§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would now beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether information has been received that the Captain of the Sumter has been arrested at Tangiers at the instance of the American Consul at Gibraltar and the Captain of the Tusco rora; and, if so, whether it is supposed that any pressure has been put on the Moorish Government by the American officials, or any infringement of the independence of the territory of Morocco has taken place in such transaction?
§ MR. LAYARDsaid, it appeared that an officer named Myers, of the steamer Sumter, accompanied by Mr. Tonsel, late United States Consul at Cadiz, was pursuing a voyage in a French merchant steamer, bound for Cadiz and other ports. They landed in Tangiers, and were arrested by the American Consul, who requested the Moorish authorities to give him their assistance. He did not know that any pressure had been put on the Moorish Government; because, according to the law of Morocco, a Consul had a right to arrest a subject belonging to the Power that be represented. It was on a representation to that effect by the American Consul that the Moorish authorities enabled him to arrest those persons. Her Majesty's Government had since heard that Mr. Tonsel and Mr. Myers had been set at liberty.