402
NOTES AND QUERIES. 112 s. 11. NOV. is,
I will refer to one other remarkable case
in 1830. Peter Comyn had been sentenced
to death for burning his house in Ireland.
The King, without consulting the Secretary
of State, thought fit
" to write express to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ordering him to remit the capital sentence on Comyn." Vol. ii. pp. 147 to 151 inclusive.
This was clearly wrong on the part of the King, and he got into sad trouble over the case, and was obliged to give way, and Comyn was accordingly executed.
The faire-it biography of George IV. that I know of is in Wade's ' British History,' but no mention is made there of his aversion to the carrying out of death sentences except in cases of murder.
The excuse for the various biographers must be that they had not the definite evidence contained in Parker's ' Life of Sir Robert Peel,' vol. i. of which was first published in 1891, and vol. ii. in 1899, being the two volumes from which I have quoted.
There was a discussion in the House of Commons on March 22, 1816, with regard to
convicts under sentence of death, in which it
was stated that the Prince Regent
" felt a peculiar repugnance to that part of hi*
duty which referred to the sanction of any exe-
cution. That in truth his Uoyal Highness
never sanctioned such a sentence without the
most poignant regret." Cobbett's ' Parlia-
entary Debates,' vol. xxxiii. p. 538.
It seems to me to be only fair that the- conduct of George IV. in this matter should be placed to his credit.
I should like to add a few words more about George IV., as I think his biographers have not made sufficient allowance for cir- cumstances which go to some extent to mitigate his vices. His father was insane,, and he himself at times suffered from de- lusions. He had, unfortunately, as his companions in early life men who were much older than himself, who were hard drinkers and gamblers. He was humane, kind to his servants and young people. He was also charitable ; and let it never be for- gotten that " charity shall cover the multi- tude of sins." HARKY B. POLAND.
Inner Temple.
AN ENGLISH ARMY LIST OF 1740.
(See ante, pp. 3, 43, 84, 122, 163, 204, 243, 282, 324, 364.)
COL. CAMPBELL'S Regiment of Foot, which in 1916 is the Royal Scots Fusiliers, was formed in Scotland in 1678. In 1694 it was ordered to rank as the 21st Regiment and was then styled the " North British Fusiliers." About the beginning of the eighteenth century, the regiment was designated "Royal," although the date of and authority for the conferment of this distinction has never been ascertained. It retained the title of "21st (Royal North British Fusiliers) Regiment" until 1877 when " Scots " was substituted for "North British," and in 1881 " 21st" was discontinued:
Colonel Campbell's Regiment of Foot.
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel Major
Captains
Captain Lieutenant
John Campbel ( 1 )
Sir Andrew Agnew (2)
Peter Halket (3)
John Crosbie . . Alexander Burnet Mungoe Mathie Barnaby Purcell William Leslie Thomas Oliphant William Nodding
Gabriel Laban
Dates of their
present commissions.
6 June 1739 2 Nov. 1739 2 Nov. 1739
25 Mar. 1724
26 Dec. 1726 5 May 1727
8 Feb. 1731-2 16 Jan. 1736-7 1 Sept. 1739
7 Dec. 1739
7 Dec. 1739
Dates of their first
commissions.
Lieut. Col. 19 April 1712. Ensign, 13 May 1705. Captain, 12 June 1717.
Ensign, 1 Mar. 1703-4. Ensign, 1705.
Ensign, 25 Aug. 1704.
Captain, 26 June 1710.
Ensign, 26 Dec. 1726. Ensign, 3 June 1721. Ensign, 1 Jan. 1707-8.
1st Lieut. 23 Jan. 1722-3.
(1) Eldest son of the Hon. John Campbell, of Mamore. He had been Colonel of the 39th Foot
from 1737 to 1739. In 1752 he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the 2nd (or Royal North British)
Regiment of Dragoons, which he held until his death in 1770. He had succeeded his cousin as
4th Duke of Argyll on April 15, 1761.
, (2) Of Lochnaw, 5th Baronet. He was Colonel of the 10th Regiment of Marines from 1746 to 1748, when it was disbanded. He died in 1771, then being Lieutenant-General.
(3) Succeeded his father as 2nd Baronet, of Pitfirran, in 1746. Colonel of the 44th Regiment in. February, 1751, and was killed when commanding it, in action, against the Indians in North America (Braddock's expedition) in 1755.
