The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-27 00:00:00

have a perusal of the evidence which he had given in chief
Now, that was a circumstance which he had never beard
of in the whole course of his life.—( Hear, hear.) Every
person had a great advantage in a cross-examination, as
that you either, at the instant, proceeded to the
cross-examination of the witnesses, or, if necessity
required it, you then allowed the cross-examination
to be postponed to a future day. If you allowed the wit-
ness in the mean time to refresh his memory by the pe-
t usal of the evidence that he had given, you enabled him
to withstand all cross-examination, and to'give evidence,
in complete conformity with that which be bad before
gdaen,,—(Hear, hear.) In addition to that, if the charge s
had been proved, they were not such, in his judgment,
taking all the circumstances into consideration, a►
j estified the sentence which had been pronounced.
The sentence pronounced was a sentence of dismissal.
Now he would a-k the House to consider what severe
consequences must 101 l tw to a person so tried, so con-
victed, and so punished? This gentleman had not mere)
served in the army 20 years, but his grandfather, father,
six brothers, and two nephews, had been in the service
He was aware that when such a case as the present one
was brought b -fore the House, it was met by saying that
military men were aware of the risks they ran, and that it
was dangerous for that House to open any case which had
be n decided by a competent tribunal. He was ready t..
admit that principle, to a great extent, but he was not ready
to say that a case in our colonies, where the Governor way
in possession of despotic power, being so far from home—
that that House ought not to take cognizance of a case sucl.
as the present, where such a strong case for inquiry had
been made out. He should inform the House that th.
petitioner was kept for two years under arrest, and th et
then an examination was gone into by the predecessor of
his Right Hon. Friend the present Judge Advocate.
He did not intend tit throw any imputation upon the
gentleman who then held the office, for lie knew th
when a person had an immense mass of papers to wade
through, it was impossible hut that many important point-
would escape his attention. Since the petitioner had returned
he had made many applications for those minutes ;
bat they had been unauccesful He hoped now that they
would be submitted to the inspection of his Right Hon.
Friend, and he was sure that if that course were taken it
would give satisfaction to all parties, for he was sure that
that Right Hon. Gentleman would at once do all that the
justice of the case required. He had felt it his duty
to trouble the House at length, because he const-

.„ .
dered it a case of the utmost importance.—(Hear,
hear.) He was only anxious to make such statements
as his duty required, and had not intended to step out of
his way to vituperate any person. He had considered it
his duty to inform General Darling of his intention to
present such a petition, and make such a statement as he
had, so that the gallant officer might instruct any
of his friends in that House to answer if necessary.
The prayer of the petition was for the production of the
minutes al the courtmartial. If the subject was not
taken up by the Government, he would take the earliest
opportunity of submitting a motion on the subject. He
sincerely hoped that he should not be driven to take such
a course, for such a strong case of su.pici in bad been
made, that he trusted that Government would be anxious
to refer the whole matter to the Right Hon. Judge Ad-
vocate.
Mr. HUME said he rose for the purpose of supporting
the prayer of the petition, with which be entirely con-
curred. He had long been informed of the contents of the
petition, and if he had persisted in the motion of which
il he had given notice with respect to the conduct of Gen.
Darling, it would have I,rmed one of his charges. It
was the duty of the Government to take up the case in
time, so that the time of that House might not be
taken up with cases, which were immediately
belonging to them. He was informed by many most re-
spectable persons in this country, that every one of the
allegations in the petition could be proved, and, of course,
'hat gross injustice had been done to the petitioner. This
was not only a question for the consideration of the Go-
vernment, but it was one which they should be most
anxious to sift to the bottom. He would take that
opportunity of stating that it was not his intention to
bring forward his motion with respect to Gen. Darling's
conduct at the present time, as he considered be would
best consult the wishes of the House by abstaining from
ripping up old cases, but he trusted the present case would
he pursued with all diligence.
An Hort. MEMBER (whose name we could not learn)
said he could not let the opportunity pass without stating
that he had the honour of Captain Robison's acquaint-
ance, and that from what he knew of him he would say
that he was incapable of doing anything that was unbe-
coming a gentleman.
Mr. CHARLES G RANT—His Hon. and Learned
Friend had stated rightly, that he (Mr. C. Grant) was
not in office at the period alluded to. From the nrure
of the petition, and from the manner in which it had been
brought before the notice of the House by his Hon. and
Learned Friend, that it was his (Mr. C. Grant's) duty, if
in his power, to meet the allegations of the peti-
tion. But besides other documents, the proceedings
of the courtmartial alone comprised the contents of three
-normous folio volumes. It was therefore impossible for
him to go through such a mass of evidence in time to give
any individual opinion ; and be felt called upon to give
'hat explanation, upon the motion that the petition do
lie upon the table. He would admit that the state-
ments made in the petition received great weight from the
opinion expressed of them by his Hon. and Learned
Friend ; and that such an application must receive an
inswer ; hut, without imputing any intentional want of
courtesy to his Han. Friend, he must inform the House
that the notice of the intention to present the petition had
only been given yesterday. The Hon. Member for Mid-
dlesex had expressed a hope that the prayer of the petition
would not be disregarded by that House, because the trans,