The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-04 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, TITURSDAY EVENING, JULY 4, 1850.

He did not think it necessary to state the intentions of to do so at their peril. The Court has nothing to do
Government with respect to every Bill on the order with any other Act of Parliament.
book, but ha might state that it was proposed to proceed C. J. NAPIER, General,
with the Charitable Trusts Bill.
Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
In answer to a question from Mr. DISR AELI,
FINDI
The CHANCELOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
REVISED
carefully r NG.
ead and taking into
Savings Bank Btll would cer'ainly be gone on with; but The Court, having
as it could not come into operation until the sth of Oc-
consideration the remarks of his Excellency the
tober, and not on the sth of July, as originally intended, Commander-in-Chief, are of opinion that the pri-
there was no immediate hurry.
soner, Private Thomas Banks, No. 2,820, of her
Mr. HENRY HERBERT wished to know the inten- Majesty's 7th Regiment, did kill Sookah Ram, Se-
lion of Government respecting the Landlords and Ten- poy, at the time and place stated in the charge, but
ants Bill, about which there had been much agitation in that he did not murder him, and they acquit the
Ireland. prisoner accordingly ; and that, as the prisoner is
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said that he had frequently not charged with having feloniously " killed Sookah
stated in that House that the Government did not in- Ram, Sepoy, the Court consider themselves precluded
tend to go beyond the second reading of this Bill. It
was merely meant to lay a foundation for some future from awarding any punishment, for the following
measure.
reasons :
Lord J. MANNERS complained that the President of The Court respectfully submit for the consideration
the Board of Trade had not fulfilled his promise in of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, that
laying upon the table of the House a Bill for the conso- under the 31st article of war no doubt exists in their
lidation of the mercantile code. minds as to their powers—for by that article of war
Mr. LABOUCHERE said the Noble Lord bad made they are bound to proceed in conformity with the
some mistake. What he had moved was, that after common and statute law of England in all trials for
the Mercantile Marine Bill had received the sanction non-military offences; that the statute 9 George IY.,
of the House, he would lay such a Bill upon the table c. 74, is the law applicable to the case of Private
of the House.
Banks ; that the Adjutant-General's circular, dated
Mr. ROCHE bad not distinctly beard whether the the 15th of June, 1829, expressly called the attention
Noble Lord intended to read the Landlord and Tenant
of the army to that statute ; and that copies of it,
Bill a second time?
having been supplied by the Supreme Government of
Mr. S. CRAWFORD said he could not positively say
I
what course he should adopt with respect to his Bill, India for use at general courts-martial, have so been
until he knew what course the Government would take in use for twenty years.
with respect to their measure. The Court further respectfully submit that in no
- • - - - -

Lord J. RUSSELL thought it would be better to read
the Government Bill a second time, and then they might
consider when the Hon. Member fur Rochdale should
proceed with his.
In answer to a question from an Hos. MEMBER,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he
could not name any particular day on which the Friendly
Societies Bill could be proceeded with.
In answer to a question from Lord DUNCAN,
Mr. C. PEARSON stated that if the state of public
business permitted it he should proceed with the Sunday
Trading Bill this session, although he felt that the period
of the year was not very auspicious to the measure.
THE COURT OF CHANCERY.
In answer to a question from Mr. WALPOLE,
Lord J.tRUSSELL said he would state on Monday next
whether it was the intention of the Government to in-
troduce any measure with reference to the better regula-
tion of the Court of Chancery during the present session?
RAILWAY AUDIT BILL.
Mr. LABOUCHERE, in answer to a question from
Mr. Locke, said that he must object to the further pro-
ceedings on the Railway Audit Bill, unless it was t.)
contain the provisions proposed by the Government.
THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851.
Lard J. RUSSELL, in answer to a question from
Sir B. Hawes, said that be bad no objection that the
discussion on his motion with respect to the exhibition
of 1851 taking place in Hyde-park should take prece-
dence of the order of the day.
Sir DE LACY EVANS having presented a petition
against the proposed exhibition taking place in Hyde-
park,

