Subsequently, warrants were issued, and Lord Cardigan and his second were brought before the Bench of Surrey Magistrates, at Wandsworth; and after several examinations, Lord Cardigan was committed for trial on the charge of “Shooting at Capt. H. Tuckett with a pistol, with intent to murder, or do him some bodily harm”; and his second, for aiding and abetting him. The charge was laid under “An Act to amend the Laws relating to Offences against the Person” (1 Vic., c. 85, s. 3), which makes the offence set forth in the charge, a felony, punishable, at the discretion of the Court, with transportation beyond the seas, for the term of his, or her, natural life, or for any term not less than fifteen years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years.
He was tried in the House of Lords, on 16 Feb., 1841, by his peers, and the case against him broke down through a technicality. His counsel, Sir William Follett, pointed out that the prosecution had failed in proving a material part
of their case, inasmuch as no evidence had been given that Captain Harvey Garnett Phipps Tuckett was the person alleged to have been on Wimbledon Common on the 12th September last, and whose card only bore the name of Captain Harvey Tuckett. The peers present returned a verdict of “Not guilty,” with the exception of the Duke of Cleveland, who added “Not guilty, legally.”
The use of steam at sea was beginning to assert itself. It was only two years since, that I had to chronicle the voyages of the Sirius and the Great Western across the Atlantic—now we have the first steamship to India, sailing on 25 Sep. She was called The India, and was 1,200 tons and nearly 400 horse-power. She sailed for Calcutta, calling at the Cape of Good Hope, where she was to stop five days. It was expected that she would complete her voyage, including stoppages, within 75 days.
On 30 Sep. the foundation stone of the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square was laid, without ceremony. It was a large block of Dartmoor granite, weighing 14 tons; and, on 16 Oct. the tenders for building the new Royal Exchange were settled. They varied very considerably, and the contract was given to the lowest, that of Messrs. Webb, of Clerkenwell, whose tender was £2,000 under the architect’s estimate.
About this time we begin to hear of Mormonism in England; not that it was absolutely new, for, on 20 July, 1837, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards, Joseph Fielding and others, landed at Liverpool, on the first mission sent out by the Mormons. Three days after landing they began preaching at Preston, and met with such remarkable success that, within the next eight months, at the expiration of which time, Kimball and Hyde returned to America, they had converted and baptised about 2,000 people. But the sect was uncommon, as we may see from the following extract from the Leeds Times, copied into the Times of 31 Oct.:
“A New Sect.—One of the most recent developments of fanaticism is the appearance of a new sect, in different parts of England, entitled Latter Day Saints. We believe that it made its first appearance in Hertfordshire and Leicestershire, from which counties great numbers of its members have lately emigrated to the United States. The sect has extended to Lancashire and Yorkshire; and, by the labours of its preachers, is now travelling northward into Durham and Northumberland. The Latter Day Saints assume to do many extraordinary things. Among other accomplishments peculiar to those who believe in the new doctrines, they are declared to possess the power of casting out devils, or curing the sick by laying hands on them, of resisting the operation of the deadliest poisons, of speaking with new tongues, and of working miracles of various kinds. They state that no ministers, now on earth, preach the Gospel, but themselves, and that, only to them have the supernatural gifts of the Church been vouchsafed. The Kingdom of God, they say, is only open to those who have been baptised by immersion. In addition to the Bible, they state they are in possession of another work, of equal authority, entitled The Book of Mormon, the original of which was found engraved on brass plates, in the central land of America. Finally, they consider this is the last generation of mankind, and that they have been sent into the world, expressly to prepare the way for the Son of Man!”
Has my reader forgotten The Boy Jones? He turns up again in this chronicle, for, on Wednesday, the 2nd of December, the inmates of Buckingham Palace were, shortly after midnight, aroused by an alarm being given that a stranger had been discovered under the sofa in Her Majesty’s dressing-room, and the officers of the household were quickly on the alert. It was soon ascertained that the alarm was not without foundation, and the daring intruder was immediately secured, and safely handed over to the tender mercies of the police. The report of the occurrence spread very rapidly, and created the most lively interest in London, as it was feared that the consequent alarm might be attended with
the most dangerous effects to the health of the Queen, who had been confined only eleven days previously. Happily, neither mother, nor child suffered in any way.
The facts, as far as can be gathered—the examination being a private one, conducted by the Privy Council—seem to have been as follows: Shortly after midnight, one of Her Majesty’s pages, accompanied by other domestics of the Royal household, was summoned into Her Majesty’s dressing-room, which adjoined the bed chamber in which Her Majesty’s accouchement had taken place, by Mrs. Lilly, the nurse, who thought she heard a noise. A strict search was made; and, under the sofa on which Her Majesty had been sitting, only about two hours’ previously, they discovered a dirty, ill-looking fellow, who was immediately dragged from his hiding place, and given into custody. The prisoner was searched, but nothing of a dangerous nature was found upon him, and the police, at once, recognised their captive as the Edward Jones, who had, two years previously, entered the palace in such a mysterious way. He is described as being very short for his age, seventeen, and of a most repulsive appearance; but he was, apparently, unconscious of this defect, as he affected an air of great consequence, and repeatedly requested the police to address him in a becoming manner; also behaving with the greatest nonchalance at his examination before the Privy Council, the next day.