SUPPLY. (Hansard, 17 March 1868)

§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITH

called attention to the Answer he had received at an earlier period of the evening, with reference to the introduction of the Mutiny Bill, and complained that that measure was always introduced more or less under the influence of the Horse Guards, rather than in the constitutional manner in which other measures were introduced by the Government. He trusted that his right hon. Friend would understand that he meant nothing personal in his remarks, for he acknowledged the courtesy with which his right hon. Friend treated every Member of that House; but, in a constitutional point of view, what he had to urge was very vital. It was only 1827 by the special permission of Parliament, renewed every year, that a standing army was allowed to exist; and, in reference to the legislation for the army for the ensuing year, it was important to have everything fair and above-board. It was one of the most fundamental rules of the House that every Bill should be printed and in the hands of Members before the second reading, and it was therefore not right that the House should be asked to agree to a Bill before knowing what it was. If the Mutiny Bill were not introduced in a form in which hon. Gentlemen could take exception to any of its provisions on the second reading, it would be opposed at every stage.