part of the Mutiny Act fur her-Majesty's forces is
the crime of homicide provided for, and that the 31st
article of war, in authorising general courts-martial
to take cognizance of the crime, restricts their powers
to the criminal law of England.
Disapproved.
C. J. NAPIER,
General Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
Head-quarters, April 25, 1850.
REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE COMMANDER-
IN-CHIEF.
The Court has acquitted the prisoner. The presi-
dent and members have, I must suppose, decided
" according to their consciences and the best of their
understanding." The prisoner quitted his barrack at
an unlawful hour, in a dark night, taking with him
his arms and ammunition; he wounded one native
sentry, and he killed another.
This was "an offence which, if committed in Eng-
land, would be felony," and it comes under the cog
nizance of the 31st article of war
The precise terms in which the charge should be
couched are nowhere dictated, either in the Mutiny
Act or in the Articles of War, or in any regulation
whatever. It is therefore sufficient for a court-
martial that the accusation or charge be made clear
and distinct to the Court, and that the crime be one
which " in England would be felony"—that is to say,
malicious, wicked, malign; but it is not even neces-
sary, according to the 31st article of war, that the
crime should be felony.
New, the understanding of the Court must be
exceedingly limited if it required an attorney to
explain to it that the killing of one sentry and stab •
bing of another sentry by a soldier who issues from
his barrack in a dark night contrary to orders, and
fully armed, " would be felony in England."
If the president and members of the Court consci-
entiously believed the prisoner to be innocent (which
belief would be incredible if they had not themselves
recorded the extraordinary fact), they were right to
acquit the prisoner. But unless they were so con-
vinced they have deliberately erred, and have broken
the 31st article of war, in not convicting the prisoner
of murder, for that article does not say that the pri
soner is to be charged with having " feloniously"
committed a crime, but who shall be accused of any
offence "which, if committed in England, would be
felony," and it goes on to say, "or of having com-
mitted any offence against the person or property of
any of our subjects," &c. This (whether felonious or
not felonious) does away with the necessity for using
the word felonious, or other legal technicalities, in
forming a military charge against a soldier brought
before a military court.
I will here quote the words of a high legal func-
tionary at Calcutta, expressed on this very case :
" Charges affecting the life of another cannot be framed
with too much particularity, but it does not follow,
neither is it desirable, thatthey should be framed with
the precise technicality of an indictment. All that
is essential in a charge is, Wet the prisoner
and the Court should be distinctly informed of the
nature of the offence for which the prisoner is to Ee
tried. In the present case (of Private Banks), as the
altered charge contains the word murder, I am ot
opinion that the accused can be convicted and sen-
tenced for murder under such altered charge." To
be sure he could, and the court has been misled by
quibbles, instead of being guided by the Articles of
War and plain sense.
I am quite at a loss to discover why the court refers
to the Adjutant-General's circular, dated 15th ot
,Tune, 1829. That circular was issued by order ot
the Commander-in-Chief to warn the European pri-
vate soldiers that a change had been made in the law
of the land, and that a man who wounded another
could, by that change, now be banged, whether the
wounded man lived or died. What, then, has this
circular to do with the present case, where a sentry
was shot dead ? What had the court to do with this
circular ? Nothing whatever; and a reference to it
by the court was calculated to pervert the course of
justice, by making a delusive use of that circular.
I therefore publicly express my disapprobation of
this improper introduction of irrelevant matter. I
was the special duty of Lieut.-Colonel Horsford, a••
president of the court, to have prevented the insertion
ot this absurd reference in the proceedings, which he
ex officio conducted.
These quibbles appear to me to be unworthy of
officers forming a court of honour and of equity, and
sworn to judge according to their consciences and the
custom of war; they are calculated to injure the dis-
cipline of the army. They afford protection t(
crime !
The result of the Court's finding and sentence is,
that the prisoner, who quitted his quarters at an il-
legal hour, in a dark night, taking with him his arms,
loaded and prepared for mischief, who wounded one
sentry and slew another, is to return to the ranks an
absolved man, because the unnecessary word
"felo-
nious"
was not inserted in the charge on which he
was tried. Thus the integrity of discipline remains
unvindicated.

