The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-26 00:00:00

fourtDarilition
NEWMARKET RACES.

(THIS DAY.)
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
(Continued from our Third Edition.)
The St. Leger Stakes of 25 sots. each. D.I.
lipua •S • ... ~,
••• •••
Queensberry

50/ Plate.

Sotterley
Brandy face

EAST INDIA HOUSE-(TIIIS DAY

A quarterly general Court of the Proprietcra of
East India Stock was held this morning at the East
India Howe; Sir Archibald Galloway in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting having been read
and confirmed,
'le CHAIRMAN announced that the Court of Di-
rectors had received a dispatch from the Marquis of
Dalhousie acknowledging the vote of thanks awarded
to his Lordship at a former Court of Proprietors.
Mr. NIALCOLM LEWIN, pursuant to notice, then
brought the following facts under the consideration of
the proprietors, which would show that a great
offence had l-een c )mmitted by the military authori-
ties of Madras, under the form of a judicial proceed-
ing—an cffence which calls for the condign punish-
ment of is guilty authors. The facts were thus
briefly stated :—Seventeen soldiers of the 6th Regi-
ment Madras Light Cavalry were placed on their
trial, charged with mutiny, of whom two were shot,
one acquitted, thirteen banished for life, and one
Pardoned on the following grounds (as recorded in the
order of the Marquie of Tweeddale, the Commander-
in-Chief)—" I pardon private Mahomed Maser. I
believe what he states in his defence, that the cause
of his appearing forward in those mutinous
laroCeedings was his having been desired by Jema-
dar Sheik Ibrahim to obtain information of what was
going on amongst the Sepoys of the Regiment." The
mutiny orginated in an order of the Government to
withhold from the Sepoys their accustomed stipends,
which, it was alleged, originated in a mistake. No
one, however, has been called to account for a
mistake so utterly indefensible. The effects of the
mistake, which are appealed to in the defence of the
prisoners, had been to paralyze the regiment (which
was just ordered on field service), and to bring
distress and destitution on the men and their families.
It had re Need to desperation the S poi s, who
refused to soddle their horses—a state of things which
continued for four days, when on the arrival
of the division officer, General Watson, the com-
plaints of the men having been listened to (to
all of which the commander of the regiment had
.turned a deaf ear), and the pay restored, the men
"returned to their duty." This end being accom
plished, the Commander-in-Chief, through his Deputy
Adjutant-General, addressed the commander of the
regiment as follows :—" The Commander-in. Chief has
received the Brigadier's (Watson) letter of the 10th
of December, with Major Lichfield's (the commander
of the regiment) of the Bth of December, enclosed.
The Commander in-Chief is happy to understand
from these communications that the men of the 6th
Light Cavalry have returned to their duty, and that
they appear to be sensible of their late misconduct.
But as his Lordship cannot allow the regiment, under
the reproach of such unworthy and unsoldierlike beha-
viour, to continue a station where it might be re-
quired for employment on actual service, he has
ordered it to be sent into cantonment at Arcot." It
will be thought by some that the return of the men
to duty, on the cause of discontent being removed,
would have furnished a sufficient plea for overlooking
their of-Knee, and that the Government, whose mis-
conduct had created it, would have been gratified to
find an excuse for rescuing from disgrace and punish-
ment a regiment whose previous services and good
conduct had acquired for it a high character and
standing in the army, and whose error, at the worst,
was the result of circumstances w hich, were capable
of trying the fidelity of the best affected.
But it was as necessary in this case as in
the case of the Judges of the Suddr Court, to
find a cause against the injured, as the only means
whereby the real delinquent could be screened. It
was supposed, both within and without the regiment,
that the letter of the Deputy Adjutant General had
elesed the affair and consigned it to oblivion. Put
any other construction upon it, and it becomes illegal;
the Commande-its-Chief was not justified in passing a
reprimand cn the regiment, if ha meditated ulterior
measures against it, nor is it reasonable in belief that
the men would have continued, many months after
wards, in a state of quiet and discipline, if
they had known that measure of punish-
ment awaited them on reaching cantonments.
Be this as it may, the regiment, for four months
after the letter of the Deputy Adjutant-General had
been read on parade, guarded the frontier ; and
