HC Deb 29 February 1856 vol 140 c1575
MR. BIGGS

said, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government, at the present conferences in Paris, to require (in the changes they mean to advise in the Turkish institutions) the abolition of the slave trade and domestic slavery in the Sultan's dominions?

VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

Sir, in reply to the hon. Gentleman's question. I beg to say that it is well known that Her Majesty's Government have long urged the Turkish Government to put an end to the slave trade which has been carried on from the eastern coast of the Black Sea, and that their representations have been completely successful. With regard to domestic slavery, that is a question, as my hon. Friend will see, which does not properly come within the scope of the Conference.