MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have received, either in or since September last, an official Report from the Government of the Dominion of Canada, giving full and detailed accounts, accompanied by attested documentary evidence, of the forcible seizure, in July last, by the Russian cruiser Zabiaka, and the Russian steamer Kotik, of three English sealing schooners on the high seas whether this Report alleges that the British flag flying on the Ariel, one of the vessels so seized, was hauled down and trampled on the deck by the Russians that the crews of the sealers were robbed by the Russian officers and men; and that they were subsequently treated with great cruelty and inhumanity; whether, in view of the fact that seven months have now elapsed since these occurrences, and that both Her Majesty's Government and the Russian Government have since been in telegraphic communication with their authorities on the spot, Her Majesty's Government will now press for the completion of the investigation and for the redress they have applied for; and when he intends to lay before this House any Papers containing information respecting this matter?
§ *SIR E. GREYAffidavits and statements have been received, one of which confirms the statement with regard to the British flag; but the treatment of which the crews complained most is stated to have occurred on shore at Petropolowski. Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg presented to the Russian Government in November and December the evidence received on these matters. The Russian Government replied on the 5th of January that their authorities had been called upon for full Reports, but that some tune must elapse before they could be obtained, as the telegraph does not reach to Petropolowski. The Emperor has appointed a strong Commission of high authorities specially to investigate the questions involved. It would not be desirable to publish the Correspondence at the present stage, but it will be laid on the Table when the result of the representations made to the Russian Government is known.