suspicion, that, if the commanding officer had not received a secret injunction to the contrary, he would, in the ordinary course of his business, have applied for a court martial to try the two subalterns; the one for quitting his guard;—the other for taking upon him the command of the guard, and employing it in the manner he did. I do not mean to enter into or defend the severity, with which Junius treats the guards. On the contrary, I will suppose, for a moment, that they deserve a very different character. If this be true, in what light will they consider the conduct of the two subalterns, but as a general reproach and disgrace to the whole corps? And will they not wish to see them censured, in a military way, if it were only for the credit and discipline of the regiment?
Upon the whole, Sir, the Ministry seem to me to have taken a very improper advantage of the good-nature of the public, whose humanity, they found, considered nothing in this affair but the distress of General Gansel. They would persuade us, that it was only a common rescue by a few disorderly soldiers, and not the formal, deliberate act
