§ SIR FRANCIS BARINGsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether any Ordinance has been issued by the Governor of Lagos for the registry of slaves there; and whether Government has issued any directions with respect to persons who were in a state of slavery at Lagos at the time when it became a British Possession; and, if so, whether there is any objection to laying these directions upon the table?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUEsaid, in reply, that the affairs of Lagos were so new to the Colonial Office that he was afraid he should not be able to give so much information as the right hon. Gentleman might wish to have. But with respect to the first part of the question, he had no knowledge whatever of any such Ordinance having been issued at Lagos. With respect to the second part, no directions had been sent out on the part of the Secretary of State upon the subject of slavery; but his noble Friend at the head of the Colonial Department was fully alive to the great importance of the question, and had called for full information from the Governor by the next mail.