The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-12 00:00:00

privates, the latter being, indeed, very rare in that house
(Hear. hear, and laughter.) It was likely there should be
black she• p in some of their corps, and in the case of Mr.
Merrick Lord Ranelagh appointed such a court of inquiry
as that proposed. It was a court that was generally
adopted, and afforded a moral support to the colonels. A
court of inquiry was summoned in Mr. Leid's case, and
they suspended him. There was a subsequent proceeding
against that gentleman by the colonel, but he did not mean
to enter into that. He should support the amendment.
Mr. COX said he was not anxious to bring on the dis-
cussion at so late an hour, knowing it would take a consi-
derable time, and therefore he must throw himself on the
indulgence of the house. The question resolved itself
into twa points. The first was the unlimited powers pos-
sessed by the colonels for dismissing any man from the
corps they thought fit, for any or no reason whatever. The
volunteers when they joined their respective corps had no
idea the colonels possessed, or would ever possess, the powers
now claimed, or they would never have connected them-
selves with the movement. Many of the volunteers were
afraid to sign the petitions against the bill. Some of them
had that very day told bim that they dare not sign the pe-
titions, for that if they did they should at once send in thei-
resignation, and they would be su-ely dismissed before the
14 days would bo allowed to expire. There were several
cases of hardship to which he could refer. One was an oc-
currence in one of the Surrey corps, the name of which he
could not recollect. A Mr. Flicker, an auctioneer of King-
ston, had a dispute about business with ono of the officers,
He appealed to the commanding officer, and as he could not
get any satisfaction, he sent in his resignation. Before the
14 days had expired ho received his dismissal. He had two
sons in the corps who, seeing how their father had been
treated, sent in their resignations also, and they, too, were
dismissed. (Nam-, name.)
Lord ELCHO— Will the hon. gentleman name the com-
manding officer of the corps ?
Mr. COX had stated that he could not remember the
name of the commanding officer, or the number of the corps,
but he had said that it was one of the Surrey corps, and he
had given the names and professions of the volunteers. He
would find, in the evidence of Lord Ranelagh, proof of the
desire of commanding officers to obtain power over their
men. (Read, read.) He would read from Lord Ranelagh's
evidence given before the commissioners. The hon. gentle-
man then read the well-known passage in which Lord
Ranelagh said that schoolboys who commented improperly
upon their masters ought to be flogged. His lordship was
then asked what ought to be done with volunteers who
commented improperly upon their officers ? To which he
replied, that that was a different thing, seeing that they
could not flog volunteers, or put them in the black
hole. From that passage he (Mr. Cox) contended
hat the noble lord evidently had in his mind a regret
that he could not flog a volunteer. (Oh, oh, and No,

no.) He desired to have a regular court of appeal, to
which volunteers could go without requiring the assent of
the commanding officer. He would mention the case of the

Lanarkshire Volunteer Artillery. A vacancy occurred in
that corps. They elected a captain. The commanding of
ces declined to tend his name to the Lord Lieutenant. The
corps applied to the Lord Lieutenant, and he told them
that he could not receive their memorial except through the
commanding officer. They went to the War. office, where
they received the same answer. They thot sent the memo-
rill to the commanding officer to have it forwarded, and he
refused to do so. He (Mr. Cox) said that such an appeal
was a farce. The result was that the whole body resigned,
50 men and officers of No. 7 battery—and there was no
longer such a battery in his Lanarkshire Artillery. If that
clause passed the volunteer force would be at an end. They
would not submit to b 3 degraded and ruined in their busi-