§ MR. O'BRIENasked the Secretary of State for War, Whether it is correct that the Troops forming the Expedition to be sent from India to China are to be armed with the smooth bore instead of the rifled musket?
§ MR. SIDNEY HERBERTsaid, that all the troops despatched from this country to China would be armed with the Enfield rifle, and all the battalions of European troops which went from India would be similarly armed. But, as he understood the General Order published in India to which the hon. Gentleman no doubt referred, the case was as follows. The Native Indian troops, almost without exception, had not hitherto been armed with the rifle. They were furnished with a weapon of a smaller and lighter construction and having a smooth bore, and the intention of the Indian Government was, no doubt, to arm all the Native troops with the same description of weapon.