5216. You still consider that the moiety given to the foreign government would cover such expenses?--Yes, if vessels continued to be taken as they have been in the last few years, they would do so certainly. The only case in which I should conceive that the expense would exceed the moiety, is where very few vessels are condemned, and where you would have to run across with a very few passengers. 5217. This could be done by the existing treaty, without the necessity for any fresh negotiation?--Yes. 5218. Captain _Fitzroy_.] What becomes of the remainder of that moiety which goes to the foreign government, the part which is not used in paying for the maintenance of those men?--I believe there are always accounts going on between the governments at home, and it is used in England in some way that I am not aware of; the Treasury disposes of it either by paying it over to the agent of the foreign government here, or in some other way. 5219. Is the foreign moiety paid to our Government?--The whole of it is paid to the commissary at Sierra Leone; he has accounts with the Treasury; there are regular accounts which are made up as between the British Government and the foreign government, showing the exact sum that is due by the English Government to the foreign Government for their moiety. 5220. Mr. _W. Patten_.] Looking to the general nature of the vessels that are sold at Sierra Leone, do you think that they would bring by auction as large a price if sold in the West Indies, as they would sold at Sierra Leone?--Yes, I think they would. 5221. Do you think they would bring a larger price?--There have been vessels sold at the West Indies, but there was not any material difference in price; it would depend a good deal upon the island to which they went; in some islands there might be no great demand. 5222. _Chairman._] There is a good deal of small traffic, is there not, along the coasts of the West India islands?--Yes; I should think the chances are, that the prices vessels would fetch in the West Indies would be higher than at Sierra Leone. 5223. Mr. _W. Patten_.] Suppose the station was established at the West Indies, would there not be the security that they would be sold without being made use of again for the slave trade?--There might be. I have strongly recommended that vessels should be sent to the West Indies, when they have cargoes on board; that the slaves should be landed in the West Indies, and the vessels, of course, might be sold there when sent over. 5224. _Chairman._] You would bring them to Sierra Leone for adjudication?--Yes; there could not be a mixed commission established under the present system in the West Indies; because the treaty requires that there shall be one mixed commission on the coast of Africa, and another in the West Indies, and we have one there already at Havannah.