HC Deb 02 March 1866 vol 181 cc1391-2
MR. BAXTER

said, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If any representations have been made to the Government of Portugal regarding the connivance of Portuguese Officials on the East Coast of Africa with the slave trade, and likewise regarding the claim of Portugal to many hundred miles of that coast, where that power has no settlement or military force?

MR. LAYARD

said, in reply, that the correspondence which had taken place between Her Majesty's Government and the Portuguese Government on the subject of the slave trade on the east coast of Africa had been laid on the table of the House in various State Papers, and he should shortly be able to present to the House a continuance of the correspondence on the same subject. Her Majesty's Government had not recently made any representations to the Portuguese Government relative to the conduct of their officials on that coast, there being no evidence to inculpate them. In former days he was afraid they were largely engaged in the slave trade, and at that time strong remonstrances were made by the English Government to the Portuguese Government. It was perfectly true that nothing could exceed the horrors of that trade on the eastern coast of Africa, and it would seem that as it was extinguished on the west coast it increased on the east coast of Africa. At the same time he believed that the Governor of Mozambique had done his best to put a stop to this nefarious trade, so far as he was concerned. Her Majesty's Government had represented to the Portuguese Government that so long as they maintained their present restrictions on the legitimate trade on the east coast of Africa so long would the people of that district have no other recourse but the slave trade. He hoped the Portuguese authorities would, however, see reason to reduce them. As to the extension of the Portuguese dominions on the east coast of Africa, Her Majesty's Government did not consider it appertained to them to make any remonstrance relative to the claim of Portugal to a large extent of territory on that coast.