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. L. was a court that was generally
adopted, aad afforded a moral support to the colonels. A
court of inquiry was summoned in Mr. heid's case, and
they suspended him. There was a subsequ-nt 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 tw ) 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 thorn
had that very day told him that they dare not sign the pe-
titions, for that it they did they should at once send in thei.
resignation, and they would be su•ely dismissed before the
14 days would be allowed to expire. There were several
cases of hardship to which he could reter. One was an oc-
currence in one of the Surrey corps, the name of which he
could not recollect. A Mr. nicker, an auctioneer of King-
ston, had a dispute about business with one of the officers,
He appealed to the commanding officer, and as he could not
get any satisfaction, he sent in his resignation. Betore the
14 days had expired he 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. (Name, name.)
Lord ELCHO— Will the hon. gentleman name the com-
manding officer of the corps ?

Mr. COX had stated that he coi'd 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
that 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 offs
ces declined to send his name to the Lord Lieutenant. The
corps applied to the Lord Lieutenant, and be told them
that he could not receive their memorial except through t he
commanding officer. They went to the War-office, where
they received the same answer. They tht sent the memo-
rial 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 bust.-
nose,

Lord ELCHO said that the hon. gentlem;-.n bad alluded

to cases which it was very desirable should be clearly !A-
fore the hou-e, in order that they might be understood
The pori ion of the evidence of Lord Ranelagh to which he
had referred happened to be precisely the very pas,•ages for

the publication of which, and the holding him up to public
odium as the supporter or flogging iu the v,Aunteer force,
Lord Ranelagh had proceeded against certain parties•

(Hear.) Lord Ranelagh had proceeded against the gentle-
men who published those very extracts, with comments,
deducing from the passages that he advoca ed flogging
amongst volunteers, and the magistrates held that the pub-
lication was a gross libel. (Hear.) And it was only ty pay-
ments of all costs and the signing and publication of a most
ample apology, dictated by Lord Ranelagh, that those gen-
tlem.n escaped the consequences of their libellous asser-
tions. (Hear, hear.) Yet the hon. gentleman actually read
the same paragraphs, and attempted o fix upon them the
meaning which had been decided to be libellous upon the
noble lord. (Hear, and cheers.) There was an associa-
tion at present trying to promote disaffection amongst the
volunteers, and to set the men against the commanding
officers. He protested against officers being held up as
tyrants. If they acted despotically, they produced re-
signation in their corps, and thus the at'empt to
tyrannise cured itself. He contended that it was desirable
that appeals should only be sent through commanding offi-
cers. The noble lo'd the Under-Secretary said the clause
was necessary to preserve discipline in the corps, and he
trusted the house would uphold their former decision,
Major EDWARDES hoped the noble lord would perse-
vere in passing this bill in its integrity, and he would have
the thanks of all the volunteers of the country. (Hear.)
Mr. HENNESSY was surprised to hear it stated that
the bill introduced by the Government embodied the whole
spirit of the E❑glish law on the subject. The hon. member
referred to various corps, in all of which there were rules
providing for a court of inquiry. He should support the
amendment.

The Marquis of HARTINGTON said that as early as
1860 a circular was sent from the War-office relating to
that power, and the volunteers had multiplied and prospered
under the rule. It was only since the introduction of this
bill that a demand for courts of inquiry had arisen. The
duty of the court of inquiry was simply to ascertain Taos,
but not to pass sentence, and therefore the amendment, it
carried, would entirely alter the nature of the measure. In
the case of Mr. Reece, referred to by the hon. member for
Nottingham, it so happened that that gentleman was pla-
carded all over London ; and this is the very thing which
the amendment would bring about on a large scale. In
making a grant it was not the object of the Government to
have more members, but that the volunteers should show
themselves worthy of the approbation of the country.
(Divide, divide.)
Sir J, SHELLEY said that the volunteers had been in
formed by circular that they were to be subjected to disci-
pline by the commanding officer.
Mr. WYLD said that the noble lord was wrong in stating
that Mr. Reece had been dismissed by a court of inquiry ;
he was dismissed by the lieutenant-colonel commanding.
The house divided. The numbers were—
For the amendment
Against it
Majority against.... —7l

The clause was allowed to stand, and the report agreed
to. The bill was ordered for third reading this day
(Friday).
DRAINAGE AND IMPROVEMENT OF LAND
(IRELAN' ') BILL,

This bill was recommitted for the purpose of amen(
went.

ALDERNEY LABOUR.

On the adjourned debate on the ruport on supply,

Sir J. ELPHINSTONE objected to the vote on account
of Alderney Harbour, and moved that it be reduced by
£30,000,
The house divided. The numbers were—
For the vote
Against
Majority for
Toe repart was then agreed to.
The Itegimental Debts, &c., Bill was read a second
time.

The Officers cf Royal Naval Reserve Bill was read a
third time and passed.
The other business was disposed of, and the house ad-
journed at twenty-five minutes to three o'clock.

The fourteenth report of the Oriental Inland
Steam Company, to be presented at the ensuing
half-yearly meeting, has just been published. It
is stated that the result of the operations of the
company does not warrant the declaration of a
livtdend for the six months ending March last.
11,-ference is made to the managing directors in
India, whose proceedings, it appears, have given
great dissatisfaction to the Board in England. Co!.
Grimes, the chairman, has arrived at the scene of
operations and suspended his subordinate.
HAIR AND LlGHTNlNG.—Residents in Brighton
are not likely soon to forget the storm which flooded
Pool Valley in 1850. The lightning of that storm burnt a
hole, such as a red-hot rifle bullet might burn, through the
bushy whisker of a man who was out in the storm. I record
this fact on the testimony of the late Dr. Williamson, from
whom I had it, and to whom the man went immediately
with his scathed cheek. Father Feyjoo, relates in the Cartes
Eruditus, that lightning passed near a young man named
Juan Francisco Menandez Miranda. He was not in the
least hurt, yet his hair began falling off immediately atter-
v ards, and in a few days none remained upon his body.
One more example of the effects of lightning upon hair.
The particulars were supplied by the sufferer himself to
M. Arago. Captain Ilihouet was second in command of
the frigate Golymin, on the 21st Feb., 1812, when she was
sailing out of the harbour of L' Orient. The vessel was struck
by lightning, and the captain received several injuries on
the head. " The next day," ho says, when I wished to
shave, I found that my razor, instead of cutting my beard,
pulled the hairs out by the roots, and since then I have had
no beard. The hair on my head, on my eyebrows, and on
my eyelashes, all the hair on my body, in fact, came gra-
dually away by the roots, and d d not grow again.--
Dickens' s "AU the Year Round."
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