Deb 01 March 1878 vol 238 c615
LORD ST. LEONARDS

begged to ask the noble Earl the Prime Minister, Whether Her Majesty' s Government were prepared, in the event of certain contingencies, to hold out any inducement to the Volunteers to offer themselves for foreign service in the event of war?

THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD

My Lords, when the contingency arises to which my noble Friend has referred— namely, the necessity of appealing to the patriotism of our Volunteers in respect of foreign service—I have no doubt the appeal will be answered; but until the contingency arises, Her Majesty's Government will not give—as they have not given—that consideration to the subject which my noble Friend seems to anticipate. It is a contingency which, I am sure, we must all deprecate.

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