§ On the motion for the third reading of the Mutiny Bill,
§ Mr. Manners Suttonsaid, that general Cowell, the father of ensign Cowell, had this morning called upon him, in consequence of the statement which he had last night made with respect to ensign Cowell's case. A letter was written to him by general Torrens, respecting the propriety of examining soldiers and non-commissioned officers upon the Court-martial to try ensign Cowell, and in his answer he stated that if the evidence of those soldiers and non-commissioned officers referred to cases unconnected with the immediate subject of the Court-martial, such evidence would be clearly irrelevant, and that the examination of such witnesses, as to the character of an officer, would be a very novel proceeding, which required consideration. The Court-martial, however, decided against the admissibility of such witnesses. This statement he made for the satisfaction of general Cowell; and whenever he should happen, through inadvertency or misinformation, to make 861 any statement in that House, which might happen to hurt the feelings of any one out of doors, he should be ready to correct it.
§ Mr. W. Smithsaid, that he understood the object of examining the soldiers and non-commissioned officers on the trial of ensign Cowell was to prove the valour of that officer on an occasion which rendered that valour unquestionable, and such evidence appeared to be relevant and necessary upon a trial in which that officer's valour was called in question.
§ Sir E. Brydgeshad the same understanding upon the subject.
The Bill was read a third time, and passed.