§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the exemption of British Subjects from the demand for Passports in Franco exempts them also from their Passports being demanded and given over to the custody of the captain on going on board French Passenger Steamers in the Mediterranean and elsewhere? He wished further to ask, Whether any information has been received at the Foreign Office of the complaint made by Lord Francis Douglas, that his Pass-port had been taken from him and torn to pieces before his face at a place near Bodenbach, in Austria?
§ MR. LAYARDreplied, that he had not received any official communication on the subject of Lord Francis Douglas's passport. With regard to the more general Question, he had to state that, as far as he could ascertain, the rule appeared to be that when a French passenger vessel called at any port in the Mediterranean, it was the practice for the captain to collect the passports and show them to the authorities. But he was not aware whether the captain did that in the case 2018 of vessels trading between one French port and another. He rather thought that was not the practice.