The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-10 00:00:00

N'ap()l

r for

of joy

to our vce is cot. a surmise of my OWN, but
wi,at one of thu Emperor': own Aide-de-Camps told me
ai Lercea. i., Spam. wh.2n 1 was detained by him as a
prisoner of war in 1812.
I was sent with a flag of truce. I lived in the Gene-
ral's house, and was treated with great attention and
hospitality, but had a sentry at my room-door. I there
sax the equipment 01 the French cavalry. I consider it
much lightor tmail 1.1,-rotOcc leatter than our own. As
regards the ssord exercise, 1 hear it is now to be treacle
as clear and simple as possible : instead of filling a Dra-
goon's head with '• Horse's near side protect," &c.
"parry and point" is all that is required. It would have
been well had our Dragoons known the use of the points
of their swords at Fuentes d'Onoro as well as they did
at Waterloo ; as it was we nearly annihilated the sth
Regiment of Hussars of the Imperial Guard. The regi-
mr•nt was wed mounted and most splendidly accoutred ;
it was in appemowe the most magnifieent regiment
in dress I ever saw—widte jackets and black fur on
their pelisses, scarlet trowsers, and caps with white
plumes. Colonel Lemotte, who commanded the regi-
ment, and several men were made prisoners. They had
pistols with long barrels, with double sights in the bar-
rel, which they used with great effect when skirmishing
with our men. Our cavalry carbines are of little or no
use, except to add weight to our equipment ; good pis-,
tols with proper sights on the barrels are the best wea-
pons for hussars or cavalry at the out-posts.. Had jus-
tice been fairly distributed after the battle of Waterloo,
many old and brave Subalterns would have been pro-
moted. But party spirit ran high and did much mis-
chief to the claims of many gallant officers. I hope the
Military Commission and the Reform Parliament will
now take the case of the Subalterns of the British Army
into their immediate consideration, and give them an
increase of pay and allowances, with military honours
or badges, for they are the mainspring of the Army on
the battle field.
And I beg to call your Lordship's most particular
attention to the rifle carcass, or shell, invented by my
friend,. Captain Norton. late of her Majesty's 34th
Regiment. It has been fully tried in Switzefiatel,seas.d.
found to answer every purpose. I expect we shall have
'some of our ammunition-waggons blown up by them
without being able to return the compliment to our
enemy, from the jealous feeling that the valuable disco-
very was not made by an officer of our Ordnance.
As regards my own services in the army, the testimo-
nials of my Commanding Officers and the Generals
under whom I served in the late war, are convincing
proofs of the confidence they placed in my discretion,
ability, and zeal for the serv►ce. I marched the
Grenadier company of a distinguished regiment from
England into the field of battle at Vimeira, as also
a troop of heavy Dragoons from Truro into the battle
field of Waterloo. I was there severely wounded
in the grand charge at 3 p. m., on Sunday, the 18th
of June. I came out of the battle the senior Lieute-
nant, and I remained the senior Lieutenant of my regi-
ment for seven years, when I went on half-pay in dis-
gust. I beg here to state the courtesy and kindness I
always received at the hands of his Royal Highness the
late Duke of York. I had a pension granted to me
in 1816 of a Captain of Dragoons, but on the 12th
of July, 1817, it was reduced to that of a Lieute-
nant, which the Duke told me was unkind. His
Royal Highnesss' act of kindness to me in 1819, four
veers after the battle, in giving me the difference of a
year's pay from that of a Lieutenant to that of a Captain
of Dragoons, spoke volumes as to his Royal Highness's
opinion of my conduct and the justness of my claim to
promotion. Facts are stubborn things to deal with. I
spoke my mind in very strong language in the presence of
General Offices, which male me many enemies. So
to the fact. Your Lordship must remember the escape
iof the French garrison from Almeida in May, 1811.

