§ VISCOUNT BURYsaid, that he had to ask their Lordships' indulgence while he made an explanation in regard to something that occurred the other night. It would be in their Lordships' recollection that a noble Lord, who was not then in his place (Lord Truro), asked him a Question in regard to the conduct of the commanding officer of a battalion of the Hampshire Volunteers towards the adjutant of that regiment, Captain 1749 Cope. Their Lordships would always treat with indulgence any noble Lord when he addressed them upon a subject that involved the honour of one of Her Majesty's officers, and, therefore, there was no necessity to vindicate the conduct of the noble Lord who had brought this subject before them, and who, he was glad to see, had now entered the House. In the course of his remarks the other night, in answer to the noble Lord, who accused the War Office of having acted with undue harshness towards Adjutant Cope, he made use of the following words, which would be in the recollection of their Lordships. He said—"He was bound to add that if any error in judgment had been committed, it was not in the direction of undue severity towards Captain Cope. If Captain Cope had been an adjutant of a Regular regiment instead of a Volunteer corps, he would decidedly have been brought to a court martial, and in all probability cashiered." By using those words, "he would have been brought to a court martial, and in all probability would have been cashiered," he (Viscount Bury) had, he regretted to say, wounded the feelings of Sir William Cope, the father of Adjutant Cope, who was himself a distinguished soldier, and whose feelings he would be the last man to wish to wound. He begged, therefore, if their Lordships would allow him, to recall those words; and he did so the more readily because he was giving the substance, as he believed, although not the exact words of the Report of the General Officer commanding the district (General Garvock), who had investigated the circumstances of the case. He had found, on subsequent reference, that those words, "tried by court martial and cashiered," did not appear in the General Officer's Report. He might have contented himself—and he regretted that he did not—with quoting the exact words which the commanding officer used. Those words were—
Were Captain Cope in the position of an ordinary adjutant of a Regular regiment there would be, as it seems to me, no difficulty in coming to a decision. He would, I think, merit the severest punishment for disobedience to orders and contempt of his commanding officer; but I understand an adjutant of Volunteers holds a different position.He (Viscount Bury) made no comment on the last branch of the sentence, with 1750 which he could not say he altogether agreed, nor did the officers whom he had the honour to represent; but as regards the words which he desired to recall, he would, if their Lordships permitted him, substitute the words used by the General Officer commanding the district, and he regretted very much that he should have given pain to Sir William Cope by the use of those words which he had employed.
§ LORD TRUROsaid, he was quite certain Sir William Cope would appreciate the course that had been taken by the noble Viscount. He thought it but due to the War Department to say that if he had been informed of the real circumstances of the case he should have certainly dealt with it in a different manner to that in which he had. He had received a letter from Sir William Cope upon the subject, and he thought it but right to reply to it, stating that, in his humble judgment, the War Office had no alternative but to adopt the course they had pursued, and he was obliged to add that he thought, on the whole, his son was entirely in the wrong.