§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYwished to put a question to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs relative to a case of some hardship. It was the case of a Captain Ouseley, commander and part owner of the schooner Maria, which had been seized by the Venezuelan Government. It appeared that a boat had been detached from the schooner in order to pro- 948 cure provisions at Caraccas. On board the boat there were some few yards of cloth which the crew intended merely to barter for the provisions of which they stood in need. They were, however, accused of smuggling, and the boat was consequently seized. The captain was brought before the authorities of the country, and fined 100 dollars for a breach of the Custom House rules of Venezuela. Not satisfied with this, the Government of that country also seized the schooner, which was then engaged in a regular and legitimate trade—that of carrying cattle to Demerara. The seizure occurred on the 7th of March, 1856. Since then a correspondence had taken place between his noble Friend (the Earl of Clarendon) and the brother-in-law of Captain Ouseley; and it appeared that no notice whatever had been taken of this transaction by our Chargé d'Affaires at Caraccas, and that no communication on the subject had been sent by that officer to the Foreign Office in answer to inquiries that had been addressed to him regarding it. In the meantime, Captain Ouseley had presented a bill against the authorities of Venezuela for damages to the amount of something like £3,000. He wished his noble Friend to explain, if he could, how such a proceeding as this, affecting a vessel that was British built, British manned, and British owned, should have taken place without any interference on the part of our Chargé d'Affaires on the spot, or without the knowlege of the Foreign office being drawn to it.
§ THE EARL OF CLARENDONwas sorry that he could not afford his noble, Friend the explanation he desired. It was perfectly true that neither before nor since the information relative to this case had been given to the Foreign Office by the parties interested had he received any Report on the subject from our Chargé d'Affaires at Caraccas. As soon as the circumstances came to his knowledge he put himself in communication with the Commissioner of Venezuela, who was then about to return to that country, and requested him to be good enough to lay the matter under the notice of the Venezuelan Government. Since then, however, he had not heard anything of that gentleman's proceedings. Although he had not yet succeeded in obtaining any information respecting this transaction, he trusted that before much longer he should receive some explanation on the subject.