§ MR. PAUL (Edinburgh, S.)In the absence of the hon. Member for Carmarthen, I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information from Sir Hugh Wyndham, Her Majesty's Minister at Rio, as to the arrest of Messrs. Edward Pellew Wilson and James Moir Florence, connected with the firm of Wilson, Sons, and Company, Limited, of Rio, and if any measures have been taken for the release of these gentlemen; whether he is aware that the firm of Wilson, Sons, and Company, Limited, gave very material assistance to the British Senior Naval Officer in his efforts to protect British shipping during the Revolution in Brazil; and if he has any information to show whether the imprisonment of one 807 or both of these gentlemen may be attributed to that fact?
§ SIR E. GREYOn learning on the 6th instant of the arrest of Messrs. Wilson and Florence instructions were at once telegraphed to Sir H. Wyndham to report the facts of the case; meanwhile to render them such assistance as he properly could. Her Majesty's Ministers telegraphed on the 9th instant that Mr. Wilson had been released, that he did not then know on what grounds the arrests had been made, that he was doing everything in his power in the cases of Mr. Florence and two other British subjects who had been arrested. Her Majesty's Government are aware that Mr. Wilson's firm rendered assistance to the British Senior Naval Officer during the recent insurrection in Rio Harbour, but they have no information showing that the imprisonment of the two above-mentioned gentlemen is due to that circumstance.