Had Cavalry Officers of experience been employed to
patrol the different roads round that foriress, the
French General would not have been able to have
read the British General in command of the out-posts
so severe a lesson, by passing at midnight with the
garrison of Almeida through the division that were
in the blockade, and making a most brilliant retreat
to San Felices, by the bridge of Barba del Puero.
Part of my regiment was that night quartered in Villa
de Ccrvos. Our Dragoons took the General prisoner,
and some of his troops. I had been on duty to visit
our advanced piquet on the Aguedas, when, shortly
after my return, before day light, General Pack, with
some Portuguese Cavadores, arrived from the rear ; an
interchange of shots soon afterwards took place between
thLst e,ecacwandroeresunansaded and ourddthleheadof t
mheFern in bed
enchcol,umad the
an; our
h
French firing down the streets. I was annoyed and
highly irritated that we should be taken by surprise by
regiment an enemy that had passed the on duty in our
rear, and I expressed myself in very
theagainst the General who ivas then on duty in strong
charge
outpost.
hlatdwsaaisd.A reported, • itgeerm of
s
and gamed some addi-
tion gallantle
sa
tColonel
that of
timecavalry,
a very kind of friend of mine, was
at head-quarters, and soon afterwards on the staff
of the Commander-in-chief. My friend told me
I had made many bitter enemies by what I had
said, and it would not be soon forgotten by the
Scotch party. But they could not prejudice the most
influential quarter against me, who, my friend believed,
entertained an opinion similar to my own. Be that as it
may ; the General proved himself to be insane, as he
committed suicide in Spain, and I was present on duty
at his funeral. At that period the Scotch party in Eng-
land had the controul of the Fountain of Fortune—head-
quarters in Downing-street—And my promotion was sa-
crificed by malignant slander and party malice.
But to conclude. In January, 1838, I addressed a
letter to Lord Melbourne on the Diet of the Army when
on Field Service ; as also the advantage it would prove
to the health and comfort of the soldiers to furnish them
with a compact portable canteen, with a small leather
bag (the patterns may be seen at the United Service In-
stitution, at Whitehall), in preference to the present
wretched equipment of linen haversacks and wooden
canteens, now furnished by the Commissariat when sol-
diers take the field. Many eminent medical men assure
me that my plan for an improved ration for soldiers on
service is well deserving the full attention of Govern-
ment, and in support of my views the highest military
medical authority has written to me to say—MY PLAN
WOULD BENEFIT TIIE SOLDIER.—I have the honour to
be, your Lordship's most faithful and obliged friend,
GEORGE GUNNING.

22, Hanover-crescent, Brighton, March 26, 1839.

NATIONAL CONVENTION.
(YESTERDAY.)

Mr. MILLS, Delegate from Oldham, in the Chair.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Letters were read from Mr. ‘Villiams, at Bishop
Wey mouth, Sunderland, giving an account of meetings
in different parts of Durham and Northumberland,
where the Charter was supported by muititudes. Also
from Bailie Craig, an account of his progress
through Galloway shire, Wigtonshire, Dumbartonshire,
Ayrshire, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfriesshire, where
he got up so many as nine great meetings in Kilmar-
nock, Dumfries, Sandforth, Castle Douglas, Kirkcud-
bright, Creaghtown, May bole, Girvan, and Stranrser.
The demonstrations of the people in all those places in
in favour of the Charter was most cheering. The mid-
dle class vying with the labouring population in for-
warding the principles of Universal Suffrage, Vote by
Ballot, Annual Parliaments, no Property Qualification,
and Payment of Members. The reading of those letters
elicited much applause.

PROGRESS OF THE CIIARTER DESPITE TOW: OPPOSI.

TioN.

Mr. P. BUSSEY went into a detail of his late mis-
sion. He went through that part of Yorkshire which
had hitherto not taken part in the Charter movement.
He held public meetings at Bradford, Knaresborough,
Boroughbridge, Mahon, Pickering, Gisborough,
Stokesby, Swanville, Northallerton, Brompton, Rich-
mond, and Yolk. In most of those places the par-
sons and political Tories exerted themslves to the utmost
in order to prevent the people from assembling. They
threatened the shopkeepers with the loss of their cus-
tom, and the labourers with the loss of employment,
in case they should lend their assistance to support
the People's Charter.
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. BUSSEY, for his
persevering and arduous exertions on this mission.
Mr. F. O'CONNOR gave an account of meetings held
at Leeds and other places, which meetings were nume-
rously attended, and were demonstrative of confidence
in the Convention.

Mr. COLLINS bore testimony to the vast numbers
which were present at the Birmingham meeting on
Wednesday ; and further, the great bulk of the Bir-
mingham men who could not be present at that meet-
ing joined in the sentiments of confidence which that
meeting expressed in the measures of the Convention.

ARMING THE PEOPLE.

Mr. RICHARDSON brought forward a resolution
which had remained over from a former date relative to
the right of the people to arm. Mr. Richardson, in sup-
port of the people's right to have arms, quoted a number
of authorities; ancient and modern, writers on civil
polity and legal jurisprudence ; among the former were
Cicero, Justinian, Fletcher, Saltoun, Sir Walter Ra-
leigh, Sir J. Fortescuc, Sir Philip Sydney, Sir W. Jones,
and Queen Elizabeth, who, in an Address to an as-
sembly of Lieutenants and Sheriffs of Counties, told
them " to look well to it, that her people were all well
armed, and fit to take the field in defence of their li-
berties."—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Richardson said that he
wished Queen Victoria would make a similar declara-
tion ; if she did, she might, like her predecessor Queen
Elizabeth, walk without an attendant from St. Paul's
to Whitehall. Yes, if she did this it would not be ne-
cesary for her to have the attendance of a tribe of
courtiers and a host of military to protect her when-
ever she went abroad. Mr. Richardson then quoted
the legal authorities and sundry Acts of Parliament in
proof of the rights of Britons to carry arms. Sorn, of
those Acts went so far as to compel the Sheriffs of
Counties to inspect the arms of the people twice in
each year, and ter fine such as had not arms, or those
whose arms were in bad repair. He then went over
the many bad iffects of allowing the Government at
any period to wrest from the people this inalienable