during a period of nine months (before proceedings
were held against them), the men performed their
duty as good soldiers (guarding over the tent of the
Commander, who afterwards appeared against them
as prosecutor), perfectly unconscious of the plot
which was hatching against them. Placing the men
on their trial after It hat had happened, was
not only iu contravention of numerous prece-
dents (too well known to need recital), but
in direct opposition to a recent dscision of Lord
Gough, the Commander-in-Chief of the army of India.
Time question in a legal sense was of less importance
than in a moral point of view : the mind recoils with
horror from the fact that the aid of the men, who
were afterwards executed by the Government, was
received for tour months to guard the frontier; that
the Government availed themselves of their services
far nine months, while meditating their destruction.
Two men were shot, and thirteen banished for life,
for an offence committed nine months before a charge
was preferred against them ; that, too, after the
offence had been formally overlooked, and at a time
when the regiment was in a state of perfect discipline,
and when discipline prevailed throughout the army.
Taking the lives of the men was not justified by any
necessity; even the plea of the tyrant expediency
does not avail; the facts disclose a wanton exercise of
power, for which there is neither palliation nor
excuse. As a legal question, the shooting
of the Sepoys was without the sanction of
law ; they were tried, coram non judice, by a
court (which required thirteen members), com-
posed of no more than seven, a junior major being
president of a court appointed to try an issue
affecting the lives of seventeen of his fellow-creatures.
The prisoners had not the advantage of counsel
learned in the law to plead in their defence. With
this advantage it is incredible that any of them should
have been found guilty. The special court, held at
Arcot, preliminary to the court-martial, had vitiated
the whole case for the prosecution, and filled it with
rottenness. It is not going too far to say, that the
evidence obtained by the means resorted to would not
have been received in any court of justice. The
principal witness used by the Special Court and sub-
sequently on the court-martial, was, within a year of
the trial, dismissed from his rank as a commissioned
officer (to which he had been promoted for his
services at the trial) for falsehood! and within
the last six months he has undergone the set)•
tense of a court-martial for a similar offence !
The real question is, whether the Sepoys were liable
to be tried at all, after the letter of the Deputy
Adjutant General; after they had done duty for nine
months; and after they had been reprimanded, and
their offence formally overlooked. This is the real
question, which does not so much depend upon a
doubtful construction of law as upon facts ; the result
cf which it does not require the penetration of a
counsel learned in the law to disclose. When the
Government broke its contract with the Sepoys, it
virtually absolved them from the obligation of service.
The Mutiny Act, which engages the services of
the soldier, guarantees the payment of those
services. Is it the weaker I: arty only
that is bound by a contract ? The Sepoy
committed no violence; he complained that his pay
was taken away ; he clamoured for food for himself,
his wife, and his children ; for a habitation from which
they had been driven, when at a distance of a thou-
sand miles from their proper homes ; he called upon
his commanding officer to hear his complaints, and
was rudely repulsed. When his complaints were
listened to, and his pay restored, instantly he gave his
services and "returned to duty." It is not to be
understood that the men were at any time unwilling
tor perform the services of the Government ; the conduct
of the
concluded
Government had deprived them of the power.
by moving the following resolution :
" That the Court of Directors be requested to take
such measures as may be necessary to instruct the
local gevernmeras of -India to insert in the Articles
e
of War for the native army clause conveying
.the
sstroa privilege to the rieea army of demanding
centies of the record ts is- now enjoyed by thde
European soldiery under the Articlesof NVlaBra,m, e
by the British Legislature on the 4th Oct.,
4fBr
Mr. Z-"rLIIVAN seconded the motion, and insisted
that the whole proceeding: of the court-martial were
illegal and unjust. It was quite clear, he said, that
there Was one law for the British and another faordthiet
natli e soldier in the service of the company, and
was, therefore, imperatively necessary that this Court
should withhold its sanction to the course pursued by
Lord Tweeddale.

