The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-05 00:00:00

EV ENING EDITION.

ment, and permanently secure the elements of peace and
prosperity in this empire until the People's Charter be-
comes the law of the land, and therefore embodying in the
British Constitution all classes of her Majesty's subjects.
"2d. That in the opinion of this meeting the law of im-
pressment and balloting for Militia is adespotism, and
ought not to be resorted to by any Government with-
out the sanction of the s hole people chosen by
Universal Suffrage and Vote by Ballot.
"3d. That in the ()pinion of this meeting, no Government
has a right to declare war against any nation without the
consent of the people who have to pay the necessary ex-
penses attendant upon such unnatural proceedings, and it
therefore becomes an imperative duty incumbent upon this
meeting to enter its protest against any war between this
and any other country; without the consent of the nation,
obtained upon the just principles of Universal Suffrage."

CAPTAIN REYNOLDS-(MEETING
THIS DAY.)

The adjourned meeting of the friends of Captain Rey-
nolds took place this day at the British Coffee-house,
Coelaspur-street. At one o'clock, the hour fixed for com-
mencing the proceedines, there were comparatively few
persons present. At half past one some impatience hav-
ing been manifested by those assembled, who did not
amount to more than one hundred,
Mr. Ilewere came forward and said that they had been
some time waiting for a Chairman, and as he had not made
his appearance, he proposed that they should commence
business, and he should therefore move that Mr. Hine, who
presided on the former occasion, do take the Chair. The
motion having been seconded, was carried unanimously.
The CHAIIINIAN said some of them must be aware that
the present was an adjourned meeting from Tuesday last.
That meeting had been called by a few friends of justice
and independence, and, as had been well remarked, totally
independent of Captain Reynolds. After same discussion
the meeting resolved upon adjourning for the purpose of
appointing a Committee to prepare resolutions. tic had
been unfortunately placed in the chair on the former occa-
sion, but had served the public to the best of his ability,
as Le should do on the present occasion.—( Hear, hear.)
A Committee had been appointed, who had drawn up some
resolutions, and the minutes of their proceedings would be
now read to them by the gentleman on his right.
Mr. HUGGETT said the Committee had thought proper
to introduce their resolutions by a short report, which he
should now read to them :
" At a numerous and most respectable meeting called
g ther by advertisement, and held in this room on Tues-
day last, for the purpose of marking our sense as English-
m of ono of the grossest cases of oppression which ever
carne before the public, Mr. Hine in the chair, In conse-
quence of a want of previous communication,it was resolved
unanimously to appoint a Committee to prepare a series of
te olutious on the subject, and to adjourn until this day.
A Committee aas accordingly appointed, and your Com-
n i.tee proceed. d without delay to take the necessary steps,
a. d to embody your expressed intentions arid feelings
in acme resolutions which they will have the honour to
submit to you for consideration. At the same time, your
Committee beg, whilst they invite the freest discussion,
most strongly to deprecate any intemperance of language,
which can only tend to defeat our common aim, and to mar
the object for which this meeting was convened. They
feel it necessary to advert to Captain Reynolds' letter,
which they submit to be nothing more than what was to
expected from a high-minded and honourable man,who feels
that a mere sum of money can afford no compensation
for feelings most wantonly wounded, or an attempted slur
on his honour. It is not, however, the question before us
what Captain Reynolds may feel personally on the subject,
but how, involving as it does the honour and welfare of the
B Asit army, and, consequently, the country at large, a re-
currence of such instances of oppression and tyranny may
be prevented." I will now proceed to read the resolutions,
and the Chairman will put them severally to the meeting.
Prorosed and seconded in the usual manner.
The CHAIRMAN said such was the state of the business
at present. It had been said that the letter of Captain
Rey nolds had obviated the necessity of any meeting, but if
Captain Reynolds was fortunate enough to need no remu-
neration for the loss of his 6,00e1 , and fifteen years of
his best blood and energies, that might not be the case
with future Captain Reynoldses, as it had not been the
case with former Captain Reynoldses, for no one would
deny that many high-minded and honourable individuals
had been turned out of the army who had not Captain
Reynolds' friends, and who, consequently, sunk into obli-
vion. If by the tone of their proceedings they could
make an impression upon the higher powers and the Horse
Guards, they should then, independently of Capt. Rey-
nolds, dos great good to the public and the military service.
Some of the public press had done themselves immortal
and eternal honour by the expositions they bad made of
these acts of injustice.--(Cheers,) He was sorry to say
that men were too cold in putting down injustice. John
Bull required some goading before he put his horns into
full play.—(Cheers.) He had been rather too cold in the
present instance.—( Continued cheering.) The rules of
the British army, as they at present existed, were calcu-
lated to curdle the blood of Englishmen. Look at the
case of Captain Reynolds; he was a man wko had been
fifteen years in the service of his country, and how
had he been treated ? Why he had been cashiered
from the army through the instrumentality of a
sprig of aristocracy who had only been six years in the
service.—( Cheers.) It was against such a system that
Englishmen ought to stir themselves. Such was the sys-
te n in the 1 I th, and all regiments in the country.
( Cheers.) Why, he would ask, should men like Captain
Reynolds be circumvented by those who had never seen a
shot fired or a sword drawn except at a tea table?—
