The last debate on the Regimental Exchanges Bill came off
on Monday and Tuesday. The Government refused to accept any amendment, applied their majority, and carried the Bill through a Committee unscathed. The final debate, however, was vivified by the appearance of Mr. Gladstone, who, in an eloquent though temperate speech, showed that the object of the Bill was to relieve the rich officer, not of the dangerous, but of the irksome portion of his duty. He asked if wealth were unable to obtain fair-play for itself, and whether it were decent at this time of day to legislate "in order to place it in a position of advantage as com- pared with talent, character, and service." He warned the officers that such a privilege so acquired could not be permanent, and that if they availed themselves of the majority of the moment to obtain it, the majority of the moment would be justified in taking it away again. His speech called up Mr. Hardy, whose reliance, however, was evidently placed upon the "honour of the Army," which has never yet stopped Army agents from dealing in commissions, when dealing was once allowed, as freely as if they were coals. How is an officer to know, when an officer in another regiment offers him £2,000 to exchange, that his own juniors have subscribed the money ?
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