THE FOREIGN LEGION—QUESTION. (Hansard, 18 May 1855)

§ MR. FREDERICK PEEL

said, that at first considerable difficulty was experienced by the Government in regard to the raising of the Foreign Legion. Latterly, however, more active measures had been taken, and he was informed by the agents engaged in recruiting on the Continent of Europe, that between 3,000 and 4,000 men had been enlisted under an arrangement between Her Majesty's Government and certain foreign officers. In the first instance, it was proposed that a corps of 5,000 men should be raised, but latterly the success attending the efforts of the recruting agents had been such as to induce the officers to propose that an additional force of 5,000 men should be raised, and to that proposal the Government had given their consent. In addition to that force of 10,000 men, certain officers were employed in raising a force of 3,000 men in Switzerland, and up to the present time their success had been most encouraging. With regard to the arrangements made for the reception of these forces, depôts had been formed at Heligoland, and Shorncliffe in this country, where the recruits would be received, and the preparations for their reception were satisfactory, with the exception, perhaps, of the huts at Shorncliffe, which were not in so advanced a state as they might have been. But accommodation had been found in the barracks at Dover, and by the time that any considerable number of recruits would arrive at Shorncliffe, the huts would be ready to receive them. With regard to the discipline and officers, the Foreign Legion would be under the orders of the General Commanding in Chief, and a sufficient number of officers 766 had already received commissions to provide for the embodiment of the force. A portion of them had already been sent to Heligoland, and the others would remain in this country. He might add, that the articles of war would be translated into foreign languages for the use of the legion.