LORD BROUGHAM(who had attempted to put this Question before the Orders of the Day) said:—My Lords, the experience of this evening teaches us that in order to put a Question to the Government on any subject, however urgent or important, it is necessary on every occasion to give notice of the question, and have it printed amongst the Orders of the Day. Such a course will be very inconvenient, and will often give rise to long and unnecessary discussions; for I have observed that when questions are asked without notice, they are at once answered, and there is an end of them; but that when notice is given they almost invariably lead to debates, which may sometimes be of long duration. The Question I am about to put to my noble Friend, the Lord President, arises from an impression that has prevailed for the last two days, both in Paris and London, and which has created very considerable alarm in both cities. I hope and trust that I shall receive as distinct a denial of it as my noble Friend and his colleagues are capable of giving;—but, in my opinion, their denial of having received any information or notice upon this subject from the other side of the water will be in itself a substantial contradiction of the report. It has been said, both in Paris and London, during the last two days, that the French Government are either sending, or are preparing to send, a very considerable force to the south of Italy—to the kingdom of Naples. [The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH: A military force?] A military force. A naval force they have already there, consisting of seven ships; but the despatch of a military force, as I am reminded by the noble Earl, stands in a totally different position, and naturally creates very considerable anxiety and alarm. I confess, for my own part, that I do not partake of 558 that alarm; because, even if it were true that there is a force despatched, or about to be despatched, to the kingdom of Naples, I am perfectly convinced that it is an impossibility such force should be despatched for the purpose of interposing between the King of Naples—I can now, happily, only call him the King of Naples; and not the King of the Two Sicilies—it is utterly and absolutely impossible that any force should be sent for the purpose of protecting him against his former subjects in Sicily; or of protecting him, I will venture to hope, against his subjects on the main, land. I do not believe, therefore, that if this measure is in contemplation, or if it is begun to be executed—that it could be for any one purpose connected with the King of Naples, with respect to his subjects on the mainland, or the restitution of his dominion in the island of Sicily. What might be the object of the movement, if unhappily it were about to take place, I will not venture even to conjecture, but I am only satisfied and comforted in a firm and entire belief that it cannot be for the protection of the King of Naples. My Lords, I say therefore, first, that I cannot believe there is any foundation for the rumour. If it had any foundation, some notice must have been given of it to Her Majesty's Government, and, upon finding that they have no intimation whatever from Paris on the subject, I shall believe it to he entirely erroneous. I confess I shall be glad to find I am right, and that the report is groundless; and I rejoice to think that I shall hear from my noble Friend opposite that it is so; but if not, the alarm I feel is not for the liberties of Sicily or of Naples, but it is lest there may be some intention entertained by the French Government of interfering, either with the Duchies, or with Sardinia, or with the Pope, or with Venice, and lest, therefore, there should be danger to the peace of Europe.
§ EARL GRANVILLEI regret that the noble and learned Lord should have been put to the inconvenience of waiting until now in order to submit his Question to the Government. There is some difference between giving any notice of a question and inscribing the formal notice to be printed with the Votes previously to the day on which the question is to be asked. Now, the noble and learned Lord has never given me the slightest intimation of his intention to put this question. It is, I think, convenient, not only to Members of the Cabinet, but to the public, that no- 559 tice should be given of any question of importance, inasmuch as it often happens that the Member of the Government of whom the question is to be asked finds it necessary to communicate with the head of the Department to which the subject specially refers, in order to be enabled to make a complete and satisfactory reply. If I had stated what I knew when the noble and learned Lord first put the question to me, I could only have stated my individual belief that Her Majesty's Government had received no such information as that to which the noble and learned Lord has alluded, and that it would be inconsistent with all the declarations we have received on the subject from the Emperor of the French. I have had an opportunity, however, through the delay which the forms of the House have occasioned, of communicating with my noble Friend the Secretary for Foreign Affairs on the matter, and I am enabled to state upon his authority that there is no foundation for the rumour of any French military force having been sent to the south of Italy, or that there is any intention of so doing. It is true the French have ships of war there, as we have, for the protection of British subjects and their property; but I repeat that I do not believe there is any intention of sending any troops there.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHsaid, it was satisfactory to find that this rumour was as great a fiction as the report that the British marines had taken possession of Castellamare.
LORD BROUGHAMIf no information has been received from Paris, or elsewhere, of such intention, it is clear to my mind that the rumour is groundless. Let us hope, therefore, that there will be not only no breach of the peace, or disturbance of the tranquillity now prevailing in Italy, excepting in the South and in Sicily, but that Sicily and the South of Italy are, the one already free, and the other nearly free, from the tyranny under which they have laboured.
§ House adjourned at Eight o'clock, till To-morrow, Half-past Ten o'clock.