MR. J. A. SMITHasked the Under Secretary for War whether all candidates for commissions in the army were required by the authorities of the Horse Guards to 259 produce certificates of confirmation as a condition of their admission into the military service?
§ MR. FREDERICK PEELsaid, that members of the Church of England, in undergoing their preliminary examination, previously to obtaining commissions, were required to produce certificates of confirmation. But no such request was made of persons who were not members of the Established Church; and in the case of those members the only object of the demand was to obtain a guarantee for their character by showing that they had been brought up in the religion which they professed.