THE EARL OF GALLOWAYsaid, he could not help expressing his regret that 1458 their Lordships should adjourn without making some recognition of the services of Her Majesty's Forces on the littoral of the Red Sea. They had endured great hardships, and they would feel that they had been neglected, as not the slightest mention had been made in Parliament of their services and efforts, while so much was made of what was done two years ago. He felt the more strongly on the point on account of the fact that in the last Gazette there had been bestowed a good many honours of various sorts upon officers engaged in the two battles of El-Teb and Tamai; but these did not extend to the rank and file. He should have thought that the rank and file during the late engagements might have been deemed worthy of some recognition on the part of the Government.
§ THE EARL OF NORTHBROOKsaid, he could assure the noble Earl that so far were the Government from having the slightest desire to ignore the gallant services rendered by the officers, noncommissioned officers, and men in the recent engagements, that they were deeply sensible of the gallantry displayed by the whole Force. But with respect to the proposal that a Vote of Thanks should be passed by both Houses of Parliament, the Government had looked into the precedents of similar occasions, and this did not appear to them, generally speaking, to come within the precedents on which such Votes had been passed. He might instance the case of the New Zealand War, in which a larger Force was engaged, and the operations extended over a far longer time, but after which it was not thought desirable to move a Vote of Thanks. But he had much pleasure in assuring the noble Earl that the services of the men employed in the campaign would not be forgotten, and they would receive the same consideration in the way of gratuity ns was given in the earlier campaign.