§ DR. BOWRING, referring to what passed on this subject on the first day of the Session, observed, that the statement originated in a local newspaper of considerable circulation, the Stamford Mercury, and, coming to the knowledge of the members of the Peace Society, was still more widely circulated through their agency. He had been applied to by that body to explain under what circumstances they had given circulation to it. The fact was, such a letter had been written in India and despatched to England, as could be proved by the postmarks, though he believed that anything so horrible as that letter represented could not take place in modern times, or in the English army.
§ MR. F. MAULEentirely exonerated the members of the Peace Society from being wilful circulators of the report in question with a knowledge of its falsehood. The letter purported to be written by a soldier of the 80th regiment, and he (Mr. Maule) had seen a transcript of the letter certified as a copy by the Lord Mayor. The statement had been referred to Lord Gough, who instituted a court of inquiry on the subject; and he (Mr. Maule) had a report of that court of inquiry, containing this man's evidence. The man said that he did not write such a statement to his father. The case appeared to be, that to 426 his father he made one statement, and to the court of inquiry he made a contrary one. He (Mr. Maule) had forwarded a fac-simile of his letter to Lord Gough, directing him to make further inquiry respecting it.