§ Mr. Humebegged to know from the noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, whether our Ambassador, Sir Frederick Lamb, who had been absent from Austria for a period of sixteen months, received his full amount of salary and allowance during that period? He felt the more anxious to have the absence of our Ambassador at the Court of Austria satisfactorily accounted for, as he recollected that he had had occasion two 1258 years ago, to complain of the absence of our Ambassador from Constantinople, at a time when serious occurrences took place. If our diplomatic establishment were kept up at all, it was most essential to have a resident Ambassador at the Court of Austria, whose interest was identical with that of England in opposing the aggressions of Russia.
§ Viscount Palmerstonstated, that it was the rule for Ambassadors who were absent from the court to which they were sent, to forfeit half their salary. With respect to the particular case, mentioned by his hon. Friend, he could inform him, that Sir Frederick Lamb was about to repair to Austria immediately, and that he had been detained in this country for the last two or three months, not on account of his own convenience, but for the advantage of the public service.