Lord Cardigan and the “Black bottle” case—Lord Cardigan’s duel with Lieut. Tuckett—Steam to India—Nelson Column—Mormonism—“The Boy Jones”—Napoleon’s body transferred to France.

About this time the Earl of Cardigan made himself particularly conspicuous before the public, and the commencement of it was the famous “black bottle” question, and I well remember that that useful utensil was, for many years, called a “Cardigan.” My Lord was Colonel of the 11th Hussars, “Prince Albert’s Own,” and it so happened that, on the 18th May, 1840, when the Inspecting Officer dined with the mess, Captain Reynolds of “Ours” ordered, at mess, a bottle of Moselle, which, instead of being decanted, was served in its original envelope, a proceeding which gave offence to the aristocratic taste of the Colonel, and, according to a statement which was published in many newspapers:

“The following morning Capt. Jones delivered the following message to Capt. Reynolds: ‘The Colonel has desired me, as president of the mess committee, to tell you that you were wrong in having a black bottle placed on the table, at a great dinner like last night, as the mess should be conducted like a gentleman’s table, and not like a tavern, or pothouse,’ or words to that effect. Capt. Reynolds received the message with astonishment, but without remark, and, subsequently, waited on the Earl of Cardigan, and complained of it, but received no satisfactory answer.

“A short time afterwards, Capt. Reynolds met Capt. Jones in the mess-room, and, in the presence of two officers, said to him: ‘Captain Jones, I wish to speak to you about the message you brought me this morning. In the first place, I do not think you were justified in giving it at all; as a brother captain, having no possible control over me, it would have been better taste if you had declined to deliver it.’ He replied: ‘I received it from the Commanding Officer, and, as such, I gave it; and, if you refuse to receive it from me, I shall report it.’ Capt. Reynolds replied: ‘Do not misunderstand me, Captain Jones; I have received, and do receive it; but the message was an offensive one; and I tell you, once for all, that, in future, I will not allow you, or any man, to bring me offensive messages.’ Capt. Jones said: ‘If I am ordered to give a message, I shall give it.’ Capt. Reynolds said: ‘Well, you may do as you please; but if you bring me improper messages, you must take the consequences.’ Capt. Jones replied, ‘he should certainly do so,’ and left the room.

“The two captains who were present (one not an officer of the regiment) proved that Capt. Reynolds’ manner was quiet and inoffensive. Capt. Jones reported the conversation; and, soon afterwards, Capt. Reynolds was summoned to the orderly room; where, in presence of Major Jenkins, the adjutant, and Capt. Jones, Lord Cardigan thus addressed Capt. Reynolds, in no very agreeable tone, or manner: ‘If you cannot behave quietly, Sir, why don’t you leave the regiment? This is just the way with you Indian officers; you think you know everything; but I tell you, Sir, that you neither know your duty, nor discipline. Oh, yes, you do know your duty, I believe, but you have no idea whatever of discipline, and do not, at all, justify my recommendation.’ Capt. Reynolds remained silent; when Lord Cardigan added, ‘Well, I put you in arrest.’

“Capt. Jones then offered Capt. Reynolds his hand, upon which, Capt. Reynolds, turning towards him, said, ‘No, Capt. Jones, I will not shake hands with you; nothing has passed which renders it necessary. I have no quarrel with you, and I deny having insulted you, and see no reason why I should shake hands with you, or the contrary.’

“Lord Cardigan said, ‘But I say you have insulted Capt. Jones.’ Capt. Reynolds quietly replied, ‘I have not, my Lord’; upon which Lord Cardigan said, ‘Well, I put you under arrest, and shall report the matter to the Horse Guards.’ Capt. Reynolds said, ‘I am sorry for it;’ and retired.

“The matter was reported to the Horse Guards, after Capt. Reynolds had been in close arrest three days. Lord Hill sent a memorandum, recommending Capt. Reynolds to acknowledge the impropriety of his conduct towards Lord Cardigan, and to declare his readiness to resume friendly intercourse with Capt. Jones. This recommendation Capt. Reynolds obeyed; but he still refused to shake hands with Capt. Jones, which would seem to imply a previous quarrel, or to drink wine with him within any specified time.

* * * * *

“On the 9th of June, Gen. Sleigh went to Canterbury; had all the officers of the regiment brought before him, and, without any investigation, read to them a letter from Headquarters, condemning Capt. Reynolds’s conduct in very strong language; approving of that of Lord Cardigan, throughout, in every particular, stigmatizing Capt. Reynolds’s motives as pernicious and vindictive, and refusing a court-martial, because many things would be brought to light which would not be for the good of the Service.

“Capt. Reynolds then requested that he might be brought to a court-martial for the offences for which he had now been charged. This was also refused, as it was stated Lord Hill had determined it should be considered as settled. And, as if this was not enough, Gen. Sleigh told Capt. Reynolds that he had forfeited the sympathy of every officer of rank in the Service.

“Capt. Reynolds applied for copies of all letters referred to in this statement, which are not given at length, and was refused them.”

He still kept in the regiment, which, perhaps, was unwise on his part, as the sequel shows. Early in September, an evening party was given by the Earl of Cardigan, to which, as usual, several officers of the regiment were invited. In the course of the evening, a young lady casually observed, aloud, that she “did not see Capt. Reynolds there.” The Earl of Cardigan, who happened to be near, heard the remark, and replied, “Oh, no; he is not one of my visitors.” The words were uttered without any marked expression, and did not, at the time, attract particular attention. They were, however, carried to Capt. Reynolds, who, conceiving that the expression was calculated to affect him as a gentleman, wrote a letter to the Earl of Cardigan, to know if the expression had been used, and in what sense. This letter remained unanswered, and the consequence was, that Capt. Reynolds, stung with this apparently further slight, was induced to send a second and a stronger letter, couched in terms which could bear no other interpretation than that of a challenge.

