HC Deb 23 July 1879 vol 248 cc1137-8
COLONEL STANLEY

I think, Sir, upon this Motion, it would be convenient that I should take the earliest opportunity of making known to the House a telegram which I have received this morning, the first part of which is, apparently, from General Clifford, and. the second from Sir Garnet Wolseley.

[The right hon. and gallant Gentleman then read the telegrams, which appear in pp. 1096–7–8.]

At the conclusion of the telegrams, the right hon. and gallant Gentleman said: I think it will not be out of place to add an expression of satisfaction that Lord Chelmsford has been able to vindicate his character as a military commander, and to show that his Force have practically been able to combine at the point indicated, and that his success has so far been complete.

MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN

I rise, because I am very unwilling that there should not be someone on this side to express the satisfaction we must all feel at the news which has been conveyed to us. It seems to me that there is one expression in the telegram which has been read which necessitates someone from this side of the House saying how cordially we hope the wishes expressed by Sir Garnet Wolseley may turn out in the result to be true—namely, that the war will soon be over. I understand that to be the expression made use of, and I do most certainly trust that this expectation may be fulfilled. Whatever opinions may have prevailed as to the first policy of this war, or any portion of its conduct, I am quite certain that throughout the whole country there has existed but one feeling, and that was an anxious desire that the British honour might be vindicated, and that the prestige of the British arms, which seemed at one time to be imperilled, might be restored. The hope that the day may not be far off when the war will be ended is, I say, a wish that is alike dictated by feelings of the purest patriotism and the truest humanity.

SIR ARTHUR HAYTER

asked the Secretary of State for War, whether Lieutenant Carey, of the 98th Regiment, who was mentioned in the despatch as coming home in the Euphrates, was the same officer that had been tried by court martial; and, also, whether the news had been confirmed that Captain Wyatt-Edgell, commanding a troop of the 17th Lancers, had been killed, as some near relatives of the latter had come down to the House to inquire whether it was true?

COLONEL STANLEY

said, with regard to the first part of the question, he believed that one and the same officer was meant. As regarded the second part, he feared that it was only too much to be regretted that Her Majesty's Service had lost a very gallant officer in Captain Wyatt-Edgell.

Motion, by leave, withdrawn.

Committee deferred till Friday.