(LEFT SITTING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Their Lordship? assembled at Five o'clock.
The Earl of LONSDALE presented a petition against
the Metropolitan Interments Bill.
JUDGMENTS (IRELAND) BILL.

This Bill was read a third time and passed.
POLICE IMPROVEMENT (SCOTLAND) BILL.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.
COURT OF SESSION (SCOTLAND) BILL.
This Bill was read a third time and passed.
SIR ROBERT PEEL.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE, after laying on the
table certain papers relating to the subject cf education,
said, I will now, with the permission of your Lordships,
take the liberty of asking the attention of your Lord-
ships for a few moments to a subject which I am sure is
present to the minds of. all of us.—(Hear, hear.) I
have to request your Lordships' attention while I
for a few moments diverge from the usual course of
your'Lordships' proceedings.—(Hear, hear.) It is quite
true that if we look around this House we do not per-
ceive any loss that we have recently suffered, there is DO
important-personage absent from his place here, there is
no great blank in this place. But we are all aware of, and
we all deeply deplore, a great and a lamentable loss which
has occurred in another Assembly with which we are
connected with many and most intimate ties—(Hear,
hear)—ties and relations both political and per-
sonal so numerous that we may be said to breathe
the same atmosphere. To that Assembly there
has befallen a great calamity, a great personal loss
which has been deeply felt by that Assembly.—(Hear.)
And extraordinary, indeed, would it be if the deep voice of
sorrow which has been heard throughout that Assembly
did not find any echo here.—(Hear, hear.) This is not
the time to sit in judgment on the political conduct,
or the public actions of any great statesman who
has at the present moment been suddenly withdrawn
from us.—(Hear, hear.) Posterity alone can judge of
these, and to that judgment they will be submitted, and
those who sit in judgment on them will be better
qualified, from their distance from the scene of action,
to contemplate them calmly and without prejudice. But,
my Lords, we are called upon to pay oar tribute of
respect to the memory of a great public man, who
has been suddenly called from us, and to whose
unwearied labours in the public service we have all of
us been witnesses. We are called upon to add our ex-
pression of sympathy to that public expression of
sympathy which unasked, unsolicited, unthought of,
emanating from all classes of society, has been attending
—I wish I could add cheering—the dying moments
of the public statesman.—(Hear, hear.) That feeling,
unmixed by any thought of political opinion, is
I am sure entertained by your Lordship,
no less deeply than by every other class
of the community.—(Hear, hear.) I can only say that
it has been my fortune, in consequence of my
prolonged life, to assist at the commencement
and at the development of the career of him whom I
must now unfortunately call the late Sir Robert Peel. I
witnessed his first exertions, I witnessed the whole of that
career that has prematurely ended for more than forty
years, and I can bear witness that that career has
been distinguished by an unmitigated zeal, exclusively
devoted te public objects, and by a life devoted to the
servica of the state.—(Hear, hear.) And I am sure
that your Lordships will join with me in an
expression of sympathy and condolence which I believe
is felt by all the people of this country.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord STANLEY had not expected that the Noble
Marquis would have drawn the attention of the House
to this subject. He had been opposed to Sir Robert
Peel, and had also been joined with him as a colleague,
and although, tours years past, it had been his mis
fortune to differ from him on a most impor-
tant subject, yet he was happy to say
that he had never imparted any personal hostility in his
opposition to him. There had been no interruption in
their private friendship, and he was convinced that
what ever Sir R. Peel had done he bad only done because
that distinguished statesman felt that it was necessary to
hie country's good and to what be believed to be his
country's welfare, Sir R. Peel had made greater sacri-
fices than any statesman had ever made. _

C. J. NAPIER,
General, Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.
By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief
ARMINE S. H. MOUNTAIN,
Colonel A. G. H. M. Forces in India.

HOP INTELLIGENCE.
MAIDSTONE.-Our reports from all quarters uni-
formly speak of the clean state of the plantations anc
the growth of the bine. The hail storm on Friday,
indeed, did some damage in its course, but its limit:
were very narrow.

• Lord BROUGHAM bore his testimony to the merits
of the eminent statesman who had been taken from us.

