The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-27 00:00:00

sent him. Another letter begged his acceptance of a pie, a pudding,
&c., sent by the writer.) These letters were not only addressed to Sir
W. Courtenay, but they also styled him Knight of Malta. These were
the things that excited the unhappy man. He (Mr. Turner) could
prove, if the House would afford him time, that Thom was not liberated
by the interference of the Noble Lord at the head of the Home Depart-
ment, but, by the interference of two magistrates of the county of Kent.
(A laugh.) Gentlemen might laugh on the other side of the House, but
before he was done they would look more demure than they ever did in
that House. (A laugh.) The Hon. Member then went into a history
of his own connection with Thom, and referred to a variety of documents.
The Hon. Member also read a letter showing that two of the visiting ma-
gistrates of the county had attended at the asylum and sanctioned the
release of Thom from his confinement there.
Sir R. PEEL—Was that after the warrant of free pardon was
issued ? _ _

Mr. TURNER—Yes.--C" Hear," and a laugh.) But what wa,
the warrant of that free pardon ? It was conditional, and was to
the effect that he should not be released unless his father or some
of his family attended and signed the release.—(Hear, hear.) They
did not attend, and yet the two Magistrates consented to his release,
which fact clearly showed that he. could not be considered of un-
sound mind at that time.

Mr. HANI)LEY had great cause to regret the disaster, as relatives
who were near and dear to him had narrowly escaped with their lives in
taking that course which others had been backward in taking on the
occasion; but he had not found that the exclamation in every man's
mouth was one of astonishment that this unfortunate individual should
have been at large, but one of extraordinary surprise that there should
be found in Kent—in any county of civilised England—men so ignorant
and uneducated as to be deluded in the manner the followers of this man
had shown themselves.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member then con-
cluded by moving that, in case a Committee should be appointed
to inquire into the circumstances connected with the discharge
of J. N. Thom from the Lunatic Asylum, the following words be
added by way of amendment—" And into the state of education of the
lower orders of the eastern division of the county of Kent, previously to
the late unfortunate transaction."—(Hear.)
Lord A. CONYNGH A M might be allowed to say that those who had
voted for this man at the time he svi.s a candidate for Canterbury were
not confined to the lower classes, but were many of them persons of sub-
stance and respectability.—(Hear.)
Viscount HO WICK rose to express a hope that his Hon. Friend be.
hind him (Mr. Handley) would not press the amendment which he had
just proposed, as, although he concurred in many of the observations
which had fallen from the Honourable Gentleman, it was impossible
that Isis amendment could answer the great object of the motion,
namely, the clearing up of these unfortunate occurrences.—(Hear,
hear.) But he had also risen to entreat the House to suspend, until
to..morrow, or a day or two after, the nomination of this Committee—
(Hear, hear)—and on this ground—that after the invidious obser-
vations contained in the speech of the Right Honourable Baronet
opposite)—Hear, hear, hear)—and, in his opinion, the mild and tempe-
rate speech- of the Right Hon. and Gallant Officer (Sir H. Vivian) the
Committee to be appointed ought to be one composed of Members of
high station in that House, and in whose character and judgment even
their ads ersaries might place irm.licit confidence. He much regretted the
manner in which the Right Hon. Baronet had thought proper to move
for the appointment of this Committee; but as he (Lord Howick) had
communicated with the Right Hon. Gentleman on the subject of the
names of those to serve on it without any benficial rend', the only
course left open to him to pursue was to place another list of ❑ames on
the table of the House, and to call upon the Hon. Member to postpone
the nomination of the Committee for a day or two. This Committee
would have to investigate a charge made against his Right Hon. and
Gallant Friend of no ordinary nature, and accusing him of guilt
no less than this, viz., of having prostituted his high powers and
station to the meanest and dirtiest of all party purposes.—
(Hear, hear.) He wished to throw no imputation on the character
of any of those Hon. Gentlemen opposite whose names he proposed to
omit front the list, or to treat any one with disrespect ; but he would say
that one of those Hon. Gentlemen whose names he proposed to leave out
did appear to him to have been extraordinarily excited upon this ques-
tion, namely, the Hon. and Learned Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Praed)
—(Hear)—whom he had observed cheering the Right Hun. Baronet
during the whole of his speech.—(Hear, hear, from the Ministerial
side, answered by ironical cheers from the Opposition.) The Noble
Lord then read the list of the Committee, as proposed by the Right
Hon. Baronet, which was as follows :—Sir E. Knatchbull, the Earl of
Lincoln, Mr. Fox Maule, the Marquis of Chandos, Viscount Howick,
Mr. Praed, Mr. Shaw Lefevre, Mr. Darby, Mr. Harvey, Lord Hotham,
Mr. Langdale, Sir H. Hardinge, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Plutiptre,
and Mr. Pendarves. The Noble Lord then named his own list, which
omitted the names of the Earl of Lincoln, the Marquis of Chandos,
Mr. Praed, and Mr. Darby ; and proposed in their places those of Sir
Robert Peel, Sir R. Inglis, Sir T. D. Acland, and Mr. R. Clive, and hoped
that the House would concur with him in thinking that these lists
ought to be ordered to be printed with the votes, and taken into consi.
deration to.morrow or some future day.—(Hear.)
Mr. PRAED protested against the gross personal affront which he
had received from the Noble Lord on the opposite side of the House—
(Cheers)—and, considering himself in the light of a juror challenged, he
now turned to the Right Honourable Baronet the Member for Tam-
worth to say to him that, having attended in his place as one of the
Gentlemen named in the list of the Right Honourable Baronet (Sir
E. Knatchbull) and with the intention of doing his duty on the Com-
mittee should Isis motion be carried, he must now request him to with-
draw his name from the list.—(Loud cheers.)

