HC Deb 01 December 1882 vol 275 cc476-8
SIR R. ASSHETON CROSS

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he will lay upon the Table of the House any communications which may have taken place from 1869 to 1871 between Her Majesty's Consuls in Cuba and the Governor of Nassau with any of Her Majesty's Secretaries of State, relative to the acts and proclamations of the Captain General of Cuba with respect to refugees or rebels escaping from Cuba?

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

We can find no trace in the archives of the Foreign Office of the communications between Her Majesty's Consuls and the Secretaries of State referred to by the right hon. Member; but as regards those from the Governor of Nassau, they would naturally be addressed to the Colonial Office. There were two Proclamations sent home by Her Majesty's Consul General, one dated March 24 and the other July 7, 1869. The second abrogates the first. The earlier of these Proclamations, which was never acted upon, is relative to the seizure upon the high seas of vessels, arms, men, and ammunition, and persons suspected of lending aid to the insurgents. Nothing is said about landing refugees. The Proclamation rather appears to apply to vessels on the high seas going to, than to vessels quitting Cuba.

SIR R. ASSHETON CROSS

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether the Papers referred to yesterday are ready for production?

MR. EVELYN ASHLEY

said, that the Colonial Office had not received the letter he had referred to yesterday. He, however, undertook that before the Prorogation all the Papers received on this subject up to the Prorogation should be laid upon the Table.

SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF

asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether the authorities at Gibraltar gave to the ladies who accompanied General Maceo the option of remaining in the fortress; or whether they were expelled by the police at the same time as the General?

MR. EVELYN ASHLEY

The Government telegraphed to Gibraltar inquiring whether the ladies referred to had or had not asked to be allowed to stay in the fortress. His impression was that they did not wish to be separated from the others; but he had got no answer to his telegram.

SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFF

stated that, in reply to a private telegram sent last night, he was informed that the ladies were now free.