsaid, it appeared that on the 17th of October last a British brig, bearing a valuable cargo, had been boarded by a steamer in Her Majesty's service, and warned off the coast of San Salvador, although no previous intimation had been given to any parties of the intention of Her Majesty's Government to blockade that port; and up to this morning no official communication had been made at Lloyd's upon the subject, while the French Moniteur had contained a notification to that effect. The trade to San Salvador, although a small, was a valuable one, and some of our merchants had at present valuable cargoes on their way to its coast. Now those parties were naturally anxious to know what had been the cause of that blockade, and the circumstances which had accompanied its enforcement. He should, therefore, ask the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he could state or lay any papers on the table off the House explanatory of the cause of the present blockade by a British force off the coast of the State of San Salvador, in Central America; and, if the reason were the recovery from the Government of that State of claims of British subjects, whether he could state the amount of the whole of the pending-claims, and whether there were any similar claims on any of the other States of Central America likely to be enforced in the same manner; and also, whether he could give any opinion as to the probable duration of the present blockade?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, he had not yet received any statement that the blockade had been established, and he could not, therefore, have given any notification upon the subject. There were claims pending on the part of British merchants against the Government of San Salvador to the amount of about 20,000l., and those claims had been at different times acknowledged by that Government. But excuses had been made for not meeting them, and the admiral on the station had therefore received instructions to take such steps for bringing the matter to a settlement, as he might, in communication 278 with the Consul General, deem expedient. With regard to claims on other Governments in that quarter, he (Viscount Palmerston) was afraid that those acquainted with the nature of the intercourse of our merchants with the Government of the Spanish American Republics, must be aware that there was hardly a moment when there was not some claim between the English Government and some of those States. He should, however, except from that latter statement the Government of Buenos Ayres, which had behaved in a very handsome and liberal manner in protecting the commerce of all nations indiscriminately. There were certainly claims pending and in the course of negotiation on the part of British subjects against several other States of Spanish America. He trusted, however, that their sense of justice would induce them to bring the matters in dispute to a satisfactory settlement. With regard to the duration of the blockade of San Salvador, as well as of any other blockade which might be established, he had only to say that that must, of course, depend on the willingness of the Government of the foreign State to do that which, as in the present instance, it was bound to do by its own admissions. He should hope that the pressure of a very short blockade would be sufficient in that case, and be had only to add, that the course adopted by the British authorities was that which had been adopted on three different occasions under the administration of the late Sir Robert Peel, and was the only mode by which those States could be brought to act fairly towards foreigners.