The National Register.
London, England, 1821-09-16 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER

duction of the military, even under the guidance and
in assistance of the Cis lc power; but the principle
which in the present day it is sought to establish,
would go the length of rendering unnecessary the
intervention of that power, would legelize the
butchm f ad b9fnitum of the English populace the
moment that they neglected obedience to the man-
date of, perhaps, a drunken Life Guardsman, who,
without waiting even for the order of his officer,
would thereupon begin to gratify his belt alt inclina-
tion by "cutting away."—The officer who shot
Honey (be he who he may) is menirestly ashamed
of his brutality; or els: —instead of the whole of the
regiment being mustered to render more difficult
the task of identification; instead of the paintings
and the attempts at disguise which have been sworn
to ; instead of the bully "igs towr-ds the witnesses,
end the assaults upon the juif.nen, which were
committed by order of en officer at Knightsbridge
barracks; instead of um; impediment being throa
in the way to prevent a iliscovery of the miscreant—
he would have come boldly forwr^d and avowed the
act : but wanton cruelty and base cowardice ere
often the occupants of the same breast, and eve.'
endeavour at concen'ment is a concession of his
i.l famy.

FounTittv—Of the tran.tctions under the Coro-
ners' Inquiaitions.—On the subject of that held upon
George Francis, a veiy few obset vatiors w'll suffice.
Mr. Irl'ggs, who presided as Coroner, behaved like a
gentleman, and the Jury very properly, from the
evidence, brought in a verdict of " Wilful Murder
against some Lire Guardsmen unknown," although
the Chaplain of the Hospitel dared to sweer that
Francis had declared to fiat that the men who shot
him had orly done his duty. In this assertion the
Reverend Aspirant was positively contradicted by the
wife of the deceased, and no man of common sense,
who reads both depositions, ‘s 11 hesitate es to which
of the parties swore to a direct falsehood.

We now come to the inquest upon Richrrd Honey,
and here it may be well to observe, that the former
inquest closed its labours in five days, while the
latter, in consequence of the :-Iteiference of a Bar-
i:ster, was enga3ed for fourteen days. That Br • aster
was Mr. Adolphus—and though, from delicacy to
our readers, we have omitted nineteen-twentieths of
his offensive observations, we have necessary to
preserve the nai:ative retained enough to eons 'ice
them that his %algarity and grossness t"sgrace the
profession to which he belongs, and that the Coun-
sel on the Circuit he used to go consulted their
comfort, credit, and respectability, when they deter-
mined to exclude bi'n from their society, by sending
him to Covent'''. The irstitution of a Coroner's
Jut', appears to have been solely w:th a view to
proceedings ; their verdict has little more
than the effect of a t. ac bill bei ig found by a Grand
July, rna what would be s: id of the introduction
of a brow-beat'ng bullying fellow in a gm% a and
w:g into the Grand Jury-room to wa.,) the fr'r
bearing of the et:dence—to int:-r:date the w:tnesses
by threats of trarsportation, or to blach,:„iard and
insult the gentlemen constituting the Jt, y? Why,
it would be deck-ed a woos solution of the pi:%:-
leges of the Jury so assembled, and yet th's has been
tolerated in the recent ;-stance of the Coroner's In-
quest on Richard Honey;—but to leave the loath-
some subject, rid to proceed with the c%:dence /„:ven,
the major part we pass without animadversion, as it
goes orgy to the establishment of four facts—l st. That
all was quiet till the Guards began to cut at the
people; idly, That nu stones were throw,' at the
time the firing commenced; idly, That the decersed
was an entirely inoffensive spectactor ; and 4thly,
That the man who shot him, after haling coolly,
wantonly, unnecessa-i'y, and deliberately saci:ficed
the life of a fellow-creature, laughed in dei;cion at
the gentlemen who upbraided him with his mur-
derous act. We pass to the evidence of the Guards
themselves :..-the servant of one officer does not know

