§ On the Question that the House at its rising adjourn till Monday next,
§ MR. CHISHOLM ANSTEYrose, amidst loud cries of "Oh, oh!" to complain of the conduct of the Government in allowing the House to be counted out on the Tuesday night, when he had an important Motion to bring forward relating to the protection of Missionaries abroad, and to state that if the House were in existence on the 29th instant, he would press the Motion of which he had given notice. In the meantime, he begged to call the attention of the House to a despatch of the Earl of Malmesbury's, dated the 28th of April; but before doing this, he wished to ask the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer why it was that the papers on the subject of the Missionaries, which had been promised two or three times, had not yet been laid upon the table?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, the papers had been printed for presentation at a time when the negotiations were supposed to he finished; but having been recommenced they were with- 959 held. The negotiations were at length finished, and the papers would be presented on Monday, or certainly on Tuesday.
§ MR. CHISHOLM ANSTEYsaid, he had given notice that on the 29th he would bring the whole subject before the House, but at present he only proposed to call the attention of the House to a small part of the question—a particular despatch written by Lord Malmesbury.
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERrose to order, and would beg to ask Mr. Speaker whether it was competent for the hon. and learned Member, having given notice of a Motion for the 29th instant, to introduce it now.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, the hon. and learned Member having given notice of his Motion for the 29th, it was against the rules of the House to bring it forward now. Unless, therefore, the hon. and learned Member was about to speak on a different subject, he was out of order.
§ MR. CHISHOLM ANSTEYsaid, he would, of course, bow to the decision of the right hon. Gentleman in the Chair, but as he decidedly felt that there was no time like the present, he would not proceed with his Motion on the 29th, but would go on with it now.
§ MR. SPEAKERThe hon. and learned Member will not put himself in order by taking that course. He has given notice of a subject for the 29th; by the rules of the House it is not possible for him to bring his question forward before the day for which he had given notice. It is not competent for the hon. and learned Member to say now that he will not bring it forward on that day in order to bring it forward now.
§ MR. CHISHOLM ANSTEYwould then take the opinion of Mr. Speaker whether the question he meant now to propose was the same as that which he had given notice of for the 29th. That proposition was to this effect: that the House recognised the duty of Her Majesty's Government to grant letters of protection to Her Majesty's subjects residing in foreign countries, and particularly to certain persons who had suffered wrong; and that the case of those persons demanded the serious attention of that House. What he proposed to do at present was to read a despatch from Lord Malmesbury, which referred to a small portion only of the main case, but which contained the principles that Lord Malmesbury had laid down for guidance in respect to such cases.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, it appeared to him, as far as he could understand the hon. and learned Member, that he was now about to draw attention to a part of the question which he had already given notice of for a future day. He thought under these circumstances that the hon. and learned Gentleman was out of order.