§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he has received information of a Proclamation by the President of the Republic of Hayti, protesting against the possession of the Dominica portion of the Island by a slave-holding State such as Spain, and calling on the Population and the Army to defend their liberties and independence; and whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government will be turned to the protection of Free Institutions in that country?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, Her Majesty's Government received, not directly from the President of the Haytian Republic, but from the agents of that Government in Europe, a protest against the annexation to Spain of the Dominica por- 1653 tion of the Island, pretty much in the terms mentioned by the hon. Gentleman. No step has yet been taken by Her Majesty's Government on the subject. Indeed, the annexation can hardly yet be said to have been effected.