The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-16 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

SlR,—Having read in yuur paper of this date
letters from Colonel Taylor, Mr. Stanley, and Mr.
Dillwyn touching the " Episode in Friday's Debate,"
I beg to supply the missing link of the chain
through which the statement read by Mr. Osborne
was communicated to him.

On Friday last Mr. Stanley called upon me and
informed me that he had seen on the previous even-
ing in the House of Commons a memorandum,
drawn up by Mr. Dillwyn, stating, on the authority
of Colonel Taylor, that " Lord Derby and Mr.
Disraeli were in favour of accepting Mr. Hibbert's
amendment."

lle added that the memorandum had been freely
shown to many members, and expressed surprise
that I had not heard of it.
It struck me that this statement was of the
greatest importance as affecting the question before
the House, and I accordingly asked Mr. Stanley
whether he could give me the terms of the memor-
andum.

He thereupon dictated the memorandum, which
was afterwards read by Mr. Osborne, and he assured
me that it was substantially correct.
He declined to moot the a uestion himself, but was
willing that it should be raised in the House, and
would be prepared, if appealed to, to vouch for the
substantial accuracy of the memorandum.
I showed the memorandum to several members,
who, without exception, concurred with me in
thinking that the matter should be cleared up
openly in the House. Among those I showed it to
Mr. Osborne, and invited him to raise the question
in the House.
He said that be would consider the matter, and
communicate with Mr. Stanley, to whom I referred
him.

So much for the facts of the case. I may be
allowed to add a few words as to the grounds upon
which I acted.
I was well aware of the desire felt by many mem-
bers of the Opposition that the Government should
accept Mr. llibbert's amendment. Col. Taylor, in
his letter in your columns, franky declares that this
desire was shared by members on both sides of the
House.

It is obvious that the acceptance of the amend-
ment by the Government must have had a material
effect upon the course to be taken by the House.
It seemed to me that if Lord Derby and Mr. Dis-
raeli were in favour of the concession, it was not
right that the knowledge of that most important fact
should be confined to those members to whom Mr.
Dillwyn might exhibit the memorandum ; and I
thought that the Home was entitled to a public de-
claration from the Government upon a question of
such vital importance.
Hence Mr. Osbbrne's inquiry. It is deeply to be
regretted that the House has been, and still is, kept
in the dark as to the views of the Government with
regard to Mr. Hibbert's amendment ; for the timely
announcement of concession on this point would
have gone far to settle the vexed question of the
borough franchise, and to have avoided the conflict
of Friday last.—l am, &c., H. BRAND.
2, Upper Belgrave-street, April 15.

P.S.—I take this opportunity of repeating my
regret, already expressed in the House, that 1 was
precluded, through Col. Taylor's unfortunate acci
dent, from giving him notice, as Mr. Osborne re-
quested, that the matter was about to be brought
forward.