(Cheers) Captain Reynolds might have had a wife and
family to support, without fortune, and what then would
have been his case? Why, every prospect of his life
would have been blasted. The present was not the case
of Captain Reynolds but that of the people.—(Cheers.)
A letter had appeared at which he was not a.,
little surprised. He had no doubt ten or a
dozen had bvca employed in concocting that let-
ter.—( Cheers.) lie would make -a that Lord
Cardigan had had a hand in it.—(Cheers)—and that even
Lord Hill himself had had a good lump in it.—(Con-
tinued cheering.) The fact was, they were endeavouring
to smooth down the thing, because they found the public
had taken up the subject so strongly.—(Cheers.) Every !
man who looked at the present question, must look at it as
one of justice.—( Cheers.) The military were the servants
of the public, and they had a right to expect value
received for what they did for them.—( Loud cheers.)
There never was a time when they were nearer a system
of tyranny than at the present mcment; and what, he
would ask, would become of them all if they had a few
such officers as Lord Cardigan ? They were met this day
to put the military service of the country on a footing of
honour, and he trusted their efforts would have that effect.
Mr. HEWITT proposed the first resolution. He seldom
took part in political questions, but he thought there was
something in individual hardship that appealed more
powerfully than any political questions. He felt very
strongly on this question. He had ever been the friend
of the injured arid oppressed, and his voice would always
be raised against injury and oppression. In ordinary cir-
cumstances questions of military discipline ought not to be
interfered with by the public. But circumstances might
arise which might render it absolutely necessary to break
through the rule; and, in his opinion, the circumstances
of Capta n Reynolds' case imperatively called upon the
public to break through that which was a general rule,
ar.d express the indignation at such oppression and injus-
tice which every one must naturally feel when hearing
of such deeds. He believed that there never before had
arisen any case which had raised such an universal storm cf
indignation from Land's End to John o'Groat's, and when
theyknew the difficulty of getting even six persons to think
alike upon any proposition, the unanimity of the whole
people of the three kingdoms proved that Captain Rey-
notes had been grossly and most tyranically used. Much
had been said about Captain Reynolds in conjunction with
the case, but he stood there on the broad principles of
justice, and with the hope of preventing such gross injus-
tice in future. The whole proceedings, from the warrant
down to the Memorandum of Lord Hill, which was
read to the regiment, were of such a character
as to prove that the proceedings were predeter-
mined to end as they did. Even the warrant
constituting the Court was a peculiar one, and was evi-
dently drawn up for the purpose of screening Earl Cardi-
gan. Then look at the constitution of the Court. Not
content with baring nearly nine-tenths of the Court
Field-officers, but they were selected from the most aria
tocratic regiments in the army. Then look at their pro-
ce,clings—tlicir ears were wide open to all aggravation of
the offence, but they were hermetically closed to
the provocation, which caused the offence, and they
carried military law even into the witness box. They had
laid down a maxim which they had drawn from the Code
of Lans which obtained in the West Indies while slavery
was rampant ; the trial was very nearly analogous to a trial
of a slave, as it was clearly laid down no provocation, not
even a violation of the finest feelings of our nature, could
justify a slave in doing any thing, they were denied all
rights ; and so the attempt was now made
to bring down the officers of the British Army to the
same position. Lord Hill said he was doing all
for the good of the service, but he thought it was not for
the service to make any inquiry into the conduct of any
ou kingdom—its w g_
commandingogrocuerrt..mßarutita,latdidallneovtemntese,t t%hveitimi atiXlennsalialeid-
down by' that
egreatestceive the
s militaryncCi sanction tohrtihte iinl utsit'rei
tchoeunl do fnteitier
in thepapers ton.—(" Hear, hear," and cheers.)
.The Gentlemen
then read the case which appeared
few days ago, of a Court- Martial held in France )
That would prove that the doctrine advanced by Captain
Reynolds' Court-martial was repudiated by the greatest
military authority of the age. He would now merely ad-
vert to the last instance of Lord Hill's injustice, in his
admonition to the 11th Hussars, as conveyed by Sir .1
Macdonald. That admonition showed that Lord Cardi-
gan had behaved in the most improper manner—that he
had conducted himself with " want of temper and mode
..
ration," although, up to the period of the Court-
martial, he had supported Lord Cardigan in ever}
act of injustice arid oppression.— ( Hear, hear.) Wile
had occasioned that change? Why the
hien theers meantime, ) Another light had
donadulcittteldestorm of
public indignation which had, in the interim, burst
alsouon btrhoek eflorae
o upon Guards.—(Cheers,)
Lordd Hill
was to be regretted had nots dthaewynee
themselves v earlier,
sel whicev's. t which
as
it
tells the etliccrs that they are gentlemen equally • l
Lord Cardigan, so long as
gentlemen, although previously to that time he allowed
them to be treated like dogs. . —(Heer, hear.) He tells
them that they are entitled to justice,
, although Captain
Reynolds had but a day or two
with the grossest injustice.e previously
Hewitt) ouity been treated
that unless justice was fairly administeredto all believe
in the military service, from the hie hest t o the lowest,
)ers
the
consequences would be most disastrous
to the efficiency
and independence of that
branch of the public servic •
—Cheers.) lie begged to apologize for having detained
them so longfirst Ue.
and
, begged to submit to them the
solution.
bed
Mr. STAFFORD seconded the resolution. R was to
regretted that Captain Reynolds had Liken the high ground
he did, in not drawing a distinction as to the subj ect-mat-
rrel and his
ter of the complaint between a private qua