The CuAram IN deprecated the introduction of
questions like this, as it could be productive of no
good reFults, but, on the contrary, might have the
effect of producing dis..Afftction in the army in India.
It was not neceis4ry for him to g-) into the facts of
this case, but he believed that the course which Lord
Tweeddale had pursued was wise, just, and equitable
in every respect, and he hoped that after this discus-
sion there would be an end to this mater.

No alteration in Barley. Indian Corn is still held firmer'
but there ws sm:111 inquiry for it to-day.
CORK, SEPT. 24.—Flour—First 13s 6d to 14s ; extra 14s 641
secoods. 12, 6,1 to 13s ; households lOs to I Is; thirds, 6s to ei
' per cw t. Oatmeal lOsOd to I Is; Indian meal tis 3d to 64 t'd; wbeet'
meal, lOs ltd to lls per cwt. Indian corn 6! to 6/ 7s 6d per too.
Bran 3/ :is Cd to 3/ lOs per ton. Hay—Farmers 2,/s to 325; average
28s ; dealers 28s to 32s 0.1; average 39s per ton. Sti aw— Faroe°
8s Od to `3s Od; average 18s; dealers 24s Od to 00s OA;
average 00s Od per ton. Bread—Wheaten loaf 6d to 6it
household loaf 5d to bid per 41b. Fresh butter, 7d, w
9J per lb. Eggs— 4s 10d to 5s Cd per hundred. Coals
Newport 14s; Lydney 16s ; Landore 14s ; Best Are'`7
Culm 13s per ton. Tallow 40s Od to 00s per lest
Whisky, 25 o. p., 5s 9d per imperial gallon. fries
—Beef 4d to 7d ; mutton 4d to bid ; veal 4d 0
Od ; pork 4id to 5d ; bacon 7d to 8d ; sausages bd Per
lb. hops 51 10s per cwt. Bangor slates 312 s 6d tf .?" 'II,
ton. Bark—Barbary 81 to 81111 s; Valonia 14/ to 0/; ' ,
7110 s; English 0/ per ton. Fleece Wool 10s to 12s psr gar,
Hemp 31/ t 0351 per tor. Fish— Scotch herrings 17s to 18s; ill
ditto 26s to 28s per barrel ; Newfoundland Il+/ 10s to 12/ Pe'
ton. Timber—Memel, 85/ per ton; deals, first quality. 189
second quality, 16s psi. 100. Hides—Market Us to ids;
salted 12s to 18. per cwt ; calf skins 2d to 2;d per lb.
Potatoes, white s`d to 7d; Minions 00d to COd ; Guaeol.
Peruvian, 111 10s; Ichaboe 91 per ton; Tar—Archangel'
19s per barrel.

NAVAL IA I'ELLIGENCE.
PORT: MOUTH, SEPT. 25..—The royal yacht Vieb),''.!
and Albert was brought down to her service menrls
today, to be completed for the reception of ,131,
Majesty and the Court on Friday night.
Thee Fairy royal yacht was hauled upon the graving
slip alongside the dockyard last night, to be in reedi'
ness fur inspection early this morning by the Admiral
Superintendent Prescott, and dockyard staff; 013
anti -adhesive substances, corm °salons, hiving been
put on the iron bottom three months since, the Ms;
tive discoveries of Professor Hay, the chylniez"
assistant to the master shipwright, and Mr. Peacock,
a gentleman amateur in similar pursuits. A three
months' test having been deemed sufficient to discover
the relative merits of the applications, today the ex:
periment was officially reported upon, when the result
showed one side (the Fort) of the vessel perfectlf
clean and free from all impeding rubbish; and the
starboard side foul, with weeds and grass half a foot
in length, presenting the appearance of a fine alppi, g
field of grass—showing, in a light never before es-
hibited, the peculiar and striking superiority of the
chyinical assistant's invention over that of Mr. Pea"
cock.
The Elfin royal dispatch yacht, Master Commander
Bal!iston, having received a figure head and cutwatert
which has considerably improved her outward apPear
since, was taken out last night for trial, prior to being
reported in readiness for the royal service.
Commander Hewlett, of the Excellent, is, we
believe, progressing favourably towards convalescence
undi r the. assiduous treatment of Dr. Nutt.
•
Wind S.E., light breezes and fine weather.