The DUKE of WELLINGTON, who was frequently
inaudible from emotion, and who was affected to
tears, stated that he had enjoyed the friendship of Sir
Robert Peel for many years.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

OTHAM.—The hops in this parish continue pro-
gressing, looking healthy, and at present no fly, but
there will not be a large crop owing to the slackness
of bine in many of the gardens.
HORSMONDEN.—Our hops are still quite free ot
vermin, and are beginning to show a profusion of
lateral branches ; altogether they are presenting F.
very luxuriant appearance.

SIR C. NAPIER AND THE INDIAN

ARMY.

Head-quarters, Simla, May 9, 1850.
No. 25.—At a General Court-martial, re-assem-
bled at Umballah, on Tuesday, the 26th day of March,
1850, Private Thomas Banks, No, 2,820, of her Ma-
jesty's 75th Regiment of Foot, was arraigned on the
following charge

OANTERBI RY.-14e have little to say in respect of
the hops, except that they progress most favourably,
and are tolerably free from vermin. General ac-
counts speak of the bine being vigorous.
TICEHURST.—The hop bines in this parish haw
made great progress. They are quite clean, and in
many gardens have attained the height of the poles.
There is at present every appearance of a good crop.
—Maidstone Journal.

" For having-, at Umballab, on the 31st of January,
1850, killed and murdered Sookah Ram, Sepoy, 15th
Regiment of Native Infantry, by discharging at him
a musket loaded with gunpowder and ball, and
thereby inflicting a mortal wound on the left side of
the abdomen of the said Sookah Ram, whereof he died
on the same day."

TUNBRIDGE.—The hops in this distriet are getting
on remarkably well. They are perfectly free from
fly, though, perhaps, not quite so forward as at
some seasons. I have been through the principal
grounds round Hadlow, Gold Hill-green, and Peck-
ham, and find them all equally good. A gentleman
connected with the trade was commissioned by a fac-
tor to send him all the fly he could get. I think he
said he found half-a-dozen after looking through af‘
many acres, but did not suppose he could find another
for a sovereign.
TUNBRIDGE WELLS.—The accounts are still highly
favourable in this locality as to the progress of the
plant, and we have no vermin.

. .
SUSSEX.—The;ccounts generally state the hop
grounds to be in a very flourishing condition.

EDINBEIDGE.—The bine continues in a very
heal'hy state, growing very fast, and free from
vermin.

Nnw ZEALAND COMPANY.—At the meeting of the
New Zealand Company, on Tuesday, the report of the di-
rectors was read, and much discussion took place, but no re-
solution was come to as to continuing or discontinuing ope-
rations after the sth inst., the whole matter of the report
being left to the consideration of a committee of three share-
holders (Messrs. Deane, Woolcomb, and Frederick Young),
who are to report to a special meeting on Thursday.
KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.—The following honours
have been obtained by the students of the college and the
school during the last academical year :—At Oxtord—litt-
chin, Ist class classics and mathematics; Ashpitel, Ist class
mathematics and the senior university mathematical scholar-
ship; Irving, the junior mathematical scholarship; Batty,
Downes, Day, and Liddon, 2d class classics; Wilson, 2d class
mathematics; Pearson, scholar of Exeter; Murray, Lusby
scholar; Stebbing, scholar of Lincoln. At Cambridge—
Watson, 2d wrangler and 2d Smith's prizeman ; Irving, Har-
rison, Greenwood, Northcott, Heywood, De Lisle,wranglers;
Nicolson, Geddes, Coryton, Wiltshire, senior optimes ; Hey-
wood, let class classics; Cowie and Williams, elected scho-
lars or Trinity; Scott, Morgan, Walker, scholars of Jesus;
Pigou, scholar of Pembroke. Dicey obtained the classical
scholarship at the University of London.
HALL OF ASSEMBLY FOR WEST-.END.—A capacious
music or assembly hall has been projected for erection in
Langham-place, Regent-street, on the site of the carriage
repository adjoining All Souls' Church. The cost is estimated
at 20,0001. to 25,000/. including purchase of lease, &c. A
plan of the building, by Mr. W. A. Boulnois, architect, has
been lithographed for private circulation.—Builder.