§ MR. BENETT-STANFORDasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether the appointment of Military Attaché has ever been considered as a diplomatic appointment; whether any persons holding that position have ever been promoted into diplomacy in consequence; and whether on the contrary it has not always been held as a Military Staff appointment?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, I am informed that the appointment of a military attaché is made in the same way as that of all other attachés. When Colonel Wellesley's appointment was notified to our Ambassador at St. Petersburg, in 1871, his Excellency was told—
To consider Colonel Wellesley as part of his diplomatic establishment, and to employ him in the business of the Embassy in whatever way he might deem most beneficial to Her Majesty's service.The expenses of military attachés were, until 1859, always charged on the Diplomatic Estimates, and military men have on several occasions been employed in the higher posts of the Diplomatic Service, without having passed through the rank of ordinary attaché. Colonel Rose, afterwards Lord Strathnairn, Colonel Staunton, and Colonel Mansfield are cases in point.