The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-31 00:00:00

The Judges were applied to, and they granted a habeas cor-
pus, on which M'Cue was brought up, and the Judges pro-
nounced that his punishment was an illegal one. Notwith-
standing all this he was taken and sent to one of the convict
stations. He would now briefly allude to the cases of the sol-
diers, Ludds and Thompson. The regiment to which they
belonged was ordered to India, and they, wishing to remain in
the colony, resolved to commit a larceny. They went into a
linen draper's shop, and stole goods to the amount of four
shillings. For this offence they were tried, and sentenced to
seven years' transportation. This sentence was, however,
commuted by the Governor for seven years' hard labour in
irons on the roads, and they were accordingly taken out of the
custody of the Sheriff, placed in irons before the regiment,
and, finally, drummed out of the barracks. The irons used on
this occasion were more than the usual weight ; and, owing to
some cause or other, Ludds died in the course of a few days.
Of conrse his death became the subject of inquiry. A post
stortem e7amination took place. and it appeared that no other
cause could hq assigned for his death but the anguish of mind
which potting hie, into irons occasioned, for the only symptoms
of illness the body I,7nsented was a slight inflammation about
the throat. The result this inquiry was transmitted to the
Government at home, and what was the consequence ? Why,
that Lord Goderich, in his despatch .4 Jnly, 1827, declared the
punishment to have been illegal, and di(7'cted that Thompson
Should be withdrawn from the roads. The 17-,n. and Learned
Gentleman concluded by moving for the appointmCnt of a So-
lent Committee for the purposes already set forth.
Sir G. GRE Y thought the House should pause before they
concurred in the motion, so far as grants of lands were con-
cerned. The inquiry, even if ordered, would be wholly use-
less. It wnts quite true that grants of land had been made
improvidently !ly almost every Government : but then that was
not so much the fault of the Governor as of the system. He
could assure the House that even if the whole of the allega-
tions respecting the grants of land made by General Darling
were true, there was nothing, in any one of them that could
justify inquiry, because regulations were adopted by the Go-
vernment in 18:31 which not only reformed the system, but
prevented the possibility of abuse in future. In justice to
General Darling he ought to say that he did not grant a greater
portion of land to his brother-in-law than had been given to
other officers on half. pay. It was, no doubt, true that (-,'lp-
tain Robison had applied to General Darling for a grant of
land, and that his application had been refused ; but then it
should he recollected that at the time General Darling had no
option in the matter, that he could not have complied with
Captain Robison's request, he then being on full pay, without
being guilty of a direct violation of the orders of the Horse
Guards. The next part of the case related to Mr. Hall,
against whom an ex officio information had been filed for libel,
but the question was, whether or not the libel was such as pro-
perly deserved to be prosecuted. The Hon. and Learned Gen-
tleman complained that the case had been tried before a mili-
tary instead of a civil tribunal, but be begged to inform him that
it was only recently that such cases could be tried by any other
than a military tribunal, consisting of seven officers. The facts
alluded to took place ten years ago, and he would put it tarthe
good sense of the House whether after such a lapse of time
it would be possible to prosecute an inquiry concerning them
with any hope of advantage to either party?—( Hear, hear.)
As to the case of Edwards and M'Cue, General Darling had
nothing to dO with the sentence except as to its commutation,
and of course stood absolved from any charge of illegality.
Everybody who knew General Darling would admit him to be
a man of honour and probity. The charge with regard to the
weight of the chains was not borne out by the evidence, nor
did the evidence warrant the terms of murder and manslaugh-
ter which had been applied in this case. With regard to the
iron collar it should be admitted that it was a species of pu-
nishment which should be only resorted to in extreme cases,
but it appeared to General Darling that the cases alluded to
were such as called for that punishment. Any benefit which
could accrue from granting a Committee had been already
received from the publicity given to the subject by this motion.
Before he concluded he felt it due to General Darling to state
that on his leaving the colony an address most numerously
signed had been presented to him. The Hon. Baronet then
read the address, which was couched in the most complimen-
tary terms, and bore the highest testimony to the improvement
which had taken place in the colony, in its finances, its agri-
culture, and its commerce, during the Gallant General's ad-
ministration.

Mr. HUME had expected this document would be pro-
duced, and was prepared with counter documents to meet it.
Upon this address being produced on a former occasion he had
written to the colony to ascertain how the address had been
got up• Instead of being got up at a public meeting. signa-
tures were solicited, and in many instances the solicitation was
refused. Many of the leading men in the colony had refused
to sign it, and though there were 1,000 persons whose signa-
tures would be of value, but not more than 100 could be pro-
cured. No piece of plate had been given to him ; the usual
compliment of having his portrait taken was not paid him;
but on the contrary, his departure was hailed as a blessing, by
bonfires and other public rejoicings. He maintained that
Captain Robison had throughout these proceedings been
made the victim of General Darling's vindictive feelings, and
he called upon the House to afford him the benefit of that in-
quiry, of that elucidation of the truth, which they only were
now capable of instituting. For General Darling's sake, also,
inquiry was due.
Mr. C. FE RGUS SON should give his conscientious
vote against submitting this case, or any part of it to a
Committee.

