MR. LYGONsaid, he would beg to ask the noble Lord the Member for Tiverton (Viscount Palmerstun) whether the Minutes relative to the recent alterations at Sandhurst and Woolwich were submitted to, and sanctioned by, the late Government or not; and whether any portion of such Minute or Minutes was in the handwriting of the noble Lord? It would perhaps be desirable that, without entering into any details, he should state that his reason for putting the question would be found on a reference to the division which had taken 2119 place upon that subject on that day week. He had been told, however, that the latter portion of the question was informal, and he should not therefore press it.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, in answer to the question of the hon. Gentleman I have simply to state that my noble Friend, Lord Panmure, who was then at the head of the War Department, showed me a draught of the regulations which were to constitute the new arrangements in respect to Sandhurst and Woolwich, and that they, generally speaking, seemed to me to be such as it was right and proper to introduce. They involved two material points. The one was that those young men who wished to be candidates for the competitive examination for the scientific branches of the service should, instead of registering their names at the Office of the Secretary for War, henceforward register them at that of the Commander in Chief, there being, however, so far as I understand the question, the same privileges of courting competitive examination upon the part of the children of officers in the one case as in the other. The remaining point which was at all material was that the examinations in the scientific branches should take place by means of competition between those young men who were educated at Sandhurst, instead of being open to those who were educated elsewhere. That arrangement was framed with a view of improving the system of education at Sandhurst, and giving a greater stimulus to the acquisition of the necessary attainments. It was, however, as I comprehend the matter, an understanding between my noble Friend Lord Panmure and the Commander in Chief that if that exclusive restriction in the case of Sandhurst should be found to be objectionable the regulation might be so far modified that the competitors might consist half of young men who were educated at Sandhurst, and half of young men who had been educated elsewhere. With respect to the latter question, I may observe that the right hon. and gallant Gentleman who is now at the head of the War Department is, in all probability, better able than I am to give the hon. Gentleman the information which he desires. I may, nevertheless, state that I think it very likely that when these regulations were shown to me I may have suggested an alteration in them; but what that alteration was it is, of course, utterly impossible for me at the present moment to recollect.