5094. How do you make it out to be criminal in Mr. Kidd to do that which it was innocent for the auctioneer on the part of the British Government to do?--The auctioneer is required to do it by his duty, he is appointed for that purpose under the Act of Parliament; he sells to any body who will purchase; of course, the responsibility of the employment of the purchase rests with the purchaser. 5095. Then it is the fault of the Government, not of the auctioneer?--It is not the fault of the auctioneer; nor do I consider it any fault of the British Government; it is no fault to purchase goods, but to use them unlawfully is wrong; it is the use which he makes of the vessel after purchasing it that is wrong. 5096. How could it be criminal in Mr. Kidd to sell the vessel to Mr. Zulueta when you see no fault in the British Government doing the same thing?--The British Government is obliged to do it under the treaty; there is no compulsion on Mr. Kidd to sell his vessel to a slave dealer, he may sell it to any body. 5097. According to that doctrine, the British Government is obliged to act criminally?--No, certainly not; I do not think it follows. The treaty requires that goods and vessels shall be exposed at auction; the responsibility of the employment of those goods or vessels which are sold, I think, rests with the purchaser; he may employ them lawfully, and I have purchased a vessel at auction myself, in former days, when I was engaged in business; but if I had taken that vessel and sold her to a slave dealer, I should think that I did wrong. 5098. But you admit that the public auctioneer would have sold the same vessel to the same party whom Mr. Kidd sold her to?--Certainly. 5099. _Chairman._] You meant to say that the auctioneer had no choice to whom he should sell her, and Mr. Kidd had?--The auctioneer had no choice; the Act is imperative, and requires him to sell to the highest bidder, for the benefit of the two governments. 5100. Mr. _Aldam_.] Did Mr. Kidd sell his vessel to a slave dealer or to a Spanish house, who subsequently sold it to a slave dealer?--It appears in some of the records that in some cases he sold vessels direct to the slave dealers. 5101 Are those vessels worth more to a slave dealer than if used for any other purpose?--Certainly. 5102. How then is it possible to prevent the ships being applied to that purpose for which they are worth more than for any other?--Spanish ships are prevented from being used for the trade by being cut up when they are condemned. 5103. Mr. _Evans_.] But you have no power of doing so with the Portuguese ships?--No. 5104. Mr. _Aldam_.] Those vessels, from their small size, are not worth much for other trades?--There are some trades that they are adapted for, the fruit trade for instance, and they are employed in the smuggling of opium and such trades as those; they are not capable of carrying large burdens.