§ THE EARL OF ST. GERMANSbegged to draw their Lordships' attention to what he thought was a very inconvenient practice on the part of the Earl of Kingston in placing notices of Questions upon their Lordships' paper which he did not ask, and without naming a day on which he would ask them. Those notices embraced a variety of subjects, and had appeared on the paper at intervals for some time past. Among other questions of which the noble Earl had given notice, one was relating to a Custom House officer of Liverpool; another to the appointment of Mr. Sullivan to Lima; another, "Whether the resignation of General Ashburnham, Commander in Chief of the Chinese expedition, was a voluntary act of that officer; or, if not, from what source were the expenses of his return to this country defrayed." Another was, "Whether the whole course 1439 and conduct of Rajah Brooke in the East has not been such as to desecrate the name of England for humanity and justice." He repeated that, to say the least, it was an inconvenient practice to place such notices on their Lordships' paper without asking the questions, more especially when they imputed, as in the case of the Rajah Brooke, serious charges to individuals.
§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYsaid, he was afraid there was no remedy for the inconvenience of which the noble Earl complained, and that such matters must be left to the discretion of noble Lords. Absurd as it might appear, he had seen notices of Motion on the paper a much longer time than those of the noble Earl.
§ LORD REDESDALEsaid, it was formerly the invariable practice when a notice of a Question was placed on the paper to add the day on which it would be asked. He thought the noble Earl (the Earl of St. Germans) should have given Lord Kingston notice of his intention to bring this matter under the notice of the House.
§ EARL STANHOPEsaid, that under any circumstances there would have been great impropriety in placing on the paper such a notice as that relating to Rajah Brooke.
LORD CAMPBELLsaid, the Notices in question did not state that the Questions would be addressed to Her Majesty's Government, nor, indeed, to whom they would be put. He fully concurred in the remarks that had been made on the impropriety of placing such notices on the paper. It ought to be borne in mind that their Lordships' paper of business was sent all over the kingdom to every public library, and it might thus be made the vehicle for disseminating the most atrocious libels.