THE EARL OF GALLOWAY,in rising to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to propose that a vote of thanks be awarded by Parliament to General Lord Wolseley and the Forces under his command for the able manner in which the military expeditionary force was conducted for the intended rescue of the late General Gordon and his garrison in Khartoum? said, that he had observed that the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for War (the Marquess of Hartington), in bringing forward the Supplementary Estimates in the other House, had made what he might term a merely parenthetical allusion to the conduct of our troops and the manner in which the Expeditionary Force had been handled, observing that no blame was to be attached in any way to the Military Force or to Lord Wolseley for having failed in the immediate object for which they had been sent out. On being twitted by an hon. Member with the small meed of praise he had bestowed, the noble Marquess had replied that such was not his intention, and that the Government were deeply sensible of the able and gallant manner in which Lord Wolseley and the Force under his command had acted. For his own part, he thought that if the Government were satisfied with the conduct of the Expedition, the Government ought, considering that the troops were about to go into what might be called summer cantonments, to show some recognition of their services by a direct Vote of Thanks from Parliament.
THE EARL OF MORLEYsaid, that a similar Question was to be put in the other House that evening, and his answer to the noble Earl would be the same as that given by the Secretary of State for War—namely, that, in the opinion of the Government, the Question was at present somewhat premature. He could assure the noble Earl that it was not from any want of appreciation 842 of the gallant and magnificent services of Lord Wolseley and the officers and men under him that the Government had come to that conclusion. The courage and endurance showed by the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of every branch of the Service had elicited the warmest feeling of gratitude, not only in the minds of the Government, but, he might also say, of all their countrymen. He could assure the House that the Government were fully sensible of the services which had been rendered by our Forces in the Soudan.
THE EARL OF GALLOWAYsaid, he considered the reply of the noble Earl a most unsatisfactory one. ["Order!"] As he was called to Order, he would give Notice that on that day week he would bring forward a Resolution on the subject.