§ MR. CORBETT (Glasgow, Tradeston)wished to call attention to a matter which had aroused great interest throughout Scotland—namely, the proposal to transform the 79th Cameron Highlanders into a 3rd Battalion of Guards. When he heard of that proposal he wrote to all the Scotch Members asking them to give him their opinions on it, and the great majority of them—irrespective of Party, for this question did not assume any Party aspect— replied unhesitatingly in favour of maintaining the regiment. There was one exception, however. The hon. Member for Inverness very strongly opposed the continued existence of the 79th Highlanders, and declared it would be rather gratifying than otherwise to the sentiment of the Highlanders if the regiment were done away with. The hon. Mem- 1756 ber said there was a strong feeling against joining the Army amongst Highland lads because they might be compelled to join in carrying out eviction proceedings. That seemed to him a very extraordinary argument, especially considering that the police forces of Scotland, who had, in the first instance, to enforce the law in these cases, were mainly composed of these same Highland lads who were said not to be willing to join the Army because the Army might, under some future Government, be employed in carrying out eviction proceedings. The opposition of the Member for Inverness to the maintenance of this regiment only brought out more clearly the strong feeling throughout Scotand in its favour. The Town Council of Inverness had passed a resolution in favour of maintaining the regiment, and they had also passed a further resolution calling the attention of the Member for Inverness to their first resolution, and asking him to do all he could to give effect to it. That was not the only protest in the hon. Member's constituency, for an extreme Radical paper in that Division denounced in the strongest manner the course the hon. Member for Inverness had taken, and strongly supported the plea for the continued existence of the regiment. If the replies he received from the Scotch Members were gratifying, the comments in the Scotch Press were not less satisfactory to the friends of the regiment, for almost all the papers, without distinction of Party, strongly advocated the continued existence of the regiment. One paper, however, belonging to an English gentleman, and a Member of the House, The Dundee Advertiser, did not share in the Scottish sentiment, but maintained that English gentlemen were the best judges of this question, and had the most right to speak upon it, because they were the kith and kin of the men who composed it. It was alleged that the regiment had ceased to be a Highland regiment, and had become in fact an English regiment. Well, that was very far from being the case. No one who had studied the history of the regiment could be under any doubt that it had maintained its old traditions. There had been no difficulty in keeping up the regiment in years gone by, and filling its ranks with the right material of 1757 Scotch and Highland recruits. In 1887 the regiment returned from Egypt 1,050 strong. It was then reduced systematically and intentionally to the home strength of 750 men. It had maintained that home strength during the whole time of its residence in Edinburgh till 1891 with the greatest ease. And what was the material of which it then consisted? Out of 750 men there were only from 130 to 140 Englishmen. Of the 600 who were Scotchmen, no fewer than 340 were pure Highlanders, a greater proportion of Highlanders than the regiment had at the time when it so greatly distinguished itself at the Battle of Waterloo. Those who were interested in this regiment were gratified by the assurance of the Secretary for War that the particular proposal to transform this regiment into a battalion of Guards had been abandoned. But what they were anxious for now was that it should be put upon a permanently secure footing by having a second battalion given to it. The position of the regiment, as a single battalion, had constantly been one of uncertainty; constant attacks had been made upon it, and it had had from time to time to be defended by strong expressions of Scottish opinion. What they wanted was that the recommendation of Lord Wantage's Committee should be carried out, and a second battalion given to the regiment. When the question was asked a little time ago in the House by the Member for Deptford as to granting a second battalion to this regiment, the reply of the Secretary for War was that he would be very glad to furnish this regiment with a second battalion if the hon. Member for Deptford would find him the recruits. He wanted to know why the Secretary for War should be so anxious to go to Deptford for recruits for this regiment, and why he should not be willing to give the same generous offer and challenge to the Members for Glasgow? If he would ask the Members for Glasgow to furnish recruits for this regiment—for a second battalion—and would allow the regiment to recruit there, then they would furnish him with a second battalion. Why was it they had not this privilege? It was not alleged that they would not be able to get a second battalion in Glasgow for this regiment. It might be alleged that throw- 1758 ing Glasgow open to this regiment would injure the recruiting chances of other less popular and historic regiments which had Glasgow as a supplemental district in which to recruit. If other regiments which were less popular and less historic would suffer by competition with this regiment, that was no reason why the Cameron Highlanders should be destroyed or should cease to exist. He pointed to the splendid services and sacrifices rendered by the Cameron Highlanders. At the battle of Toulouse it entered into the engagement 414 strong, and only 215 men and one-half of its officers returned. At Quatre Bras and Waterloo it lost no fewer than 479 men. In one of his despatches Blucher specially commented upon the way in which these Highlanders over and over again resisted the attacks of the Old Guards of France. In the Crimea no regiment distinguished itself more, and "the thin red line" would never be forgotten as long as Scotchmen cared for the national traditions of military valour. In the time of the Indian Mutiny the regiment received the special commendation of Parliament and the Sovereign for the distinguished way in which it took its part in that great war. At the recent engagement at Tel-el-Kebir it was a member of this regiment, Donald Cameron, who in the storming of the outworks was the first to reach the top and give his life to his country. These were services which he hoped Scotchmen would never forget. He knew they might be told that this was a mere matter of sentiment, but he maintained that civilians like himself could see as well as military men that in military matters sentiment was a practical force. They all remembered the words of Sir Colin Campbell, "There are none but Highland bonnets here." Sir Colin knew that the traditions of the Highland regiments affect all who join their ranks, and the splendid services rendered under his inspiring words showed not only the value of the regiment that was now in jeopardy, but showed the wisdom of the sentimental words by which their heroism was inspired.
§ MR. HOZIER (Lanarkshire)cordially agreed with every word of the eloquent speech of his hon. Friend. He (Mr. Hozier) wished to call special attention to a local fact in connection with the 79th Highlanders and the other kilted 1759 regiments. The Secretary for War must be aware that recruiting for the kilted regiments was entirely closed in Glasgow and in Hamilton. Glasgow was about the best place possible for recruiting Highlanders; but it was now closed against the kilted regiments, and if a Highlander wished to enlist for one of these regiments he was told he could not do so, and was asked to join some other regiment. He knew there was a form which might be filled up by a Highlander who wanted to serve in a kilted regiment, but this led to delay, and the privilege was only granted to men who obstinately refused to enlist in any regiment except a kilted regiment. It was rather hard it should be thrown in their teeth that this regiment was not composed of Highlanders, or even of Scotchmen, to the extent it ought to be when there was this restriction on recruiting. Again, it was rather hard that when a vacancy occurred in the majority of the regiment an outsider should be put in instead of an officer being promoted.