§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the enlistment at Zanzibar of slaves to work in the Congo Free State, with an advance of part of their wages, paid to the Arab masters, is not an infringement of the edicts issued against the Slave Trade by the late Sultan in 1876, and by the present Sultan in 1889; whether Her Majesty's Plenipotentiaries at Brussels, one of whom is understood to be a Plenipotentiary for the Sultan of Zanzibar, have received instructions from Her Majesty's Government to protest against this form of the Slave Trade; and, whether Her Majesty's Consul General at Zanzibar has received any instructions upon the subject?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONIt is not clear in what the infringement is alleged to consist. Her Majesty's Government have been assured by the Government of the Congo Free State that every possible precaution is taken to prevent abuses and to make the willingness of recruits to enlist absolutely certain. There has been no reason for sending special instructions, as the assurance of the Congo State have been considered satisfactory.