6632. _Chairman._] Would you think it advantageous if the cruizers were allowed to fit up one of their prizes as a cruizing tender?--It would be undoubtedly of great advantage, but it would be contrary to the treaties. 6633. To all the treaties?--I think to all the treaties; and it would be open to great abuses. 6634. What abuses?--I think you would have young midshipmen and people cruizing away in those vessels, and getting into scrapes, by improperly searching foreign vessels. 6635. You regard the duty as one of rather a delicate nature, which is not to be entrusted to subordinate officers?--The most difficult and the most delicate that a British officer can be entrusted with; the immense mischief produced by an indiscreet search, by giving offence to foreign nations, has been very much experienced. 6636. Do not the treaties require that officers of a certain rank shall alone be empowered to carry out the search?--That is the case in most of the treaties. 6637. Mr. _Wortley_.] Has not there been an improvement of late years in the class of vessels employed in cruizing?--Very great; I believe that for some years they have been replacing the old brigs with a superior class of vessels; fast sailing vessels, which are quite equal to the slavers in sailing qualities. 6638. Are you aware whether that change has been followed by a perceptible increase of efficiency in the service?--That change was about contemporaneous with the change by the Act of the 2d of Victoria; you cannot distinguish between the effects of the two. 6639. According to your observation, should you say that the present class of vessels is an efficient class for the service for which they are employed?--Decidedly; there are still a few of the old class, but they have been always replaced at the expiration of their term of service by efficient vessels. 6640. How are they in point of sailing as compared with the generality of slavers?--They are generally superior; I commanded one for two years, and I never chased a vessel that I did not overhaul; some got away from darkness coming on, but I had the advantage in point of sailing in every instance. 6641. What vessel was that?--The Wanderer, a 16-gun brig. 6642. _Chairman._] What are the respective functions that you would assign to the sailing-vessel and to the steamer, the two acting in combination?--The steamer, I think, should be probing the rivers and ranging about the coast; the sailing-vessel should be as much as possible a fixture at the place where the slaves are put on board, which should never be left unguarded for an hour. The steamer should be employed in going from place to place to see whether from new places they are making arrangements to embark slaves, and also for carrying provisions and water, and in chasing; but steamers could not entirely blockade, because they are so much more frequently obliged to leave their stations for supplies.