The Sun.
London, England, 1836-05-04 00:00:00

The next letter was from Ma:of-Gut .at k ilon.
Frederick Ponsonby :—..

March 20, 1836.
" 3[9 ttif: liave given every consideration in
power 10A.Vr case, ant I must siy, that, in my I,sp-st4le tpinion.
ydtW.?:-:re been treated with great severit..r t titiu if you are not
permitted to effect the eichfmtv.: %to tlhe Ith Dragoons, yot.
will be treated wit iretitiVe , rtOtiti*
" I ge.m yolk Ak§ 'Opinion in Dedombtr. titt, and I an
strehgthel)ed tht.belief that it .ei*iider, from having con-
versed with many officers of all'qh'Ats in the army, and I have
foiled rthreelyan,y one vt,b6 hils differed in my opinion with me.
" Believe ite, very sincerely yours,
" F. PONSONBY, Mqor-Oeneral."
Tikk l'.'ext letter which he begged to rtad to the House, was
dated Dublin, 28th of April, /BSti, and was from Major-Ge-
neral Sir E. Blakene,n Commanding the Forces in Ireland,
and under whore. he (Lord Brudencll) also was for some time
stationed Mille commanding the 15th liutsars:—
" t)> dear Lord—l have greet pleasure in seeing that the
general commanding 141 thief bas recommended you to
his Majesty for tt %Ihration to full pay, aid your consequent
appointment to a Lieutenant-Colonelcy in the I Ith Light

"—ln field movements, and the ready application of cavalry,
I considered you one of the most intelligent officers that served
under my orders, and I confidently anticipate, from your ex-
perience of the past, and the judicious application of your zeal
for the service in future, you will I rove to the rrmy at large,
that you are deserving of the act of justice Lord Hill has per-
formed in recommending your restoration to full pay.
44 With wishing you, my dear Lord, every success, believe
me always very faithfully yours,

" EDWARD BLAKENEY."
Thine were the opinions of the General Officers whose
names he had mentioned with respect to his conduct. Per-
haps to the testimony of these General Officers, lie might be
allowed to add one other circumstance. Immediately, after
the close of those proceedings at Cork, the General Officer
who presided on that occasion, after entering, more than
was usually the case, into a minute inspection of the regi
ment, expressed himself to him (Lord Brudenell) in the
strongest terms of approbation. He might remind the House
that many instances had occurred of officers of the army
having been reinstated in their rank after their names had
been removed from the list, some having been dismissed from
the service, and others having had their names erased by the
King. He was well acquainted with the circumstances of
those cases ; but as the faults of those officers had been for-
gotten by the Sovereign, and had probably been long for-
gotten by the public, he thought that it would be an invidious
course for him to pursue to drag their names again before the
country. He should, therefore, refrain from doing so, what-
ever advantage he might thereby forego. He did not hesitate
to say, that unless he felt confident, after a certain period, he
should be restored to his rank, he should have resigned his
commission.—( Hear.) For it could not be supposed that
unless he were again worthy to serve his King, that he could
derive any satisfaction from having his name left on the Army
List—( Hear, hear)—merely in crder that he might continue
to draw his half:pay. It was under these circumstances that
the General Commanding-in-chief had recommended to his
Majesty to appoint him Second Lieutenant-Colonel of the
11 th Light Dragoons in the East Indies. After having made this
statement, his most anxious desire was to pay all proper respect
to the King's prerogative, exercised under the advice of the
Noble Lord who filled the office of Commander.in-chief„ and
having nothing more to add, he thought that the most proper
course for him to pursue on the present occasion was to with-
draw from the House during the further discussion of the sub-
ject. [The Noble Lord then withdrew from the House amid
loud cheers.l
Lord HO WICK—I feel sure, Sir, from the tone this dis-
cussion has already taken, that the House entertains much
the same opinion as I have myself adopted of the course pur-
sued by the Hon. Baronet, and that they think with me that
he has submitted the present motion rather with the view of
placing a formal question before the House on which to raise
a debate, than with any serious intention of calling upon the
House to accede to the terms of the proposition he has sub-
mitted.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Baronet has departed
from his original intention, and has substituted for the motion
of which he at first gave notice, that which he has just now
submitted to the House. The Hon. Baronet has acted quite
rightly in withdrawing the motion he originally proposed. I
conceive, Sir, that the Hon. Baronet was influenced by the
consideration that a motion for a vote of censure upon Lord
Hill, for appointing the Noble Lord to this commission, could
be considered in no other light than as a vote of this House
pronouncing that Noble Lord unfit ever more to serve his Ma.
jesty.—(Cheers.) The Hon. Baronet felt that such a vote
would necessarily bear this construction; and natural consi-
derations of justice and equity at once made him sensible
that the proceeding would be one of such monstrous and
crying injustice, that he would never for one moment call
upon the House to accede to it.—( Hear, hear.) Because,
Sir, what is the position in which the Noble Lord stands ?
He was, it is true, openly censured by the Court-martial, and
it is equally true, that in pursuance of that censure, he was
removed froth the command of his regiment ; but as I stated
on a former occasion, and as the papers before the House
clearly bear me out in stating, it was at the time of his removal
most distinctly understood that he was not to be considered as
a person unfit evermore to serve his Majesty.—(Cheers.) The
whole of the correspondence proves this fact in different ways.
More than this, Sir, in the letter in which the King's pleasure
respecting Colonel Brudenell was formally communicated to
the Secretary at War, it was distinctly stated that his rank and
place in the army were not affected by thut proceeding.—
( Cheers.) Under these circumstances, I apprehend, it is quite
clear that the Noble Lord was not considered at that time as
removed from the army ; and I am quite satisfied that the
Hon. Baronet felt that not having been visited with the punish-
ment of removal, it would be the very height of injustice, if
without any opportunity of being heard in his own defence, the
Noble Lord were to be adjudged to suffer a punishment of such
severity, not by the sentence of a Court-martial, but by the
vote of a public assembly, in which subjects of this nature cannot
possibly be discussed with that fairness and temperance which
are so essential to their impartial consideration.—( Cheers.)
Well, but the Hon. Baronet has asked why Lord Brudenell was
not at the time brought to a Court-martial.—( Hear, hear.) I
will fairly admit to the Hon. Baronet that I am not in the
slightest degree acquainted with the reasons of his not having
been brought to a Court-martial. All I know is, that the
Noble Lord applied for a Court-martial, and that the Court-
martial was refused ; but if it had been granted, and he had
been brought to a general Court-martial, the severest sentence
that would have been passed upon him would have been, in all
probability, the very one which he underwent. I say it is im-
possible, on the finding of the Court-martial, conveying the
censure, which I admit it does, without having heard the
Noble Lord, to come to a resolution which would, in fact,
subject him to the punishment to which he would have been
justly subjected, had he, after a full, fair, and adequate oppor-
tunity of explanation, been found guilty of the misconduct im-
puted to him. The llon. Baronet then, feeling that for these
reasons it would not be an act of justice to the Noble Lord to
come forward with so severe a resolution as he at first con-
templated, alters his motion; and what is it that he now pro-
poses? A Committee of Inquiry. A Committee to inquire
into what ? Not, be it remembered, into the failure of the
Commander-in-chief to visit with due severity the offence of
Lord Brudenell, supposing any to have been committed, but
to inquire whether the Commander-in-chief has now properly
exercised his discretion in restoring the Noble Lord to full
pay.—( Hear, hear.) It what manner this inquiry is to be
conducted, I own lam altogether unable to understand. Let
me ask the Hon. Baronet what he proposes that the Com-
mittee shall do? Does the Hon. Baronet want a Committee
to condemn the appointment ?

