The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-01-24

be sipped-Lord Cardigan suddenly ap
peared, stern as the ghost of Banquo
forbade the further flow, and savagely
lectured his officers as unacquainted
with the usages of gentlemen. Capt
John Reynolds, the officer who had In
troduced the native offender, immedi-
ately appealed to the Horse Guards
against so unwarrantable an insult; but
though, by the rules of the British SER
vice; all officers are on equal footing at
mess, and the control and direction is
vested in Committe, the Horse Guards
would give no redress, The public,
however, whose impulses are ever just
aud generous, and who as mass-for
the honor of humanity be it said-al-
ways side with the oppressed and against
the oppressor, took up gallantly with
the black bottle Decanters at once
descended to discount. Mr.. Punch
took his bitters for weeks out of black
bottle Wherever Lord Cardigan ap-
peared in public it was intruded under
his nose. In fact, native bottleism, like
Native Americanism nowadays, swept
everything before it.
This feeling was maintained by let
ters from various officers who had been
driven from the regiment, detailing acts
of petty tyranny and persecution. One
of these letters, couched in terms of re-
markable severity, occasioned hostile
meeting. Capt. Tuckett, the writer,
has been, We believe, twice on the stage
In this country. The duel took place in
Wormwood scrubs, the fayorite covert
for this kind of game. and Lord Cardi-
gan was attended by Capt. Douglass,
now Col. Douglass, commanding the re-
giment in the East-the only officer,
with whom he was on speaking terms
off parade.
Strange to say that this encounter,-
duels in England being now days, un-
like those of this country, looked on as
mere 'afaeres de fa1nse,' and the dis
charge of pistols never being attended
with any more deadly result than the
startling of some neighboring thrush or
sparrow,-did result in something
Captain Tuckett. had the honor of being
wounded by belted Earl, and there
are many English snobs, we venture to
assert, who would esteem it no small
honor. Par pare,athese. we may men,
tion little incident which was served,
if such were necessary, to cover with
ridicule this absurd and barbarous GUS
tom. Two members of the House of
Commons, and distinguished ones too,
Capt. Romilly and honorable G. Smyth,
having mutually expressed some rather
unfattering estimate of each others
character, in very polished language,
conceived scion la regle,' it was neces-
sary that they should stand opposite to
each ether on a raw, cold December
others direction. After both their hon.
ors had been sasisfed by this pleasant
and harmless process, they returned to
the station in the same coach, and on
alighting they both in the hurry pulled
out ret1<rn ticket. On seeing this in
controvertible evidence. either of their
mutual consciousness of their invulnera-
bility or innocence of intention, the late
deadly antagonists first blushed, then
laughed outright, shook hands, and have
since told the story frankly against
themselves.
However, freUe1tos nos n10Uto1sS
Captain Tuckett was not singular in his
desire to cross swords with the tyrant
Earl. Among cross of bristling CON-
battants which sprung up, at once, an
officer of his own regiment, Captain
Richard Reynolds, of the same name
but no relative of the defender of black
bottles, availed himself of the opportu-
nifty of some harsh expression used on
parade, to send Lord Cardigan a chal-
lenge "a grievous offence in the eyes of
the military law. Lord Cardigan per-
emptoriIy declined the cartel, and but
too happy to find one Of the enemy in
his tolls, applied for court martial.
Monsieur lie Publique,' as Talley-
rand playfully calls the great people,
took up with enthusiasm the cause of
the regiment in the person of Captain
Reynolds. These masses gathered round
the gates of Canterbury barracks, and |
the proceeding of the Court were eager
ly devoured in every quarter of the is
land. But while this storm of public |
anger ragged without, the Horse Guards, |
the Military Government Of England, |
deaf alike to popular feeling. reason, or
justice, had snugly and quietly by thoir
freside doomed the too hasty Captain.
The mode of action of the English
in such cases is, though ST.
lent, steady; though secret, secure, and
of course, as in all Englis h matters, per-
fectly legal In fact, it is this virtue
of Legality which sheds such charm
over the whole process. We love that
most in which we most excel; and the
English Government can pack a jury to
perfection.
Other and perhaps nobler men than
Capt. Reynolds have been disposed of
by this douce vioLence of packed jury.
The military law entitled Captain Rey-
nolds to claim that the officers on his
court martial should be at least half of
the same, or inferior rank to himself
Every officer on his court, save one, was
IF higher rank than himself The ver-
dict was of course dismissal, which, how
sYer, theQueen, in Difference to popular
feeling, commuted to a permission to
sell. After the first burst of excite
nent and anger had passed away, the
public soon forgot the doings of Prince
Albert's Own and threw the black
bottle aside among other old and ne
elected things, to be forgotten. With
hem each new wave obliterates the i'm
preston of the last. While, on the 9TH
II hand, tyrant power worked silently
is will. Lord Cardigan did effect one
object wedding out one by one those
I'D Indian officers but not the 9TH
'r-of supplying their place with the
7oung nobility of England. The Fegir
nent is summed to this hour, and has
,een ever since, and is now a receptacle
or those who cannot obtain a commits
ion in any ether. =