The Marquis of CHANDOS, after the aspersion thrown upon his
character, must request his Right Honourable Friend to withdraw his
name from the list, as he would never consent to allow the Noble Lord,
or any other man, to doubt his unfettered ability to give an honest ver-
dict as an independent man.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. DARBY, in the midst of the cheers which followed the preceding
observations, made a similar request and declaration.—(Cheers.)
Viscount HO WICK had not intended to cast the slightest imputation
or disrespect on any Honourable Member, and he appealed to Honour.
able Gentlemen if those were not the ♦ery expressions he had made use
of ?—(Hear, hear.) He did think there were Honourable Gentlemen in
that House of superior qualifications to some of those who had been
named ; and, with reference to the personal affront of which the Hon.
and Learned Member for Aylesbury spoke, he could only say that he
recant to convey no such thing—(Hear, hear, hear)—and that he rather
thought that the affront had proceeded from the other side of the House,
since the Right Hon. Gentleman (Sir E. Knatchbull) had refused to re-
tain any of the names of Hon. Gentlemen on that (the opposite) side
which he (Lord Howick) had proposed as the fittest to serve on this
Committee.

Sir R. PEEL rose and said—As a proof, Sir, of the fair inten-
tions of my Right Honourable Friend (Sir E. Kuatchbull), and sup.
posing that my qualifications even were such as the Noble Lord oppo.
site has stated, I am bound to state that my Right Honourable Friend
some time ago asked me whether I had any objection to be placed on
this Committee ; and that I then expressed to him my unwillingness
and disinclination to have my name inserted in the list.—(Hear, hear,
hear.) I wished, Sir, to guard myself against any imputation that
might be cast upon the Committee in consequence of my name ap-
pearing as a member of it, and I adopted this course from a considera-
tion of the respective positions of myself and the Noble Lord oppo-
site, from the consideration that I constantly came in collision
with the Noble Lord. When my Right Honourable Friend first
spoke to me relative to his motion, I expressly stated that my
advice was that he should be cautious not to appoint a Com-
mittee with power to express any opinion one way or the other on
the subject, but only to ascertain the facts with a view to their being
laid without observation before the House; that the matter was too im-
portant for the members of a Committee to take upon themselves the
eof pronouncing a verdict upon it ; and that the fairer way
I
thought would be to appoint a Committee simply to inquire into the
responsibility
facts, anti then to present the evidence to the House, but with a total
abstinence from anything like comment or the expression of opinion. In
this suggestion, Sir, my Right Hon. Friend acquiesced : and, therefore,
I considered the balance of names—whether the Members preponder_
atcd on the one side or the other—a matter of very little importance.
own part, Sir, I am bound to declare, that a fairer Committee it
would not be possible to select ; and that Hon. Gentlemen whose names
haveFormy
been proposed by my Right Hon. Friend, are all men whose honour
anti integrity cannot for a single moment be doubted, and who arc en-
titled not only to the confidence of the House, but of the country,__.
(Hear, and loud cheers.) Sir, while I regret that such an objec.
tiou should have been put forward by the Noble Lord, I must say that
I do not acquiesce in the course which has been taken by my Noble
Friend the Member for Buckinghamshire and the Hon. Gentlemen the
Members for Aylesbury and East Sussex ; fur, on the contrary, I think
that an objection to an individual Member of Parliament ought not to
induce him to withdraw from the performance of his public duty.—
(Cheers.) This is a doctrine in which I say, Sir, I cannot acquiesce,
and therefore I hope my Noble Friend and the Hon. Gentleman
will alter their determination.—(Hear, hear.) No man could be
named, I venture to assert, who takes a less offensive part in politi.
cal discussions than my Noble Friend the Member for Buckingham.
shire.—(Cheers.) It is well known that he entertains string politi-
cal opinions; but it is equally notorious that he urges his opinions
ill a way which ensures him the compliments of both sides of the
House.—(Cheers.) Sir, I can for my own part seriously assert that I
never yet heard my Noble Friend make a speech on which he was not
complimented for the absence of political acrimony or personal
allusion which characterised it ; and, as to the truth of this assertion,
