CAPTAIN JERVISsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty upon what principle Officers in the Royal Navy, tried by a Court Martial, are unable to obtain a copy of the depositions of that Court until a year has elapsed from the date of the Court Martial?
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, that the depositions were kept back in order to allow time for allaying animosities and ill-feeling; but any prisoner under trial was allowed to have the assistance of a friend. The whole proceedings took place entirely in public, and the prisoner and his friend had the opportunity of taking notes of all the evidence.