The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-08 00:00:00

PURDAY'S DISABILITIES BILL.

This bill was read a second time.
TRADING COMPANIES WINDING-UP BILL.
This bill was read a second time.
THE CHARLES ET GEORGES.
Lord WODEHOUSE rose to move that a humble
address be presented to her Majesty for a copy of
the telegraphic despatch of the 16th of October,
/458, referred to in Mr. Howard's despatch of the
27th of October to the Earl of Malmesbury,
as printed in the correspondence respecting the Charles et
Georges. The noble lord said, in bringing this subject
under the attention of their lordships, he must notice an
important omission in the blue book that had been presented
on the subject, viz., the absence of dates in many instances
of several of those despatches. In the observations he
should have to address to their lordships he should have to
refer to the French Government in terms of condemnation.
It was known that the French Government had
entered into a plan for supplying labour to her
colonies which, no doubt, was sure to degenerate into a
practical revival of the slave trade. Having stated
then, in outline, the affair of the Charles et
Georges, the noble lord said it would be remem-
bered, that a gentleman named Macleod, the British
consul at Mozambique had drawn the attention of the Por-
tuguese to the fact that French ships were sent to their
territory apparently for the purpose of prosecuting the
slave trade. The Portuguese Government despatched a
vessel to the place mentioned when the ship was seized,
and 110 negroes having been discovered on board, some of
them, were interrogated, and it was elicited that they had
been brought there against their will. The defence of the
French was that the vessels were not in Portuguese waters,
and also that there was an official on board which legalised
whatever business the ships were engaged in. The
noble lord then quoted several passages from
l" Wheaton's International Law" to show that the mere
presence of a French delegate was not sufficient to justify
the ships engaging in an illegal traffic. It had been said
that the presence of such a personage would prevent
illegal conduct on the part of the crew, but this was
absurd, as slaves were actually found, and they had been
brought there against their will. The conduct of Govern-
ment had been such, that if proper measures had been taken
that which now presented a very serious aspect might
have been very easily settled. During the whole of the
negotiations that had been carried on Lord Cowley had
been left entirely without instructions, and, there-
fore, he was entirely precluded from taking any
decided course, and the French Government was
left to pursue their original line of conduct, as if the British
Government had taken no steps whatever. There was the
same want of instruction in the case of the British resident
at Lisbon, and the Portuguese Government was eventually
advised to accept a miserable subterfuge, and compelled to
get out of the difficulty in the most ignominious manner
possible to imagine.

(LEFT SPEAKING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(Tins EVENING).
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
NEW MEMBER.

Mr. GLADSTONE, who was received with cheers, took the
oaths and his seat for the University of Cambridge.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The following bills were considered and ordered for
third reading :—Banff, Macduff, and Turiff Junction Rail-
way, Formartine and Buchan Railway, Leominster and
Kington Railway, Shepton Mallet Water, and Swansea
Vale Railway.