LORD BROUGHAMrose to put a question, which he would ask on another day if the Members of Her Majesty's Government, which had no representative of the Admiralty in that House, were not prepared to answer it at that moment. His question had relation to the case of Lieutenant Graham and Mr. Elliot, a master in the Navy, who had been brought before a court-martial last autumn for desertion and misconduct, had been dismissed the service in consequence, and, what was worse, had been declared incapable of serving Her Majesty in any capacity whatsoever. He had always been one of those who were of opinion that, as a general rule, no interference with the proceedings of any naval or military court-martial, or with any part of the discipline of the Army and the Navy, ought to be ever dreamt of by the Legislature; but still there were some exceptions to that rule, and the case of these young officers was one. These young officers bore an unimpeachable character—a circumstance which ought not to be overlooked in awarding punishment. A great error had been committed in the management of their case, they had been recommended to plead guilty of desertion—most unadvisedly, for they had given themselves up to the naval authorities after a short absence, and there was nothing like desertion meditated on their part. They had, however, been so goaded by the oppression and tyranny of their superior officer, Commander Pitman, that they left the vessel lest they should commit, 333 in a moment of passion, some act of indiscipline and indiscretion. Nor was that without sufficient cause, for Commander Pitman had so far forgotten himself as to call Mr. Elliot a liar on the quarterdeck, and had since been tried by court-martial, and found guilty and dismissed the service, not only for oppression and tyranny, but also for having given in fictitious and false accounts. He was confident that if the dismissal of Commander Pitman from the service had taken place before the trial of these two young officers, they would never have been convicted, or certainly not stigmatised as incapable of serving Her Majesty. He now asked his noble Friend opposite whether there was any intention on the part of the Admiralty to extend mercy to these young officers, who bore an unimpeachable character, and were now undergoing their sentence in the Queen's Bench prison?
§ The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE, in reply, said he had no official information himself upon the subject to which the noble and learned Lord had directed his attention; but he would take an early opportunity of making inquiries relative to it from his right hon. Friend the First Lord of the Admiralty.