On receiving this letter, the Earl of Cardigan consulted with his friends; and, after fairly considering the matter, it was determined to submit the letters with the whole of the circumstances connected with the case, to the consideration of the Colonel of the regiment, Prince Albert. The Prince, on receiving the papers, laid them before the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Hill, for his opinion thereon, when it was resolved, by the latter, to let the matter come fairly before the public, in the shape of a court-martial, which was, shortly afterwards, held at Brighton. This court confined itself chiefly to the consideration of the second letter written by Capt. Reynolds, which they conceived to be couched in a spirit so insubordinate, ungentlemanly, and insolent, as to afford the writer no sort of excuse, or palliation for his conduct, on the alleged grounds of previous provocation on the part of his commanding officer, and they adjudged that Capt. Reynolds should be cashiered (Oct. 20).

It certainly was not from a wish not to fight a duel that Lord Cardigan thus acted with regard to Capt. Reynolds (and no one who remembers his heading the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, can question his courage), for he challenged and fought with Lieut. Tuckett, on 12th Sep.; a duel which was thus reported in the papers:

In consequence of the Earl of Cardigan having ascertained that certain letters published recently in the Morning Chronicle, reflecting, as his lordship supposed, on his character as an officer and a gentleman, were written by Lieut. Tuckett, late of the same regiment (11th Hussars), the noble lord sent him, through Captain Douglas, of the 11th, a challenge, which was at once accepted, and Capt. Wainwright (half-pay) was the friend selected by Mr. Tuckett to arrange the preliminaries. An apology was demanded by the noble lord, to which the reply was, that if he would deny the allegations contained in the letters referred to, it should be given. Lord Cardigan declared that certain portions of those letters were true, but that the greater part were calumnies. On this, the apology was refused, and a meeting was the consequence. It took place on the afternoon of the 12th Sep., on Wimbledon Common. The first shot was ineffectual, on both sides; but, on the second fire, Mr. Tuckett received his adversary’s ball in the back part of the lower ribs, which traversed round to the spine. The ball was extracted, and Mr. Tuckett, after a time, recovered.

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.

His first version of the matter was this: On Monday night, the 30th of November, he scaled the wall of Buckingham Palace, about half-way up Constitution Hill; he then proceeded to the Palace, and gained an entry through one of the windows. He had not, however, been long there, when he considered it unsafe for him to stay, as so many people were moving about; and he left by the same manner as he entered. The next day, Tuesday, about nine o’clock in the evening, he again effected an entrance by the same means as before. He then went on to state that he remained in the Palace the whole of Tuesday night, all Wednesday, and up to one o’clock on Thursday morning, when the inquisitive youth was captured. He was not satisfied with this dull and prosaic account of his entry; but, on the following day, he tried to invent something marvellous, and alleged that he ascended the roof of the Palace, and got down the chimney; but there were no marks of soot on his person, and his first story was, doubtless, the correct one.

The greatest mystery attending the affair was, how he could have found his way to the room adjoining that in which Her Majesty slept, without being observed. The delinquent stated that, during the day, he secreted himself under different beds, and in cupboards, until, at length, he gained an entrance into the dressing room; he, moreover, alleged that he sat upon the throne, that he saw the Queen, and heard the Princess Royal cry, but his story was such a romance, that no reliance could be placed upon it. He was extremely reticent as to the cause of his intrusion into the Palace, the only explanation which he vouchsafed, on being arrested, was, that he wanted to see what was going on in the Palace, that he might write about it, and, if discovered, he should be as well off as Oxford, who fared better in Bedlam, than he, Jones, did out of it. Even the stern discipline of the treadmill, to which he was promptly consigned, failed to extract anything more out of him; his only remark, when interrogated, being that he had got into the scrape, and must do the best he could.

His father stated that, in his belief, his unfortunate son was not of sound mind; but the medical evidence went to show that, though his head was of a most peculiar formation, he was not insane. The Council, therefore, came to the decision that it would be better to inflict summary punishment, and he was committed to the House of Correction for three months, as a rogue and vagabond.

If he is to be believed, he fared remarkably well whilst in his royal residence, as he said he helped himself to soup and other eatables from a room, which he called the “Cook’s Kitchen,” but no dependence whatever could be placed on his word.

Prince Albert was taking leave of Her Majesty for the night, when the miscreant was discovered; and the Prince, hearing a noise proceeding from the adjoining apartment, opened the door, and ascertained the cause; but it was not made known to the Queen till the following day, so as to prevent any undue alarm on her part.

It is needless to say that this event excited the greatest interest, and engrossed public attention, nothing else being talked of. The punishment was considered far too light to deter a repetition of the offence, which opinion was subsequently justified. Such an occurrence, of course, was considered fair material for the humourists of the day to exercise their wit upon, and there are many allusions to it in the Age and Satirist of the period; but, as their remarks are not always conceived in the best taste, they are better left in the obscurity in which they now dwell. Perhaps, however, this little couplet from the Satirist may be excepted:

“Now he in chains and in the prison garb is
Mourning the crime that couples Jones with darbies.” [151]

It was Jones’s extraordinary powers of finding an entrance into the Palace that caused Samuel Rogers to declare that he must be a descendant of the illustrious In---i---go.

On the 15 Dec. the remains of the Emperor Napoleon, which had been removed from St. Helena, were laid, with great pomp, into the tomb prepared for them at the Invalides, Paris; and, contrary to all expectation, there was no disturbance on the occasion.