§ MR. MONCKTON MILNESsaid, his noble Friend at the head of the Foreign Office would not be surprised at his rising to ask him what effect had been given to the Address presented by this House to Her Majesty in August last, in respect to the cruelties and murders committed with impunity on board American ships engaged in the traffic between the United States and this country. He would ask the House to allow him to state one or two additional facts which had occurred since this Address was presented. The picture, he regretted to say, had been considerably darkened since that time, and acts of gross and cruel murder had been added to the catalogue of crime. A few days after the Address was presented an American sailor, named Antonio, died in the Liverpool Hospital from the effects of the cruel treatment he had received. An inquest was held on the body, when a solicitor appeared on the part of the American Government, who denied altogether the jurisdiction of the court, and stated, not without considerable acuteness, that it was an American transaction, committed on board an American ship, and with which nobody but Americans had anything to do. If, he added, he had died on board, the case might have been one of murder or of manslaughter; it would have been a case for American jurisdiction. But as he had died in Liverpool in consequence of injuries inflicted in the course of the voyage, the jury could find no other verdict but "Found dead," and that verdict was returned accordingly. There were other cases with which he 230 would not trouble the House, but he must advert to the case which was probably fresh in all their recollections, as it occurred only on the 14th of the present month. Two American mates of the barque Anna were brought before the magistrates of the Isle of Wight on a charge of having done to death no less than six sailors in the course of a voyage between America and England; for having put to death, under circumstances of great cruelty and violence, the half of the whole crew of the vessel. With the two men there appeared before the bench of magistrates a solicitor of the name of Stokes, who represented himself as an agent of the American Government, and who questioned the jurisdiction of the Bench. He claimed these men as American subjects, with whom the British magistrates had nothing to do; that the murders which were alleged to have been committed were done on the high seas, the only death on which a question could arise having occurred more than a league from the British coast. The magistrates had been blamed, but he thought very unjustly, for discharging the prisoners; but in point of fact they had no jurisdiction. It was wrong to say that the mates were guilty of the horrible crimes charged against them, but it was a very significant fact that a smile passed over their faces when the non jurisdiction of the Court was established. Surely the state of the law required alteration, and he should be rejoiced to hear that in the considerable interval that had elapsed since the Address was presented her Majesty's Government had done something to remedy so great a scandal. There was no doubt that the impunity with which these grave crimes were committed wore telling most detrimentally upon our own merchant service. In a case of great violence the other day it was given in evidence that the captain said, "How I regret I am under English law! If I were under American law I could do anything I chose to my men." He hoped, therefore, that something had been done to remedy this state of things, which he was sure was felt to be a scandal, not only in this country, but still more by that great community across the Atlantic. The American Chamber of Commerce, he knew, had made strong representations to their countrymen at home on the subject. Great interest was felt upon the subject in America, and no doubt the American Government would co-operate with the English Government in trying to 231 find a remedy for a grave and growing evil. The noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was not one likely to lack zeal in the cause of humanity. The right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department was no tyro in matters of international legislation, and between the two he trusted something would be accomplished. He therefore wished to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign affairs what measures have been adopted with regard to the Address presented to her Majesty on the 2nd of August, 1859, by that House, praying Her Majesty to enter into negotiations with the United States of America for the purpose of preventing the assaults and cruelties committed on merchant seamen in American vessels.
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELL—With respect to the question put to me by the hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Darby Griffith), he will not, I think, expect me on this occasion to enter upon a discussion of the affairs of Italy. But with respect to the questions which he has asked, I will only say that I do not believe there is any truth in the statement which he has seen in a French newspaper, to the effect that 30,000 French troops are expected at Leghorn. I have certainly no reason to believe that the French Government has any intention of taking any such step for the purpose of preventing the annexation of the Provinces of Central Italy to Sardinia. On the contrary, I consider the statement is highly improbable. My hon. Friend (Mr. M. Milnes) has asked me a question upon a subject of great interest and importance, with regard to which he brought forward an Address last year, which was adopted by this House. When that Address was agreed to I immediately communicated with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, and I believe it was his opinion that it would be of advantage if the negotiations were conducted in this country with some lawyer of experience from the United States. Accordingly, I wrote to Lord Lyons, and he received an answer that it was the opinion of the American Government that the negotiations could not be entrusted to better hands than those of the able and enlightened representative of the United States in this country, Mr. Dallas. My right hon. Friend has therefore had interviews with Mr. Dallas on the subject. They felt anxious, as every man in this House, and I have no doubt in America also, must feel, 232 that some remedy ought to be found for a state of things so shocking, and that an attempt should be made to punish the authors of these acts of outrage and cruelty which take place on board American vessels. They were agreed as to the principle upon which that remedy should be applied, and there is now drawing up the draft of a convention with a view to carry their views into effect. I think it would be premature to enter into the details of that convention at the present moment; but when it is agreed to and ratified, as I trust it will be speedily, no time will be lost in bringing in a Bill to obtain the object which my hon. Friend has so properly advocated.