Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/643

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DEBATE IN PARLT. DARLING'S CONDUCT APPROVED.
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sented a petition in which Robison accused Darling of various misdoings, and in particular of brutality to Sudds and Thompson. He reported the weight of the irons put upon them as in his opinion thirty pounds. He was probably ignorant that they had been weighed in Sydney. Mr. O'Connell promised to take the matter up in the following session, unless some other member would do so. Meanwhile Robison (11th Dec. 1834) was found guilty of libel, and judgment was delayed (by reason of affidavits put in by Robison) until the 15th June 1835, when Lord Denman, and Justices Littledale, Patteson, and Williams sentenced him to four months' imprisonment in the Marshalsea. "On the whole of this matter (the Court said with reference to Sudds and Thompson) we can see no reason for censuring the conduct of General Darling."

Not daunted by this judgment, Mr. Maurice O'Connell moved (30th July) for a select committee to inquire into the conduct of Darling while Governor of New South Wales as regarded Sudds and Thompson and other matters. His speech was violent. Mr. Joseph Hume supported him. Sir George Grey contended that the legality of the sentence on Sudds and Thompson was not a matter which the House could deal with. Mr. Cutlar Fergusson, the new Judge-Advocate-General, objected (like his predecessor) to interference with the finding of the court-martial on Robison. O'Connell stormily denounced the treatment of Sudds, and aided by the votes of those whom on another occasion he called "base, bloody, and brutal Whigs," O'Connell prevailed. By 55 votes against 47 the motion was carried. The committee contained the names of Mr. W. E. Gladstone, Daniel O'Connell, Sir John Hobhouse, Dr. Bowring, Dr. Lushington, Henry Lytton Bulwer, Sir Henry Hardinge, Joseph Hume, and others. Lord J. Russell succeeded in carrying an instruction to the committee which withdrew from their purview the court-martial on Robison, although Maurice O'Connell fought hard for the privilege of examining Darling's conduct with regard to that court. There was hot strife in the committee. Sir Henry Hardinge protested against converting it into a criminal court where General Darling was charged with murder or manslaughter and where witnesses could not be

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