§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he rose to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, Whether a Letter, dated Aberdeen, the 17th February, 1865, and signed by five Captains, four Lieutenants, and two Ensigns of the 1st Aberdeenshire Volunteer Rifle Corps, against the appointment of Lieutenant William Jopp, a supernumerary Lieutenant in the 10th Aberdeenshire or Inverary Rifle Corps of Volunteers, to a Majority in the 1st Aberdeenshire Rifle Corps, has been received at the War Office; and whether the Secretary of State for War has approved the supersession of the Captains of the Regiment?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONsaid, in reply, that the letter referred to by his hon. and gallant Friend was received at the War Office and returned to the senior officer in command of the Corps with a notification that everything respecting the subject must be forwarded to the War Office through the lord-lieutenant of the county. It was irregular and contrary to the discipline of the Volunteer Force that any such representation, or, indeed, any collective representation at all bearing upon the discipline of a Corps, should be made. If the letter in question, therefore, had reached the Secretary of State through the proper channel, it would have been their duty at the War Office to point out to the lord-lieutenant the irregularity of the course adopted. With regard to the latter portion of the Question of the hon. and gallant Gentleman, he had only to state that the appointment was recommended by the lord-lieutenant, and was accordingly approved by the Secretary of State.