LORD BROUGHAMsaid, he regretted the absence of the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as he wished to put a question to him in reference to an opinion which, he said the other evening, had been given by the law officers of the Crown, to the effect that the Slave Trade Abolition Act did not make it a felony to fit out a foreign vessel in a British port for the slave trade. If that were really the state of the law, not a day ought to be lost in passing some measure to put a stop to that abominable traffic in our ports. Recently a vessel had been fitted out at Liverpool for the slave trade, and had been subsequently captured with 640 slaves on board. He wished to know whether the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, or of other legal authorities to which the noble Lord referred, was given before or after the case of the Nightingale?
§ EARL GRANVILLEsuggested that it would be better for the noble and learned Lord to give notice of his Question for a future day, when the Government would supply him with all the information in their power on the subject.