CAMP OF INSTRUCTION—MILITARY MANŒUVRES.—EXPLANATION. (Hansard, 3 August 1871)

§ LORD OVERSTONE

said, he wished to explain that in his remarks on Tuesday evening on the sudden abandonment of the proposed camp of manœuvres on the Berkshire Downs, he had no 755 intention of passing any reflection on the conduct of the officers sent down by the War Office to make inquiries as to the state of the harvest. He had no doubt that they had ably and faithfully performed the duty intrusted to them; but the surprising thing was that they were sent down without any instructions to apply to the proprietor of a large part of the land on which the manœuvres were to have been held, Colonel Loyd Lindsay, or to the committee whose co-operation had been so often alluded to and acknowledged by the Secretary of State for War. Indeed, they made their inquiries and drew up their Report in entire ignorance of the existence of such a committee. He had been furnished with a copy of a resolution unanimously agreed to by the committee at a meeting at Wantage yesterday, and, as it would probably find its way into the papers, he thought it right that their Lordships should be made acquainted with it. It was a spontaneous expression of feeling which had not been in the least suggested or influenced by Colonel Loyd Lindsay or himself, and their Lordships would observe that its language was very outspoken, and that it was not couched possibly in altogether Parliamentary language. The resolution was in these terms— The committee have learnt with the greatest surprise and strong disapprobation that the intended assembly of the forces on the Berkshire Downs has been abandoned. The committee protest that the lateness of the harvest is no reason for such abandonment as far as the farmers are concerned, inasmuch as they have not departed from their original intention, and wish to aid in the proposed arrangement, and to supply the necessary local transport according to their resolutions of the 10th and 24th of May. The committee consider that, as the Secretary of State for War approved and acknowledged with apparent satisfaction the proceedings and co-operation which it had exhibited in the first instance, it has been treated with a want of courtesy in not having been communicated with direct for the purpose of supplying the latest information with respect to the state of the harvest and the sentiments of the farmers previous to the unaccountable change which has taken place in the intentions of the Government. Signed on behalf of the committee, ALBERT WILLIAMS, Chairman. Now, as to want of courtesy, this was a secondary matter in the opinion of wise men between equals; but when shown by superiors to inferiors, as in this case—for a body of farmers, however influential and intelligent, must be 756 regarded as in a subordinate position to Members of the Government—it became somewhat more serious. He had no doubt, however, that he could satisfy the committee that no discourtesy had been intended; but he did not expect to be able to satisfy them of the propriety of the "unaccountable change in the intentions of the Government." An explanation, indeed, of this had been laid before Parliament and the public; but it had certainly not given satisfaction. In the documents published to-day he observed that the Quartermaster General and the Inspector General of Fortifications commenced their joint Report by an allusion to the instructions conveyed to them. Now, he wished to ask whether the Government would lay on the Table those instructions, which were obviously essential to a complete explanation of the matter? He also wished to ask whether the Report of those officers had been laid before the House in its entirety? There was a prevalent rumour that an important passage had been omitted; but he could not, of course, tell whether this was well founded. He also wished to know whether the Government would produce the alternative plan of military operations in Berkshire submitted by those officers? Having, of course, been unable to give Notice of the Questions, he would, if the Government preferred it, repeat them to-morrow.