§ SIR ROBERT ANSTRUTHERasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, What steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government to carry out the Resolution of the House of the 4th of April last, which was in the terms following:—
That, in the opinion of this House, it is desirable that Her Majesty's Government should invite and assist the Sultan of Zanzibar to take such further steps as may be necessary for the total suppression of the Slave Trade within his dominions, and that at the same time more adequate provision should be made for the care and maintenance of the liberated slaves?
§ MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, he was happy to inform the hon. Baronet that no intimation from the Government had been necessary, because the Sultan of Zanzibar had gone far beyond his Treaty engagements. He bad not only carried out those engagements, but he had also suppressed slavery altogether in his dominions, and he had stopped the caravans which used to be fitted out for expeditions into the north. Under these circumstances, any intimation from the Government to the Sultan of Zanzibar to continue his efforts in that direction would be inopportune. The Government had had the question of the care and maintenance of liberated slaves under their consideration for some time, and at present they thought it best to send the able-bodied slaves to Natal, while the children of both sexes were handed over from time to time to the missionaries of Zanzibar.