HL Deb 21 April 1882 vol 268 cc1082-3
THE EARL OF MILLTOWN

, who had the following Notice on the Paper:—To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether there is any existing precedent of a Foreign Government having interfered to arrest a judgment pronounced on a British subject by an English court of justice for a crime committed in England of which he had been found guilty by a regularly constituted jury; and, if not, whether the Secretary of State will inform the House what are the reasons which have induced Her Majesty's Government to accede to such an interference on the part of the President of the United States in the case of the convict Lamson, said, that before he put the Question he would like to make one or two observations upon the subject. He did so with some diffidence, as it was the first time he had addressed their Lordships. The case of the convict Lamson, and the facts relating to it, were of such recent occurrence that it would be fresh in the minds of their Lordships. After a long and patient trial the prisoner was convicted on the clearest evidence of a foul and deliberate murder of a poor little boy, his own relative.

EARL GRANVILLE

, entering the House at this stage, apologized for interrupting the noble Lord, but said he had not heard his Notice given on the previous night, and suggested that the Question should be postponed until Monday, when he hoped to be in a position to give fuller information on the subject than he was prepared to do at present.

[Question postponed.]

House adjourned at half past Four o'clock, to Monday next, a quarter before Eleven o'clock.