I may fearlessly appeal to the Hon. Gentlemen opposite.—(Cheers.)
Sir, it is not my intention to go into the names of Hon. Gentlemen pro.
posed to be placed on this Committee by my Right Hon. Friend ; but
without doing so, I may take upon me to say that they are men in
whose honour and integrity any man would be perfectly safe; and,
under such circumstances, I cannot help thinking that the objection
urged by the Noble Lord has not been sustained. It is, Sir, utterly im.
possible for me to excuse, though I am confident it was thrown out un.
intententionally, the imputation which the Noble Lord has cast upon toy
Noble, 'Right Hon , and Hon. Friends; but I am bound to say that,
whether in office or out of office, nothing save special circumstances
could induce me to devolve on a Committee of the House of Commons
the task of inquiry into a case like the present. Considering the great
loss of life that has taken place—the extraordinary delusion that has led
to this lamentable result—and the degree of excitement which still
prevails in that part of the country on the subject—l say, Sir, consi-
dering all this, that special circumstances do exist to justify the ap-
pointment of a Committee of inquiry, and me in giving my reluctant
assent to the proposition of my Right Honourable Friend.—(Hear,
hear.) I think it right to state the ground on which I mean to give my
unwilling support to the appointment of this Committee ; and still
further to guard myself I wish to say that the present case is so far re-
moved from all ordinary rules that the course which we may adopt with
respect to it cannot hereafter be drawn into a precedent. Sir, I ant not '
at all surprised that my Right Hon. Friend should be desirous of inquiry,
knowing, as he does, the feelings of the relatives and friends of the par-
ties who have unhappily lost their lives in the melancholy affair ;
nor ant I at all surprised that the Noble Lord should be equally anxious
for inquiry on other grounds ; but then I look at the abstract merits of
the case, and thetefore, do not hesitate to say that nothing but the pe-
culiar, the special circumstances which it presents, could induce me to
give my consent to the nomination of the proposed Committee.—(Hear.)
Sir, I ant desirous of guarding my acquiescence in the motion of my
Right Hon. Friend by this explanation, lest I should be bound by the
vote I mean to give on any future occasion ; and, as the only duty the
Committee will have to perform will be to report the evidence to the
House, without comment or expression of opinion one way or the
other, I do hope not only that the Noble Lord will withdraw his objec.
lion, but above all, that my Noble, Right Hon., and Hon. Friends will not
abandon that which is clearly their public duty.—(Loud cheers.)
Sir 11. HARDINGE would fully admit to his Right lion. Friend
that it was objectionable on the part of a Member of that House to
withdraw himself from the performance of his public duty, but still, after
the slur which had been cast on the Hon. Members named for this
Committee, he thought he could not do otherwise than as his Noble and
Hon. Friends had done. With ail due deference, therefore, he must be
allowed to say that he could not serve on it.
Mr. R. CLIVE also must, if the forms of the House would permit it,
decline to allow his name to continue on the list of the Committee.
Sir R. INGLIS must for himself say that it would be most painful to
him if the House were to compel hitn to serve on a Committee under
such circumstances.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. BULWER said that the alteration proposed to be made in this
list was not intended to disparage the Hon. Gentlemen who had been
objected to, and therefore it did not justify the speeches inflicted on
tl.ent front the other side of the House.—(Cries of " Oh, oh.")
He, contended that there were no grounds for supposing any
slur was intended to be cast on the Honourable Members named by
the Right Hon. Bart. the Member for East Kent; and in sasing this lie
believed he was speaking the sentiments of the Hon. Gentlemen on his
side of the House. The Hon. and Learned Mertes( r for Aylesbury,
who was now supposed to be a high Tory, had not always held the opi-
nions which he at present professed, and as his zeal in the cause which
he now espoused might induce a doubt as to his discretion the objection
taken to his name was perfectly warranted.—(Loud cries of " Oh, oh I")
What, did the Hon. Gentlemen opposite not know that the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman the Member for Aylesbury had celebrated the an