Sir WILLIASf MOL ES WORTH—For the purpose of
inquirt•.

Lord HOWICK—For the purpose of inquiry! Yes! hut
with what view is it to inquire into the appointment ? With
a view to condemn it ; or with a view to approve of it ?
Sir WIL LIAM MOLES WORTH—With a view to either
the one or the other.

Lord HO WICK—The Hon. Baronet says, with a view to
either the one or the other. He will not ask the House to
appoint a Committee with a view to no condemnation, because
it is evident and palpable to every body that this means nothing
at all : on the other hand he will not appoint it with a view to
censure, because that is only another way of committing injus-
tice.—( Hear, hear.) If the Hon. Baronet proposes a com-
mittee of this kind, that Committee, if appointed, could only
be considered as appointed to retry the case—as a Commit-
tee appointed to do that which, if it ought to have been
done at all, should have been done by a Court-martial.—
( Hear, hear.) 1 say the Court-martial having been refused,
this House having taken no proceeding to insist on that Court-
martial being summoned, and this House having been per-
fectly aware, all along, that the Noble Lord was placed on
half-pay list, we have no right now to go back, to declare
that a different course shall be pursued, and that the Noble
Lord shall be tried—not by a fit and proper tribunal, to take
cognizance Of military offences—but by a Select Committee
of the House of Commons.—( Cheers.) I believe it is gene
rally admitted— I have not heard it disputed by any one—that
under the circumstances in which the Noble Lord was placed
on the half-pay list, he was not necessarily to be considered as
a person incapable of all future employment in his Majesty's
service. The moment this is admitted, the question simply
becomes one as to the exercise of discretion by the Comman-
der-in-chief, in selecting this particular officer for employ-
ment.—(Hear. ) Is there any ground whatever for imputing
misconduct to him ? If there be, then I admit a Committee of
inquiry wou'd be the proper and legitimate resort; but if there
be not, it certainly does appear to me that there are no Par-
liamentary grounds whatever for instituting the inquiry which
the lion. Baronet proposes. My Noble Friend distinctly
proved, on a former evening, that there is a person respon-
sible fur the exercise of all the functions of the Crown in this
House. The Commander-in-chief is the person responsible
for individual acts' connected with the management and control
of the army. No acts connected with its regulation can take
place but by his advice and his recommendation, and for his
conduct in 'advising and recommending the Crown he is most
distinctly responsible. Beyond this, as my Noble Friend
justly observed, the Members of the Government in this House
are distinctly responsible forcontinuing the Commander-in-
Chief in his office. I admit to the
.Hon. Baronet that there is
a distinction between the responsibility of the administration
for the time being for the conduct of the Commander-in-Chief,
and the responsibility it bears for the acts of those officers who
are more immediately connected with theGovornment. The Hon.
Baronet, in opening his speech, stated this point very fairly. He
said that so long as the general conduct ot the Commander-in-
Chief, to whichhe himself admitted no objection could be
made in the present instance, inasmuch as he conceded that he
had no fault to find with it, that so long. as the general con-
duct of the Commander-in-Chief was unimpeachable, so long
the Government of the day were justified maintaining him
in his office. But, says the Hon. Baronet, " this is not a
sufficiently close and stringent responsibility—l waAt a dif-