whether his master has dark or light hair!—whether
he is 16 or GO years of age! a trumpeter swears he
was on duty at Curaberiand-gate—yet, on the
fourteenth day, a respectable mar, is confronted with
him, and swears he is nut the nr.in who was on duty
there: but we dismiss these puny liars to come to
thei- master. —Col. Cavendish is asserted not to have
left the :all; on the fatal day, but subsequently,
perhaps f.om fear of detection of the falsehood, Mr.
Adolphus feels it prudent to correct this error, and
admit it was not tt ae. The Adjutant declares that
tol the men who were on duty on the 14th August
(but one who was in the Hospital) were present at
the inspection which took place in the Barrack-.
The Surgeon honestly confesses that five men were
not at the inspection who were on duty on that dis-
graceful day. We leave it:to those who have the
highest opinion of military honour and veracity to
reconcile these points.
A s to the Coroner's summing up, we shall °toy
say, that his eiew of the law is opposed to every
other we have heard, and that ;4' the Jut; had, un-
der his direction, found a verdict of .IHtiliab'i
Horn; ;He, they would have done an reparable ir-
jthy to the- country; for by such a verdict they
would have established a on the port of the
soh"e../, which would have been tantamount to
milit- j despotism—they would have rendered use-
less and ur necessa, y the intee :ention of a magistrat:,
and have authorized the use of the sabre and carbine
whenever the People demurred to the insolent com-
mand of a dragoon. We thank God they have not
done se —we pre gratecul to them for their ?mini.
tntus verdict, and flee from every vindictive feeling
in the part we have taken in this fatal atlair, we
have nisv‘ish for any farther proceedings—we hope
the guilty pi—ties will be under the influence of si -
vere remors: —we hope they will in future pause
ere they use their runs in the wanton destruction
of the- ou countrymen; and moreover, we ter-
, vently hope that the People n:4l not keep alive a
feeling of resentment against a whole regiment,
merely on account of the delinquency of a very few

A private letter f;om Frankfort, in the Algeme
Zeitung of the Ist rust, after observing that the ef-
forts of the Austtian and English ministers veil:
probably prevent a war between Russia and the
Porte, notwithstanding the departure of Baron Strt-
gonoff proceeds thus England in particular
resorts to every means to secure this object; for she
perceives plainly that the first gun fired by the Rus-
siars would be the signal of the dowatell of tl
rni”ion of the Crescent on the Bosphmas. The
sudden change of routs by the Duke of Wellington,
who, as it is known, when on the point of proceed-
ing to Vienna, tut aed back to Pot7s, is, in some 11a.
litical ci-cles, said to have had a political object. It
is pretended that the cabinet of Pctcrsburgh has
succeeded in obtaining the concurrence of France
to a defensive alliance, having for its object to coon-
terba'ance the present interposition of England in
favour of the Porte, and to diminish the advantages
of the assistance which that Power might be disposed
to give to the Ottomans. With this view, France
is by the treaty pledged to send to the coast if
Greece, a naval force to co-operate with the Greek
fleet ;.nd such vessels as Russia may send thither,
in supporting the movements of the land forces ard
preventing any diversion by sea. IVellington's pre-
sence in Palk is supposed, (as no less confidence is
placed in his diplomatic than his military talents,)
to have for its object to throw obstacles in the way
of thk PU'incc, and, if possible. to prevent the rati-
fication of the treaty. In how far the noble Duke
may succeed is uncettain; but, without pretending
to be able to unver the secrets of cabinets, we may
venture to remark, that an approximation between
France and Russia at the present suers is aot
im-
probable, and th's opirion obtains the more weight,
when it k considered that the French diplomatic
agents in Turkey obseim quite on opposite conduct
to the English. The circumstance also of the Rus-
sian merchants at Constantinople embarking their
goods on board of French ships has some importance
in this point of iew ."

A vessel devoted to the purposes of rel;!;ious wor-
ship was opened last week at Bristol, under the aus-
pices and through the exertiorq of the conttnittce of
the " Seaman's Friend Society ;" when the Rev.
Roberts (Baptist minister) preached in the maiming)
and the Rev. Mr. Thoip (Itidcpcnant minister,
officiated in the evening, assisted by other ministers

FROM LAST NIGHT'S GAZETTE.

BANKRUPTS.

M: Agar, Walhrook, oilm-us. Solicitor, Mr. Warrand, Mark
Lane.
T. P. Hillary, Little Tower Street, wine merchant. Sol. Mr.
Hodgson, Poultry.
A. Reid, Pimlico, carpenter. Sol. Mr. Topping, Gretille
Street, Hatton Garden.
J. Smalpage, Leeds, woollen draper. Sol. Mr. Makinion,
Temple.
A. Ryder, Commercial Sale Rooms, cotton merchant. Solo.
Messrs. Osbaldeston and Co. London Street, Fenchurch Street.
H. Mawdsley, Ormskirk, Lancashire, plumber. Sob. Messrs.
Blackstotk and Co. Temple.
J. Dawson, l'cnrith, Cumberland, coach maker. Sol. Mr..
Steele, Queen Street, Cheapside.
H. Norfolk, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, worsted maker. Sol.
Mr. Taylor, John Street, Bedford Row.
C. Brown, Dundee, ship owner. Sols. Messrs. Swaine and
Co. Old Jewry.
D. Wright, St. Catherine Street, Tower, corn dealer. Sole.
Messrs. Jones and Co. Mincing Lane.
J. Ji Corhyn, Freeman's Court, Comilla, master mariner.
SuL Mr. Delmar, Norfolk Street, Strand.
S. Bill, We,thromwich, Staffordshire, timber merchant. Sole.
Messrs. Alexander and Co. New Inn.