The Express.
London, England, 1850-07-01 00:00:00

THE ATTACK ON THE QUEEN.

The %terror says:—Up to this point of time, the
information in pommel= of the public, respecting the pre-
vious life of the prisoner, Robert Pate, is too scanty to ban
any views upon :apt those of mere conjecture ; but even
conjecture, in such a case as this, may not be without its
uses. It appears that he enteral bar *linty./ service as a
cornet, by purchase, in the 10•11 Humors, on the sth of
February, 1841; that he was promoted to the rank of lieute-
nant on the 22ud of July, 1342; and that he retired, by sale
of his commission, a short time previously to the embarka-
tion of the regiment for India in 1816. It further appears
that before entering the army he had made a voyage to
Malta and it is said that his health suffered very ninth
from the heat of the climate of that island. Here are two
main fee's established which may be held as bearing in-
directly upon the commiwion of the crime with which
the prisoner stands chaiged. He is shown to have
saffered from deranged health in the first Menne. ; and
in the second to have "sold out" of the army at the very
time his regiment was &bast to embark for India. A third
(act may be also included in the category—namely, that
though military embilion may have deserted him at the
moment when peneaal danger first "loomed" into prcsgeet,
midi wry Tani, y still clung to him, like the ;rimed shirt of
the Centaur Nessus. Fir it is stated that not only did he
wear them marks of a military man, monetachios, though no
longer in the army, and affect that peculiar neatens in dress
which is held to be ineicative of military training—albeit
not perhaps truly en held—hut that he also cherished the
more destructive emblems of the profisseion which he had
abandoned—the shako nand sword of the Hour regiment he
served in—having them hung tor;his constant oontemplaiion
in the most conspicuous part of his apartments. Why did
he sell his commission is a question that naturally grows
oat of thee premises ? It could not be to meet his pecuniary
engagements, supposing he had any at the time, inasmuch
as it is stated that has father discharged all his liabilities
between two and three years mace, and *hat it Las been
ascertained he was living upon an ample income antecedent
to the perpetration of this outrage upon her Majesty. What
then could have caused him to sell his commotion ? The
answer offer no alternative in any degree flittering to him.
In 1816 there was " war and rumour, of was" in Inola—the
Sikhs were up in arms against British supremacy in the
Puni ; and it was well known that England had
never bad a mare dangerous end more daring enemy to
deal with in the East than this communises people.
He'd knoeks were alone to be expected from col
lision with thim ; and the derruction of a nines in
the Anglo-Indian army showed that they not alone e inabineci
eourag with conduct, ins military point of view, hut that
their military (attics were based upon a considerable degree
of knowledge of the position of the British in
India, and were canoed into effect with consoramistc
dexterity. Was the prisoner influenced by therm fees
in his retirement from the army on the eve of
going foto active service? If the qeestion be
answered in the atfirm 'Lei, much of the difilm!ty that
now tale's in the way of g to a cocclusion on the sub
ject of his sanity will he imsnei.isiely rent iced, It ha+
beta shown that be was vain of his n ilita-y app• arson., and
that he still Maggot to hie heart the r.c 'Untie% of hie mill,
eery career ;it is, therefore, nly aaturel to maim& that he
affected the society*, military men upon all poesiole ociasione.
But amusing 'bat he 'lt the army to avoid the dangers atten-
dant ugon an Indian campaign—and there wou'ol seem to be
no ground for sny wiser ase, p sit: ,n—it is Neatly natural to
imagine that hie effirts to maintain hinsi It in that society
were eh: hted, that he was looked oddly open as a veva
I di fieienc in ['unmet courage, and that lie was all bu. ac-uted
I from the company of the thousands of brave men who, ea
1-irtunam than he was in the pose psi in of wealth to purchase
a military cwsition, were more for, unite in possessing that
' mealy insensibility to danger wh,eh forms the suhstratum of
the national character. If this was the sue, it is "lily in
the nature of things to sspp •se that the contumely of society
acting upon a mind presumed to be weakened by previous
bodily i Inas, may have produeel morbidity and disease of
a character to render she wretched man momentarily mean- ,
scions of his actions; but, as before observed, this is neces-
sarily all hypothesis and conjecture.
The United Service Gazette says: " The daily papers
state, as a proof of Lieut. Pate's sanity, that hie peen-
' niary affairs see in order, and that he has always psid his
rent, de, regularly. We are in a position to disturb the
inference arising from this statement. Mr. Pate was a mem-
ber of the Army and Navy Club, tut was expelled lest year
for non-payment of his subscription. Ile was much disliked
in his corps. On the embarkation of the regiment for India
he retired from the service by the sale of his commission. Ills
age is about 32."