§ MR. PARNELLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he will direct an inquiry to be made into the circumstances connected with the sentencing of the military prisoner John O'Brien, independently of the reference to the record of the military proceedings, with the view of recommending the extension of the Royal clemency to him, in case it should be found that his sentence had been extended from ten years to life in consequence of his exclamation when leaving the dock
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, he had formerly stated that the 372 records of the Horse Guards furnished no account of such an occurrence, and he could learn nothing of it from the Judge Advocate General, with whom he had been in communication upon the subject. The alleged occurrence was an impossible one, because the sentence of a court martial was never given in Court, and no one knew anything of it until after it had been confirmed by the Queen and remitted to the Judge Advocate General.