military duty.—(Hear, hear.) He fully concurred in th e
sentiments contained in the resolution.
The resolution, which expressed the regret of the meet-
ing at the decision of the recent Court-martial on Captain
Reynolds, was then put and carried unanimously.
Mr. ROBINSON, the banker of Croydon, moved the next
resolution. Having expressed his sentiments rather fully
on the former occasion, he should not detain them at any
length. It was of great importance, however, that it
should be clearly understood, that however highly they es-
timated the conduct or character of Capt. Re-
ynolds, they
knew nothing of him as a private individual. They were
met to promote the cause of justice, independence, and
honour, without regard to the feelings of any individual.
The present was a cause in wlich England had ever
stood foremost, and it was a cause in which she expected
every roan would do his duty.— (Cheers.) Who, he
would a,k, wou'cl fight the battles of the country abroad
if they did not receive justice at home ? He would ven-
ture to predict, if such things as these were tolerated,
the British army would become a disgrace to the country.
Tyranny, as Pope had said, was
" A monster of such frightful mien.
That to he hated need kut to be SCCD."—(Cliecrs.)
He would ask, was the course that had been adopted
with respect to Captain Reynolds in coucerrnity with the
law of England cr the dictates of justice.—( Cries 9f " No,
no.") Then if it was not, they ought to present a petition
to the Queen, praying- her to restore Captain Reynolds.
—(Cheers.) Mr. Robinson concluded by moving the
second resolution, which was to the effect that it :was the
opinion of the meeting that the sentence of the late Court-
martial on Captain Reynolds was harsh, severe, and against
common sense and law, and was not calculated to pre-
serve efficient discipline in the army.—( Cheers.)
Mr. WALL said the Mutiny Act had nothing to do with
the resolution, for it said that the quarreljwas a private
one, and had nothing to do with military discipline. Ile
had supported Somerville rgainat the oppression of his
officers, and when an officer was treated with injustice he
would mete out to him the same measure of public sym-
pathy.—The resolution was then carried unanimously.
(The meeting was not concluded when we went to Press )

CAPTAIN REYNOLDS.

TO THE EDITOR O 1• THE SUN:

Sift,—l do not hesitate to declare—and in.the sen-
timent I know that 1 am joined by a majority of my
countrymen—that the conduct of Captain Reynolds, in
repelling the overtures of sympathy so generously ten.
dercd by the public in his behalf, exhibits a specimen
of the most pure and heartless ingratitude.
To what, Sir, if not to the sympathy so promptly,
energetically, and almost universally displayed by the
public in his favour, will Captain Reynolds be indebted for
re-instalment in bis command, in the event of the R9yal
prerogative being exercised in his favour 7 And why,
now that this public sympathy, this " vox populi," has
done its work, and virtually at least, restored to him his
commission—why should he now vilify the tribunal
which has pronounced his acquittal, and affect to con-
demn and to repudiate the only agency which could
indicate to the Queen the exercise of mercy in his
case, and fortify her Majesty in the indulgence of that
noblest of her prerogatives ?
The very peculiar circumstances in the case of Cap-
tain Reynolds not only gave the public a legitimate
right to interfere, but even rendered such a record of
its opinion imperative and indispensable ; and the in-
capacity, or unwillingness, of Captain Reynolds to ap-
preciate and acknowledge the favour which has been
conferred on himself and on the army generally, detracts
not from the value and importance of such services.
I am, Sir, your's very respectfully,
AN UNENFRANCHISED CIVILIAN.
Leamington, Nov. 4, 1840.