§ MR. KIMBER (Wandsworth)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the outrages committed by the Venezuelan Authorities on the crews and passengers of the British merchant vessels Henrietta and Josephine, illegally seized in May, 1883, have yet been redressed; whether any, and what, reply has been received to the further communications from the British Foreign Office, which the right hon. Gentleman stated, in August last, was about to be sent to the Venezuelan Government; and whether due diligence, and sufficient attention and solicitude, has been given by the British Officials in Trinidad to the claims of the British subjects in question?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)I regret to say that no redress has yet been obtained in the cases referred to. No reply has been received to the demands which Her Majesty's Government have felt compelled to address to the Venezuelan Government in October last; notwithstanding the repeated representations of Her Majesty's Minister at Caracas. There is great reason to apprehend that all chances of obtaining redress by diplomatic means are exhausted. Every attention has been paid by the Governor of Trinidad to the claims of the British subjects concerned.