§ SIR WILLIAM JOLLIFFEsaid, as there appeared to be a misconception of the answer given the other night by the Under Secretary for War to the question of the hon. Member for West Surrey (Mr. Evelyn), in reference to the Edmonton Rifles, he thought that a simple question now answered by the Government would remove much misapprehension which now prevailed in the public mind. He wished to ask whether the Government attributed to the lords lieutenant of counties any blame for the non-training of the disembodied militia within their respective counties during the year 1855? The hon. Under Secretary for War would recollect he stated, in answer to his hon. Friend, that the usual course was for application to be made by the lords lieutenant of counties for this purpose. Now, his (Sir W. Jolliffe's) apprehension was this—that no training or exercise of the militia took place without the issuing of Her Majesty's Order in Council, which fixed the period at which that training and exercise should take place. From this it would appear that the lords lieutenant had nothing to do with the 1955 training and exercise of the disembodied corps. That matter depended altogether upon the Government. He would ask this question—Whether the Government attached any blame to the lords lieutenant for not calling out the militia to be trained and exercised?
§ MR. FREDERICK PEELsaid, that in the answer which he had given to the hon. Member for West Surrey he did not mean to attach blame to any one. He had stated on a former occasion that the management of the militia had been recently transferred to the War Department, and the practice of that department was to wait till application was made from the lords lieutenant. He found his previous opinion exactly confirmed by the Act of Parliament, which expressly stated that the time for calling out and exercising the disembodied militia was to be fixed by the lords lieutenant, with the approbation of Her Majesty.