§ MR. LINDSAYsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether if it is the case that several merchant vessels belonging to the United States, engaged in the trade with Havannab, or with the West Coast of Africa, have been fired into, boarded, searched, and detained by British, Cruisers, and if so, by what authority, or under whose instructions, did the commanders of these ships so act?
MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALDregretted that he could not give a satisfactory answer last night to the question of the hon. Gentleman, as he was aware the hon. Gentleman was anxious that some answer should go out by the mail which left this evening. He begged to say that in reference to the cases which the hon. Gentleman stated to the House last night the Government had no official knowledge of them whatever. The statement, merely cut from a New York newspaper, had been forwarded to the Government by the British Ambassador at Washington. With regard to one case, that of the Cortez, he (Mr. S. FitzGerald) had come to a different conclusion from that of the American newspapers, and was inclined to think that the capture was properly made. With regard to the other cases, he could only say that Her Majesty's Government would deeply regret that any such occurrence should have taken place, and that they were as anxious as the Government of the United States that no such occurrence should take place. The real difficulty arose from the fact that slavers almost invariably hoisted the American flag. Her Majesty's Government had signified to the Government of the United States that they were ready to adopt such pleasures as the latter might suggest to meet that difficulty. Orders had been already sent out by the Admiralty, giving peremptory instructions to our officers to observe 1313 the utmost caution, and those instructions would again be carefully repeated.