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

Bill.
Lord G LENNOX begged leave to testify that the
petition now presented to the House, if not more nume-
rously, a'as more respectably signed than any petition that
had ever proceeded from that town.
An HoN. MEB/ZER rose to order. He objected that
any petition should receive priority of presentation,
through the hands of any Hon. Member, excepting the
one to whom it was sent, so as to enable that lion. Mem-
ber to make a speech upon Its presentation. This had
ti.-en laid down as iriegular in the instance of a petition
brine pre-eared by an H, n. Member for Dublin.
Lord GEORGE LENNOX conceived that the courtesy
of the House would be extended to this petition, when he
informed the House that a petition from the same town,
not so numerously or so respectably signed, which prayed
that the Irish Disturbances Bill might not be passed, had
b•-en presented by the Hon. Member for Middlesex, out of
turn, the same having been sent to his (Lord G. Lennox's)
Hon. Colleague for prey• ntation.
The SPEAKER said that the rule of presentation had
been laid down, and he believed sufficiently understood by
the House; but if an Hon. Member placed a petition sent
to him in the hands of another Hon. Member, and no
statement was made to that effect, it required some one of
more experience than him (Mr. Speaker) to discover that
such a transfer had taken place.
The HON. MEMBER who spoke to order, said that he
should not have had an opportunity of doing so, if it were
not that the Noble Lord who presented the petition stated
that it had been just then put into his hands.
Ater a few words from Lord WILLIAM LENNOX, the
SPEAKER, and Mr. HUME, the petition, as we understood,
was withdrawn. . .

Dr. LUSHINGTON rose to present several petitions
on the subject of the better observance of the Sabbath Day,
from the inhabitants of pat ish-s in the county of Herte
from the Methodists of Poplar and Limehouse ; and from
the Episcopal Chapel of Highbury. Also two petitions
from Shadwell, in favour of the repeal of the assessed
taxes. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman then said he
had another petition, to which it was his duty particu-
larly to call the attention of the House, from a gentleman
named Robert Robison, late a captain in his M ijesty's
sei vice, and who, after serving 25 years in various p ins of
the world, was afterwards sent out, in 1825, being then a
Captain on the half-pay of the 17 h Light Dragoons, to
command a corp of out-pensioners in New South Wales.
The petition coin ,alained of the treatment which that
gen,lemen had met with from General Darling, Governor
of New South Wales, during his residence there, and more
especially of the illegal proceedings of a courtmartial by
which he was tried and convicted. He (Dr. Lushington)
had been requested to present the petition to a former
Parliament, but such was the press of business arising
from the discussions on the Reform Bill, that from the
period it had come into his hands, in consequence of the la-
mented death of his late friend Sir J. Mscintosh,he had had
no opportunity of ca ling the attention of the House to it
till now, so particularly as he wished. He was well
s ttisfied that the statements in the petition demanded the
serious attention of the Members of that House ; and he
was convinced if a proceeding such as was there described
had taken place in a distant colony, from that very cir-
cumstance it required, when oppression was complained of
on the part of an individual stating himself to be
aggrieved, so great was the power necessarily in-
trusted to those who governed those coloni s,
that it was the particular duty of the House to examine
into the nature of those complaints, and if well founded
to appoint adequate redress. It was very difficult to state
the contents of that petition without imputing very serious
blame to General Darling, the Governor of th.t colony,
and the person?. who compo-ed that courtmartial. At
the same time he must say that he always held he was not
bound te, support the prayer of any petition lie presented,
unle?.l he had some cause for believing that the matters
therein stated were grounded in truth. He had applied
to his Right Hon. Ft iend, the Judge Advocate, with the
view of ascertaining some of the facts stated in the peti-
tion ; and, without utriertaking to pledge himself to the
correctness of every statement contained in it, he was
in his conscience perfectly satisfied that their general
truth was such as would justify him in support-
ing the prayer of the peti,ion for the production
of the minutes of the courtmartial, which would enable
the House to judge for itself whether the charges were
or not founded in truth. He felt himself bound to
observe, that if this were a mere question of doubt,
under the circumstances of the case, it would he
positive injustice to refuse the production of the
evidence, as it was only in that way that it could be
ascertained whether the complaints were well founded, or
whether an address made to that House for its assistance
hail been presented on just and proper grounds. It ap
geared
in
very shortly after the arrival of Captain Ro-
bison n New South Wales the corps, to command which
Ire was sen out, was dispersed in various parts of
the colony, and there was very good reason to com-
plain even at this time of the conduct of Gen. Darling
At the time that Captain Robison left this country,
.not
only had he an unimpeached character in the prote"'"'
but he also had many testimonials as to that cha-
racter. He remonstrated with General Darling against