The Sun. — 1849-03-23 (London, England)

WARD. P.S. Your first object must be to select a cabin for Mr. Mitchel's confinement, at the door of which a sentry may be placed, if necessary, and where his meals are to be taken.  11. G. W.  (Signed) No. 2. Copy of a letter from Commander Wingrove to Vice Admiral the Earl of Dundbnald, G.C.B. Her 'Majesty's steam•sloop Scourge, Halifax, November 6, 1848.  My Lord,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, directing me to furnish your Lordship, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with a detailed report of the line of conduct pursued by me towards the convict John Mitchel, on his passage to Bermuda ; and in most respectfully stating my reasons for adopting such line of conduct, &c., it will also be my duty to enclose the duplicate of a letter on the subject I received from Mr. Redington, the Under Secretary of State for Ireland. The Scourge arrived at Cork on the morning of the 31st of May, and on the following morning, at six o'clock, the prisoner was embarked, and the vessel sailed fur her destination. There was no. senior officer present to whom I could apply for that advice I was so desirous to obtain respecting the exact treatment the prisoner ought to receive. There was no time to seek it by letter, the Commander-in-Chief being absent at Dublin ; Mr. Redington'a letter to me, conveying the wishes of his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant, was therefore, my chief guide, and in giving it my most anxious consideration, it occurred to me that although Mr. Mitchel had been convicted of a very grave offence, from which the mind of every loyal subject must recoil, still he had not committed burglary, theft, or any of those crimes which would sink him below the level of his former sphere, in which I was informed he previously moved as a barrister as well as the editor of a paper. Looking again at the tenor of his Excellency's directions, it also appeared to me to be his Lordship's desire that tho prisoner should receive as much indulgence as was compatible with his safe custody, bearing in mind that he had been used to the society of educated men and the comforts of life, while at the same time I was distinctly informed that he was not during the passage to be regarded as a common criminal. Under these circumstances, and anxiously mindful of the great responsibility of such a charge, it became most difficult for me to decide in what part of the ship ho  should bo placed, or how he should be watched, ao as to ensure his safe custody. I could not put him with the officers, neither could I place him near the ship's company; indeed I must admit that I felt particularly anxious he should not be where by any possibility he might disseminate those principles which sentenced him to transportation, or where he could have such uncontrollable opportunities of establishing mischievous communication of a nature calculated seriously to embarrass the difficulty of his safe custody at Bermuda.  My object was to convey Lim to the place of his banishment with the least motive to exasperation, so far as he or his partizans were concerned, and with the least risk 'of bad consequences upon my own people afterwards. Then, again, it occurred to me I should be held responsible if this convict had committed suicide upon awakening to a real sen-e of his situation, which from the anguish of his mind there really seemed reason to apprehend on first leaving his native land. I considered it my duty to endeavour to calm these feelings as much as possible, and for this reason, as well as others, I did not consider him safe, indeed I could not rest satis fled, unless he was under my own immediate eye; therefore, I waived al personal feelings, which were much indeed at variance with the course I thought it best to pursue, and allotted to the prisoner a portion of my cabin, and gays him his meals at my own table, taking special care to invite no one else while he remained on board, at the same time confining him to the strict observation of the sergeant of marines and one sentry whenever he took an airirg on deck ; two sentries watched him also by night. The result was successful: the prisoner was landed safely at Bermuda, in comparative health and calmness of m;ntl, though he suffered acutely from an alarming malady during the passage, which the surgeon informed me might cut the thread of his existence in a moment. He was landed before his arrival could possibly be anticipated on the island. Having thus successfully performed this responsible as well as most disagreeable duty to the best of my judgment, having conscientiously acted for what I considered the good of the service, having adopted that course which I thought would be most consonant with the wishes of her Majesty's Government, and disclaiming all sympathy with the pri. Boner beyond that which is due from one Christian to another in misfortune, I confidently trust their Lordships will be pleased to extend to me that protection to which, under all the very peculiar circumstances of the case, I feel that lam justly entitled.—l have, &c., (Signed)