Mr. RICHARDS should vote unhesitatingly for the
motion.

Mr. C. FERGUSSON explained.
Lord D. STUART should give his hearty support to the
motion ; and be believed that those who opposed inquiry were
not the true friends of General Darling. Avoiding inquiry
was a presumption of anything but innocence.
Mr. BROTHERTON (at half-past twelve) said that the
House had met at twelve in the morning, and it was too
much to expect Hon. Members to continue the debate any
longer. He moved its adjournment to Monday.
Sir H. HARDINGE intreated the Hon. Member to with-
draw his motion for a quarter of an hour longer.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
no other opportunity might be had during the session, and,
therefore, he hoped the discussion would be taken then.
Mr. BROTHERTON persisted in his motion.
The Gallery was then cleared, but no division took place.
On our return to the gallery, we found

• -
Mr. O'CONNELL addressing the House. He felt (he
said) very deeply on this question, and was not prepared to go
to a division, without having an opportunity to express his
opinion upon it.
After some observations from Captain BOLDERO and the
SPEAKER, which were not audible in the gallery,
Mr. BROTHERTON said he must persist in his mction.
Strangers were again ordered to withdraw, but no division
took place.
After some discussion as to whether the debate should be
allowed to proceed or not,
Mr. O'CONNELL rose, and in an able speech contended
that the grcvnds upon which the inquiry was demanded were
left wholi7 s.r...nswered, and that British justice required that
General Darling should be publicly called upon to answer the
allegations put forward against him, not only as regarded Cap..
tain Robison, hut the unhappy and inhumanly treated man,
Ludds. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman entered at length
into all the details of the case, contending, as he went along,
that the conduct of General Darling was such as to demand a
further investigation. .

Mr. LIORKCE TWISS maintained that the House would
not be justifiad in interfering in the manner proposed, unless a
strong Prima facie case were made out that the Judge below
had wilfully misconstrued the facts placed before him. No
such case had been made out. He referred to the decision
of the Court of King's Bench, to prove that General Darling's
conduct towards the soldier Sudds, had not been unnecessarily
severe ; and contended that a much longer course of persecu-
tion had been pursued towards General Darling himself, than
he had ever inflicted on any other person.
Mr. MAURICE O'CONNELL briefly replied, and the
House divided. When there appeared—
For the motion
Against it
Majority in favour of the motion
The announcement of the numbers was received with loud
cheering.

..
The other Orders were then disposed of, and the House ad-
journed at half-past two o'clock.

lIOUS'E OF LORDS, J;;Lr 30.
The Earl of SHAFTESBURY took his seat on the Woolsack at
five minutes to five o'clock.

CORPORATION REFORM BILL,

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a petition from
Poole against the Corporation Reform Bill.

The Duke of WELLINGTON presented a petition from
Dovor to the same effect.

The Marquis of CAMDEN presented a similar petition
from the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of Bath.

Earl SK ELM ERS DAI. E presented a petition to the same
effect from the Corporation of Lancaster, and also one from
the free burgesses of Lancaster.

ROYAL ASSENT.

The Royal Assent was given by Commission to several Bills.
The Commissioners were Lords SHAFTESBURY, LANSDOWNE,
and AUCKLAND. Sir William Gosset the new Serjeant-at-
Arms, attended the Speaker to the Bar of their Lordship's
House.

The Stamps and Tax Offices Bill, Merchant Seaman's Re-
gistration Bill, Property in Infants Bill, Contempts in Equity
Bill, Manure Toll Exemption Bill, Southend Pier Bill,
Sheffield Gas Bill, Newtyle and Glammis Railway Bill,
Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway Bill, Holyhead and Shrews-
bury Road Bill, Lambert's Divorce Bill, Bergman's Natura-
lization Bill, were the Bills to which the Royal Assent was
announced.

The Earl of HARROWBY presented a petition from the
Corporation of Tiverton against the Corporation Reform
Bill. The Noble Earl took this opportunity of deny-
in; certain allegations in the appendix to the Report of the
Corporation Commissioners, with respect to his having used
his personal influence in the disposal of corporation officers in
that borough 34 years ago.
The Earl of WESTMORELAND presented a petition
from the town of Northampton, against the Corporation Re-
form Bill.

HEARING OF COUNSEL.

Lord BROUGHAM : My Lords, I take this opportunity
to notice a misrepresentation as to my conduct with regard
to healing counsel upon the Municipal Corporations Bill.
The?, is. no one who cares less than I do for what is said
,abott,i,., Mm;'Allifttier it be with regard to what I say and do
rtes or in toy Other place. No man, my Lords, can have
rrivedd-tim loneilif ek.have lived in the world without knowing
.K,illutt. it is the common lot of humanity to be occasionally
, *bilked and Innwepropented. Without expressing what I feel
4 1.14, the ahluge.thatjlas been made against me, I am entitled
t.
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