§ Mr. Hunt, seeing the Secretary at War, in his place, desired to obtain some information from him respecting the case of Somerville, the private in the Scotch Greys. In reply to a question which he (Mr. Hunt) had on a former evening put, as to whether or not that individual had been discharged from his Majesty's service, the right hon. Secretary at War had replied, that an application for the discharge had been made to him by the brother-in-law of the party. which had been handed over to the Commander-in-chief. He (Mr. Hunt) understood that an inquiry into Major Wyndham's conduct, in regard to Somerville, had been ordered by Government, and he begged to ask, whether or not Somerville would be discharged from the service previous to that inquiry?
Sir John Hobhousestated, the answer of the Commander-in-chief to the application for a discharge was, that if the individual continued to conduct himself to the satisfaction of the officers, he would, in a short time, upon the payment of the regular discharge money, obtain permission to leave the service. When that short time would expire he could not say, but he believed, that it would be bona fide "a short time." He did not think it mattered in the slightest degree, whether Somerville was, or was not, in the service when giving his evidence upon the investigation into Major Wyndham's conduct.